You probably already know that I’m a musician, but you may not know about my background in theater. I did theater in high school and college, and a little bit in my twenties, but music demanded so much of my time that I just focused on that. For years, I’ve thought about writing a musical. My last attempt was cut short. I was developing a musical about Orpheus, and then I discovered that Hadestown was doing it. Sigh.
All songs have a degree of theater in them. Everyone knows there’s music and words, but people don’t always see the theater; a singer is performing in a way that other musicians in the band aren’t. You have to believe the singer, which explains why a mediocre singer can be successful- assuming they have the ability to make you believe them. Isn’t that kind of what punk rock is all about?
At any rate, music and drama go together like peanut butter and jelly. I mention drama because I’m including film and television here. I was a huge fan of the Monkees growing up. One of my dreams was not just to be in a band, but to be in a band that had its own tv show. The problem I always had with the Monkees’ was that while the show and the music went together, they didn’t really reinforce each other. The music was the soundtrack and it might hit the same mood, but the lyrics had nothing to do with the story of the show.
So when I wrote The Big Whoop, I wanted to make the song part of the story. In fact, the whole story culminates in the writing and performing of the song. That was the idea, at least. It’s hard to believe that Kathy Reynolds, Andrew Dailinger and I shot that nearly four years ago. I had a lot going on that wasn’t related to music or television. Maybe I’ll tell you about it sometime.
So Kathy and I were talking about maybe doing a mix of theater and live music. It wasn’t going to be a musical. In a musical, the songs follow the narrative. I wanted the theater to follow the music. The songs on The Dark Ages, were not written as a collective. In fact, most albums you listen to aren’t. But because they were written during the same period in my life, there are recurring themes, and so when you listen to the album there is a kind of continuity, but it wasn’t the continuity that you might find in a musical. It was more thematic.
So I went about writing short pieces that could be performed by actors that would support the music without a clear linear thread- similar to what listening to an album is like. And I am thus far pleased with the results, but it is an experiment. Will the experiment work? You’ll have to come on October 20th to find out. Sure, we will put the whole experiment online, but it won’t be quite the same. As anyone who has seen live music or live theater can tell you- you have to be there.