Letter to Harvey Milk is a musical composed by Laura l. Kramer, lyrics by Ellen M. Schwartz, book by Jerry James; it is based on Lesléa Newman's short story of the same name.
[8] In 2022 the show had a run at the Waterloo East Theatre in the Off-West End from 9 June until 3 July.
[9] Source[10] Setting: San Francisco, 1986[11] Harry – a retired Kosher butcher and widower – wakes up from a nightmare.
Harry explains that his simple life has been disrupted by a writing class at the local senior center in which his teacher, Barbara, is pushing him to “remember too much” (Thanks To Her).
She asserts that the teacher is helping him, and asks for him to tell her about the painful memories and nightmares his writing is bringing up.
The next scene takes place in Harry's writing class, where his young teacher Barbara shares her excitement at the prospect of hearing Harry's stories as her own grandparents were reluctant to share their Jewish heritage and memories of the old country (Since Then).
He shares details from his life, but won't share why he keeps a jar of jellybeans in his kitchen or why he kept them at work, because Frannie (or rather, Frannie's ghost) tells him not to “tell her nothing you never told me.” Later, Harry is writing a letter to someone deceased as part of an assignment from Barbara.
He chooses to write a letter to his friend, late gay politician Harvey Milk, who had been assassinated eight years prior.
He reveals that he keeps the jelly beans in memory of “Harveleh,” and laments his friend's assassination and its aftermath (Love, Harry).
The fight brings Harry to wonder exactly how close he and his wife had been, and they share a tense duet about how they were content not to pry too much into the details of each other's lives (Weren't We?)
This sight upsets him greatly and prompts him to share the story of his experience in a concentration camp during the Holocaust, in which he became lovers with his male friend Yussl, who eventually allowed himself to be killed for being gay by the Nazis in order to save Harry's life.
Harry offers his notebook to Barbara, saying that he couldn't write anymore but that she could publish his letter to Harvey.