Aaron Alon’s New Musical Takes On Conversion Therapy with Heart

Composer Aaron Alon is a happy man. And he has reason to be. His latest musical, The Chosen Ones, is set to make its world premiere during a two-week run in late August. This is the first time one of his musicals is receiving a full production and run.

“I’m over the moon about it!” the Rice University grad tells us. “We have such an amazing group of people who are working on it. The director, the music director, and the whole cast are just wonderful. So it’s a dream.”

The Chosen Ones follows six LGBTQ teens at summer camp—or rather, summer conversion therapy camp. Led by an “ex-gay pastor” (yep, that’s in quotation marks), camp activities include group therapy, rants, confessions, and secret make-up sessions in the boys’ dorm. Alon is careful to say that the show is not autobiographical. But while it’s not based on his life, it is based on real life.

Alon tends to write issue-driven musicals and plays, completing a couple of years of research before beginning to write lyrics or dialog. It was slightly different for The Chosen Ones. “I was a volunteer with HATCH for nine years and heard lots of stories about conversion therapy. This is something that’s devastating the lives of young people,” he says. “The show depicts conversion therapy as it stands in the US right now, widely practiced. It’s a drama, but there are some funny moments.”

The cast includes a butch lesbian, a trans character, some gay guys, and a nonbinary person. Oh, and that “ex-gay pastor” and his prayer partner, a groundskeeper at the camp. Each comes complete with their own bit of anger, hope, fear, and joy. There are a total of 12 songs.

Alon finds he identifies with some aspect of each character, except for Caleb. “Caleb is the only one of the six teens who has chosen to be at the conversion camp. The other five had to be forced to be there. Caleb pushed his parents to let him go. He desperately wants not to be gay and is all in on this conversion therapy, but it’s not working. He has a sad story.”

It would be easy to label the pastor as the story’s villain, but Alon’s writing is much more three-dimensional than that. “He really cares about these kids and wants what’s best for them. He thinks he’s doing good in the world,” says Alon. “There are some conversion therapy programs that are really scary and do a lot of harm, but I think more of them are like this, where people really think they are helping. They want to do good in the world, but they aren’t.”

One of the more fascinating aspects of the show is that, while it’s a musical, some of the characters can’t sing. That is, they can’t connect with that part of themselves that’s the music. There’s a saying in musical theater: “When words aren’t enough, you’re moved to sing.”

“All of the teens sing,” Alon tells us. “The pastor and his prayer partner never sing. In a way, the pastor has silenced himself, so he can’t sing. The idea of music as freedom of expression and authenticity becomes a device in the show.

“The styles of music vary from character to character because they are each very different. One is trans, one is a butch lesbian, and one is gay. Each one uses different words to identify themselves, so it seemed natural that the kind of song they would sing would be in a different style. What brings them all together is that they still have the ability to access the music.”

Alon, an openly gay man, is the show’s composer, lyricist, playwright, and orchestrator. (Not listed on his credits is “Boss.”) His approach to The Chosen Ones, as with his other projects, has been collaborative. The show is directed and choreographed by Aisha Ussery, with music directed by Phillip D. Hall. Alon gives them plenty of space to bring their own vision to the project.

It was about two years ago, in July 2023, that Alon completed the first draft of The Chosen Ones. After that, he oversaw the recording of a cast album. Several cast members from the album will also participate in the current stage production.

“I am over the moon about the people. It’s been a dream scenario where everyone likes each other and everyone is crazy-talented,” says Alon.

This world premiere production of The Chosen Ones is part of the John Steven Kellett Memorial Series of works relating to LGBTQ equity.

WHAT: The Chosen Ones world premier
WHEN: August 28–September 6, 2025
WHERE: MATCH, 3400 Main Street
INFO: matchouston.org