Ridiculously Talented Composers (Period)

This post is overdue, but it's one that's quite important to me... and the whole purpose of this blog, really.

About a week and a half ago, I took myself out on a date to see the Kaufman Center's Ridiculously Talented: Songs by Composers and Lyricists You Probably Don't Know But Should. Hosted by William Finn, the night offered a great selection of talent from NYU's graduate Musical Theater program with a bunch of incredible performers giving voice to their creations. Some of these writers have been mentioned on this blog before and some I had never heard of, but possibly one of the coolest parts of going to this event was hearing William Finn give a mini lesson in the art of writing songs. Where else are you going to hear someone explain that the job of a composer is to "not fuck up" or that writing lyrics can be compared to a Turducken (a lot of meat in a very small package)?

While there was a lot going on onstage, there was also another show going on in the aisle in front of me, as 3 older gentlemen watched the show. Their sighs and bragging about having seen "everything on Broadway for the pat 40 years" already kind of warned me that this event might not exactly be their type of thing, but I certainly didn't expect when one of them launched into a tirade at intermission about how what we were watching wasn't musical theatre but "conversations set to pop music."

Which is not to say that I don't feel like he has a point. The cabaret-style music was definitely the trend of the evening, and while it was appropriate for the event, I can see how it can get a bit tiresome. Also, with many musicals taking on a very "contemporary sound," distinct voices and melodies seem to be harder to come by these days.

And at the same time, I wanted to point out that musical theatre is changing with the times-- a necessary evil that doesn't diminish the genre, but helps it endure. While I love the days of On the Town and Oklahoma, subject matter is shifting so that it's not always about young, white heterosexual couples finding love. In fact, I loved the observation made by Mary Anna Dennard on The New York Times Arts Beat Blog about how now, despite the proliferation of musical theatre "types," views of masculinity and masculine characters have shifted from that of the "masculine neutral presence." Musical theatre is becoming more encompassing of the community that creates it, and this couldn't have been more evident in the incredibly personal and intimate songs, from Michael R. Jackson and Kori Withers' "Old Mr. Drew" to Will Aronson and Sam Salmond's "Pole Song" to Nikos Tsakalakos' "My Trip to Africa" to "Driving Home on the Freeway" by Katya Stanislavskaya and Frank Terry.

When his angrier friend stepped out during intermission, one of the men in front of me turned back and asked me if I knew anyone in the show (he assumed I was an NYU student supporting a friend). I explained that I wasn't and was instantly met with another question. "Then may I ask why you're here?" he asked. And it was a question that caught me a little off-guard.

I gave him a simple, honest response, but I don't think I really had an answer until I realized how swept up I had gotten in some of the songs from the show long after it was over. I'm not exactly musically inclined, but something comes over me when I hear a good piece of musical theatre. There's a kind of magic in hearing a song that seems to perfectly describe a moment-- a high that makes you hope the song will never end so you could capture that instance forever. There's an art to it that escapes me, even as a writer, where the lyrics take on dimension and rhythm and music carries it off any page. I love that feeling, and it's the reason I started this blog and the reason I was captivated throughout the show. William Finn provided some context for many of the songs that evening, trying to also root them in his mini lesson about craft, but for all I could tell, there was another force at play and I was just lucky to take it in.

Anyway, enough babbling. I look forward to much more from everyone who was represented that evening. And, just so you can't say you've never heard of them, here is the full list of writers from that night:

Josh Freilich

Seam Patterson

Will Aronson

Tony Asaro

Julian Blackmore

Yea Bin Diana Oh

Sam Salmond

Nikos Tsakalakos

Janet Allard

Dimitri Landrain

Dan Marshall

Anna Ruth Nirmala Jones

Julianne Wick Davis

Zach Redler

Sara Cooper

Kori Withers

Michael R. Jackson

Jennifer Stafford

Bill Nelson

Joel Waggoner

Becca Anderson

Rebekah Melocik

Gihieh Lee

Scott Murphy

Hannah Kohl

Katya Stanislavskaya

Frank Terry

Deborah Abramson

Rachel Sheinkin

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Nothing too big to report, but I figured I'd share a couple of videos that have been playing on my computer at least a few times over the past few days.

First, there have been some great videos popping up promoting Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, which is ending its run in the (all too) near future-- June 27th. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest getting a ticket. Even if the show goes on to a longer life, which I'm sure it will, this production at the Newman Theater is not to be missed:





Also, to give you a tune to get stuck in your head in the coming days, I've been obsessed with this old video of Nick Blaemire singing "I'm Out" from Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis' musical Wood. Both composers have been mentioned here before from their 15 minute musical collaboration Time to Kill for the York's 4@15, as well as Julianne's work for Cait Doyle's Hot Mess in Manhattan. The video was taken from Nick's show guyTunes with Justin Keyes and Jason Michael Snow:



Enjoy!

How Do You Solve a Problem Like the 15 Minute Musical

In the madness of my little musical-thon last week, I didn’t get a chance to talk about my experience on Sunday night, watching 4@15, a night of four 15-minute musicals by different composers and writers, starring students from NYU Steinhardt. It was presented at the York Theatre and proved to be a very fun event. The concept alone is very intriguing: similar to the 24 Hour Musicals, song and book writing duos are paired with a group of actors for whom they write a 15 minute musical, which they create with their cast in mind. The time span the creative team had to rehearse and work on their scripts/songs was longer--over the course of a few weeks--but the rush of mounting a completely new work in a short period of time provides a unique, unpolished look at a musical theater work in progress.

The subject matter of each show was varied and all the synopses for the shows can be found here. There was a piece about a fear-of-flying school taking their first venture into the friendly skies, a folktale about an Irish couple in America, a tribute to the San Francisco Earthquake, and an office parody of Shakespeare's Macbeth.

While every show featured an interesting premise and at least one hummable song, the standout of the night for me was Time to Kill, a hilarious take on Macbeth complete with three water cooler gossip witches, cut throat office politics, and an IT guy who can get an entire row of cubicles hot and bothered and solve a rubiks cube while simultaneously singing. The whole thing was fun with a tight book that allowed the hilarity of the situation to unravel organically (imagine a quickly paced conflict coming to a head in the form of an epic battle of office supplies between the IT guy and the murderous VP). The show featured the wonderful music of Julianne Wick Davis who gives the three gossip girls perfect material to become a seductive chorus, as well as a book by Dan Collins.

Because of the temporal nature of the performance, I don't have any audio or videos to add to this post, which actually made me think a lot about the idea of 15 minute musical and what kind of environment is best to foster these works--or whether such a short work of musical theater has an audience for a professional production at all.

Observing the show last Sunday made me think a lot about the craft of constructing a work of musical theater, because there are so many components to a solid musical work. And when you condense that into a fifteen minute format, being economical with time and the way you present the characters, situation, and emotion becomes a tricky thing to do. With plays, 10 minute or short plays are already difficult to pull off, because the subject matter has to be pointed and the vision has to be strong. A short format musical presents all the same problems, but also presents additional challenges in being able to also blend music seamlessly with a brief book in the amount of time it would take a character to just sing a couple of songs in a full length work.

As an exercise, I see how creating these types of musicals are good for everyone involved. It gives actors parts that were written with them in mind. Writers have an exercise that is compact and helps them get the creative juices flowing. Audiences have a variety of works to enjoy and don't have to sit through a whole evening of the same thing if one work doesn't appeal to them. It's how the plays have a life after the initial run that makes me wonder.

With ideas floating around like Kerrigan and Lowdermilk's Party Worth Crashing, I can't help wondering if there is a demand for a new kind of musical--one that is far more democratic for both the audience and the company when putting a show together. Are 15 minute musicals satisfying for an audience, and does the option of viewing various writers, actors, and stories in a couple hours appeal to a mass theater going audience? People have proved that it is possible to create a quality show in such a span of time, from Joe Iconis' ReWrite to a personal favorite of mine, Sam Willmott's Scarlet Takes a Tumble:





But with a majority of theaters sticking with what they know, with unending revivals of Broadway classics, what is the ideal home for the 15 minute musical? Or is the demand always going to be for the traditional full-length format outside of the classroom or cabaret theater? Personally, I can't say. But it makes me incredibly curious to see what comes up in the future.

A Beautiful Mess

Rated RSO the other day reminded me that I've been meaning to do a plug of the beautiful and talented Cait Doyle's cabaret show Hot Mess in Manhattan. The 2009 Best Debut MAC recipient, Cait did a hilarious rendition of the theme song RSO penned for her titled "The Mess" at the concert on Monday:



But besides this, her show features songs written specifically for her by countless talented composers from around the city. Doyle delivers each song with care, humor, and her unique personality. The frankness with which she addresses the audience is engaging, and the songs only help to enforce her varied stories that range from the heartfelt to the ridiculous.

Songs from past shows include the panoramic "Union Square" from Gaby Alter:



The heartbreakingly earnest "A Lifetime" from Julianne Wick Davis:



And a New York neuroses filled "Running" from Adam Gwon:



Check out other youtube videos with other guests and composers at her youtube channel. Also, go to her upcoming shows on February 5th and 20th by making a reservation for the Duplex here.