SEATTLE — He is known as one of the greatest guitar players that ever lived. But we sometimes forget, even icons like Jimi Hendrix were once just kids.
"For young people, I think it's particularly important to show them that all of these giants started out as children," said Seattle Children's Theatre artistic director Idris Goodwin.
For the past 4 years, Goodwin has been working to bring Jimi Hendrix's early life to the stage in, "The Boy Who Kissed The Sky."
"Jimi Hendrix is from Seattle. I wonder what that story is, you know? What's his origin story, you know, all these heroes and icons, we have are almost mythical people to us, right?"
To prepare, Goodwin, who also wrote a play about a young Muhammad Ali, did a deep dive into Jimi's life growing up in Seattle’s Central District.
"Read a lot of the information that's available, everything from a children's book to various memoirs, to conversations with members of his family,” Goodwin said. “But then ultimately, you know, the writer has to make a choice about what is the Once Upon a Time of this, right? Ultimately, it takes on a much more sort of fantastical spirit, you know, as he this young boy who's named the boy, you know, sort of graduates from a broom to a full guitar and has to learn how to turn his pain into magic in the music."
Music also plays an important part in the production of the play.
"Eugene Russell and Divinity Roxx out of Atlanta, and they compose all original music. They took lyrics that I had composing the script and move them around, haunting them up and we've got some brilliant music and they show some really funky, beautiful, catchy music throughout the show."
Goodwin hopes those who see the show, especially young people, will walk away feeling that the sky is the limit.
"What we do show is the way in which the arts can are boundless and that no amount of disparity or challenges can limit your belief in yourself and where you can go."
"The Boy Who Kissed The Sky" is playing now till Nov. 6 at Seattle Children's Theatre.
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