It's a Two-Player Game

Up until 2016, I directed every show New Line produced. Sometimes it was with a co-director like Alison Helmer, who directed a handful of shows with me over the years. And sometimes I had a really smart directing intern who contributed a lot. But solo or with a co-pilot, I directed every show.

That was partly because New Line was born in 1991, right at the time that the earliest murmurings of this new Golden Age of Musical Theatre were being heard, and New Line has always done musicals that did not operate according to traditional rules (Assassins, Floyd Collins, Songs for a New World, March of the Falsettos, Jacques Brel, etc.), shows which most directors weren't equipped to direct.

The other reason was that New Line quickly developed its own style, and I'm really good at that style -- very aggressive, very intimate, outrageous but serious-minded, and anchored by a phrase coined by the Actor’s Gang, “the height of expression, the depth of sincerity.” The canvas is bigger, the colors richer, the brushstrokes more expansive, but the image is no less true, the details no less real, the textures no less subtle.

Still, I prefer directing with somebody.

Actor Mike Dowdy-Windsor came to work with us in 2009, and it wasn't long before I asked him to direct with me, and then we made him New Line's Associate Artistic Director. He's really smart, and he's a genius at solving problems on stage.

In 2016, for the first time in New Line's history, Dowdy directed a show, Tell Me on a Sunday. I was at all the rehearsals, but I contributed very little to the direction of the show. It was Dowdy's baby, and it turned out really well. So then Dowdy solo-directed Lizzie, again to rave reviews and thrilled audiences.

So when Be More Chill came up, Dowdy really wanted to direct it, but I love this show and didn't really wanted to stand back artistically. So Dowdy and I agreed to reverse our usual relationship -- we're both directing the show, but Dowdy is doing the initial blocking and he will be the final word on all artistic decisions.

Though I am a recovering control freak, I am amazingly comfortable with this arrangement. I find myself choosing to stay home and get New Line office work done, rather than go to blocking rehearsals. I could have never done that ten years ago...

I have never felt this comfortable with someone else directing. And it's because we directed together for several years first, and we have an almost identical aesthetic sense, and almost identical opinions about making theatre.

Dowdy's been calling me a lot, for months now, talking through ideas, concepts, etc. for the show, and honest to god, every single thing he said to me about Be More Chill sounded really right, from actual staging ideas, to conceptual ideas, to character and narrative analysis. And he's got a dream (all local!) cast to work with...

Between you and me, I've always hated blocking. It's the hardest part of directing. It's like I have to eat my vegetables before I can have my cake. And if you're wondering, the cake is the polishing phase. I love polishing! At New Line, we usually don't work on scenes in-depth when we block; we want the actors to bring a great deal to their performances, and we let that stuff evolve as we run the acts and the full show. We have a lot of run-throughs. I think of our process as getting a sketch of the show up first, then over time, fine-tuning it and turning it into a beautiful painting.

So for this show, I get to skip the hardest part, and then jump back in for the coolest part! Thanks, Dowdy! The weird part for me is that, right now, the actors and Dowdy know the show way better than I do. I'm still discovering its awesomeness...

I went to the read-through-sing-through the other night, and was bowled over. First, by how great the vocals sounded and how much the actors already really understood these rich characters. But also, by how strong this material really is. Not only is it well constructed, not only is the writing very skillful, not only is the show really smart about how it uses storytelling devices, but more than anything, it feels really, really authentic.

Joe Tracz' dialogue isn't "showy" like Mamet dialogue; but it genuinely feels like it's coming out of the mouths of teenagers. And the lyrics aren't showy, like a lot of Sondheim and Bill Finn lyrics can be; if anything, Iconis' lyrics are more Hammerstein, because again, they feel real, not constructed, not self-aware Funny or Clever, just real. Like Hammerstein's lyrics, the less clever lyrics in BMC are often the most amazing.

"I Love Play Rehearsal" is a maser class in subtle, thoughtful, character writing. It's such a gift to an actor. When it's over, you don't remember a particular rhyme or a clever phrase -- you remember the feeling of it. You're not impressed by the artistry; you're moved by Christine's feelings. There's a gigantic heart behind all the sci-fi craziness of this show, and that is what audiences are responding to.

They're not walking out thinking, "Boy, Joe Iconis is a great songwriter!" They're walking out, thinking, "I'm not the only one who felt that way...!" The writers and their considerable craft become invisible. You have to be a really good writer to make that happen, to be artistically unobtrusive...

What other song in recent memory is as emotionally raw, as unadorned, as "Michael in the Bathroom"? There's no irony to put us at an emotionally safe distance, no artifice. Like "Play Rehearsal," the song pulls us inside it. At the end of "Soliloquy" in Carousel, you don't really feel what  Billy feels, though you might understand what he feels. That R&H foxtrot doesn't really conjure up very intense feelings. But at the end of "Michael in the Bathroom," you're inside those emotions.

You ache along with him...

Which is so important, because Michael is an incredibly important character, even though he's not onstage a lot of the time. This song gives him weight in the narrative. Taking time for his soliloquy tells us that he's important, and his confessional makes us care about him. He's no Miss Marmelstein. (Extra points if you get the reference!)

It's such fun watching this crazy, funny, emotional show come to life! Like so many of the shows New Line produces, Be More Chill has its own rules, but I'm confident we understand exactly how this beautiful show works. And luckily, we've got Dowdy at the helm.

I guess that makes me Gilligan.

The adventure continues!
Scott

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