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The Best Brown Musical Ever: The Musicalby Andrew Hertz and Lance Rubin (Music-Hertz; Book-Rubin; Lyrics-Both)proposed by Andrew Hertz and Lance Rubin
Directed by Lance Rubin '04
"We should write a musical."It was mid-September, a mere four to five months ago, and Andy and I were both drunk. We were sitting in my common room, among some other close friends, when I was struck by some inspiration. Less-than-sober inspiration, but inspiration nevertheless. I ambled over to Andy, who was sitting on the couch."Hey."The next day, and for several weeks after that, Andy continued to doubt the actuality of us getting together and writing a musical, but I honestly thought it was something we should, and would, and could, do. During the Spring semester of last year, Andy had poured his heart and soul into a Brownbrokers proposal that did not get passed. With this project, he'd have another opportunity to get a musical of his performed at Brown, and I, after years of wanting to direct but not finding the script that really clicked with me, would have an opportunity to direct something I was really passionate about. And just in time, too, before the ever-nearing Commencement ejected us out into the world, where it is easily a thousand times more difficult to get a show produced. So, we started working. It was a slow process at first. We were both working on Batboy, and then when that was done, Andy dove immediately into the woods. (Sorry, I didn't want to write "into" twice.) But, towards the end of the semester, something crazy happened. We actually started writing a legitimate piece of theatre that could feasibly be performed and mean something to an audience. We had decided to start telling people about our musical-writing plan; that way, we'd feel more compelled to actually follow through with it. Once people know about something and start asking you about it on a daily basis, it begins to feel like much more of a reality. Over the course of the process, the college in "college musical" became Brown, simply because we realized it would be silly to thinly veil the college in our musical as being some other place. We wrote what we know, and obviously what we know of the college experience is the Brown Experience.
"So you wrote a musical. Why should we care?"I know, I know. So, at this point, you might be thinking, "Yeah, yeah, so two best friends got together and wrote a musical. Touching story, really, but why should I care?" I should explain something. Clearly, by now, you realize that this is not only an original musical, but a very specific original musical. This is not some piece of theatre that we've written in hopes of putting it one day onto the Great White Way. This musical was written with Production Workshop in mind as its final destination. And we're pretty damn excited about it.Over the past two years or so, Andy and I have come to understand what it is that, for us, makes compelling theatre. As Rebecca Schneider teaches in TA 123, some of the oldest theatrical rituals were done in the name of people "showing themselves to themselves" (Yay Clifford Geertz!) This, we think, is at the very heart of all good theatre. The best theatre should be a dialogue among the cast, crew, and audience about what it is that makes us human beings. People want to be able to see themselves onstage and relate to what's going on, laugh at what's happening, confront some of their own issues because the characters are doing so on-stage. Thus, with this in mind, what better way to create a fun, relatable piece of theatre than to write a musical about college students and set it at Brown. In the spirit of the oldest theatrical productions, we're "showing the college students to themselves." You know how when a friend gets a roll of pictures developed and you just love looking at the photos you're in? It's only human. This is much akin to that. There is something inherently thrilling about watching characters stand on Thayer Street and sing about where they should eat that evening. Story. Structure. Touching. Hilarious.Although our concept in theory could potentially sound like a gimmicky novelty act, we are incredibly proud of the fact that our script and production would have a lot of heart. The script follows six main characters Ð three guys, three girls Ð as they deal with their collegiate problems, which, often seem to be a much bigger deal at the time than they actually are in the long run. Rather than dwell on actual classes, the script tends to focus much more heavily on the time out of the classroom, as the characters relate to one another: hooking-up, falling in love, breaking-up, sexuality, roommates, future. The structure is unique in that the first act presents the characters in their Senior year, dealing with Senior concerns, like one's future, one's career, one's thesis. By the end of the first act, the characters are unsure about how they are possibly going to cope with all of these various problems; they long for Freshman year, when everything was so much easier and care-free. Then, the second act features the same characters in their Freshman year. Lo and behold, they are dealing with an entirely different set of problems, and by the end of Freshman year, many of the characters are faced with problems that they wonder how they'll ever get through. Yet, the audience is placed in a position of knowing more than the characters and is privy to the fact that the characters are all indeed fine by the time they get to Senior year. Thus, the show ends on a tone of ambivalence, yet once the audience stops to think about it, they'll (hopefully) realize that since the characters were able to deal with all of their Freshman year problems, chances are, they're going to be absolutely fine after Senior year, too. As opposed to many of today's musicals, which end the show by shoving a message down the audience's throat, our musical puts the message-deciphering firmly in the hands of the audience. As you may or may not have guessed, being Seniors right now, these are all things we think about all of the time, but ultimately, we realize that you can't spend so much time worrying, and you have to enjoy life as it comes, especially when you're in this magical playland called Brown University.Serious poignancy aside, the script is, and the show will be, really funny. As I mentioned, there are songs like the "Thayer Street Eatery Song," which is genuinely funny and fun and there is the general comedy that results from people recognizing things onstage from their everyday lives. Beyond this, though, the honesty of the situations that these characters find themselves in is often really comical, and the characters themselves are really likable. In the past two months, Andy and I have fallen in love with all of them. (The wedding will be in 2005.) Above all, the story and the script is ridiculously fun. This is a musical that the campus will eat up. It's honest, it's relatable, it makes you think about time at college, and it makes you feel good. Not to mention the fun that everyone working on this show is going to have, but I'll get to that a little later. (Have I said the word "fun" enough? I don't think so. Fun.)
A Force to Be Reckoned WithIf there's one thing I've learned from the process of writing this musical, it's that Andy and I make an amazing team. Both us are truly looking on this musical as a culmination of our entire careers at Brown, as if this project has been inevitable since we first met Freshman year while working on A Chorus Line (Andy musical-directed, I was in it). Andy, a Music concentrator, wants to compose musicals for a living. I'm a Theatre Concentrator, I've been acting since the third grade, and since the moment I arrived at Brown, I've known that it would be a monumental shame if I were to leave here without directing something. I specifically remember seeing The Nebraska Project my Freshman year and thinking, "Before I get out of here, I need to do something like that."Theatre has been an enormous part of our time at Brown. Between us, we've worked on about 20 Brown productions. I do not think it would be an exaggeration to say that Andy is the premiere musical director at Brown right now, having musical-directed four Musical Forum shows, one Brownbrokers show, one Mainstage show, one Brown Summer Theatre show, and Annie, Jr. Though acting is my first love, after working on what must be at least 50 shows during my lifetime, I am confident in my abilities to direct as well. My directing credits as of now are a TA 23 scene, a couple of small projects at French Woods Festival (a summer camp), and a number of Brown Derbies comedy sketches, and I am chomping at the bit to direct something bigger. I know how I like to be directed, and I know how to effectively communicate with actors. Beyond that, I have a very concrete vision, resulting from having spent so much time writing these characters, of what needs to happen for this musical to work. We are well aware of the monumental challenge of putting up an original musical in one month, but I know we are well up to the task, and the fact that we work together so damn well is going to make us a force to be reckoned with. That being said, let's talk about the process, so we can see this force in action.
Holy Shit, This Process Is Gonna RockThis process is going to be amazing, especially for the actors, but honestly for everyone involved, from the set builders, to the run crew, to the musicians in the pit. Andy and I are coming at this project with a spirit of play, fun, joy, and most importantly, collaboration. There is an organic feel we're striving for, a flexibility, an adaptability, that is going to apply to all facets of the process.Yes, we wrote a musical. Yes, we are proud of it. But it's not an expensive piece of china that we're going to put in the foyer for everyone to stare at and be sure not to touch. Rather, it's a really cool sculpture made of play-doh that we'll put in the family room, and everyone is going to have a hand in shaping it. We are going to be extremely open to going with the natural flow of things. Granted, this does not mean we plan on extensive re-writes. In fact, we are planning for the absolute minimum in re-writes, meaning none, because frankly, there's just no time. But, this does mean that this show is going to be an absolute goldmine for the artists involved, especially the actors. Allow me to explain. I've been in several original plays, and I have to say there's something absolutely magical about bringing a character to life for the first time. For some reason, I think when it's an original musical, it's even more magical. You can't listen to the CD to hear how the original cast sang it; you are the original cast. All of the actors in this show are going to be in for one hell of a ride. It's not going to be easy; there will be lots of rehearsing and it will generally be a full immersion in this world for a month (which is ironic since the fictional world they'll be immersed in is Brown). That being said, there is no reason why that ride shouldn't be a joy from beginning to end. Every actor is going to have the opportunity to bring a brand new character to life. The characters in this show are certainly defined, but there is a lot of breathing room and flexibility within each of them, and ultimately, the actors are going to dictate who these people are. We have a general idea of who these characters are, but we can't wait to actually see what they're like. I should mention that besides the six main characters, there is also an ensemble of six- three males, three females- and this is going to be an ensemble with a lot to do. Besides a number of small characters to play, the ensemble pops up all the time in the musical numbers and is generally vital for creating the feel of a campus. This is not the type of show where an actor will be disappointed to be in the ensemble; it's going to be just as much fun as any other role and since it's only a cast of twelve anyway, everyone will feel like an integral part of the whole. Andy and I are a team, but we realize what each of our distinct roles is, and we intend to maximize our productivity during this process, so that when I'm working with actors on scene-work, he will always be working with others on music. I know, this isn't some new idea, this is how all musicals should work, but we really intend on exploiting that for all its worth, carefully scheduling, taking advantage of every last second of time because again, we don't have very much of it. After a read-through and several games on the first day, we'll dive right into working in the next rehearsal. Every rehearsal will start with 30 minutes of work on the musical numbers the entire cast is in. This will consistently be followed by a physical warm-up and a game or two, depending on what time allows. Then, we'll work on the music, dances, and scenes, as is needed that day. The way I intend to work on scenes is the way I, personally, like to work best. The first run-through of a scene, I'll say naught but a few words and see what happens organically. Then, as we run through the scene more and more, things will get more and more specific and the actors will be encouraged to always be exploring new choices and new possibilities. This is very general because I definitely want the process to be flexible, so that it can be tailored specifically to the actors' and the show's needs at any particular time. I also will be doing some improvisational exercises with the actors, throwing their characters into situations where they have to live outside the bounds of the script, which will force the actors to get to know their characters better. After the first week, we're going to have a party where everyone has to show up in character and just interact that way for a couple of hours. It's gon' be fun. I'm sure I'll be doing lots of other exercises with the actors, which I've culled from both the shows I've been in and the various acting classes I've taken at Brown and at other programs (BADA in London, Northwestern summer program, French Woods); an example is that the actors will make a list of the ways they are similar and dissimilar to their character, which is going to be especially interesting for this show. Above all, I know what I want this show to be and how amazing it can be, but listening is going to be one of my biggest assets as a director. Like I said, the spirit of collaboration is a key part of this show, and I want to make sure that the process is a healthy, enriching one.
"I'm a Little Wary of You Writer-Directors..."Yes, I wrote it. And yes, I'm going to direct it. I've been told that this can sometimes be a cause for concern, when people fear that the director won't be able to step back from the work and look at it objectively. I understand this, and as a first response I will remind you again of my play-doh analogy from above. I'm ready and excited for lots of people to be contributing to the shape of this piece. I also fully intend to sporadically bring people into rehearsal to act as Third Eyes who will give honest criticism. Criticism is good. I want this show to be the best it can be. And, as a last resort, I've told Andy to punch me in the face if he thinks the show is coming out badly.
Henry Ben Clarendon is My HeroThe staff on our show is amazing, and I couldn't be happier. But the person I've worked with the most (other than Andy) at this point in the process is Henry Ben Clarendon who, as you'll read above, is my hero. Ben has designed a really exciting set; after we gave him a very simple description of the musical, he just let his imagination run wild. The musical takes place at Brown University, but the last thing we have any desire to do is create some detail-perfect accurate realism in the set (and lighting for that matter). Rather, since these are all locations which many will recognize so well, our goal is to try to find the simplest way to represent these places and still have people recognize them. The set consists of several different frames, which will make more sense when we show you the design at the interview, but they can be used in a plethora of ways to define different locations. The set relies on the use of negative space; for example, to create a dorm room, you're mainly just using one wall, which will have a couple of posters on it, and the dorm room is implied. Then, to create the Ratty, this wall can be flipped around, and on the other side, there's one of those big Brown photos they have. That's just an example; again, this will make much more sense when Ben comes in and explains it. There will also be some furniture, like chairs, dorm room beds, but we really are trying to keep things as simple as possible.
Costumes, Lights, Dancin'!I have yet to meet with Cassie or Adam about the costumes or lights, respectively, but, just as with Ben, they're going to have a lot of creative freedom. The costumes aren't going to be too complex, as the characters will all be wearing clothes that any college kids would wear. There is the opportunity for a lot of fun when the second act goes back to Freshman year, and if Cassie so desires, the style of these characters can alter to represent their different Freshman year selves. As for the lighting design, I don't really know specifics about what it will or should be, but I do know it's very reassuring to have Adam on the staff.John McCutcheon will be choreographing the show, but I should make you aware now that this is not a dance-heavy production. At most, there are three big dance numbers, and I think that's almost an over-estimate. This is not Bob Fosse. There will be some fun dancing, but it is not the focus of the show, and especially because of time constraints, we just can't afford to spend weeks learning dances. That being said, this is John's debut as a choreographer, and he's going to rock the figurative house.
What Color is Your Evening?As the mentor for this proposal, Michael asked me to think about the colors of this production, not in terms of design, but in terms of the feel of the evening. The colors that keep popping into my head for this show are orange and purple. It's a very orange and purple show. Maybe that's because those colors are like skewed, juiced-up versions of Brown's brown and red. This show will be vibrant, alive, and energetic, and I feel like orange and purple, as quirky versions of brown and red, capture well my vision for what it will be like to theatricalize Brown. It will be recognizable, and yet, at the same time an entirely new world.
One Moment, Please...This show is jam-packed with moments that I am busting to stage. I am especially excited about the Phi Psi party scene in the second act. It's going to be fast-paced, alive, and the way I'm visualizing it, it will capture wonderfully the experience of a Phi Psi party. The space is going to be framed in such a way that the party space is crowded and uncomfortable. The pit is going to be vamping during the entire party to provide the mood music. The lights are low, and if possible, pulsing. This scene consists of lots of mini-vignettes of interaction between people at the party: Evan is being hit on by Alix, the roommate of the girl he really likes, Seth meets Molly for the first time, and they instantly hit it off, and J.T. is experiencing what it's like to flirt with a guy. As each mini-vignette happens, all of the actors save the ones in the scene are in frozen tableau at the party. Then, as the scene shifts focus to other actors, everyone else freezes. Then, the stage will actually be divided so that the other side of the stage is Gemma's room; at one point, the lights go down on the party and come up on Gemma feuding with her long-distance boyfriend in her dorm room. As I envision the scene, it's going to move at such a rapid-fire pace and capture the drunken blur of a Phi Psi party with hilarity and honesty.
The Best Brown Musical EverThis musical does everything a good piece of theatre should do. It'll make you laugh, it'll make you cry, it'll make you think. I know it's going to be an amazing experience for an audience, but more importantly than that, I know it's going to be an amazing process for everyone involved. This has the potential to be something so special, so new, so different, the kind of show that when people don't get to see it one night because it's sold out, they come back the next night even earlier to try and get in again. Andy and I are so excited about doing this show, and I genuinely believe the campus will be excited about it, too. After all, who better to see on-stage than a representation of yourself?
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