Redondo Beach Stars in New Musical

Picture the beach and the old Hotel Redondo in the background, while talking sea turtles, surfers—including the legendary George Freeth—scheming bad guys, and a loving family sing and dance. Then picture yourself at the on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, enjoying it all.

The Strand: A Beach Musical is an original production. Susan Schuchert Brown wrote the play, which is inspired by the history of the Hotel Redondo and the early surfing scene. Her husband, award-winning songwriter John Brown, scored and wrote original songs for the play.

"It's just so interesting that this was the site of all that—the first actual surfing [in Southern California], and then the hotel was so beautiful ... What the heck happened there?" Susan Schuchert Brown said.

The Browns' musical fantasy starts during the Hotel Redondo's glory days at the turn of the 20th century. The musical follows a young boy named Willy and a baby sea turtle from 1907 to the present day.

In this magical world, the grand hotel was never torn down. Willy grows up to become the proprietor, and he and his grandchildren must fight off a takeover by evil investors who want to tear the place down.

There really was a , and entrepreneur Henry Huntington (also in the play) really did bring surfer to Redondo Beach to wow the tourists. But the real hotel—which filled the land at Veterans Park—was torn down in the 1920s. Brown's play envisions a world where that didn't happen.

The Browns operate Fantasia Family Music, a nonprofit that works with local schools to provide music education. Fantasia also hosts summer music camps for children, which is where The Strand got its start.

One year, Brown said, "We just couldn’t find any musical that interested us."

So she wrote one.

Brown had penned more than 20 plays for her students, but this was her first full-blown musical. When it was first staged it at  in South Redondo, The Strand used music from the Beach Boys and other sources.

The production got a great reaction, and the Browns kept polishing it. "We just got so engaged," Susan Schuchert Brown said. "It's something we've been working on in the background when we have time."

In the intervening years, John Brown has written all new songs for the musical to replace the "oldies" tunes that were first used. He collaborated on one piece with Paul Johnson of the Belairs, and another was co-written with Jeff Foskett, who tours with Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys.

The Browns' son, Evan, a student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, also wrote a couple of songs for the production.

Since they usually mount plays at St. Andrew's or in schools, Susan Schuchert Brown admitted to being "a little nervous" about staging the musical in the large Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. But she and her husband have some help: a program called Light LA stepped in and sent an expert out to design the lighting. Light LA also provided a stage manager and lots of production advice.

will opens at 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts at 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. Tickets are $18 for adults, $12 for students and can be purchased online at Brownpapertickets.com.