Exciting News!
I am both thrilled and delighted* to be the lyricist on Damian Samuel’s new musical, The Five Wives & Lives of Melvyn Pfferberg, adapted from his award-winning film!
*In homage to Mel Brooks’ 2,000-year-old man- If you get it, you get it.
In Development
The Attic
Because A Woman Should Know Her Place
A Tragically Comic Musical
An original two-act musical asking how empowered women really are.
Genre: Satire, Gothic, Feminist, Absurdist, Grotesque Magical Realism, Black Comedy.
In homage to Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Charlotte Bronte, Virginia Woolf and Gabriel García Márquez.
The Attic is a darkly comic musical about Charlotte, a writer who dumps her misogynist boyfriend to finally finish her gothic novel. With her unruly writer’s muses in tow, she rents a strange old house from a sinister estate agent - on one condition: do not go into the attic.
But when strange noises keep coming from above, Charlotte investigates - and discovers Lulu, a dazzling 1920s flapper with secrets, stories… and serious baggage. Lulu, it turns out, is the madwoman in her attic - and what she reveals will shake Charlotte’s world, and her writing, to its core.
Blending the grotesque and absurdist traditions with music, mayhem and muses, The Attic explores creativity, repression, and the women we keep locked away.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Lyricist/Bookwriter: Estee Stimler
Composer: Yuval Havkin
The Winter’s Tale
A feminist adaptation
This bold new adaptation reimagines Shakespeare’s final play not as a tragi-comedy, but as a true tragedy. In the wake of #TimesUp and #MeToo - and with no statute of limitations on the historical abuse of women- this production demands accountability.
Here, Hermione does not survive, and Leontes is not forgiven. Inspired by Shakespeare’s source text, Robert Greene’s Pandosto, and guided by Seneca’s belief that “imitation shouldn’t be quite identical to its predecessors,” this version reflects the zeitgeist: a world where patriarchal power has consequences.
The story ends with Leontes and Polixenes abandoned by the younger generation, who reject tyranny and class in favour of a future they define for themselves.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Adaptor: Estee Stimler
Strings Attached
[Formerly known as ‘Jewbilical Cord’]
A hilariously madcap, character-driven musical
When Sharon and Michael Fischer finally send their youngest off to university, they celebrate having the house - and their freedom - back. But just as they pop the champagne, their daughter moves back in after a bad breakup.
Desperate for space, the couple teams up with Michael’s sharp-tongued, Yiddish-speaking parents to plot her exit. But it’s no use - one by one, all four of their grown children seem to return, each bringing chaos, baggage, and broken appliances with them.
As their crumbling house competes for attention and sanity runs low, Sharon and Michael are pushed to the edge… only to realise that, through all the madness, this loud, leaky, love-filled home is exactly where they want to be.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Lyricist/Bookwriter: Estee Stimler
Composer: Yuval Havkin
The Long Night Animation
A 90-minute theatrical, feature-length film
When an artistic, charismatic dreamer is sent to the concentration camps, he must learn to survive by his wits, only to realise that his imagination can keep his hope alive.
'The Long Night' animation is based on the true story of Ernst Israel Bornstein, who survived seven concentration camps and several death marches as a teenager in the Second World War.
In this imagining, Ernst is an artist- he draws on every surface imaginable, and his drawings spring to life which allows the viewers access to his memories and fantasies. Unlike typical Holocaust sepia-toned films or animations of this genre, this film is bright and vivid in colour.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Writer: Estee Stimler
Director: Saul Blinkoff (Disney, DreamWorks)
Animation Studio: Kingbee Animations
Producer: Noemie Lopian
The Other Princess Animation
An original musical fairy tale
Based on the short story by Estee Stimler.
When a power-hungry Duke secretly swaps his newborn daughter with the royal baby, Princess Amara is hidden away in the forest - while his own child, Mila, is raised as heir to the throne.
Years later, when the Duke tries to force Mila to marry the vain and clueless Prince Fabio, she begins to question everything. Her search for the truth uncovers a dark secret that will change her life - and the fate of the kingdom - forever.
A tale of identity, courage, and the power of choice, this original fairytale is filled with heart, humour, and just the right amount of happily-ever-after.
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Lyricist/Bookwriter: Estee Stimler