This awesome song from Curtis (music) and Tom (words) is rich with character and humor and intricate internal rhyme (which we love). It also features a no-holds-barred vocal by Nick Blaemire (most recently seen in Tick…Tick…Boom!)

(Sidebar: when you hear this song, you’ll understand why Tom and Curtis have been tapped to write songs for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.)

I’ll let Curtis tell you more about the song and the show it’s from, Triangle. It’s the perfect illustration of the writers’ adage to “kill your darlings.”

“Triangle tells two love stories set in the same New York City building, but a hundred years apart. The romance set in 2011 follows Brian, a brilliant chemistry grad student who is confronted by ghosts—from his own past and the building he works in. 

“We wrote dozens of opening numbers for the show. Literally dozens. It was difficult finding the right tone that would bring you into the double worlds of the show, while also making our very internal lead character someone you’d want to follow. 

“Five Years of Saturdays” is one of those attempts. We compressed his first four and a half years of grad study into five uptempo, rhythmically driving, theater minutes. Over that time, we watch him give up his personal life, his Saturdays, to devote himself to solving his extremely challenging thesis project.

“We loved the energy and the hookiness of the song. We also loved how it set up the intensity of his program and how Brian could get worn down to the vulnerable place we needed him in at the beginning of the show. And Nick sings the hell out of the song!

“But…five years of Saturdays is a lot to throw at folks in the opening minutes of a musical. We wrote and recorded the song over a summer. Then we showed up for rehearsals at the TheatreWorks New Works Festival, rehearsed it once with the cast, and cut it. Boom. No one got to hear it after that one run through—until now!

If you happen to be in St. Paul in the spring of 2021, catch Triangle at the Ordway/Park Square Theatre.

As ever with #InsiderTracks, all proceeds (net of processing fees) will be donated to the Dramatists Guild Foundation’s emergency artist assistance grants. Consider making a larger donation here.