We got back to Brooklyn four days ago, after nearly six weeks in California. I think I have Seasonal Affective Disorder; or at least, I’m relatively impatient and irritable. Snow, sleet, freezing temperatures, the overcrowdedness and small annoyances of New York City are not the real issues, though they all hit me like a pail of cold water to the neck. The real issue is that I’m having trouble maintaining perspective, remembering to be grateful, or having any sort of equanimity.
I know this is the season to give thanks, to express gratitude, to be appreciative – well, actually EVERY season is the season to do these things…and about a year ago, inspired by the example of our dear friends Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, Brendan and I started making a practice of listing things to be grateful for at the end of each day. (The existence of our 3-year-old son Mose, as well as the privilege and honor to be able to write and play music for a living, are on our lists a lot.)
Mose
Right now, when things are so difficult for everyone, it’s even more important to put positive/appreciative energy out into the world…so tonight, my list will include Stephen Sondheim, composer/lyricist of the incredibly inspiring “Road Show,” which I got to see last night at the Public Theatre. Sondheim (whom I consider probably the greatest living theater composer) is worthy of gratitude not only because he is brilliant, but (more importantly) because he simply keeps on writing. (I’m grateful also for John Weidman, who wrote the book for “Road Show” and has collaborated with Sondheim several times – but don’t know as much about him.)
Stephen Sondheim
“Road Show,” a tale of 2 brothers who succeed and fail spectacularly in real estate and other ventures in the early 20th century, has been written and rewritten, worked and reworked, titled and retitled, at least 4 times (former titles include “Bounce”, “Wise Guys” and “Gold”). It has yet to garner very positive reviews; somehow when critics compare it to Sondheim’s former work, they find that it comes up short. In my opinion, it’s an astounding piece; both Brendan and I were on our feet the moment the lights went out. It’s only playing through December 28; but if you get the chance, I strongly urge you to go and see it.
Some writers and performers never read reviews. Not sure if Sondheim does. I can’t help myself; I’m too curious. In the history of GrooveLily and the shows I’ve been involved in writing, I’ve been mostly lucky enough to get very good reviews…but in the case of our latest musical, “Long Story Short,” the reviews are now all in, and they have been very mixed. (Some extremely positive, some kinda lukewarm, and a few rather harsh.)
It’s tempting (and useful for our press kit) to keep the good ones and simply ignore the rest…but I feel that if you’re going to believe any of your positive press, you have to believe, or at least be open to, the negative. Also, it can be instructive. Brendan and I are definitely not finished writing this show; before the next production we have a good list of points to ponder and improvements to make.
Having a sense of humor about it all is crucial. (In retrospect, this will all be funny…so why waste time?) My favorite part of reading the reviews is that some critics, in comparing “Long Story Short” unfavorably to our first theatre piece “Striking 12,” have decided retroactively that they loved “Striking 12.” Excellent.
In any case, I’ve decided that four days is plenty of time to allow myself to give in to SAD, and now I’m done. Thank you, Stephen Sondheim, for setting such an amazing example of longevity and continued striving…and thank you, Karen and Andrew, for reminding us to be grateful.
More festive mood alteration will commence next week at the Zipper Factory Theatre in Manhattan, where we will have the honor of doing seven “Striking 12″ concert performances, December 26-31. Hope to see you there.
5 Comments
Saw Long Story Short a week ago at TheatreWorks and liked it, after I realized it was deeper than TheatreWorks usual holiday fare. The production is an unconventional musical record of the interaction of two lifetimes. It is not perfect, and I’d like to see it again in two or three years. I especially liked the constraints of the single set and hence the creativity in dealing with passing time. For me, though, there was a problem with Charlie’s aging – toward the end there could have been more visual cues; e.g., a cane. Of course, there were other flaws, but minor when you think of the challebges.
What I really liked was seeing the evolution of a band that got clever and creative – very creative with Striking 12 – into writers of serious musicals. The best is yet to come!
I thought your show was really wonderful. I think the variety review was way off of the mark. I was introduced to Sondheim through “Merrily We Roll Along”, another show that never got much love. And I was completely subsumed by it. It’s hard to make a show that’s about sadness, failure, and compromise, and have people love it. Frankly as the parent of two kids, “Long Story Short” was very wrenching, and I won’t be seeing it again soon, but that doesn’t diminish your achievement. I have a secret desire to write a musical, and when I see what you’ve done, I think, “forget it, I could never achieve at this level”–in part because of the way you have successfully used musical themes (like Sondheim) to build a complex emotional subtext under the unfolding of the story. All my best to you and Brendan.
Chris,
I LOVE “Merrily We Roll Along” — it frequently vies for the #1 spot on my list of favorite Sondheim shows. “Sweeney” usually wins out, but I have such a soft spot for “Merrily”–my collaborator in grad school, Jason, gave me a copy as a present and so much of the end of it reminded me of my small circle of friends, trying to make it in New York in our early 20′s, certain that we’d never diminish our optimism or compromise.
I particularly love it when the chorus gets to that moment in one of the inbetweens, and they shout out in harmony: NINETEEN-SIXTY-EIGHT! Something about it just kicks ass.
Thanks for your lovely and thoughtful compliments. They mean a lot to us.
OK now you guys are just being MEAN… When I got accepted to Columbia I was exited since I would finally see Groovelily live, only to find them touring the West Coast all year. Then I get an e-mail that Groovelily will be at a battle of the bands, 2 days BEFORE I arrive in NYC. Now I get an e-mail that Groovelily will be in NYC for 12 days. 1 day AFTER I leave NYC.
Just so you can plan in advance, I will be graduating on MAY 23rd, so feel free to book May 25th for your next NY show.
Break a leg guys.
My favorite part comes during the reprise of “The Hills of Tomorrow”–the transition from the end of “Our Time”, to the repeating three chord piano riff, which ends on a discordant note, with the bell playing underneath (adding a little clang tone) never fails to send chills down my spine.
In your show, my favorite moment is the elegant simplicity of “Still Love”. It reminds me of the end of “The Fantastiks”, where you’ve arrived at the bittersweet reward. That and the vocal interplay at the end of “Let You Go”.
I also like the beginning of “Fragile as Love”–the frantic but tight melody and accompaniment remind me of the best part of Philip Glass.
In the end, a show is composed of highlights. The thing that inspires me to listen to an album is the memory of those musical bursts. “HOW DID YOU GET THERE FROM HERE, MR. SHEPHERD!?”