Drums in his ear, at which he starts and wakes...

Please excuse the respite. I have been diligently at work on that rarest of projects, writing music for hire. Namely incidental music for an upcoming production of Romeo & Juliet for Riverside Theatre Works in Hyde Park. This is not my first time writing music for the theatre, though it has been awhile. Of all of the artistic disciplines, I feel that the theatrical arts (straight plays, musical theatre, dance, and screen acting) most closely mirror the execution of art music*. Unlike literature or the visual arts, art music and theatre are innately collaborative in nature. A composer or playwright typically entrusts a performer with the successful execution of his/her creative labor; no doubt a relationship of immense intimacy in which both parties are incredibly vulnerable. And it is this reliance on a human intermediary to communicate one’s intentions to an audience that can be so exhilarating and vastly enriching.

Aside from this bond in artistic vulnerability and process, my love of theatre is owed to a more personal debt as it is tied to two women who are deeply important to me: my fiancée, who is herself a wonderfully talented actor, and my mother, whose edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare I so coveted as a boy that I took it to school to read during recess - and it is that very same edition that is still in my possession today.

On the creative side, composing for theatre is a challenge. A challenge because it calls upon the composer to temper his/her own artistic vision and subjugate it to the service of the theatre. In a strange inversion of the typical collaborative process, the composer becomes the intermediary, entrusted with executing the director’s vision. This inversion of collaboration is so intriguing. In the process of completing this recent project, I had met and corresponded with the director on numerous occasions as to how my music could best serve her conception of the show. Anything from simple descriptors to her own personalized playlist of music that she had been listening to when conceiving the production’s direction were not only welcome directives, but incredibly helpful in shaping the soundscape for the production’s scoring. For a rare instance, my musical imagination was at the behest of another’s instincts, allowing me to write music that I most certainly would have been unable to write otherwise. The result is a score that blends electronic and acoustic sounds (concertina and cello to be exact) and even straddles popular and art music genres - an opportunity that was certainly exhilarating and vastly enriching.

Riverside Theatre Works’ production of William Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet will open on February 4th.

*Please excuse the use of this term, but it is the best categorical descriptor at my disposal to concisely define that to which I am referring.

For more information regarding this performance and the works of William Shakespeare visit:
http://www.riversidetheatreworks.org/
http://dreadpassion.blogspot.com/