Getting to know Fannie Lou

Continuing our series of guest posts is Felicia Hunter, composer, book writer, and lyricist of the new musical Fannie Lou. Telling the story of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, Fannie Lou is not only a powerful work of musical theatre, but an important one as well. With their first New York performance coming up on October 6th, the 95th anniversary of Fannie Lou's birth, Felicia Hunter shares the story of her show's journey (and be sure to go to the end of the post for an exclusive discount for readers of this blog).

My original musical Fannie Lou began as an idea that wedded history, music and drama. What if, I thought, the story of Fannie Lou Hamer were told not only through an artistic work that presented her voice, but gave considerable weight to contrasting perspectives as well?

Fannie Lou was inspired by the life of voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer. The daughter of Mississippi sharecroppers, she grew up poor and had to leave school before reaching the seventh grade to help her family make ends meet by working in the fields. At the age of 44, in August of 1962, Mrs. Hamer decided to register to vote. She had never voted before, and was determined to exercise her right as a citizen. She, and others in the group of prospective voters that day, were turned away. Thus began Mrs. Hamer’s public life as a voting, civil and human rights advocate.

In my writing process for Fannie Lou, many of the songs came first; I started by telling different elements of the story through the music and lyrics. The book followed. As characters and personalities developed while I went through the intricacies of completing the book, more songs were written. A few more came afterward.

Although I was aware of Mrs. Hamer and her work, the idea to create a musical came while I was reading a biography about Mrs. Hamer written by Kay Mills, titled This Little Light of Mine. What I learned about her was so inspirational and motivating that I thought her life and determination would translate well as a theatrical work.

One of several musical influences for Fannie Lou is the compelling work Jesus Christ, Superstar. I'm amazed at how the writers succeeded in retelling an age-old story through the eyes of the antagonist and, at the same time, made that story palpable for modern audiences. Because Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice even attempted -- much less succeeded, in my opinion -- to walk that intricate tightrope makes Jesus Christ Superstar one of my favorite musicals of all time.

What they did is what I wanted to do with Fannie Lou. I wanted to utilize artistic conventions to tell a story of heroism, dynamism and personal sacrifice in an unconventional way. And, at the same time, even though we know the ending (although arguably the voting rights story is still being written), take audience members on such an intriguing journey that they wonder what will happen next.

Are you Spandex Material?

Earlier this year, I received an invitation for a reading of a new musical called Spandex by Daniel F. Levin and Annie Grunow. Telling the story of eclectic characters and the competitive world of aerobics in the 80s, Spandex is a quirky and energetic piece about achieving greatness. Here to talk about the journey in getting Spandex off the ground, what the creative team took from the most recent reading, and where the show is going from here, Daniel F. Levin contributed the following hilarious and candid piece in his own words as a part of our guest post series.

"No one would undertake the intricate, painful, gargantuan, hysterical task of putting on a musical play unless he had more enthusiasm than most people have about anything." --Brooks Atkinson, The New York Times Drama Critic, 1924-1960

I felt like I had paid my dues. I wrote a Holocaust musical. I also had written Hee-Haw: It’s a Wonderful Li_e, where Sam Wainwright challenges the heroism of George Bailey. At the show’s end (spoiler alert), when Sam’s guardian angel has shown him his life if he had never been born, Sam finally follows through on one thing better than George Bailey: he kills himself.

This is why, when Annie came to me and showed me the youtube clip of the 1987 Crystal Light National Aerobic Competition, hosted by Alan Thicke, I said, “Yes, Annie, that would be a great musical!” No suicides, genocide, or other “ides.” No battle to the death at the end of the show. Lots of headbands, leg warmers, waxed bodies, gelled hair and white teeth, plus the star of TV’s growing pains, Alan Thicke. Annie and I watched the clip over and over. The Miami Vice décor, the dazzling aerobics moves, culminating in the great circle wheel of push-ups--all of the elements just seemed to be in place.

And so Spandex the Musical was born. Annie is an archivist whose last show, according to her bio, was “All My Laundry…co-written and produced with the Sullivan and Francis children and performed in the Francis’ basement on New Years’ Eve 1991.” I’m a musical theater writer whose work, as noted, has trended more towards Les Miz-style shows, only with more people dying, and who has never done aerobics. We dove in.

Like the 1980’s conference call technology we were exploring, we used the power of the Google Docs to share the script. We laughed over terrible jokes. We called the show “a Palimpsest in Two Acts.” We wrote an original opening number on the train featuring the line, “Spandex Spandex, you can wash it on medium warm/ Spandex Spandex, it can fit any physical form,” and highlighting the fact that Spandex is an anagram for “Expands.” Research! Before we had written three scenes, we started imagining an all African-American sequel to the show called Black Spandex.  This is how exuberant you get at the beginning of a new show.

We pushed through a sophomore slump, continuing our regular meetings at the Muff (Connecticut Muffin), the Sauce (now-defunct Boerum-Hill coffee shop Flying Saucer) and the Bucks. We reassured each other that our Montague-street Starbucks would one day have a plaque for us. That Starbucks later shuttered and moved down the street.

By the Spring of 2011, it was time for our first reading. We invited loyal friends to our apartment. Annie brought cheap wine and my girlfriend, Casey, and I ordered pizza. I cast my friend Mike E. as Shmitty, the closeted, tough-as-nails aerobicizer who spent time in the clink. Annie and I thought the character was hilarious and couldn’t wait to hear him brought to life. It turns out that despite being very prominent in the stage directions, Shmitty only had four lines. Mike E. felt slighted. But other parts worked. My friend Dan G. used a horrendous accent to play Israeli fitness guru, Dov Yisrael, but despite this he made the character come to life--funny and full of heart. By the second reading, that Fall, the character of Trip Allen, evil pusher of Instathin diet pills, elicited the proper boos and hisses.

In addition to a central love story between Lorraine, (an aerobics instructor) and Dov, we had a secondary love story between Bob and Linda. All the great shows have a secondary love story! Linda is a plump housewife who, now that the kids are a little older, starts aerobicizing. Her husband is a Reagan administration employee who can’t handle her newfound independence. It all seemed so harmless. But something went wrong. Our reading critiquers couldn’t tell who they were supposed to focus on: Lorraine and Dov or Bob and Linda. Our subplot had metathesized and was now eating up the main plot! Annie and I went back to the Muff and recalibrated. I fought for some scenes--I can get precious; Annie wanted to use a chainsaw--she’s ruthless!. 

Second ACTS - Changing Careers Through a Musical

When Mark Hagan contacted me about his new show, Ripper, written with MCHM partner Michael Carach, I was eager to hear more about the show and their development process. Rather than write about it myself, I asked them to put together a guest post (the first and last guest post with R.C. Staab and Daniel Sturman was last August) talking about their project. Below is their account of the beginning of MCHM, the inspiration behind writing Ripper, and the challenges on the horizon as they look towards a production.

Formed in 1985, MCHM was the summer folly of two youths growing up in rural New Jersey. Best friends Michael Carach (MC) and Mark Hagan (HM) would spend their endless summers rewriting current Broadway shows to create parodies for their friends. Armed with a tape deck and a crude microphone from Radio Shack, the duo would sing along with popular shows at the time and compile them into new shows with new lyrics and story lines. “We never put these shows together for anyone but our small circle of friends, but we always dreamed of someday being able to write a real show from scratch" says Hagan. This eventually led them to build a small play theatre in the loft of Mark's parent's barn like a scene out of “Our Gang.” Nothing came of that venture except for dust choked rehearsals and a chaotic fantasy dance sequence that nearly brought the house down...literally.

The two went on to college some twelve hundred miles apart and upon graduating, entered wildly different careers. Hagan worked as an architect for some twenty years. During that period he started a record label (www.GlobalDance.com) and attempted to enter the music industry only to find it to be a closed system where the independent artist had few opportunities to be heard. Meanwhile Carach became a television director, writer, and finally a production manager for live television events where he later went on to win two Emmy Awards for technical excellence.

Quickly approaching mid-life when most professionals are simply funding their 401K accounts, they discussed re-booting their careers and starting over as writers. They would begin this effort by trying to write that “real show” they had dreamed about since High School. “Neither of us knew what the other could produce, but the planets had realigned and MCHM once again began to write.” says Carach from his backyard writer's retreat.

What came from five years of intensive writing, re-writes and musical scoring, MCHM's Ripper was born. “Back in the eighties is when Mike and I experienced Broadway. It was a time of large-scale British imports of bombastic proportions, usually based on some historic events like the French revolution or the Paris Opera House's resident ghost. It was at that time that the greatest unsolved mystery entered my consciousness” says Hagan. “I always thought it would make a jarring and aggressive musical. The idea gestated for a few years until I saw a PBS documentary on the subject suggesting the Royal Family's private doctor may have been involved. So I thought to myself- there is a lot here that COULD have happened and perhaps there are some valid reasons to why the mystery was never solved despite modern day forensics. When Mike and I sat down to begin work years later, we decided we would take Dan Brown's The DaVinci Code approach where we would construct a completely original piece based on historical facts. Our goal was never to solve the mystery, but to present a show where the audience could draw their own conclusions and come away with some possible explanations of why the mystery was never solved.”

Long Distance Collaboration on a Zombie Wedding: A conversation between R.C. Staab and Daniel Sturman

Continuing on with coverage of the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival, I am excited to share with you the very first guest blog here on Emerging Musical Theatre. British Composer Daniel Sturman and American Librettist/Lyricist R.C. Staab are the creative team behind the new musical, Zombie Wedding, which premieres August 15^th at FringeNYC at The Ellen Stewart Theatre at La MaMa. What I really found fascinating about their collaboration, however, is that until this week, they have never met in person. Their collaboration started and has flourished solely through email and Skype calls (crazy, right?).

For their post, Daniel and R.C. talk about what it was like collaborating over an 18-month period to bring their 90-minute musical comedy – My Best Friend’s Wedding meets a Zombie movie – to the stage:

R.C. Staab: What ever possessed you to mash together a Zombie movie and "My Best Friend's Wedding" to create a musical comedy?

Daniel Sturman: Well when I first had the idea for Zombie Wedding it was in a rather different shape that it is currently. I initially envisioned a two act show in which the whole second act involved the bride, groom and a Reverend Mr. T type held captive in besieged chapel. In my head it seemed like I really clever "bunker" play but in retrospect, it would have been the wrong plot for a musical, or even a play I would want to watch. It certainly wasn't My Best Friend's Wedding.

R.C.: I forgot about that. It certainly wasn’t in the original short script I read. I probably never would have suggested a stronger romantic story.

Daniel: When I began working with you -- starting almost from scratch on the story -- the characters and basic setup gravitated towards a love triangle and I seemed right to go in that direction. Interestingly in the beginning I was nervous that making the show too much like a chick-flick would mean compromising conflicts in the characters, but in reality it has made them and the show richer. I wrote a flawed zombie musical that evolved into "My Best Friend's Wedding". As It happened I had only seen that film after you had mentioned the show could go in that direction, so it was research.

What were your initial impressions of Zombie Wedding?

R.C.: For me a librettist and lyricist, I’m only interested in working on a project that has music that I love and whose basic concept can be boiled to an elevator pitch. Okay, so I’ve done marketing all my life. I thought the music – only three or four songs – was terrific. And because you already flushed out the basic concept, we didn’t have to spend hours trying to agree on basic character motivations and plot.

Given that our initial discussions sent you in a different direction and the time zone, geographic and age differences, what made you decide to give the collaboration a go?

Daniel: I always believed that I had a fun idea with Zombie Wedding, but I was quite aware that what I liked was the high concept and not really anything in the writing at that point. So to have Zombie Wedding taken in a new direction was not an issue. A no brainer really. You and I are different ages, and come from different eras of popular culture, but I didn't really see that as I problem, not for me or for the work. Although the show is set in the 80s, an era that you know better that me, it's that cinematic, vernacular zeitgeisty 80s that exists more in Brat Pack movies and MTV videos than in reality. And anyway differences of age are just some of listless differences you can have with people. I can easily say that in all of our collaboration to date, my using British idioms in lyrics has brought about more confusion than any age differences. As for time zones and geography, we are separated by seven hours and thousands of miles. We also have email and Skype. It was never going to be a problem.

R.C.: Especially because you must stay up to 3AM almost every night. I admire that.

Daniel: I really don't.

What made me decide to give this collaboration a go was reading an interview R.C. gave with a San Francisco reporter. He was discussing a workshop production of his show, “Shadows of Pompeii.” In the interview he talked about how he had commandeered a theatre company. Hoodwinked a composer. Bullied some actors into reading (a theatre term). I think there was probably some blackmail in there too. I am possibly misremembering. But anyway. He talked about the experience of letting the audience give their criticism via various multiple-choice questionnaire. Questions like "If you could cut one song..?" stick out. For all it's dangers I liked the moxy and it was refreshing to hear of someone thinking about musicals in such an... now I don't mean this to sound bad... in such an artless way.

R.C.: The power of the Internet! I never sent that story.

Daniel: Musicals are as vulnerable as any other creative form of getting lofty and 'for the writers' rather than the audience. You weren’t doing that. So I was very impressed. You had also created the basically show on your own. I didn't get the impression that the show was a classic "collaboration" like Zombie Wedding.Altogether you seemed very motivated and ambitious and, as much as anyone can in this business, you seemed to know what to do. Giving the collaboration a go seemed like one of the best decisions I could make.

R.C.: My biggest concern was that it’s so easy to ignore email. If we were in the same town, it would be harder to avoid me if I called or saw you at a show. The biggest risk was that I would spend several months on the project, and you’d never get around to sending me the music.

But email helps in a different way, it allows us to be contemporaries even if we have such apparent differences. My guess is that if we lived in the same town and had run into each other a speed dating for composers/lyricist, we would never have immediately connected. We would have thought of each other as coming from different worlds.

Daniel: That's true.

Buy tickets and get more information on Zombie Wedding here.