I have been away for a week, spending time with family, so I have a lot of saved up thoughts that I want to get out in a series of blog posts. So while these aren't fresh thoughts, they're not exactly moldy either. I hopefully my perspective from being away from Los Angeles for a week is a fresh one.
So enjoy this barrage of posts from my travels…
After my meeting at PSU, another wonderful thing happened.
The premiere of "Six by Sondheim", a documentary by James Lapine on the amazing American musical theatre composer and resident genius, Stephen Sondheim. I sat down in my pajamas, while my brother and his wife went on their second date night of my trip and my niece and nephew were asleep. My mother had left down at this point, and I had the house to myself. I was free and clear to geek out.
And boy, did I geek out. The documentary took six signature Sondheim songs, but shied away from trying to designate "the best ones." Each song served as a spectacular jumping off point for Sondheim to reflect on the craft of songwriting, his career, his personal life and his reflections on his time on the planet. Included in that were some spectacular archived performances and three brand new performances that were staged specifically for the documentary. I'm a huge fan of when artists revisit their songs and revamp them. It's why I love going to and watching Madonna concerts because she constantly reinvents songs so the audience doesn't hear exactly the same version twice on different tours. I think it's the sign of an artist whose work lives beyond one moment and an artist who creates art of such a level that it deserves revisiting and reinterpreting. I just compared Madonna and Sondheim. I can live with that.
For 90 minutes, I was in heaven. I will definitely watch the documentary again. But this was spectacular. Audra MacDonald sang "Send in the Clowns." America Ferrara, Jeremy Jordan and Darren Criss did a great filmed piece set to "Opening Doors" from Merrily We Roll Along. And in another great move, Jarvis Cocker from Pulp sang "I'm Still Here" to an audience of old broads. It was fucking smart, really stylish and hip and covered all the notes: Broadway diva stripped down, young TV stars with bubbly enthusiasm, and a rocker singing a song with great simultaneous irony and emotion to the group of women the song was written for. It also says so much about Sondheim's music and how it works beyond just being a showcase for great voices. Cocker's voice is a rock voice and he doesn't belt in the way that other singers have belted that song, but it works because the emotion and the sentiment is there.
As a playwright, I have always admired Sondheim's ability to create full flesh and blood characters and allowing them to perform these intricate sung monologues or sung scenes with other actors. His words are the best dialogue and are great conversations. The music is great too, but for me, it's all about the words. I feel like I learn so much about writing by listening to his songs and his shows. In turn, Sondheim attributes his characters to the wishes of the playwright who created them. He makes moments and creates songs out of the characters who have already been laid out for him.
I love how the plays (I see them as both plays and musicals) play around with form and structure. The songs definitely do that. There's a sense that the form is dictated by the subject matter and the content. The best way to tell the story. That's the way I learned to write plays, so that's what I do when I write plays. I learned that in the context of studying with Erik Ehn and looking at theory by Artaud, Peter Brook, Grotowski. Sondheim learned it by studying with Oscar Hammerstein, studying all sorts of music, reading history and living life. His work takes place in the common place, in the public square of the theatre. Even though a lot of it has been performed at opera houses and much of his work does warrant that, his work is in the musical theatre, which means it's for every body. It elevates it, sure. But it also celebrates the musical more than it leaves it behind for more high-minded pastures. Yet, to volley back, it's smart as hell. And that's why I love the man and his work.
The perfect way to spend an evening by myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment