“I truly believe music is powerful, but the response from the audience was overwhelming.” After that night, Lex knew there was no way he could move to Utah – not yet anyway. But that performance would change Lex and his family’s lives forever and set them on a path that has ultimately led to the production and release of Saturday’s Warrior as a major motion picture. “We had sold our house and completely packed up to move the day after Saturday’s Warrior was performed,” Lex recalled. While preparing to stage the musical, Lex and his family planned a move to Utah from Southern California. The part of Pam was played by 13-year-old Shawn Engemann, better known now as Shawn King! Maybe starring in Saturday’s Warrior at the Sherman Oaks ward house was what inspired her career.” “Most of the main parts were played by my family members,” recalls Lex. Lex twisted arms, called in favors and begged family members to help him put on a performance of Saturday’s Warrior that would fulfill his and Doug’s dream. Undeterred, Lex returned to California, regrouped and decided to stage the show as a unique missionary effort in Southern California and moreover, to fit his and Doug’s original vision. It wasn’t at all what I had envisioned Saturday’s Warrior could be,” Lex said. “After seeing the first performance, I called Doug and told him I thought it was dead. The inaugural performance of Saturday’s Warrior was at BYU in 1974 by a group of BYU students and musicians, and according to Lex, it was a complete disaster. “To me, it was originally more a concert that happened to include some dialogue to cohesively string it together.” “I never pictured Saturday’s Warrior as a classical stage musical,” says Lex. But it was his dream and goal of creating LDS-themed popular music that drove him to partner with Doug Stewart and write Saturday’s Warrior as musical theater. In addition to being a composer and pianist, Lex was also a producer for Capitol Records and the musical director for The Sonny & Cher Show, Michael Jackson & The Jackson Five and The Osmonds. “And I thought if Christian pop music can be successful, why not Mormon pop music?”Īnd if anyone knew the music market it was Lex. “The Christian music market was ready to explode at that time,” relates Lex. What many may not know about Lex, before composing Saturday’s Warrior, he had ghostwritten many musical numbers for a variety of Christian personalities including Billy Graham, among others. Lex de Azevedo originally developed the music for Saturday’s Warrior with the goal of creating an LDS-genre music production company. Its journey to the stage and now 40 years later from stage to screen has been just as eventful as the decade in which it is set. One of the most recognized works from that period, Saturday’s Warrior, struck such a chord it took the LDS community by storm. Just like the rest of the country, members of the LDS Church responded likewise by creating enduring works of art to express their feelings and faith. The 60s and 70s were a time of incredible cultural upheaval, and in response, some timeless music emerged. This story is sponsored by Saturday's Warrior.
0 kommentar(er)
