#adam guettel

[pierreism]

'How Glory Goes' performed by Jeremy Jordan

Featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Floyd Collins. Available July 11 via Center Stage Records

via LincolnCenterTheater

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Floyd Collins

FLOYD COLLINS, book and additional lyrics by Tina Landau, music and lyrics by Adam Guettel, directed by Tina Landua, choreography by John Rua: After watching this revival of the musical tale of the mine explorer whose entrapment in a cave became a national sensation in 1925, I asked, “What does Jeremy Jordan have to do to win the Tony? Cure cancer?” The more likely answer would be that he has to bring half the energy and expertise he displays here to a feel-good musical with hummable tunes.

Landau’s book uses the true story of Floyd Collins’ death to explore the twisted dynamics of the Collins family (bible-quoting patriarch, sensitive step-mother, upwardly mobile brother and fragile sister who’s spent time in a mental institution) and the community’s attempts to capitalize on the attempts to rescue him.  There’s a measured generosity to the work. The cub reporter hoping to make his name out of the situation bonds with Collins, while the engineer from a mining concern out to garner publicity by rescuing Floyd becomes so obsessed that he stays on with Miller to dig in the cave long after the rest of the rescue crew has given up. The play doesn’t go all Pollyanna, however. Even Floyd’s father is shown trying to make a buck out of the situation.

Guettel’s score is difficult for both singers and audiences. In a way he seems to be writing an opera, but he just hasn’t dropped the other shoe by scoring the dialogue scenes. Of course, if this were an opera, we’d lose some of the fine musical comedy voices for which he wrote the male roles (the two principal female characters sing in head voice, so they’d make the transition more easily). He works with leitmotifs for characters and situations that may seem repetitious, though there’s one repeated passage in which Floyd sets up a round singing with is own echo that I found utterly enthralling. He also uses a lot of dissonance, which makes sense in depicting a fractured community but can be hard on the ear.

There’s a lot of good work in this production. Landau stages it sparsely. At times the stage is bare, and she loves putting characters in the background silhouetted against a plain backdrop. I kept thinking of the visuals in Charles Laughton’s THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (1955). Taylor Trensch as the cub reporter, and Jason Gotay as Floyd’s brother are particularly fine.  And standby Kristen Hahn made the sister’s role seem as if it had always been hers. But the real center of the production is Jordan. He’s stuck in one position for much of the show but still manages to find physical variations. And when he gets out of position during two fantasy scenes, he maintains a stopped posture, as if he were still stuck in that cave. He’s also totally committed to the character’s emotional life, even while wrapping his beautiful voice around that very difficult score. Now if he could just find a role like this that survives to the final curtain and makes us all feel good about ourselves.

[sondheim-girly]

adam guettel was like what if i wrote music. and it was weird.

[itsgrapes-exe]

if i made a floyd collins discord would anybody join or would it be too niche

[glimeres]

" Listen, this musical was about alcoholism. Deep, dark alcoholism. And a love story, but riddled with this third player, right? So it wasn’t for everybody. I knew that it wasn’t the most commercial thing. It was an art piece, and I was so proud of that, actually. And we’re lucky that it had a space on Broadway for even a minute. But what killed me is that I felt like the population that needed it — us all being the daughter or having had that mother or knowing that father or whatever it was — I was worried that we hadn’t reached them. I sometimes worry that the business can be very formulaic, especially in how we sell things. And I was concerned that we weren’t reaching the audience, the whole new generation of sober-curious people, and people that don’t usually come to theater, or whole organizations that thrive and survive on sobriety or that need to have the conversation constantly or to see themselves in a story.

We were being told to sell it as a love story. We were deceiving people as they walked in the door, and I’m saying this out loud because it was one of the most painful parts of the process for me — to be doing that much, to be giving that much of my heart, and being so satisfied by the performance, and then I would literally have someone every single night come and see it and say, “Oh, I had no idea it was about alcoholism.” I jumped back on social media when we got the closing notice and started trying to promote the show, sweating, just to get more people in front of this beautiful piece of work. And I felt sad and angry because there was a time when that wasn’t your job as much; your job was to do eight shows a week with all your heart. But it felt like, “Gosh, I should have been more of an influencer. I should have been having things on the sidewalk [like Hamilton did].” And I started to get desperate because when you work on something for 20 years, and you know how special it is… But then you have to check yourself and say, “It’s special to me, and that doesn’t always translate to special to the larger community.” But it’s painful. When you’re in something that means the world to you, and it’s closing, it’s heartbreaking because it feels like a death."

Kelli O'Hara talking about the early closing of "Days of Wine and Roses" in the annual The Hollywood Reporter Tonys Rountable

[nonesuchrecords]

It was 20 years ago today: the original Broadway cast recording of composer/lyricist Adam Guettel's The Light in the Piazza was released on Nonesuch. The album captures the six-time Tony Award–winning Lincoln Center Theater production starring Victoria Clark, Kelli O'Hara, and Matthew Morrison. The New York Times declared the album “sublime ... the most intensely romantic score of any Broadway musical since West Side Story.” You can hear it here.

[swandoesntdobootlegs]

COLIN TRUDELL HOMER DEBUT??? EXCUSE MEEEE HOLY SHIT

if anybody gets an audio from tonight please hit me up id be happy to trade for it!!

[writersblock8]

sunday report

howdy,

i saw floyd collins last night. so many thoughts and feelings as i watched a piece that flirts with the concept of mortality and dreams and the media and poverty and so many things. what a gift it was to see this show live on broadway. younger me went crazy (and so did current me). it brought so many memories to the forefront of my mind. it reignited my love for the craft of acting. really spoke to me. and to get to see a show in the vivian beaumont theater! at lincoln center! what a gift. i grew up watching so many of the pbs great performances there. and to hear adam guettel's score live and in person with that orchestra conducted by the legendary ted sperling.

when it comes to the purpose of this blog and why i bring up floyd collins, i found that as i heard guettel's complex vocal writing, i felt like it was giving me permission to write things that people might consider strange or weird. guettel has always used neutral syllables in his work for very specific reasons. oftentimes, i find that it expresses the otherwise inexpressible. in the light in the piazza, the song "say it somehow" features quite a lot of neutral syllables – it's because clara and fabrizio can't communicate in the same language because he speaks little english and she speaks little italian, but their souls and bodies are calling out to each other and they transcend language. "awaiting you" in myths & hymns has a long section that is simply vocalise (a lot of myths & hymns is vocalise). floyd collins uses this neutral syllable in such a unique way – as he is a cave explorer, he yodels and calls to bounce his voice off of the cave walls and ceilings to figure out the area of the space he's in, but it's also used as a means of a much deeper expression. the man is trapped under a lot of debris; it's like his soul calling out. his sister, nellie, calls similarly from above ground to communicate with floyd / speak to his spirit.

in my composition for macbeth, i've been utilizing similar techniques. after hearing sequences like "the carnival" again, i almost feel like i have to put something out so people don't think i'm stealing from adam guettel! the sounds that floyd makes in that scene play with lots of vowel mixture and diphthong bending. there's a lot of ambiguity in what exact vowel or ipa symbol is being sung and i really, really love that. he sounds stuck and it sounds like he's trying to get out and find a way through. lady macbeth in "out, damned spot" is tortured deeply in her soul. she is plagued by the guilt of her actions and desires, and most importantly here, she is unable to express this while conscious or awake. it comes from deep within. i'm really inspired by how dame judi dench does the scene – when she reaches "o! o! o!" and she screams like a whistling tea kettle, exorcising her demons. it's the weeping and gnashing of teeth that is described in the king james version of the bible. she literally sees hell and describes it as "murky." "the dream" from floyd collins interweaves a lot of different melodic lines. it provides a beautiful effect. seeing the show confirmed a lot for me as a writer and gave me a lot of courage to follow my gut about my sound and not feel limited in what i can write. there are people out there who can sing the stuff i write! especially the more complicated stuff. it's when i need actors to also act it where i get a little nervous...

that's a problem for later.

[doyouknowthismusical]

[sondheims-hat]

Happy Birthday, Adam Guettel (December 16, 1964).

[story-on-stage]

This may be an unpopular opinion, but I think ALW is super overrated. Also can't really stand Adam Guettel, but that's a different story.

[pierreism]

'The Riddle Song (Extract)' performed by Jason Gotay, Jeremy Jordan

Featured on the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Floyd Collins. Available July 11 via Center Stage Records

via LincolnCenterTheater

[droughtofapathy]

Tony Trivia #13

This season, Adam Guettel is Tony-nominated for Floyd Collins in the Best Revival category, as it has not previously had a Broadway production. He is already a two-time Tony winner for his score and orchestrations of The Light in the Piazza, with an additional two prior nominations for his work in To Kill a Mockingbird and Days of Wine and Roses. The ultimate nepobaby (with considerable talent), he is the only Tony winner who is the son of a nominee (Mary Rodgers, Once Upon a Mattress), and the grandson of a a winner (Richard Rodgers, yes that Richard Rodgers of the Rodgers and Hammerstein duo).

The first person to ever EGOT, Richard Rodgers won six Tonys in his lifetime, three of which were from South Pacific (Best Musical, Producer*, Score), as well as The King and I, The Sound of Music, and No Strings. It should be noted that the Best Musical award goes to the producers of a show, not its creatives, and Rodgers won these awards because he produced his shows in addition to writing them.

[frontmezzjunkies]

#LCTFloydCollins #frontmezzjunkies reviews: #FloydCollins at #LincolnCenterTheater m/l: #AdamGuettel b/l/dir: #TinaLandau starring #JeremyJordan w/ #JasonGotay #SeanAllanKrill #MarcKudisch #LizzyMcAlpine #WadeMcCollum #JessicaMolaskey #TaylorTrensch #ColeVaughan #ClydeVoce on #Broadway @LCTheater's #VivianBeaumontTheater

[negrolicity]

Joseph Parrish, bass-baritone | Adam Guettel: Migratory V

[glimeres]

2024 - Kelli O'Hara and Brian d'Arcy James perform Evanesce from the musical Days Of Wine and Roses