Su Teatro Hosts World Premiere of David Nehls's Haunting Musical Adaptation of The Wind

In a blast of gothic suspense, composer David Nehls's latest musical endeavor, The Wind, will have its world premiere at Su Teatro on Sunday, January 14. Behind every gust of this suspenseful new musical lies the tale of Letty Mason, a Virginia girl tossed into the harsh terrains of 1880s West Texas.

But don't be fooled: This isn't your run-of-the-mill period piece. It's an exploration of one woman's fight against the elements and her descent into madness, told through a score blending modern musical theater with programmatic sounds.

"The Wind is a perfect example of the nineteenth century's male dominance of women," says Nehls. "Letty Mason is a woman who grows up on the East Coast and is more privileged than the people in this West Texas area that she is sent to. She finds herself in a desperate situation where she has no family anymore, and you watch this woman, who is used to being treated better, descend into madness."

Dorothy Scarborough anonymously published the supernatural novel in 1925, which sparked outrage among the local chamber of commerce and other community members in West Texas who were offended by the book's depiction of frontier life. MGM Studios adapted it into a silent film starring Lillian Gish in 1928 — one of the company's final films without audible dialogue.

"I saw the film in 2014 and was blown away by the storytelling," says Nehls. "Lillian Gish later in life gave an interview in which she stated that if you look at The Wind, you can see where the art of silent film was going. However, when sound was introduced, the art form took a real hit. The visuals from the book by Dorothy Scarborough describe the wind as a 'trampling steed,' and in the film, they show the wind with this beautiful image of a horse. It's a cool movie that expands on the novel and uses powerful imagery to tell the story of this woman who has been so beaten down by men."

While working on a project at Houston Stage Rep in 2017, Nehls picked up a copy of Scarborough's novel. He initially envisioned it as a dance piece; after a ballet adaptation in London received less than stellar reviews, Nehls pivoted toward a nonlinear musical format. Known for works such as The Great American Trailer Park Musical and Killer Wigs From Outer Space, Nehls drew on operatic and Western influences for the project.

"Rock and roll is my wheelhouse; that's what I do, but I wanted to do something that was more character-driven," he explains. "I'm trying to honor the nineteenth century as much as I can. There's a feeling of Western Gothic to it. There are places where it's unabashedly Western — not country, but Western. The instruments are reproducing the sound of the wind as well as Letty's anxiety.

"I don't think people will expect this from me," Nehls adds. "It's got a Hitchcock feel. Even in this setting, where it's more of a concert than a production, people will be able to understand what Letty sees just by listening to the music."

The ambitious project transitioned from concept to reality while Nehls was working with actress Emily Van Fleet on a video audition in 2019. "I hadn't really thought about The Wind in a while, but it just struck me while we were working that  it would be interesting to tell the story of Letty Mason with only one actor on stage," Nehls recalls. "I approached Emily about it because of her malleability. She’s played a wide range of people, and I feel like I can trust her implicitly."

Fresh off her acclaimed performance as Carole King in Beautiful at the Arvada Center, Van Fleet delves deep into Letty Mason's complex psyche. "The most interesting thing for me is Letty's struggle to reclaim her agency while all these societal and environmental influences are bearing down on her," Van Fleet says. "She also goes through an interesting internal struggle. She begins to second-guess her decisions and wonders if she, someone else or the wind is to blame. I believe that all women deal with this at some point in their lives — this internal gaslighting that we do because society has taught us that everything is our fault."

Delving into the historical context and psychological layers of her character, she explains, "There’s historically this perspective that woman have a tendency to go crazy and be hysterical, and nobody quite understands why. Now we have a little better understanding and respect for women, so we're able to recognize the external factors that lead to a breakdown. These stories are compelling to me because I come from a feminist perspective, so I'm interested in women who are put in these situations where they don't have a lot of agency, and the external features that contribute to that."
Van Fleet's preparation involved deep dives into the original novel and film. But she says the recent pandemic adds an unexpected layer of relatability to The Wind. "People will probably identify with Letty's experience in a way that maybe they wouldn't if we had presented this to them in 2019, before COVID-19," Van Fleets explains. "A lot of what Letty was going through in terms of the isolation she was experiencing was completely foreign and scary. I think we all felt that in the early months of 2020, so that's been an interesting thing to dig into."

Produced by Stories on Stage, The Wind will be performed at Su Teatro for one afternoon only. Nehls recommends that silent-film aficionados, feminists and musical-theater fans brave the gales to see the production.

"I do feel like The Wind has an artistic flair to it. I'm usually much more commercial in what I do, but this has an element of a higher edge of art," Nehls says. "The band played through it today, and it's hard. All of the music is complex and tricky to play, but it is so satisfying when you get done with it. Most of the things I write, I want to do till I die, so this won't be the last people hear of The Wind."

As for the impact of The Wind on contemporary audiences, Van Fleet hopes young adults find a connection with Letty's story. "I think they would be surprised at how much they identify with Letty's situation," she says, "and I would love to see some young women, and just young adults in general, come out and see this piece. They might become more interested in some of the more historical aspects of it, but I think the human aspect is incredibly relatable, especially for young people."

In an age of TikTok and fleeting social interactions, the raw human experience at the core of The Wind is a breath of fresh, albeit dusty, prairie air.

The Wind, 2 p.m. Sunday, January 14, Su Teatro, 721 Santa Fe Drive. Get tickets at storiesonstage.org.