Rise Up Babylon: A Musical

Summary

Rise Up Babylon is a mythic memoir and immersive musical journey about family, grief, forgiveness, and the healing power of music.

Blending lyrical storytelling with original songs, the work follows Maeley, a young pianist raised within the privilege and pressure of a powerful family shaped by ambition, expectation, and emotional distance. Her father, a commanding executive in the oil industry, believes discipline and achievement are the pathways to success, while Maeley is drawn toward imagination, creativity, and the natural world. As a child, she escapes into the forest, which becomes both refuge and guide. As Maeley comes of age, music begins leading her toward a deeper understanding of herself, her family, and the world beyond the boundaries of her upbringing. Influenced by a beloved piano teacher who later becomes her university music professor, along with two music school roommates—one Lakota and one Hawaiian—Maeley discovers perspectives that expand her sense of belonging and purpose. But her world is forever changed when her younger sister Annie is killed in a catastrophic mudslide following a California wildfire. The tragedy fractures the family and sends Maeley on a profound spiritual and creative journey through grief, identity, and reconciliation. Years later, while her father lies dying of cancer, long-buried truths rise to the surface. In the intimacy of his final days, father and daughter slowly find the honesty and compassion that had eluded them for years. Before his passing, he leaves Maeley with one final request: “Tell our story through music.”

That promise becomes the heart of Rise Up Babylon. Written during three years in which author and composer Madam Snowflake was confined to a wheelchair after a severe injury, the project inhabits a unique space between memoir, musical, fairytale, and spiritual reflection. At its core, Rise Up Babylon is a story about returning—to love, truth, creativity, and one another. It is an invitation to believe that even after profound loss, music has the power to heal, unite, and illuminate the path forward.