Cannabis Dei

So I happened upon a couple local Catholic bloggers who are outraged that this church is being turned into the Ivory Theatre. And even more outraged that New Line Theatre, an "avant garde" theatre company (say what?) will be in residence there. And even MORE outraged that the first show will be Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll.

They should be glad we didn't open there last fall with Johnny Appleweed...!

I've tried to engage one of these guys in a dialogue, and though he's certainly no wacko, he won't even consider that the world isn't quite as black-and-white as his Catholic Bible would suggest. I explained to him that our show isn't just a blanket endorsement of sex or drugs or rock & roll (though may I personally endorse all three while we're on the subject?), that instead it is a thoughtful piece of theatre that asks questions about these forces, that explores their place in and effect on America's culture and people, and that whole sections of the show actually dramatize the destructive force of both sex and drugs in certain contexts.

I also tried to explain to him that though religion may feed the soul for some people, art also feeds the soul (arguably, for more people), that art celebrates the majesty and complexity of our world and ourselves, and that the kind of work New Line does is not a "commercial" for anything. We explore our world. We ask questions. We don't presume to have the answers.

Unlike religion.

Even the comedy songs in this show have surprising depth. "Perky Little Porn Star," for example, describes the singer's unhappy, repressive childhood, which has led him into the porn industry. We can laugh at the jokes in the song, but there is some very painful truth there. No easy answers, but truth nonetheless. "Nobody Needs to Know" is a song of an adulterous husband blaming his wife for his infidelity. "Maybe I Like It This Way" offers us a woman in an abusive relationship who knows she won't leave. Again, no easy answers, but lots of truth!

This guy responds that he has no objection to the work we do, merely that we're doing it in a church. But it's not a church anymore. It hasn't been since 2005. It's a building. It's stone and glass and masonry. There is no divinity in the building, only in the beauty of human achievement it represents. And what better place to create theatre, this ancient ritual that, under ideal circumstances, strives to touch God by connecting people to each other in the pursuit of truth.

I'll end by quoting "Walking in Space," a song from Hair that is the centerpiece of Act II of Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll:

My body is walking in space.
My soul is in orbit
With God, face to face.
. . .
On a rocket to the fourth dimension,
Total self-awareness the intention.
. . .
Walking in space
We find the purpose of peace,
The beauty of life
You can no longer hide.
Our eyes are open,
Wide, wide, wide...

Long Live the Musical!
Scott

There's a Light

I realized tonight, running Act I, that this is one of those shows just weird enough that, right now, I'm the only one who really understands what this is going to be... I could tell watching the actors tonight that they're willing to give it their all, to really work hard on each moment, but I don't think most of them really totally get where we're headed, Big Picture-wise...

And I can't tell you how much I love them that they trust me that much and will follow me down whatever road I think is best. They all rock. I'm very fortunate.

It was the same with our "unusual" Jesus Christ Superstar, with Urinetown, Rocky Horror, The Cradle Will Rock, and Sunday in the Park with George. And, then of course, none of us knew where we heading with Johnny Appleweed until halfway through the rehearsal period, me included! But the actors just keep working their asses off.

I really do love my job. And I am very grateful that there are so many actors in town who want to go on these adventures with me and who really trust me to take them down a worthwhile road. I do not take that for granted. I know that my ideas are only as good as the people who bring them to life. These actors aren't just talented, they're also generous, patient, and trusting. I really do love my job.

Long Live the Musical!
Scott

In a way, it's a truly romantic story...

So we started staging the show last night. This is going to be a very strange animal, this show of ours.

I was thinking last night that my model for this work may be a show I saw at the Rep years ago. I can't remember the title but it was this brilliant revue of the songs of Kurt Weill that did what I'm attempting to do now, weave the songs together in a way that gives each actor a consistent character and through-line over the course of the evening and also develops relationships between actors. There was no concrete story and the actors weren't even literally playing the same characters in every song, but there was an unmistakable through-line there. It was one of my favorite things I've ever seen at the Rep.

Another model may be a show we produced in 1998, Jason Robert Brown's amazing Songs for a New World (two songs from which will be in this show). This beautiful abstract musical features four actors singing a series of songs that are self-contained mini-scenes. But as we rehearsed the show, we realized that each actor had an emotional through-line across the show, and that the relationships among the four was developed over the evening as well. (My background and analysis chapter about Songs for a New World is in my book Rebels with Applause and also on the New Line website.)

It's an unusual form in which to tell stories, but it's also incredibly satisfying and compelling theatre. I hope that Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll will operate in a similar way.

In certain respects, our show is an abstract piece of theatre, exploring ideas rather than plot. As an example, Act I ("Sex") begins with a section about a young man navigating the treacherous terrain of sex and love, a journey he's clearly not prepared for. It begins with a song in which a young couple finds out they're having a baby. Then several married men appear and warn the young man against the trap of marriage. Then another woman calls the young man on his cell phone and engages him in phone sex -- who is she? is she already having an affair with this guy? The world torments and tempts this guy, daring him to bail on his obligations to the mother of his child. Then a Greek chorus appears to celebrate the "joys" of venereal disease... and yet the young man leaves with the other woman anyway, leaving behind this young woman who's carrying his child...

It's not exactly a story in the conventional sense, but it does take the audience on a journey and it does reveal truths about the real world. There are lots of young women getting pregnant and being abandoned by the young men who impregnated them. Why?

As Act I continues, we similarly explore adultery, the nature of love and sex, and the joy of pornography... Act II explores both the right and wrong reasons for using drugs, the human aloneness we all know, and the joy and healing of community.

Maybe the best way to describe our show is to say that while some shows tell stories of literal action and some tell stories of psychological journeys, this is a show that will tell several, intertwined stories of emotional journeys. Even though audiences may not be able to verbalize exactly what the show is "about" after they see it, I hope that it will still be a satisfying, emotional, truthful evening of theatre.

We shall see...

Long Live the Musical!
Scott

There Isn't Much Choice But to Kneel and Pray

Some of this music is hard!

I guess I say that about a lot of our shows, since a lot of the shows we do are hard! Once again, I've been crazily ambitious in putting together this collection of songs. But we have a genuinely kick-ass-and-take-names kinda cast and they're handling it with their usual aplomb. (I just love that word, don't you?)

This week we tackled the prologue from Baby -- how are the singers supposed to find the beat?? We tackled two songs from Songs for a New World ("Flying Home" and "The River Won't Flow"), which aren't monstrous but they're no walk in the musical theatre park either. (Hey! Maybe someone should use "The River Won't Flow" for one of those enlarged prostate commercials...!) Luckily, two of the cast of our 1998 production of New World are in this show, so they had a head start on it. And "La Vie Boheme" is harder than it sounds...

And I'm making the poor men sing reeeeally high falsetto for the back-up in "Over at the Frankenstein Place" and "The Morphine Tango." But that's not as hard as it sounds, since several of them don't have a lot of testosterone to begin with...

Jesus, is this going to be a cool evening of amazing songs! I can't wait to get it on its feet so we can start dealing with character and relationships... That's what will raise this above a mere concert, the depth and intensity and relevance I hope we find in this great, rich material.

If we do this thing right, if we "make it our bitch" as young Lawson likes to put it, then I think our show will be a real adventure for the audience, a real roller coaster ride.

Here we goooooo...!

Long Live the Musical!
Scott

What Could Be Better?

Well, we are off and running. We started rehearsals this week and we're off to a great start. This is one of those "New Line All-Stars" casts, which means they sound great together and we don't have to spend time figuring out how each other works. But it also means that rehearsals will probably be rowdier than I would prefer -- any time I do a show in which everyone knows each other before we even start work, that means that it's harder to rein them in...

I suppose it's a fair trade-off...

We've got an eclectic collection of songs in this show, numbers from The Rocky Horror Show, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Rent, Hair, but also No No Nanette, Baby, and Company. Even some rare gems like "Pitch for Pot," which was cut from the obscure jazz Beat musical The Nervous Set. Still, despite the varied sources, most of the music is either rock, pop, or jazz, with very few exceptions.

But the hardest part of assembling this revue is that I want it to be more than just a concert. I want these songs as a collection to say something interesting, even surprising, about sex, drugs, and rock music in American culture. So though there is no plot and no real characters, there is a continuity of a sort. Each actor does take on a "persona" in the show: a husband, a wife, a mistress, a "philosophical stoner," etc., which they hold onto throughout the show. Though the songs do not tell a conventional story (since they're all from different shows), they do tell a big, existential, national story.

And in addition to content, I also really worked on the show musically, to create segues between songs, to build momentum, tension, and sometimes laughs...

People keep asking me if this will be like the concerts we do every few years at the Sheldon Concert Hall (next one in January 2009!). For the most part, Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll will be different -- there will be a band this time, but even more than that, instead of an evening of the coolest show tunes I can assemble, this time it will be an evening that explores an idea: the cultural power and influence of sex, drugs, and rock & roll in America today. So though in some ways it will be a concert, it will also be much more. If all goes as planned, it will be a very satisfying, meaty evening of theatre...

Stay tuned...

Long Live the Musical!
Scott