was 11 years old on , when he, along just about everyone with access to a TV, raptly followed the perilous flight of a runaway weather balloon believed to contain 6-year-old of Fort Collins.
Helicopters and breathless announcers followed the 60-mile flight as the weather balloon made its uncertain way through Weld and Adams counties. Flights were rerouted to avoid the balloon. Denver International Airport briefly closed.
When the balloon finally collapsed onto a field near Keenesburg at 1:35 p.m., Falcon Heene was not inside. He was .
Most onlookers were livid, but Recce was amused. He thought the offered rich material for , and began writing.
“It started as very brutal, biting satire, with a seventh-grade mentality, but as it’s progressed I’ve tried to make the characters more human,” Recce said.
“I wanted it to be a satirical story about the American media, and I wanted it to have a sense of humor, like ‘Saturday Night Live’ or ‘Bat Boy The Musical’ or ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’ I call it a musical comedy.”
Recently, Recce, now a 16-year-old senior at on Long Island in New York, learned that won the musical works competition for the best student-created opening number for a musical. Here’s a of Follow Your Dream”:
“Isn’t life amazing?
“It’s wonderful what you can do
“Fame can be given on a platter
“All you need is a weather balloon
“Follow your dreams
“No matter how hard it seems
“You may seem odd
“That’s just a façade…
“We are a special family, a multitalented family
“We seek fame.”
Recce’s “Follow Your Dream” beat eight other entries, earning him the chance to develop “Balloon Boy” in a workshop at the 2014 International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Neb., next week.
The Heene family relocated from Fort Collins to Florida after the father, Richard, pleaded guilty to a felony and was fined $36,000. Falcon and his brothers that received some media attention, all of it linked to the 2009 mishap.
“I haven’t heard from them, but I’d hope they’d like the show,” Recce said.
“I think the show doesn’t glorify what they did. It’s about the driving want they had, the length they’ll go to to achieve what they want, and where their natural human desire takes them.”
Claire Martin: 303-954-1477, cmartin@denverpost.com or twitter.com/byclairemartin
Balloon boy: the musical
A high school junior from Long Island, NY, wins a student competition for best opening song for an original musical about a publicity-hungry family who got national attention in 2009 when they claimed their 6-year-old was in a runaway weather balloon.
