The Amory Wars

So after class on Friday I came home and talked with Jason about it (he’s a big Dream Theater fan…so the fact that they would come up in a class discussion just made his day). I told him that we were talking about Green Day’s American Idiot and how it was a concept album that was being put on as a Broadway show. He had no idea that Green Day had made it to the “Great White Way” and was pretty surprised about the whole situation.

Then we got into discussions on what albums we thought would make really great staged shows. He actually mentioned that Dream Theater had put on their Scenes from a Memory as a staged version. However, they did not go as far as Green Day by making it a complete show with multiple singers and such. What they did was took their music and played while actors were on the stage acting out the story for the audience. Still a pretty nifty idea, I think. I think it would be amazing to have them actually turn it into some kind of show, though. We already know the plot works as a movie, it can stand on its own. Now it’s just a matter of taking the music and making it work for a cast of singers rather than just their lead singer, James LaBrie (who happens to have aspirations as a Broadway singer!).

The other one we came up with that we didn’t mention in class was Coheed and Cambria’s The Amory Wars. Here is a huge multiple album spanning science fiction story that was actually written by the frontman Claudio Sanchez. They had a comic book published in 2004 that actually went through the first third of their album The Second Stage Turbine Blade. I can only imagine what they must think of Green Day having their album brought to life on stage. I would think if I had written something like that from scratch, that was already conceived as being this crazy saga, I’d love to see it on stage or in film!

Filling the niche...

I have to say…when we talked about having a composer coming to class, the person who walked through the door was certainly not the person I expected to see!

I had met Kiya Heartwood earlier when she had come into my job looking for some music. She seemed so shy, but friendly, and we discussed whether her name was [‘kija] or [‘kaija].

It was a wonderful experience having Kiya visit with us this week. I really enjoyed listening to her talk about her work and how she came up with ideas. It is always helpful for singers to better understand where the music they interpret comes from.
I think it is absolutely amazing that Kiya composes for such an under-appreciated group! There are kids out there that want to sing, and do shows, but don’t have anything they can really work with! I worked at a small company that produced shows with middle-school kids. We were always trying to figure out what to do with our kids that would still be appropriate considering their ages. You can only sing Once Upon a Mattress or Annie so many time (and even Annie is a tiny bit questionable!). I remember the last show I did with them was Little Shop of Horrors. And I always had this nagging feeling that the subject matter really was not something they should be portraying. As silly as the show is, there is still murder and physical abuse woven into the plot. We also had to have a young girl play “Audrey II” and transposed everything for her because we lacked a decent amount of boys for the show.

I have to say that I think Kiya has picked a wonderful niche for her music. Most of these kids are really eager to sing a lot of the stuff Broadway has to offer, but are stuck in this weird place where they’re not quite ready to meet the demands of the music. Making her works so flexible so that it will fit almost any situation is an added bonus! I know the kids I worked with were always eager to hear me sing something for them. I can only imagine what they would have thought if we came up with a show where those of us who were directing them could also participate without taking the attention away from them. I think Kiya is more than capable of coming up with some really great ideas for that overlooked group. I look forward to hearing what else she comes up with.

Papeles! y mas papeles!!!

For the creative aspect of my Consul project, I have decided to sing an aria from the opera. As Magda only has the one, it is going to be the “Papers” aria. However, it is really long…and does include some interrupting conversation from the Secretary. I’m going to have to figure some kind of cut maybe. I thought about translating it into Spanish – thought that might be cool. I gave it the old college try, and it was going pretty well. But then I thought do I really want to take it that far? Should I take it that far? If I leave the characters as they are, which would make Spanish their second language, then it makes sense that the opera be in English. Who knows? Maybe the Inspector should have a Spanish accent?

If I was more crafty, I would have loved to have done a mockup up the set. However, I feel I lack the skills to put something like that together. I also thought it would be interesting to do the aria in what might be used as a costume for Magda. Given their circumstances, she would need to be dressed as one of the “campesinos,” or farming folk. I’ve been going through some family photo albums and seeing what my family wore while they still lived on the island. I’ve also decided to watch a couple of films (no, not The Godfather or Scarface). The most recent would be The Lost City by Andy Garcia. It is set around the time I am looking at, with a lot of different costuming ideas since they show a diverse number of characters from different walks of life. It is also a decently realistic portrayal of what life was like when Batista was overthrown. Some scenes include the main character Fico Fellove being forced to leave anything of real value behind before being allowed to leave. It’s that kind of maltreatment and injustice that I think really unifies my idea to the Consul.

El Consulado

So my original idea for my paper and presentation was to set Gian Carlo Menotti’s The Consul in Cuba during the 1960s. I wasn’t exactly sure how I wanted to play it out, but after talking to my mother I have some more concrete ideas.

I’ve decided to set the opera during the aftermath of the Bay of Pigs. Since John is constantly in hiding, it would make sense that he fought against the new regime. If we stick with everyone’s original names instead of trying to “Cubafy” them, it would even make more sense that they are foreigners currently living in the country. I also think that it would make the trips to the Consulate more plausible. Were they Cuban citizens, they wouldn’t be allowed to leave the country at all.

My father told me stories about growing up with Russians living on the island. He even mentioned that there was a certain kind of segregation where the natives weren’t allowed into certain establishments with the Russians. This gives me a couple of different options on how to set up the Inspector and the Secretary. Most likely, the Inspector will be from the Revolutionary camp. I’ll need to do a little more digging to find out if there were any foreign consulates being allowed to operate at the time.

Anna Gomez, Vera Boronel, and Nika Magadoff seem to fit in pretty well with this sort of setup. I’m also pretty sure Mr. Kofner will fit. The only person I have a little trouble justifying is the Italian woman. I’ll have to do a little more research and see what the chances are that there would be a little Italian woman living in Cuba at that time. She would more likely fit somewhere like Argentina, not exactly Cuba. Assan is a small enough role that I don’t think it will effect the story much to make him a native from the island.
All in all, I think the whole idea will work out quite nicely.