About the work
The Story of My Life is a chamber musical for two performers with music and lyrics by Neil Bartram and a book by Brian Hill. After readings and workshops, including at Manhattan Theatre Club, it premiered at Canadian Stage in Toronto in autumn 2006. It had a brief Broadway run at the Booth Theatre in 2009; German-language productions have been staged since 2014, and since 2017 also in the translation by Thomas Borchert and Jerry Marwig (Die Story meines Lebens).
Plot
Successful author Thomas Weaver returns to his hometown to deliver the eulogy for his childhood friend Alvin Kelby and cannot find the words. Alvin appears as a memory and guides him through the collected stories of their friendship, from their first meeting at age six to their falling-out shortly before Alvin's death. Revisiting these episodes, Thomas comes to see how deeply the friend who stayed behind in their hometown shaped his life and his writing.
Cultural significance
The Broadway production closed after only a few performances but received four 2009 Drama Desk Award nominations, including Outstanding Musical as well as music, lyrics and book. With just two roles and a small band, the piece has since been widely produced, in North America as well as in South Korea and the German-speaking countries.