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DAVID
SHEPHERD TO KING
A Musical
Before the throne. Before the giant. Before the crown.
There was a boy in a field, asking God if anyone could see him.
The World
Three thousand years ago, in the hills of ancient Israel, a kingdom was falling apart.
King Saul had been chosen by God. Anointed by the prophet Samuel. Given everything a man could want. And somewhere along the way, something broke inside him. The Spirit of God that once filled him had departed, and something darker had taken its place. He ruled from a throne he could barely sit in, haunted by dreams, tormented by whispers, watching shadows gather at the edges of his mind.
The prophet Samuel, ancient and grieving, had delivered God's verdict: the kingdom would be torn from Saul's hands and given to another. A neighbor. Someone better.
But who?
The Forgotten Son
In Bethlehem, a prosperous man named Jesse had eight sons. Seven of them sat at his table each night. The eighth was usually forgotten.
David was the youngest. The afterthought. The one who came after Jesse thought his family was complete. While his brothers trained for war and worked the family trade, David was sent to the hills with the sheep. Not as punishment, exactly. He simply fit better out there. More comfortable with animals than people. More interested in his harp than his father's stories.
His brothers dismissed him. His father overlooked him. When visitors came, no one thought to mention the boy in the fields. When meals were served, his seat sat empty more often than not.
David wasn't hated. He was simply invisible.
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The Lion
One night, alone in the darkness, a lion came for the flock.
David didn't have time to think. Didn't have time to run. One moment the predator had a lamb in its jaws. The next moment David was on its back, his arm around its throat, his hands gripping its maw. He felt the bones give way.
Afterward, shaking in the aftermath of adrenaline, blood drying under his fingernails, David sat beneath the stars and asked the only question that mattered:
"Was that You?"
He couldn't have done that. He knew he couldn't have done that. Something else had been in his hands. Something that didn't make sense.
He looked toward his father's house, distant firelight flickering. They were all at dinner. No one had noticed he was missing. No one would believe what had just happened.
"I don't need them to believe me," David whispered to the sky. "I just need to know if You saw. If You were there. If that was You."
He picked up his harp. Played a melody that became a prayer.
Alone in the darkness, shaking in the aftermath of killing a lion with his bare hands, David looks at the stars and asks the only question that matters.
"Do You See Me"
Do You See Me
The Anointing
The prophet Samuel arrived in Bethlehem with oil in his horn and terror in his heart.
God had told him to stop grieving for Saul. To go to Jesse's house. To anoint a new king from among Jesse's sons. But Samuel had anointed Saul, too. He had believed in Saul. Loved him, even. And look how that had ended.
What if I get it wrong again?
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Jesse lined up his sons. Seven tall, capable men. Samuel looked at the eldest, Eliab, and thought: This must be him. Look at him. A born king.
He reached for the oil.
And the voice came: Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.
One by one, Samuel examined Jesse's sons. One by one, the voice said no.
Seven sons. Seven rejections.
"Are these all the sons you have?"
Jesse hesitated. The hesitation said everything.
"There remains yet the youngest. But... he is keeping the sheep."
But. Such a small word to carry such weight.
"Send for him. We will not sit down until he comes."
David entered confused, dusty, smelling like wool and grass. He saw the ancient prophet. The horn of oil. His brothers watching with expressions he couldn't read.
Samuel crossed the room. Leaned close. Whispered:
"Don't be afraid."
"What's happening?"
"I don't entirely know. But God does."
Oil poured over David's head. Ran down his face. Soaked into his clothes.
And something entered the room. Something that made his brothers step back without knowing why. Something that filled David's chest with a weight he would carry for the rest of his life.
The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.
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Oil pours over the forgotten son's head. Something enters the room. Seven brothers watch as the boy they dismissed becomes something they can't understand.
"The Lord Sees"
The Lord Sees
The Waiting
That night, David returned to the fields. Oil still drying in his hair. Anointed king of Israel.
And still sitting with sheep.
No one explained what had happened. Samuel left without instructions. His brothers wouldn't speak to him. His father looked at him like a stranger.
Days passed. Then weeks. Then months.
What do I do now? Go back to the sheep? Wait? For how long? Years? My whole life? Is this a promise or a riddle?
The anointing cost David whatever marginal place he'd held in his family. His brothers didn't ignore him anymore. They hated him.
Eliab cornered him at the well. "God looked at all of us - your brothers who have fought for this family, bled for this family - and said we weren't good enough. And the dreamer in the fields was." He spat at David's feet. "If you're the future of Israel, then Israel is in worse shape than anyone knows."
The Court
Word reached King Saul that a shepherd boy in Bethlehem played music that could calm troubled spirits. Saul, desperate for any relief from the darkness eating him alive, sent for David.
David arrived at the palace and saw the king for the first time. This tall, wrecked figure. Once the pride of Israel, now a corpse that hadn't stopped moving. Hollow eyes. Twitching hands. A throne he could barely sit in.
"Play."
David played.
Something happened. The tension drained from Saul's face. His breathing slowed. He wept silently, listening to music that sounded like something he used to know. Before everything went wrong.
"Stay. Whenever the darkness comes... I need that music."
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The Giant
The Philistines invaded.
Two armies faced each other across the Valley of Elah. Israel on one ridge. The enemy on the other. The valley between them, empty except for one figure.
Goliath.
Nine feet of bronze-covered death. Champion of the Philistines. He strode into the valley each morning and issued his challenge: send one man to fight him. Winner takes all. If Israel's champion wins, the Philistines become slaves. If Goliath wins, Israel serves Philistia.
For forty days, no one answered.
Goliath's voice echoed off the valley walls. He mocked Israel's army. He mocked Israel's king. He mocked Israel's God.
"I defy the armies of Israel! Where is your champion? Where is your God?"
The soldiers turned away. Pretended not to hear. King Saul, the tallest man in Israel, sat frozen in his tent.
The armies of the living God, paralyzed by one man's blasphemy.
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For forty days, Goliath has mocked God and terrified Israel. Nine feet of bronze-covered death, issuing a challenge no one will answer.
"The Giant's Taunt"
The Giant's Taunt
The Shepherd's Answer
David arrived at the camp delivering supplies from his father. He heard Goliath's challenge. Watched Israel's army shrink back.
And something rose up in him. The same thing that had been in his hands when he killed the lion.
"Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
His brother Eliab heard and stormed over. "Why have you come down? I know your presumption and the evil of your heart - you've come down to see the battle."
But David's question reached the king.
Saul looked at this shepherd boy and saw madness. "You're a boy. He's been a warrior since before you were born."
"Your servant has struck down lions and bears. This Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God."
Something in David's voice. That certainty. Saul remembered what it felt like to have that certainty, before it drained away.
"Go. And the Lord be with you."
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David walked into the valley. No armor. No sword. A staff, a sling, five smooth stones.
Goliath saw him coming and laughed. "Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks? Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds and the beasts."
David kept walking.
"You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied."
He ran toward the giant.
The sling whirred.
The stone flew.
Goliath fell face-first into the dust.
David took the giant's own sword and cut off his head.
The Philistines fled. Israel pursued. The impossible had happened.
A shepherd boy had done what the whole army couldn't.
The Cost
In the victory celebration, women danced through the streets singing: "Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands!"
Watch Saul's face as he hears it. The moment jealousy enters. The moment everything breaks.
Watch Jonathan's face. Wonder. Joy. Something clicking into place.
That night, Jonathan found David alone. Without a word, he removed his royal robe and placed it on David's shoulders. Then his armor. His sword. His bow. His belt.
"Whatever God is doing, you're at the center of it. My soul is yours. From this day forward. Whatever comes. Whatever it costs."
Two men. One throne. A prince giving away his birthright willingly, joyfully. The beginning of the deepest friendship in Scripture.
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But Saul's jealousy would grow into madness. The king who once wept at David's music would throw spears at his head. The throne David was promised would become a nightmare to reach.
Years of running. Hiding in caves. Leading a band of outcasts. Sparing the life of the king who hunted him. Watching friends die. Carrying guilt that never faded.
And finally, on a mountain called Gilboa, Saul and Jonathan would fall in the same battle. The king and the prince. The tormentor and the friend. Both gone.
David would weep for his enemy as deeply as his friend.
And then, at last, the shepherd boy would become king.
The Journey
This musical follows David from the fields of Bethlehem to the throne of Israel. Fifteen years of promise and waiting. Of impossible odds and inexplicable victories. Of friendship and betrayal and grief and joy.
Ten songs. Three acts. One epic story.
Act One
The Shepherd Called
A forgotten boy. A prophet's anointing. A giant's challenge. The beginning of everything.
Act Two
The Beloved Exile
Running from a mad king. Leading an army of outcasts. The long wait for a promise that seems like a lie.
Act Three
The Mighty Fallen
Grief and triumph intertwined. The cost of the crown. The shepherd becomes king.
The Vision
Visual Style
Prince of Egypt meets classical Biblical illustration. Hand-painted 2D animation. Epic scale. Dramatic chiaroscuro lighting. Rich earth tones punctuated with sacred gold and night-sky blue. Characters angular and expressive. Landscapes vast and monumental.
Musical Style
Broadway theatrical meets cinematic orchestral. Intimate ballads. Thundering villain numbers. Ensemble anthems. Middle Eastern textures woven throughout. Every song advances the story. Every melody carries emotional weight.
Narrative Approach
This isn't sanitized Sunday School. David is complex - capable of both extraordinary faith and profound failure. Saul is tragic, not cartoonishly evil. The violence is real. The grief is real. The questions are real. And through it all, the sense that God is working in ways no one can fully see.
Why This Project
Angel Studios recently released their own animated David film with a reported $70 million budget. While it has received generally positive reviews and earned roughly $70 million at the box office, industry standards typically require 2.5x production budget to break even, making its commercial success uncertain.
More significantly, the film represents a missed opportunity artistically: generic 3D animation that could be any studio's output, forgettable songs, and the theological shallowness that often accompanies projects from Angel Studios (a Mormon-owned company that markets itself to Christian audiences without sharing orthodox Christian convictions).
The David story deserves better than competent mediocrity. It deserves the artistic ambition of Prince of Egypt, music that people will actually remember, and biblical fidelity from creators who share the faith they're depicting.
This project exists as a proof of concept - a vision document with produced song demos, a fully developed narrative, and concept art establishing what a truly excellent David musical could look and sound like.
The goal is not to independently produce a $100 million animated film, but to cast a compelling vision that might inspire and connect with filmmakers, studios, or investors who could make it reality.
Concept Art Gallery
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This Story Deserves to Be Told
This story has waited three thousand years to be told like this. Help make it happen.