What Musical Theatre is to Me: Part 2 – Don’t dream it, be it

Last post I talked about musical expression in musicals. Now I’ll talk about how the theatre side of Musical Theatre can also be used as a form of expression. Despite being a huge fan and wanting to study the Art, I’ve not actually been lucky enough to see many musicals. Most of the ones I’ve watched were performed at the HKAPA, which despite being the best we have, is a rather pathetically small stage in comparison with other international stages. So what I say is slightly limited, although I do try to be objective.

One of my favorite musicals by far is Richard O’Brien’s “Rocky Horror Show”. Musically, it hasn’t got as much continuity as I would like, hence expression via the music itself is slightly lacking (note that I don’t mean expression through performance but solely the score). However, the dramatic side is astounding.

The Rocky Horror show is what my girlfriend and I often describe as ‘Theatre or Cruelty in a musical’, the way the characters are written, the plot, the costumes in addition to the music is what makes the entire show horribly uncomfortable but at the same time a timeless piece of art.

Theory preamble: Artaud’s Theatre of Cruelty is a is a theatrical form categorized by a rejecting of social norms on stage. It is an attempt to showcase the darkest inner parts of humanity, according to Artaud the theater should not be an escape but a realization of our inner darkness. In every performance there is a general feeling of unease, disgust and fear amongst the audience; and that is what Artaud wanted. (see: http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/academy/theatres/theatre%20of%20cruelty.htm).

Now in the Rocky Horror Show, the main antagonist, Dr. Frankenfurter, is a mad scientist creating a man, he has very little empathy, oh and he performs the entire show in drag. This already is uncomfortable for many members of the audience, I know I performed his title song “Sweet Transvestite” once and even only half in drag the audience were shocked.

However, there is one particular scene of interest that I think illustrates how the Rocky Horror Show, and of course expanding out to Musical Theatre, can be used expressively. (Note: I speak from the movie because I haven’t actually seen it on stage, I’ve watched some performances of the scene I’m about to talk about on Youtube but I think that the movie version is the most apt). Close to the climax of the Musical, Dr. Frankenfurter has hypnotized most members of the main cast and put them all in very revealing drag, especially the men, and they sing a sequence of songs in which they let out their inner sex drives. One particular song: “Don’t Dream It – Be It” is slow, lyrical, atmospheric, almost like a trance, however it is in this song that I realized how Artaud the entire show is – half way through the song, all the characters lose control and have an underwater orgy.

The scene realizes one of the greatest human fears: loss of control. Being put in drag by a mad scientist and then losing all your self control and giving in to your most animalistic, sexual desires. The scene is wholly unnerving. The music truly aids it by repeating the same slow phrase, slowly building up vocal and instrumental harmonies. Until Dr. Scott enters, the texture doesn’t change that much and even after his magnificent loss of control as he finds that he too is in drag, the musical texture quickly dies back down when Brad sings. The music almost beckons the audience to join in, it sounds so innocent, so pure, yet at the same time no one on stage has any self control.

As Dr. Scott says: We’ve got to get out of this trap
Before this decadence saps our will
I’ve got to be strong and try to hang on
Or my mind may well snap
Und my life will be lived for the thrills…

The question now is, can this sort of expression be done in another Art form? I would argue maybe, but not quite in the same way. Musical Theatre has the ability to bring together very talented actors and musicians, trained professionals in two very expressive art forms. It has the ability to portray a message through Music and through Theatre. The only question that remains now is: why doesn’t it?

Perhaps that’s not a question though, that’s a goal.

And that is what Musical Theatre is to me.

 

What Musical Theatre is to me: Part 1, actual music

A few weeks ago I participated in the Summer Musical School at the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. For the past few years they’ve been performing shows written by their staff. This year the show was directed by award winning song writer Charles Teo (he’s taken ladies) and written by Louisa Caraffi (she’s also taken). (No not by each other you sick person).

The musical was called “New Kids on the Block”; a jukebox musical featuring memorable songs such as the not-annoying-enough-yet “Let it go” and classics such as “Big, Big, Girl” and “What Makes You Beautiful”. Usually I try to stay away from dance heavy musicals because I can’t dance, but in all honesty I had no idea what type of show this was, just that it would be good work experience for me. No seriously, I didn’t know what character I was auditioning for, good thing I got through eh?

Anyway, I’ve watched quite a few musicals, I’ve listened to a lot of musicals, I’ve been in a few and I’ve written one; so although I’m not professional, I’d like to think I have a leg to stand on when I talk about them. For me, NKotB was barely anything like anything I’ve seen before.

*disclaimer: sometimes I might go a bit too far with criticisms, in all honesty I really enjoyed being in the cast and I would do it again. The songs too, I didn’t like the song choice but GOD I loved the arrangements…*

Despite not being the most amazing show I’ve been in or seen, having a different experience on a topic I’m familiar with really made me think about what musical theatre really means…to me.

Our playwright and director, Louisa talked in rehearsal once about how to think about performance in a musical: “you have to deal with the acting which already a whole lot, then the music which is another lot, then the dance which is also a whole lot”. Yes, in a musical is a whole lot of lots. But seriously, it is. For me dance was never an integral part of the musical theatre genre, but I guess it still is for many people (see dance heavy shows such as: Chicago, Starlight Express and Cats vs Phantom of the Opera, Rocky Horror Show and Little Shop Of Horrors). However, this is just the practical side, what about the expressive side?

This question might come as a surprise to some common-goers of Musicals because the genre isn’t usually attached to being a vehicle of expression or criticism, contrary to a lot of modern art. The question therefore is, why can’t it be? I’ve said before that I totally believe, beyond reasonable doubt and to an overly enthusiastic and borderline insane degree, that music in itself can be treated as a language with the ability to express meaning. Theatre has often prided itself also in the ability to express, in fact a lot of modern abstract Theatre exists for this reason (see: Theatre of Creulty, for example). Postmodern Art, yet another example of how Art is used nowadays to express meaning and criticism; just a few days ago I was at an exhibition of Chinese artist Xu Bing who, using pictures, tried to create a universal language (I don’t think it worked but that’s a story for another day).

So back to Musicals. This genre, unlike any other, combines Drama and Music…minimum, often dance too. Sometimes, if particularly ballsy, visual Arts, electronic media etc also come into play. So why can’t Musical Theatre be used as a vehicle of expression? Personally, I would argue that this view is simply a social mindset that Broadway is for gays but then I look at the Musical Theatre boom and I get worried. On one hand, I’m happy that more people are looking into Musicals as an expanding Art form, on the other hand…everything has a Musical now and very few are particularly profound Musicals.

Allow me to illustrate what I mean when I say expression. Compare the ethical dilemmas of Les Mis. or Ms. Saigon against some more modern Musicals such as Matilda or Shrek. Take for example when Javert, after having his life spared by Valjean jumps into the river Seine and dies; of course Victor Hugo wrote the plot, but the expression is just as strong Musically. The song itself is instrumentally almost an exact replica as Valjean’s Solioquy, by sharing the same music but changing the lyrics, the audience contrast what is essentially Valjean and Javert’s inner monologues. The song then ends with an instrumental reprise of Javert’s solo song “Stars” playing as he jumps to his death, the lyrics of “Stars” was when Javert swore to never back down from finding and putting Valjean in jail, even to his death the music shows this. Here, for your perusal:

Now, a more modern Musical: Shrek (Jeanine Tesori, 2008), not a bad musical in it’s own right but not sharing the same musical strength as Les Mis. More often than not, what the song says shares little with what the music says: take for example the song “Build a Wall”, this song is sung after Shrek hears Fiora say “Who would love a hideous ugly beast” and subsequently leaves Donkey and Fiora (in the movie I believe this is during Hallelujah). Have a listen for yourself:

The song, like most of the musical, has a distinctly 70s feel to it although this one might crossover a little into punk rock. One could argue that the grungy feel of the song aids in showing Shrek’s displeasure with Fiora, that’s a valid argument but there’s not much more to say. The ending of the song does bring to mind the overture:” Big, Bright, Beautiful World” which is ironic of course because Shrek is putting himself essentially behind bars away from the world. However, this is barely scraping the level of musical expression that Schoenberg and Boublil were writing in Les Mis. This is just the musical side, without being lucky enough to watch either Musical, this is what I gathered from listening to the album alone. Now let’s add some Drama.

*Second disclaimer: I’m really not saying that all modern musicals are bad, I actually really like Shrek, I just find that some of the more famous shows express a bit better. There are also some old ones that I find express nothing at all, but that’s a story for another day.*