CRANFORD - The township is home to a rare breed - the working musician. Cranford resident Charles Alexander Hay is a full-time musician who has utilized his talents for projects ranging from the composition of rock operas and an operetta to the crafting of a contemporary ballet and "three-quarters" of a musical to composing new-age music for adult instructional meditation videos.

The work he enjoys most, however, is directing musical theater productions, such as "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Vampires in Da House." As a musical director working in award-winning companies, Hay has a hand in casting, teaching the score to the cast, directing the cast on how the score is to be performed and, often times, conducting the orchestra or plays from the pit.

But most often, Hay can be found in his Cranford studio, Suite MIDI (name changed to Helicon Music Production Studio). Hay uses the space to fine-tune his own compositions and provide MIDI programming and sequencing, arranging and scoring, sound design, music engraving, CD mastering and tech support for clients.

His latest creative effort is the CD "Eye of the Dawn" (name changed to "Danse Macabre"), which he has described as "Yanni on steroids." For the CD, Hay will be working with flautist and Morristown-Beard School instrument teacher Jeanine Erickson and violinist and Morristown-Beard junior Rose Fu.

The songs on "Eye of the Dawn" originated as musical compositions for meditation or exercise videos, but Hay said he received requests to release the songs on their own. "At first, I thought no, because I didn't consider the composition for this work serious work," said Hay. "I like to write for theater."

Hay said he felt the music from a meditation video would be too innocuous and low-key to be released. But he soon began to change his mind. "After several requests, I started thinking, well, I still own the rights to the music and this is just gathering dust and I'm not going to use it for anything else," he said. "So, I decided to rework a lot of the compositions."

Before committing to the project, Hay brought a copy of the revamped songs to a test kitchen. Hay gave the CD to a friend who owns a coffee shop in Westfield; the friend played the CD for the latte lovers and gathered feedback, most of which was positive. "My friend called me later that day and asked if I had another (CD)," said Hay. "I asked him why, and he said a customer came in and bought it right out of the machine. So I decided to pursue it."

Although Hay has had success with composing for adult instructional videos, his real interest is working in theater. Although Hay began his career as a musician and a dancer, he quickly grew to appreciate the view from the orchestra pit more than the view from the stage. "I was a better musician than dancer at the time," he said. "But, that is where the theater bug bit me, as a dancer." Hay said he knew at a young age that he had an affinity for expressing himself musically. He has four sisters, each of whom took private music lessons for several instruments. "And here was this 9-year-old boy saying 'I want to take music lessons,' and no one took me seriously," he said. "My little sister was taking piano and I would have her come home and teach me what she learned. After two years of that, they finally relented and gave me piano lessons at age 11."

Hay had his first professional gig when he was 15 years old. It was at an Alumni Party at Princeton University. He had been "discovered" by one of the alumni at the Short Hills Club; wearing a suit and tie, he had finished eating his dinner and in typical teen-age form, grew bored and wandered around the club.

"I went into the other dining room and there was a piano in there so I sat down and played," he said. "This guy came into the room and asked if I would play at the alumni party. I think I charged him $17.50 an hour, plus dinner and drinks. And I got to bring a date."

As the years passed, the gigs kept getting more interesting. Hay played in bands on the rock and roll circuit - including such lesser-known groups as J V O, Carpe Diem, Lawrence of Suburbia and Mirror Mirror. "It is fun, but a little grueling," said Hay. "If you are in an original band, you have to play a lot of showcase clubs which means its kind of a cattle call. They want you to set up in six minutes and tear down in four."

Hay recalled one particularly grueling night at a New York City club. "I had to do a keyboard solo and I had to step back to see my pedals," he said. "There was a hole in the stage and they covered it with carpet and my leg dropped through. I couldn't extricate myself from the hole because the carpet had wrapped around me. But I had this keyboard solo, so I did it with one hand and was able to concentrate on getting myself out of the hole. I got an ovation for that."

No release date for "Eye of the Dawn" has been set.