Friday Stolen Ten

Circus -- Tom Waits -- Real Gone
One of Tom Waits's beatnik poems. Not my favorite (probably "Step Right Up" off of Small Change) in a long line of terrific beat poems, but it does finish with the line: "But I'd like to hammer this ring into a bullet/And I wish I had some whiskey and a gun/My dear" Which is terrific.

Humble Mumble -- Outkast -- Stankonia
Who doesn't love Outkast, and specifically Stankonia? What a terrific album, just in general.

Privelege -- Incubus -- Make Yourself
This is one of those embarrassing albums that comes up occasionally. However, I can't change the fact that this isn't a terrible album. It was one of those albums from college, with the hard-rock band + dj that was so much better than, say, Limp Bizkit.

Manchester, England -- Original Broadway Cast Recording -- Hair
Not my favorite song in the show, but clever. After all, I'll listen to almost anything that name-checks Timothy Leary. I got to spend time at Tom O'Horgan's gorgeous apartment in '06 filming a segment for the NYIT Awards ceremony that honored Tom this year with a life-achievement award. That will be a memory I'll treasure all my life, I guess. An amazing man who embodies theatre history, and who has an obvious passion for music and sound. He's an inspiration.

The Move -- Hello Nasty -- Beastie Boys
Ah, the Beasties. Also a remnant from my High School years. For better or for worse, they DID bring rap and hip-hop into the spotlight of mainstream America. You wouldn't expect THAT from the son of Israel Horovitz, would you?

Those To Come -- Chutes Too Narrow -- The Shins
I love The Shins. They write music that is so deceptively simple, but so full of meaning and emotion. Working on the musical libretto, and having to lyricize a lot of what was written in the first draft, has brought me an even deeper appreciation for those who can write simple, clean, meaningful lyrics. When that's melded with beautiful (and lyrical) music, it becomes transcendent. Loving me some Shins.

Plateau -- MTV Unplugged -- Nirvana
Can you tell I came of age in the era of Nirvana? This is actually my favorite Nirvana album. It's so painfully intimate, and reflects their love of other bands' music (The Meat Puppets, in particular). This track is incredible because it's so far out of Cobain's register, on both ends of the spectrum -- too low, and too high. But the magic comes not from his hitting it perfectly, but the sound of intense struggle. A telling metaphor for his entire career, or for what keeps our attention with all great art.

I'd Do Anything -- Oliver! -- London Revival Cast
From the London Revival directed by Sam Mendes. I got the chance to direct this show, after graduating college, when I was teaching at my old High School in California. It was a great experience, one of the three or four shows I'm most proud of, so I'll just quote some of my director's notes from the program:

Oliver is an innocent. We can't deny that. But his innocence, his willingness to please, and his despair at not being able to do so, are of paramount importance. Oliver isn't so much a character, as he is a force that acts upon those with whom he comes in contact. His innocence shines a light on the hypocrisy of the Beadle and Mistress of the poorhouse in which he was left when his mother died. His naivete is quickly exploited by the Artful Dodger, and the pickpockets under his command. His purity causes Fagin to realize that maybe his line of work isn't quite as harmless as he wants himself and others to believe it to be. His search for love and protection brings Nancy's world to the brink of crumbling, and his helplessness causes Sykes to bring about his own downfall. The boy's very existence sets change in motion, and his hope infects all those he meets. His search is the search we all experience -- to find that place where we belong, and hope that love resides there as well.

". . . And yet, beneath all of this, there is a conspicuous darkness -- a call for social change, as apparent in this show as it was in Dickens' original novel. Why do a group of boys find acceptance and love in the den of a crook, as the pickpockets do in Fagin's Thieves' Kitchen? Yet they do. And for all his thievery, Fagin is a loving guardian. By contrast, look how poorly treated the orphans are under the "protection" of the state, in the workhouse. A change must come -- and we see the possibilities of that change in the character of Oliver Twist.

Oliver! has become such a staple in the musical theatre world, that it's hard to believe what an innovator it was when it opened. It was actually turned down by 12 different producers when it was first written for being "too morbid". A tale of poorhouses, orphans, thieves, and murderers -- with a showstopping number set in a funeral house -- was more than these producers thought an audience could stand from such a silly medium like Musical Theatre. (They obviously didn't remember Threepenny Opera or it's pre-cursor, The Beggar's Opera.)

"With an understanding of what has come after the original production of Oliver in 1960, I have tried to base this production around such monumental staging as Trevor Nunn's Les Miz and Hal Prince's Sweeney Todd. The set is minimalistic but on a grand scale. Interiors and exteriors exist in tandem -- it is ALL London, from the Thieves' Kitchen, to the Three Cripples pub, to London Bridge. The city becomes a character itself, and I've tried to express that visually. From the highs to the lows, it is Jolly Old England, in all its wonder and squalor."

Cue 21 [Bar] -- The Adventures of Nervous Boy -- Various (The Beta Band; Maroon 5)
This was an early cue I made for Nosedive's most recent production of The Adventures of Nervous Boy. This scene takes place toward the end of the play, after Nervous-Boy's climactic breakdown and violent acting out. His date from earlier in the show, Emily, has been out "letting off some steam" herself, and calls to apologize to NB for how she reacted to his confession of undying love. I used The Beta Band's "Lion Thief" in the background to her phone call. Though I'm not sure anyone else noticed, it had been playing in the earlier bar scene (to which she's referring,) and I wanted to imply that in hearing the song, she was reminded of that previous date and her behavior. I included a live version of Maroon 5's "Harder to Breathe" directly following (although the track never played that far in any performance.)

Assessment -- The Beta Band -- Heroes To Zeros
Oddly enough, another Beta Band track. I do love the Betas and was sad to suddenly discover them in earnest right on the brink of their disbanding. Better than to have never discovered them at all, I suppose.