Background
Stephen Lindsay emailed Dianna Nixon early in 2024 to say he’d started writing a musical. He then pitched the synopsis and style of the work to Dianna, and it sounded highly produceable, relevant, and very entertaining.
Stephen was inspired to write this by the source material he’d read on the subject of Hornig, the guy who babysat the bomb, the night before the first atomic test. Stephen was inspired to write a musical HE would enjoy, with comps like Rocky Horror, Little Shop of Horrors, and Hairspray, genre musicals that draw on a golden age in pop and rock music. The musical is timely, following on from the massive hit in the cinemas in 2023 – Oppenheimer, and with the current conversations about nuclear power, not to mention the proposed resumption of testing by the USA.
Stephen had written a substantial amount of material, and initially recorded the work in his studio at Old Binda Road, Crookwell, with the help of singers David Pearson and Samantha Baxendale layering the vocal tracks. According to Dianna: “It’s brilliant and has serious legs.”
Stephen continued to write the work, and engaged New York-based composer, lyricist and arranger, Ben Heintz, to create the Broadway-standard piano/vocal score.
Ben, a graduate of New York University, is working on development of 3 of his own musicals, and is music assistant to Andrew Lippa (John & Jen, The Wild Party, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, A Little Princess, The Addams Family, Big Fish). In March 2026, he made his Broadway debut as musician on The Fear of 13, starring Adrien Brody.
Project Status
We received a donation, and also artsACT development funding to undertake a rehearsed reading in December 2025 at The Street, in Canberra. MTP engaged performers: Craig Alexander, Tobias Cole, Lillian Fromyhr, Sophie Hamilton, Sophia Marzano, Dylan Hayley Rosenthal, Rachel Seo, Alexander Unikowski who worked with Dianna and Steve for a week. Steve was assisted by Oakelani Edmonds, and Helen Linkenbagh worked on some choreography ideas with the cast. Kimmo Vennonen produced our sound, and Craig Alexander shot footage and filmed the final showing. NB The full showing is available on Vimeo, but is password protected. Potential project partners will be given the password.
Two audiences attended and gave feedback, and we were able to integrate a lot of feedback from the first audience into the 2nd showing.
Our short video of the creative development can be found here.
For a peek inside the creative development here is a snippet of the stunning song, A Million Stars, and another sequence, The Countdown.
Collaborators
Story, music and lyrics by Stephen Lindsay, who is an experienced songwriter and producer. The work he’s done on Hornig and the Gadget includes brilliant lyrics and very effective music. It’s cinematic and stylish, and very moving.
Music Theatre Projects are providing the creative producer umbrella, with Dianna Nixon providing guidance on music theatre structure and vocal requirements acting as a dramaturg.
Work-In-Progress
MTP is now looking for opportunities to do further development on Hornig and the Gadget, and move towards a commercial production.
Important dates and activities
FUTURE – next creative development process and future commercial premiere.
