Curtain Call Meet and Greet with F Michael Haynie

For someone that grew up in the theatre, F Michael Haynie didn’t dream of a professional theatre career from a young age. He shared, “My mom was my theatre teacher and my brother was an actor (a lot of my family had been in the arts), so it was just what our family did on weekends and weeknights and summers.” Fast forward to 2018 and Haynie is an accomplished theatre professional. He made his Broadway debut as Augustus Gloop in Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on Broadway and he is set to perform in NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert this Sunday, April 1st. He also writes music, and that is what he will be sharing with the Lynchburg Community this April.

He is a part of Lynchburg College’s Curtain Up Songwriting Workshop. This inaugural program was created by the Lynchburg College Theatre Department and James Ballard, the program’s Artistic Director, featuring the new musical theatre ensemble, Curtain Call. The program will connect students to musical theatre songwriters in the business. The composers/lyricists are writing songs specifically for the group that will be performed in their April Curtain Up Writers Cabaret.

Haynie’s original career aspiration was to be a band director and he played at different places in NYC. He stated, “I never ever ever ever wanted to write a musical. I enjoyed some but never wanted to write them. My music always told stories, but it wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I kind of fell ass backward into writing my first show. Just didn’t stop writing it. I had a story and it wanted out.” His need to tell stories parallels to James Ballard, another NYC composer with Lynchburg roots.

Haynie is thrilled to be writing music for these students. His song is still in the works, but it’s coming to a theatre near you April 29th at 7:30pm. I can’t wait to share in this special night of musical theatre!

In the coming weeks the blog will feature the different composers/lyricists being represented in the April Curtain Up Writers Cabaret. Stay tuned to learn more about these gifted artists.