In March 1998, Ben Decter drove from Los Angeles to Tijuana to get medicine for his 17-month-old daughter, Addie. She had “catastrophic childhood epilepsy,” the neurologist had told him, and a drug not yet available in the U.S.
was their best bet to treat her nonstop seizures. That terrifying moment is currently revisited five times per week as part of a new musical — one that’s deeply personal and more than 20 years in the making. Titled “It’s All Your Fault, Tyler Price!,” the family-friendly performance is entertaining, empathetic and educational about epilepsy, a condition that remains stigmatized despite its ubiquity .
And its world-premiere production, running through Dec. 15 at the Hudson Backstage Theatre in Hollywood, is largely funded by a pharmaceutical company. It’s an unconventional financing model for a piece of musical theater.
But for a unique stage show with a singular origin story, it might just be the right prescription. “The entertainment world has been changing, and that includes all of the ways that musicals, TV and movies typically get funding,” said the show’s director, Kristin Hanggi. “It’s really just the idea of partnering with people who are in alignment with the same mission as you are and want to serve the same community you do.
And when you’re united on that level, it feels undeniable.” At first, Decter — an Emmy-winning composer who’s scored TV shows such as “Lucifer,” “Lethal Weapon” and “CSI: Cyber�.