Synopsis of Dark Star

Originally titled The Incarnation of Katie Heather, the musical had music and lyrics by Stewart Gordon, a book by Harbard Hogan, based on an original story by Stewart Gordon and Harbard Hogan. It tells the story of the troubled love life of a fabulously successful woman executive in New York City whose life is busy, but superficial. By chance she meets and falls for a New York fireman. She is torn between the genuine values of this man and the glitter of her shallow, but presumably desirable lifestyle. At the end of Act I Katie in a drug induced state has a breakthrough vision in which she sees that she is the reincarnation of a medieval sorceress who, although benevolent, was tried and burned at the stake. A medieval monster/ gargoyle ballet enacts Katie's fate at the hands of the inquisition to close the first act. Throughout the musical Katie seeks counsel from a malevolant psychic, Frieda. Katie's job in this incarnation is to recognize and be faithful to true love, spurning the advice of Frieda, as well as the attentions of an ambitious, materialistic fiancee. She is successful in doing so by the end of the musical with the help of her best friend, a pixie-like creature, Cynthia (Cy), sent to earth to assist Katie. Katie ends up with her fireman and true love. A bitter-sweet touch is that Cy, as an angel-like being, must go on to her next cosmic assignment notwithstanding the fact that during the course of the musical she had fallen in love with a sailor. The musical was represented by Annie Laurie Williams, one of New York's top literary agents in the middle part of the century. Although there was considerable interest in it, with a number of auditions for producers, it never garnered the support necessary for production. Although the score is still extant, much of the music has been used in other works. The big vocal number at the end of Act I was rewritten and used for Libby, as well as several songs, notably After the Storm, also used in Libby. Love Song is frequently played by the composer in a piano arrangement.