AuSABLE FORKS — Two years in the making and still not complete, “Clara’s Cadenza” is being introduced to the public as a musical workshop this Saturday, Oct. 21 at 4 p.m. at the Tahawus Cultural Center.

Audience members can help shape the creation of this musical about the 19th century’s singular pianist/composer, Clara Schumann, by providing their comments and feedback on the script and the songs as they exist.

Book and Blanket Players Producer/Director Kathleen Recchia and the creative team behind “Clara’s Cadenza,” which includes three students — Mallory Arnold, a graduate of Willsboro Central School District now a freshman at Yale, and Olivia Marocco and Lucy Thill, both seniors in the Saranac Lake Central School District — have been meeting by Zoom regularly since September 2021 to develop this original musical.

It began with research, lots of reading and the thought that this could be a vehicle for the Book and Blanket Players’ summer youth theatre. However, as the research progressed, the team decided that the telling of Clara’s story might be a little too complicated for the 8-year-olds in the theatre company. So it was decided that when this musical would go into performance, it would be primarily with and for adults and young adults.

The team is excited to have some of the North Country’s finest actors bringing these dynamic people to life in the 21st century. Tyler Nye will be reading and singing the part of Robert Schumann with Mallory Arnold playing adult Clara. Brenda and Bill McColgan will be Clara’s parents Mariane Bargiel and Friedrich Wieck. Other performers for this presentation are Alisa Endsley, Laura Farrell, Linnea D’Auria, Peggy Orman, Max Longware, Cooper Halloran, Lillian Zander and Zoe Hadden.

The creators thought that it would be appropriate to use the original compositions of Clara Wieck (Schumann), Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, who played a large role in the lives of the Schumann family, as the basis for the songs in the musical, which poses its own set of challenges.

This will be an informal reading of the work as it stands with performers reading from the manuscript and music score. The creators are hoping to gather valuable feedback from the audience about the direction for “finishing the hat,” as legendary composer Stephen Sondheim would say.

Recchia is grateful for the grants received to help bring this about and proud of the students for their perseverance on such a long-term project.

“It’s been quite a journey, learning about this strong woman from another century with three strong contemporary young women,” she said. “We have all been surprised, astounded and awed by some of real-life circumstances that our characters came up against.”