IN INCUBATION UNDER THE SUPPORT AND GUIDANCE OF
IN 1977, NASA LAUNCHED A PAIR OF UNMANNED VOYAGER SPACECRAFT ON A SCIENTIFIC "GRAND TOUR" OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM. EACH CRAFT WAS OUTFITTED WITH A "GOLDEN RECORD" OF MUSIC, GREETINGS, AND IMAGES OF LIFE ON EARTH TO CARRY BEYOND THE PLANETS INTO INTERSTELLAR SPACE.
THIS IS THE STORY OF TWO VOYAGERS WHO MADE A RECORD AND TOOK IT ON TOUR.
SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE is proud to partner with songwriter Cameron Hood (Ryanhood) in the development of his new work, Voyagers: A Space Rock Opera. Highly researched and richly allegorical, Voyagers is a sung-through musical about a pair of starry-eyed musicians who wrestle with ambition and belonging as they seek to earn a gold record by embarking on a grand tour inspired by NASA’s twin Voyager space probes.
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Inhabiting a theatrical space between Pink Floyd's The Wall, Broadway's Hadestown, American Idiot, and Once: The Musical, Voyagers uses rock music storytelling, dramatic acting, and immersive visuals to explore the aches, dreams, and fears of two ambitious musicians. Their story is told symbolically through the actual mind-bending history, science, and sounds of NASA’s Voyager program.
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Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager space probes are the farthest things humans have ever launched from Earth. They visited and studied all four outer planets—Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—in a flight path officially called “The Grand Tour.” And they both carry a phonograph record nicknamed, “The Golden Record,” as a time capsule of life on Earth in case they are ever discovered a million years from now by another civilization somewhere out in the Milky Way.
CAMERON HOOD is an award-winning songwriter, performer, and librettist from Tucson, AZ, who is passionate about exploring the arts’ ability to transform trauma. As one-half of the indie-folk duo Ryanhood, Hood has released 7 albums of original music, performed over 1000 shows in 3 countries and 47 US states, and been named, along with Ryan David Green, “Best Group/Duo” in the 2014 International Acoustic Music Awards. In 2017, Hood co-created a modern ballet about gangster John Dillinger with Ashley Bowman of Artifact Dance Project, called Surrounding Dillinger, which the Arizona Daily Star called, “Simply astounding.” In 2019, Hood spoke and performed with Green in a TEDx Talk called, “How Bad Things Can Make Us Good People.”
THE FOLLOWING ARE SELECTIONS FROM VOYAGERS, WITH MUSICAL DEMOS AND ACCOMPANYING LIBRETTO
"THE BALLAD OF ONE AND TWO"
TWO
One, two, one, two . . .
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ONE
“There is the sister of my soul”
I remember thinking from the first two moments
“She is like me in a way I know
We could be gold”
I caught her eye at the JPL
Where there were rumors
Of a Mariner 11 and 12
But I told her that I planned to go
Beyond the belt
And she should go
The words she said to me
Have always stayed with me
Words she said to me before we broke
TWO
One, two, one, two . . .
ONE
We fell in love and we left the ground
Burning through the stages at the speed of sound
Like we were Ganymede and Io
And Europa bound
Feeling bold
I’ve always been afraid to stay for too long
Afraid of missing out when the moment comes
But I don’t want to get too far ahead
With this song
So here we go
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"SELFLESS"
TWO
Oooooooh, oooooooh
Oooooooh, oooooooh
When you’re young
There are a billion things to be
A Viking or a Pioneer
A scientist, an engineer
When you’re young
There are a billion things to be
A singing star, a great explorer
Who you are is so straightforward
And like the sun
You know you’ll come up shining
But all too soon
There are a billion things to be
Be yourself but also selfless
Always humble but never helpless
All too soon
There are a billion things to be
Grateful, blessed, and never sad
Make best when things go bad
And like the moon
You choose the silver linings
What if what you want
Has gotten lost along the years?
Like a distant song
That you’ve forgotten how to hear
What if it’s not wrong to hope
Tthat someone will appear
To help you find it?
ONE
What does it take to find your place
To feel like you belong in all this space?
Is there a way to win the race
And not lose your soul?
Words she said to me
Have always stayed with me
Words she said to me before we broke
Words she said to me
Have always stayed with me
Words she said to me before we broke
Words she said to me
Have always stayed with me
Words she said to me before we broke
Words she said to me
Words she said to me before we broke
"ECLIPTIC BLUES"
ARCHIVAL AUDIO (TIMOTHY FERRIS)
“The galaxy, like most of the universe, is mostly empty space. The odds that you’re going to run into a planet or a star are very low. So, for the Voyager probe to be found, and for non-human intelligences to listen to the music someday, would probably require that they detect the presence of the probe, snare it, bring it in, and have a look. If they do that, they’ll find that everything on the space probe has a clear scientific purpose . . . except for the record.
The record has no function except to tell you, the alien, something about where it came from, who put it together, and about these odd things that we like — these musical passages that mean something to us.”
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ONE
Beneath the sky
Far from town
The evening lights
Are coming out
We’re almost there
Just a little more—
TWO
Can you tell me what
What we’re looking for?
ONE
My father was
The local star
If not for us
He would’ve topped the charts
But he never did
And now he’s dead
I come out here
Look overhead
And I think that I was born
For something more than ordinary
I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something gold
Now turn your head
To the side
And trace between
The brightest lights
On a line
The planets run
Chasing time
Around the sun
I close my eyes
And fly beyond
I don’t know why I’m telling you this—
TWO
Please, go on!
ONE
Well, I think that I was born
For something more than ordinary
I’ve been writing something
I’ve been hiding something
Quite exciting
Something gold
I think that everyone I know
Just goes in circles bending low
And I can’t see a thing
To keep me home
TWO
We could change our lives
People do it all the time
If you wanna change your life
Then change your eyes
ONE AND TWO
We could change our lives
People do it all the time
TWO
If you wanna change your life
Then change your eyes
"THE SAME THREE STREETS"
ONE
Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
A couple hundred-billion stars in our own galaxy
And more unknown than known
Swimming under this sea
But I drive the same three streets
I drive the same three streets, every week
TWO
Oh, hallelujah, there is so much to see
In the waves and all the wonder
Of a humble heartbeat
And more unknown than known
Dreaming deep within me
But, yeah, I drive the same three streets
ONE
Why drive the same three streets, every week?
When it’s so wide
It’s so wide open!
So wide open!
ONE AND TWO
So wide open!
For you and me
ONE
Oh hallelujah, there is so little time
Let’s make a record of it all
And I could sing at your side
We’ll find a way to leave
The weight of life behind
Instead of driving ‘round the same three streets
Crying ‘bout the same three streets, every week
TWO
Oh, hallelujah
Dream of leaving the ground
But my family needs me
And I can’t let them down
ONE
I’ve seen gravity pull everybody
Back to this town
Unless you let it be the thing
That pushing you out, there
ONE AND TWO
Beyond the belt
Among the cloud…
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Where it’s so wide open!
So wide open!
So wide open!
So wide open!
So wide open!
So wide open!
So wide open!
For you and me
"THE THREE-BODY PROBLEM"
ARCHIVAL AUDIO (GARY FLANDRO)
“This is actually the result of thousands of numerical calculations and trajectories looking for a possible outer planet mission. Astronomers have known, if you just fly past a planet you will gain or lose energy depending on which way you pass. We sometimes call that ‘gravity assist.’ It adds a tremendous boost of energy. And I wanna go past Jupiter — I get a tremendous slingshot effect — we get to Saturn and you gain a huge boost and you can get, then, to Uranus really quickly. And then on to Neptune. And then we’re on the way out of the solar system. And that’s when you go interstellar, at that point.
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“And I could see something really remarkable here: all of the tracks of the outer planets crossed. The planets were all on the same side of the Sun. And you could probably get one spacecraft that could hit all of those planets. But the real problem here is that that only recurs every one-hundred and seventy-five years. So if you miss this one you’ve lost it, because last time this opportunity ever came was when Thomas Jefferson was president and he muffed it! We knew it would work, no problem. Just getting the money to do it was the hard part.”
"THE GRAND TOUR"
ONE
When in the course of ecliptic events
Once in a century, once in two
The planets align in a spiral design
And the freedom you dreamed of comes into view
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ONE AND TWO
When in the course of your family history
You can succeed where others have tried
And you get to be a part of the dream
Of makers of music, all worlds and times
ONE
It’s time to go
It’s time to go
ONE AND TWO
It’s time to go
So we’ve got a dish
And we’ve got all the instruments
Sagan and Stone want us out on the road
We’re making the record, we’re taking it with us
We’re taking the pictures
And sending them home
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It’s time to go
It’s time to go
It’s time to go
It’s time to go
It’s time to go
It’s time to go
It’s time to go!
ONE
When in the face of your great assurance
What makes you so nervous
You don’t quite know
She kisses the air, she says—
TWO
I’ll meet you there
I’ll pack a couple things
And see you at the show
ARCHIVAL AUDIO (HUGH HARRIS)
". . . Four, three, two, one. We have ignition and we have liftoff. We have liftoff of the Titan-Centaur carrying the first of two Voyager spacecraft to extend man’s senses farther into the solar system than ever before."
"CAPE CANAVERAL DAY"
ARCHIVAL AUDIO (HUGH HARRIS)
“This is Voyager launch control, approximately 3 minutes remain in that built-in hold. Surface winds are 5 knots out of the southwest. The maximum winds at altitude are 45 knots out of the northeast, at 92,000 feet. The temperature at launch time should be about 80 degrees. All continues to go well heading for liftoff of Voyager 1 from Complex 41 at 8:56 AM.”
ONE
The air was warm
The day was golden
For being born again
TWO
By mid-morning
Shaking off the ice
From the womb of night
And an unlived life
ONE AND TWO
The crowd came down to Kennedy
To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down to see the smoke
And feel the life below
Turn on, turn on!
ONE
I believe I was conceived and born
In Pasadena where the air is warm
ONE AND TWO
But our lives will change
On Cape Canaveral Day
TWO
Let’s get born
And get unfolded
Stretch our arms, find our star
And begin
ONE AND TWO
And by the evening
I’ll be on my way
ONE
And now it’s time to play
I’ll count us in
1, 2, 3, 4…
ONE AND TWO
Welcome down to Kennedy
To see it all up close
Turn on, turn on!
Counting down to see the smoke
And feel the life below
Turn on, turn on!
I believe I was conceived and born
In Pasadena where the air is warm
But our lives will change
On Cape Canaveral Day
ONE
I believe I was conceived and born
In California, in the swarm
ONE AND TWO
But life will change
On Cape Canaveral Day
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ARCHIVAL AUDIO (HUGH HARRIS)
“. . . Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one . . . We have ignition and we have liftoff.”
"GOODNIGHT MOONLIGHT"
ONE
So long, little Mercury
You may be missing me, but I won’t be
Goodnight, to the evening light
Venus shining bright from the horizon
And Mars, Mars, Mars
I’m only missing you by a month or two
Goodnight moonlight
I love you, but I’m leaving you tonight
Farewell, to the ocean blue
I know I’m seeing you for the last time
And goodbye, Ma, I won’t forget to write
But I’ve crossed the Karman Line
And it’s my time
Goodnight moonlight
You’ll try to call me home, but I won’t go
Goodnight moonlight
I love you, but I’m leaving you tonight
WHAT WE NEED
Saguaro City is looking for your financial support to provide Cameron and his innovative new musical the "space" to explore, the talent with which to explore, and the time to fully realize this incredible vision onstage.
Your donation will go to support:
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Rehearsal Space
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Actors
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Props and Scenic Elements
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Musical Development
WORKSHOPS & AWARDS
JUNE 2023
Workshop #2 (feat. James Kelley Carroll & Samantha Beemer)
JUNE 2023
Awarded: Project Mesquite New Works Grant
by Arts Foundation for Tucson and Southern Arizona
OCTOBER–NOVEMBER 2022
Workshop #1(feat. Xander Mason & Celeste Lewis)
AUGUST 2022
Fundraising Lyric Videos Created (feat. Cameron Hood & Lisa Gollenberg)
MARCH 2022
Awarded: Research & Development Grant
by Arizona Commission on the Arts
NOVEMBER 2019
First Public Performance of a Song from Voyagers (feat. Cameron Hood)
SAGUARO CITY MUSIC THEATRE