Music

Chadwick Stokes’ rock opera about abortion is finally here. But it’s not done.

It may “take years” to finish — but the Dispatch singer's first public version of the show debuts in Somerville Friday.

By Lauren Daley

March 22, 2024

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Chadwick Stokes’ rock opera is a rolling stone that’s been gathering momentum all his life — and it’s starting to move. 

As a kid in Sherborn, he was mesmerized by rock operas: “Hair,” “Tommy,” “The Wall.”

Much later came his stint hopping freight trains, “hobo” style.

Around the time he stopped train-hopping, Stokes and wife Sybil Gallagher founded Calling All Crows. The nonprofit works with musicians, festivals, and venues to support feminist movements. (Homepage: “We connect music fans to feminist movements for justice and equality.”)

Add those up: Rock opera + hopping freight trains + feminist activism = “1972,” Stokes’ rock opera, still in the works, which he debuts in its current form Friday night in Somerville with The Pintos as part of the 16th annual Calling All Crows Benefit Festival Weekend.

What started as a rock opera about a liver donation has morphed into the tale of Hannah: a young woman (“23-ish”) from Maryland with an unwanted pregnancy by an abusive partner in 1972, when abortion was still illegal in the U.S. She hops trains Chicago to obtain one illegally via an activist group.

“I’m grateful people sold out the Somerville show knowing they wouldn’t know any of the songs. Kudos to y’all,” Stokes says with a laugh in a phone interview from his Milton home.

I called the Dispatch and State Radio rocker to talk train-hopping, ’70-era abortion activists, a kidnapping, and what’s next for Hannah’s tale. (Who knows? Maybe a Tony nod.) As for Stokes and Dispatch, the band hits the road again this summer and fall with two shows at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Oct. 18 and 19.

Boston.com: You’ve wanted to write a rock opera since you were a kid. How did you land on abortion?

Chadwick Stokes: I already had a story about a young woman jumping trains across the country to give some of her liver to her estranged brother in California. When Roe was overturned, I thought: “Oh, maybe she’s not giving her liver away. Maybe she has an unwanted pregnancy with an abusive boyfriend.” So it got tweaked. Before I had kids, I did a bunch of train-jumping. 

Wait, what?

Yeah, freight trains, just the old hobo world. I always knew I wanted to do something inspired by that experience. I stopped [jumping trains] around 2010. I thought about it for years. It’s been percolating for a long time. The idea of a two-hour piece was always intimidating, but I love the jigsaw puzzle of putting it together.

I listened to some songs, and I know they might change, but what’s interesting is there aren’t many overt protest songs or messages.

So a lot of these songs were older — it’s been trying to figure out how to put them in. Some newer songs are more lyrically driven. A lot of the first half is really getting to know the characters. I’ve always found there’s more power in the story than hitting the nail on the head.

“Hannah 1” feels like the closest you get to a protest song.

Probably, yeah. That’s more a broad-stroke while other [songs are] more her experience.  And “Cry Out” celebrates our democracy, we can’t give up on it. “Cry Out” might be a centerpiece.

What came first: the story or the lyrics?

The story was there. Then I had all these songs — some new, some old, that could fit. There are 10 or 12 older songs.

Will you record this?

I know so much is going to change. It could take years to hammer it out, like with Anais Mitchell’s “Hadestown.” [According to its website, the Vermonter’s brainchild grew from a DIY Vermont theater project in 2006-07 to a record in 2010, was adapted for theater in 2013, and earned 14 Tonys nods in 2019.]

If this goes well in Boston, I’m wondering: Do we take it to New York for a week to a small theater? If everything feels like it’s sitting well, do we record it? Or do we just keep developing it for a few years?

What’s the story as you see it now? Hannah is in an abusive relationship in Maryland, gets pregnant, and hops trains to Chicago for an abortion. 

[Some things might] change but right now, she ends up in Chicago with the Janes [or Jane, or  The Jane Collective] — a group of women facilitating abortions for women who needed them in Chicago. They were a real, amazing group of women; there’s a documentary. They’d put up signs, like: Pregnant? Need help? Call Jane. From 1965 to 1973 they facilitated about 11,000 abortions. 

The mafia was giving abortions at that time. Hannah almost goes through with an illegal abortion, but it’s too sketchy. She finally gets to Chicago but the doctor — who actually wasn’t a real doctor— with the Janes has been kidnapped by the mafia. They end up saving the doctor from the mafia.

It says in the description: “Hannah befriends an eclectic cast of strangers.” 

A big part of the first act is the people she meets on the trains. One is trying to get to New York City from Mississippi; one is just back from Vietnam.

But you’re still working on the story.

Yeah, for example: There’s one scene where they all trip on mushrooms. It was easy to write songs about psychedelics because you can write whatever. [laughs]

[laughs] Right.

I had four songs for that. But there were holes in other parts of the story. So I’ve been tightening up.

How many songs will it be when it’s done?

It’s around 28 right now. But it started at 50. I got in over my head.

I’m thinking of Neil Young’s “Greendale” — are you going to have actors in costume on stage at the concert? 

Not in Somerville. It’s going to be more like The Who playing “Tommy.” But eventually I would love to have actors and singers.

You mentioned “Hadestown.” Would this be something you’d adapt for stage? 

That would be great.  I’m sure there’s people from the stage-world who’d totally pick it apart, and I’m open to that. This is my first stab at it. 

What do you want people to take away from this show?

I want them to feel empowered, maybe reflect upon that time and where we are now. Hopefully connect with Hannah enough to have an inkling of what it might be like to be young with an unwanted pregnancy from an asshole boyfriend. 

This is part of the Calling All Crows Benefit Weekend. What sparked you and Sybil to found the organization?

We wanted to use our platform to create change and community in the music world. We have different campaigns, usually through a feminist lens. We have an ongoing campaign, Here for the Music, that’s trying to curb sexual violence in the music world. We’ve done trainings all over the country for venue staff, fans. 

That’s great. What got you involved in feminist activism?

I would say having a sister, and then my experience with Sybil, my wife, and realizing it’s a very different reality for men and women, and being maybe naively shocked by that. Men have really f—d things up. So much ego, so much violence. If [positions] of power were held by women, it’d be a very different story. 

True. Do you have daughters?

I do. [laughs] We were well on our way [with the nonprofit] before we had girls, but then it sunk in at a new level.

Lauren Daley can be reached at [email protected] . She tweets @laurendaley1.