Galatea is a rock musical adaptation of Ovid’s classic myth Pygmalion, which tells the chilling tale of an obsessed sculptor whose statue comes to life.

Galatea re-imagined what would happen if a statue actually came to life. Straddling this world and another, she exists in a liminal place of human and god, woman and monster, child and mother. This new work — flanked by a live band on stage — featured an original rock score drawing on the aural roots of Tommy by The Who, David Bowie, and Hedwig and The Angry Inch.

Galatea echoes classic “artist as God” stories like Frankenstein, Pinocchio, and My Fair Lady, as well as modern cinematic interpretations like Ex Machina and Ruby Sparks. The show surfaces a complex dialogue around race, fate, gender, personhood, sexual violence, bodily autonomy, and what it means to create—and control—your art.

Beginning as a graphic novel penned and photographed by Katie Tandy, Galatea was developed into a workshop with Musical Cafe, a musical theatre development and education program for writers and composers in Berkeley. It premiered at CounterPulse in San Francisco, Feb 21-24, 2019.