Vortex I
4F/9M Band: drums, guitar, bass, keyboard
Still in development, Vortex I is a musical, based on actual events, depicting Oregon Governor Tom McCall’s outside the box decision in 1970 to produce and fund a five-day rock festival in Estacada, Oregon. This decision meant turning a blind eye to the particpants’ nudity and drug use. In the end, the festival prevented violence between anti-Vietnam activists and American Legionnaires who were gathering for a national conference in Portland during the summer of that year.
“One of the outstanding works at this year’s Fertile Ground festival is the musical Vortex I celebrating this event . . . exquisitely acted and sung by the cast of twelve, this play not merely celebrates this unusual public event but analyzes it too, with acuity and no small degree of earned emotion . . .”
— Jae Carlsson, Oregon Arts Watch
“I’ve never had so much fun at a workshop of a show than I did the night I saw Vortex I, a new musical with book and lyrics by Sue Mach and Bill Waddams (of Animotion fame). Vortex I is an Oregon story that the country needs to hear -- get this baby to Broadway!”
— Krista Garver, Broadway World
“But what makes this piece so engaging is the way Mach’s book and lyrics illuminate the character of the central figure, Oregon Governor Tom McCall . . . Through private ruminations, debates with his aides and adversaries, and tussles with his sweetly overbearing mother, we see a political and personal transformation take place in response to potential crisis.”
— Marty Hughley, Oregon Arts Watch