Make a Mess: An Interview with Shaina Taub

With the temperature climbing last week, I feel sorry for anyone who wasn't chillin' at Ars Nova last week Thursday, listening to the breezy, cool music of Shaina Taub. I had heard Shaina perform Eli Bolin and Sam Forman's "I Like Girls," but didn't know that Shaina wrote her own music, has an EP coming out soon, and wrote mythic musical The Daughters until she invited me out for her concert. That was quickly remedied, however, the minute her opening song "Make a Mess" started up (download it on her website for free!) and I was treated to an exciting night of performances from Shaina herself, Jo Lambert, Kate Ferber, Ali Stroker, Grace McLean, Tom Hennes, and Ato Blankson-Wood.

Shaina's music is playful, smoky, and bold and gives voice to a host of female characters that haven't really had their spotlight in musical theatre quite yet. She'll be playing a concert at Rockwood Music Hall on 8/29 to celebrate the release of her EP (and it's good, trust me), and she was kind enough to answer some post-Ars Nova concert questions (and provide some videos from said concert):

Me: What was the process like of picking the songs for your EP? How does writing standalone songs compare with the process of writing songs for a musical theatre work?

Shaina Taub: The EP project initially began as a three song demo, and grew from there into a six-song fully realized recording. Overall, I wanted to give the listener a wide range of colors, trying to create an eclectic, yet cohesive collection of songs. Also, I wanted to make really expansive tracks, with lots of voices and instruments, because what’s exciting to me about recording is creating versions of your songs that are much different than the live experience. Nearly fifty vocalists and musicians are represented on the EP, and I hope that it gives it the communal, celebratory vibe I’m hoping for.

Writing ‘stand-alone songs’ and writing songs specifically for a character in a story are similar processes that have taught me a great deal about each other. I am constantly striving to bring the poetic/abstract element of a stand-alone song into a theater song, and the specific, storytelling quality of a theater song in my non-theater songwriting. When writing a stand-alone song, no one’s going to second guess the deeper meaning of a lyric – cool wordplay can exist for cool wordplay’s sake, which I love. With theater songs, I love the lesson in form – you can’t have any excess fat, no superfluous breakdown just cause it sounds funky. The economy of form in writing for theater is something I’ve tried to carry over into stand-alone songs. Just because it feels good to sing, doesn’t mean the song needs it sung.

Me: Something else you seem to play with a lot is mythology, as your show The Daughters has roots in Greek myths and some of your other songs have strong narratives to them. What is it about these stories that speak most to you? And how do you see the relationship working between storytelling/narrative and your songwriting process?

Shaina: I love myths because they let me fill up an old container with my own perspective. Instead of being directly autobiographical, I can pour my thoughts and feelings into an archetypal persona and hope it resonates a little more widely than my very specific lens of a twentysomething girl in New York. I also love how myth can let you get a little political thematically without making a political statement on any one time and place. With the degree of separation on a personal and social scale, I think the ability to achieve some kind of timelessness is greater.

I try to infuse some semblance of a story in every one of my songs, however masked. Everyone loves a story, and if you can draw them in with not only a catchy tune and snap-able beat, but something in the lyrics that makes them want to know what happens next, all the better.

Me: Being a performer yourself (and having such a great, unique voice!), how does your own vocal style play a part in your songwriting process, especially in your theatrical work?

Shaina: I used to write songs in an impractical way – using the height of my range in every song, and I ended up with songs that were all the same decibel level – no fun to listen to as a set, and impossible to sustain vocally. In the last year or so, I’ve been working on using high notes and vocal ‘tricks' sparingly, so they have more impact. I’ve become obsessed with playful phrasing and using the sound of the words themselves to inform melodic choices – singers like Adele and Jill Scott are huge inspirations for this. I’ve also tried to be nicer to myself, and write songs that are easier to sing any day of the week.

In theater work, it’s freeing to not be chained to the limitations and specificities of my own voice. Writing for men is the next frontier for me. I am seriously challenged in my understanding of the male voice – something about the octaves and falsetto, and what notes basses and tenors can actually hit – it has always baffled me. The main reason my songs are female-driven are because boy’s voices confuse me. I’m excited to change that though, and soon!

Me: Tell us a little about Political Subversities.

Shaina: Political Subversities is a wildly funny, dark musical sketch comedy show I write for and perform in every Saturday night at the People’s Improv Theater. The company is comprised of ten writer/performers who are among the most unique and hilarious artists I know in the city. We have brand new material weekly, and cover politics, culture and everything in between, always striving to find the humorous, the stupid and the downright absurd in current events. Imagine a Venn Diagram of The Daily Show, Book of Mormon, and SNL, and Polisub is somewhere in the middle.

I’ve been in the group for a year and half, and it’s been a great exercise in writing a lot and quickly. In the show right now, I have a hip hop song about Michele Bachmann, a geniuine pop ballad from the perspective of Osama bin Laden’s widow, and a gospel finale about America being my guilty pleasure. A music video of my song, Political Wife, went viral last fall:

Check us out at: www.politicalsubversities.com

Me: You mentioned at your Ars Nova concert that you recently got on Twitter and like it. What role do you see technology and social media playing in getting your music out there?

Shaina: I resisted Twitter for so long, and now I’m totally addicted. To me, it’s by far the most superior of the various social media outlets – I get news, music, and a daily stream of one-liners from comedians I love. Not to sound too hi-falutin’, but Twitter’s really it’s own art form – you don’t want to be overly self-promoting, but no one cares about every little detail of your day either. I attempt to strike a balance between humor, shameless self-plugs, and sharing other people’s music and videos I love.

I think technology and social media is an incredibly empowering tool for independent musicians. So many bands have achieved huge success just by building their own fan base online. If you make your music easily available on the internet, people respond to that and it has the potential to catch on like wildfire.

Follow me! @shainataub

Me: Any plugs or new projects you want to mention?

Shaina: My EP, What Otters Do, comes out on August 29th! You’ll be able to download it totally for free online, and come to the totally free release concert at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2 on August 29th at 8:30 PM!

In the meantime, visit my website for tons of videos, and also a free download of the single – ‘Make A Mess’.

I’ve also recently been commissioned to write the score for a new musical for the Tony-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I’m currently working with them to find a book writer, so expect more news on that soon!

Kleban Prize Ceremony Performances

Recent Kleban Prize recipients, Adam Gwon (for lyricist) and Michelle Elliot (for librettist), were honored at a private ceremony last month. See performances of songs from Gwon's Ordinary Days and Elliot's Cloaked (written with Danny Larsen) from the reception in the below video courtesy of Broadwayworld.com:

Out of Their Heads: An Interview with Kooman and Dimond

The names Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond shouldn't be foreign to this blog -- just in my post last week, I talked about their new album Out of Our Heads (Have you gotten that yet? What are you waiting for?!) but this musical theatre writing team is also behind shows like Dani Girl, Golden Gate, and Homemade Fusion -- to name a few. With a CD release concert coming up next week at The Birdland, they were generous to take the time to answer some questions about the upcoming album, writing less traditional musical stories, and connecting with their fans:

(Todd Buonopane singing "To Excess")

Me: How did you two meet? What about your collaboration process has made you guys so successful as a team?

Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond: We met in a lyric writing course at Carnegie Mellon University. Michael was an undergraduate studying composition, and I was in the graduate playwriting program.

It’s hard to define exactly what it is that makes us work as a team. We like to think that we complement each other pretty well. We have similar aesthetics and senses of humor, which is probably critical, and are also both drawn to clean, dynamic storytelling. At the same time, though, we’re very different people, and some of the contradicting aspects of our personalities, experiences, and worldviews probably adds an interesting element of contrast to our work.

Me: There are so many great themes of love and loss and general rationalizing/reasoning serving as a throughline in all of the songs. What was your underlying thread that you wanted to hold all these songs together?

Kooman and Dimond: When it comes down to it, we wanted the album to be a collection of our strongest songs. There wasn’t necessarily an overt thread that we were looking for to connect everything, we really tried to go about putting together a cohesive album that represented our best work.

That being said, it’s probably not a coincidence that there are a number of undercurrents running through many of the songs, particularly touching upon the themes that you mentioned. Love and loss aren’t exactly uncommon areas of exploration for songwriters, and a lot of what we set out to express can fall into one, if not both, of those categories.

Some Song Things

Hey all! Just wanted to give a little round-up of some of the things I've been loving in the emerging musical theatre world as of late.

First of all, as a little plug, I'm going to be blogging with Ryan Scott Oliver's Crazytown for another two months, so keep tuning in on Thursdays for posts from me, Ryan Bogner (who is co-producing new Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis musical Yeast Nation playing as part of The Fringe in August), the hilarious Leah Bonnema, and Shoshana Greenberg (who provides your weekly new music fix with Rough and Ready).

Also, songwriting team Kooman and Dimond released their new album Out of Our Heads -- which, let me tell you now, is awesome. There are great voices on the recording (Heidi Blickenstaff, Kerry Butler, Natalie Weiss, Patina Miller, Anderson Davis, Matt Doyle, Phoebe Strole, Kyle Dean Massey, Chris Mann... look for an especially delightful track with Christopher Sieber), and all of the songs are beautifully recorded. There's a lot of love, pathos, and comedy in these songs, and I'm not only sure you'll be listening to them constantly but you'll want to be singing them too. You can purchase the CD from their website here and be on the lookout for their release concert at The Birdland on 7/18.

In speaking of cast recordings, if you want to help another album yet-to-be-made, support songwriting team Miller and Tysen's Kickstarter campaign to record their song cycle Fugitive Songs. Every song I've heard from this show is fantastic -- heartfelt and evocative, living up to the idea of being a fugitive in the way they just move musically. Even better? If you donate $150 or more, you get a recording of Burnt Part Boys, which is pretty good incentive, if you ask me.

Lastly, I just wanted to end with a couple of videos from recent concerts, the first being Nick Blaemire singing "Trouble" at his recent gig with band The Hustle as a part of Ars Nova's 54/10:

Then, from Good Clean Music: Another Michael R. Jackson Song Thing at The Beechman, Jeremy Morse singing "Girlfriend":

And, also from Good Clean Music, Molly Hager singing "Fairweather Friend":

Thoughts on Zarkana and Cirque du Soleil's Not-quite Musical Theatre

A week ago, I was invited to see a performance of Cirque du Soleil's latest offering at Radio City Music Hall, Zarkana.

Cirque du Soleil? you say. But this is a musical blog! Talking about this show here makes no sense and it makes me angry!!

Whoa, it's all good, I says. Just hear me out...

I have very limited experience with Cirque du Soleil, but I do remember my parents going to a performance in Vegas on a vacation when I was small. I flipped through the program when they got back to the hotel room and was shocked at (and honestly kind of scared of) some of the images in there. There was something about the aesthetic that was so out there -- colorful, at times grotesque, shapely like a reflection in a funhouse mirror -- that was captivating. And when my mom told me those things were actually doing crazy stunts and getting all up in the audiences' business, I actually got a little concerned.

Fast-forward another 12 years or so to this past fall, when my grandparents surprised my parents and I with tickets to Cirque du Soleil's Ka on a vacation in Vegas (full circle! -- and I just realized this makes it sound like the ONLY place I ever go to is Vegas). I had no idea what I was in for, which now when I think about it, was a good thing. Because once the lights dimmed and some of the creepy looking clown things stopped doing the pre-show audience thing (which made me incredibly uncomfortable), I was completely riveted until the lights came up again. Everything about it was enthralling -- the story, of a separated brother and sister trying to flee the enemies who killed their parents and find one another again, was simple but exciting, the stunts and acrobatics were like a video game with every "level" posing as some kind of stunt that they must defeat, and the set was stunning. I remember seeing the stage rotating, a giant ship appearing out of nowhere or a giant sandbox seeming to form out of nothing, and I was so inspired that someone would invest the time, space, and money to create something so theatrical and physically mammoth.

My experience seeing Zarkana last week was a little more mixed. While the acrobatics were still dizzyingly impressive and the aesthetic was still breathtaking, there was something keeping it from being as jaw-dropping as I remembered Ka being.

And what it was lacking was a strong narrative.

From my limited knowledge of Cirque du Soleil, Zarkana, in some ways, is more traditional musical theatre than its other shows. There is a protagonist, Zark, who has a simple problem: he is looking for his lost love amidst a bunch of crazy, tempting creatures. Or something like that. The show also featured full-fledged operatic-rock songs that Zark sang to tell his story of despair and longing, though the lyrics left something to be desired.

This past week on Crazytown, I wrote a post about being able to incorporate more visual elements into a more language/dialogue-heavy show. But how do you approach the challenge of doing it the other way around -- building a story and music around physical stunts?

There were moments of great beauty that came from Zarkana. I was particularly fixated on a dance/gymnastics routine that seemed to flow with the music quite seamlessly, and I heard multiple oohs and ahhs from the audience when a sand artist both recapped and foreshadowed the story through beautiful temporal pictures. Those fleeting segments especially worked because they embraced the storytelling aspects of theatre, fusing spectacle with story and song. I'm not calling Cirque du Soleil outright (or even great) musical theatre, but with all its resources and talents, if it truly aspired to be, it could be one badass show.

Perks of Debuting a Musical: An Interview with Tom Diggs

The pilot episode of Perks, formerly known as The Perks of Writing a Musical, premiered on Youtube this past Sunday, marking the exciting beginning of a new musical webseries. Sporting a cast and creative team that should look familiar to followers of Emerging Musical Theatre, this is going to be a show worth keeping up with. I’ve written about the Perks blog before, which is regularly updated by Perks creator/writer/producer Tom Diggs. Amidst the series’ debut, Tom took some time to answer some questions about the process of putting on a webseries, using social media, and the future of the series.

(The pilot of Perks)

Me: Where did the idea for Perks come from? How did you decide to make it a webseries?

Tom Diggs: Perks came out of a writer’s group I’m in where we went from playwriting to TV writing to web series writing. I had been at BMI for a few years and I love the world of musical theatre. And Glee’s success inspired me to think about a web musical. I studied the fanboy world and came up with a story – which my writer’s group encouraged me to write. As I get older, I’m aware of how fast forms keep changing! The web seems to be the last great frontier for dramatic writing. And I want to be a part of it. The computer is currently in the process of replacing the television. There was a lot of emphasis on short forms in grad school – short films, ten-minute plays – so I thought this would be a great way to bring all these elements together in a current, relevant way.

Me: Having experience as a playwright, how has the experience been working on a musical screenplay, not to mention a series?

Tom: Plays can include language flourishes to a certain degree. The musical libretto, on the other hand, is a very unforgiving form when it comes to over-writing. One extra line and you can feel it. The songs and musical score do a lot of the heavy lifting. Add the visual element and it’s really “less is more” time for the words. Cutting the dialogue to the bone is the name of the game. It’s interesting how, the less there is, the more it breathes and comes to life.

Me: How did you connect with Jason Michael Snow and Mishaela Faucher for the music and lyrics?

Tom: I was in their BMI composer/lyricists group. I never got paired with either of them during our time together, but I always deeply admired their work – and love them very much as people. When I started thinking about approaching songwriting teams for this project, they were the first team I thought of. Their energy and talent is a perfect fit for this project.

Ode to Intimations of Mortality

Young Jean Lee is known for her incredibly daring, if not divisive theatrical voice and insistence on tackling difficult subject matters in her plays like The Shipment or Lear. It was especially because of the structures of her last plays that I was so intrigued when it was announced that she would be premiering her 13P show, We're Gonna Die, at Joe's Pub last April. And it would have music in it. And she would star in it.

While perhaps less of a musical, per se, and more of a cabaret, this show still manages to blend story and music (played by band Future Wife) in an incredibly affecting, personal way. By turns winning and almost gleeful while still dealing with painfully personal anecdotes about loneliness, the show manages to hit a lot of raw nerves without being gratuitous or manipulative. Instead, it's a strangely intimate but safely withheld performance bearing simple but truthful lyrics, dreamy music, and relatable stories about glimpses into our own mortality.

While the show ended its run a couple of months ago, you can (and should!) watch the entirety of the show through Joe's Pub's Livestream channel or in the video below:

joespub on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free