"Sin" Scene 08

“Get to Work.”  While Luis was delivering his oratory about how hard it is to be in charge of literally everything, things haven’t been going so well with Santana’s plan…Devlin is falling behind (and falling in love), Faith is more interested in forming a love relationship with Devlin than pursuing her music career (and being tricked into signing Santana’s contract).  Santana urges Devlin to get things moving; Devlin uses his charm to try to convince Faith to enter into a life of stardom, fame and fortune, and he finally gets her to sign the contract…but she’s uneasy about it. 

Around 2008 I discovered Richard Elfman’s insane “Forbidden Zone” film featuring Danny Elfman’s early musical work, a lot of atonal, Brechtian stuff.  This led me (finally) to the works of Bertolt and Brecht, which I’d somehow never come in contact with much before.  Around that same time, coincidentally, an opulent revival of “Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny” was mounted at the Ahmanson, and inexplicably beautiful production of one of the most complex and challenging things I’d seen up to that point (Charles Herrera, my long-suffering dear friend, went with me to the show and said at intermission, “I’d rather be watching ‘Oklahoma” ha ha).

The production really opened my eyes to so many things I had never considered “theatre” could be; it also starred Patti LuPone, whom I had only experienced through my theatre friends, and Audra MacDonald, who was a revelation (and probably a big inspiration for the look/attitude of “Santana”).  She was lithe, serpentine, sexy and smart…and of course there was That Voice. 

All that, The Dresden Dolls, my ongoing love of the Fosse-era Kander-Ebb songs, and even a couple of tracks from the solo career of ABBA chanteuse Agnetha Fältskog really got me excited about the idea of doing this sort of atonal, slightly sour, edgy-but-fascinating music…”Brechtian Cabaret” music, for want of a more educated description. 

“Get to Work” was the 3rd song I created and recorded for “Sin,” months before the whole thing took shape.  I was limited by the instruments I had available on my keyboard (as a reminder, the whole show was recorded in my loft apartment) but by 2010 samples had gotten pretty sophisticated and the thing fell together with amazing speed and ease—it was a lot of fun to put together. I did things like slightly de-tune the honky-tonk piano sound, and created lots of flams and pressure-sensitive variations for the snare drum so it would sound like someone hitting it sharply.  I didn’t add much reverb and I didn’t mix the instruments like I usually do so they blend, instead placing each instrument virtually “raw” in each quadrant across the stereo landscape so you could hear them all distinctly.   I’ve included the instrumental track—it’s one of a few of the songs from “Sin” that I think work well as either an instrumental or vocal:  https://youtu.be/vXyn_2ePCzY

One of my favorite comments came from Saudia, then playing “Santana” in the 2015 version.  Someone asked her about the various styles of music in the show, often in direct contrast to one another.  I would say it was because I was raised in a household where the music I was exposed to at a young age bounced all over the place.  Saudia’s version was, I thought, a lot more interesting:  “God and the devil have been around a long time and collected a lot of music over the years as music goes through different styles.”  Well, put, indeed.

Obviously a lot of the song comes (directly) from “Pirate Jenny”…this style was all new turf to me and, as I’ve mentioned often, I consider myself more a producer than a composer/musician—I saw a song “like” Pirate Jenny fitting into my show with adjustments and new lyrics, so adapted it to my uses.  I haven’t been sued yet, thankfully.

There’s also a running theme musically through the whole show—a switch back and forth from minor to major and back again.  My friend Mike, who has studied music extensively all his life, was the first one to point out how much I love that contrast (well, many people do I suppose), particularly noting songs like “S.O.S.” and “Knowing Me, Knowing You” as obvious examples, the songs that were my “gateway drug” to ABBA in the first place.  I never knew why I loved THOSE songs so much (it was very much NOT the lyrics as I have never really been a “lyrics person,” another reason I was such a fan of ABBA, who weren’t lyrics-strong either).  Mike said, “A major key change from minor brings such an incredible sense of relief, doesn’t it?” and it really opened my eyes—so on “Sin” I started playing with that structure very deliberately.

The lyrics also came quickly…they tell the story, and there are tons of words (and the lyrics didn’t require rhyming couplets, and you could just speak the lines if you couldn’t do the exact notes and few could tell the difference) so it was actually easier to write these lyrics than most of the songs in “Sin.”  However, actually singing it was another matter. 

What I learned quickly by adopting this “Brechtian” model was that there’s a “right” kind of sour to these “devil’s notes” and a wrong kind.  You have to hit a very specific sweet spot of atonalism or it just sounds…atonal.  But hit the right progression of notes and it somehow feels “sweet.” 

I had to be able to sing the guide vocals for the singers on all the songs in “Sin” (there was no sheet music) and this one was the most important.  It’s a credit to the performers I worked with that they were absolutely able to get into the spirit of it and really did a fine job, in all three incarnations included here (demo, 2011 sing-through and 2015 Fringe Fest). 

For the demo version, once again we get Chris Maikish’s soaring, clear vocals.  We also get Kehau Gabriel doing a fine job of playing increasingly impatient, and then Tricia Ridgeway as Satana, bringing a pleasing vulnerability to her sense of tension in the song…and providing the lovely, lyrical “Heidi”-esque “La la las” used in every version of the show:  https://youtu.be/xT9iWJkNdow

Part of bringing Kay Cole on for the sing-through was the idea of having her do some minor staging and choreography.  Without any real direction (the original script suggested Devlin and Faith are cruising around Beverly Hills in a limo and going to swanky, celebrity-filled parties while Santana sits, unseen, next to them), Kay came up with the idea of Santana being a “puppet master” of sorts.  With Devlin’s help,  Faith responds by being manipulated like a marionette.  The song really is about how Faith is being manipulated into signing her soul away, and I enjoyed the choreography but always felt it was a bit on-the-nose and not clear enough.  We figured the audience would be happy with ANY choreo and it kept things from getting stale but I wanted to turn it into more of a story moment at some point. 

What this version did exceptionally well, however, was interpret the melody I’d written note-for-note…while Joe Sousa really shines here, everyone in the sing-through version was a musical theatre veteran and used to not straying from the text a jot unless otherwise instructed, and it was really exciting to have this tough song brought to life so eloquently, by such incredible performers; it’s one of my proudest moments in the show musically anyway. https://youtu.be/1D2ZMBHTrFM

By contrast, for 2015, we were able to open up the staging a little and be more clear with what’s happening, adding the necessary acting and attitude. 

I worked with Kirby and Natalie, as the dancers/Greek chorus, on the idea of them representing “society,” dancing and reveling…but doing it like a “dance of the damned.”  We also came up with the militant, Cabaret-esque pose articulations the music suggested.  We had very little time and very little space, but this was my favorite bit of choreo from this version of the show by far. 

The performers, as always, make this moment truly come to life…you really get a sense of the tension at work—everyone betrays the increasing lack of patience they’re feeling well, without anyone upstaging each other even though the stage, and the story, are filled.  https://youtu.be/VoYnooK4lDk

This scene was one in an increasing number of showstoppers that really got the crowd worked up and ready for the fast-moving middle part of the show.  I also had a handful of people approach me after the show to let me know they understood exactly what I was trying to do with the “Brechtian” influence and tell me how much they appreciated all the little nods and touches to that style.  While I insist I do not create these projects for accolades and validations, my goodness, it’s wonderful when it does happen, I confess!