Escaping the Box

Recently, I discovered a series entitled Fresh Eyes by Doug Newton (which I highly recommend). The insights therein can apply to every secular and spiritual field. He writes:

What if the commonplace understanding ... is the very thing keeping us from seeing the text in a new, life-transforming way? ¹

Newton continues:

Yet consider Jesus’ remedy: “You have heard that it was said, but I tell you  .  .  .” He invited His listeners to break away from well-worn thinking to see something new, different. We need to look with fresh eyes at what we think we know well. A passage’s common interpretation may have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the line and been passed along like an urban legend. The application may need to shift in a different direction or include something not considered before. There’s new hope for our lives to change when we can say, “I never saw it that way before.” ² (bold emphasis added.)

Which brings me to the topic for today—Music & Musicals—and this quote:

So many magnificent scores are trapped in dated books.³

So, what if we commit to escape the box and petition living composers or the estates of dead ones to allow their magnificent scores to be applied to fresh books, fresh lyrics, fresh commitments to “Theatre of the Good”? ⁴ Is this to heretical to even consider? Are we so trapped in monocular vision that the very idea is to foment war?

Do the books even have to be dated? What about doing on the musical stage what cinema has done occasionally—using the magnificence of Verdi, Beethoven, Mozart, et al.—to sustain new stories? If cinema can do it, why not the musical stage?

So, I'm going to do something out of the box, (I think). I suppose I mean “out” in more ways than one—in the sense that: 1) I don't know if this has been done before; and 2) out-of-the-Verdi-box because what I plan to use was composed in 1841 as part of Nabucco.

Here are my reasons (hoping, in some degree, to forestall purist apoplexy):

▪ My (completely sung-thru) verse musical, entitled Joseph: Down in Memphis Town,⁵ needs an introductory “heavenly” overture, played by Guardian (an angel) on a solo wind instrument (e.g., flute). The only melody I hear in my head is a more joyful rendition of Verdi's Va, Pensiero (Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves) from Nabucco. I also hear an unseen chorus of "angels" ah-ing the melody with all or part of the flute rendition overture.

▪ The symbology is apt, both to introduce the story of the Hebrew slave, Joseph in Egypt, and as a foreshadow of the slavery that would descend upon the Hebrews many years later in Egypt.

▪ The upbeat tone is because those who experience slavery often express hope through upbeat music, whereas those of us who do not know slavery, express our interpretation of slavery in melancholy and pathos.

▪ If there is nothing new under the sun ⁶ and if all things are visible to God—past, present, & future⁷—Verdi's Va, Pensiero was known before Verdi—as a conduit for divine music—composed it.

▪ Joseph: Down in Memphis Town is an upbeat musical about Joseph's first 14 years in Egypt from arrival at age 17 to marriage at age 30—sung-thru entirely without accompaniment, being speech/word driven. However, there are several crowd scenes that use rhythm, but otherwise, the human voice is the divine instrument of choice.

▪ For those who are appalled that an unknown, simple playwright would “team-up” (however briefly) with the magnificent Verdi, I think perhaps Verdi is the only one entitled to be appalled; and from what I sense, he seems unperturbed.

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1. Newton, Doug. Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Miracles: Discovering New Insights in Familiar Passages (Kindle Locations 185-188). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
2. Newton, Doug. Fresh Eyes on Jesus' Miracles: Discovering New Insights in Familiar Passages (Kindle Locations 176-177). David C. Cook. Kindle Edition.
3. D.H. Hwang, The Dramatist Magazine, March/April 2002, p. 9
4. Theatre of the Good: http://dramasmith.blogspot.com/2019/02/theatre-for-good.html
5. Which can be read for free at https://www.zanthymhouse.ca/musicals-plays/joseph-down-in-memphis-town/
6. Old Testament | Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 ~ The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
7. Doctrine and Covenants | Section 130:6–8 ~ The angels do not reside on a planet like this earth; But they reside in the presence of God, on a globe like a sea of glass and fire, where all things for their glory are manifest, past, present, and future, and are continually before the Lord. The place where God resides is a great Urim and Thummim.

Theatre of the Good?

In the year 2000 and 2001, Douglas Abel—actor, educator, and playwright—wrote a series of articles for Theatre Alberta News¹ (TAN) titled, Theatre of the Good. Here are three quotes from the first article:

The particular epiphany [about “theatre of the Good”] occurred during a lunch time discussion session with special guest Joy Coghill, celebrated actress, director and theatre pioneer. ... She began by describing how she got started in theatre, mentioning the fact that her father was a clergyman, and that her family had a strong missionary background. She had even considered missionary work herself when she was young. She was asked how and why, with such a church tradition behind her, she had decided to pursue a career in theatre. Her answer—not word for word but as close as I can remember it—was. “Well they're very similar, aren't they? I never really saw much difference between working as a missionary and working in the theatre.” ...

Ms. Coghill went on to describe [her introduction to] the powerful concept of “theatre of the Good.”

... [A]s I began to understand it fully, it involves the conviction that theatre can, and must, do good for people and the world, that it must strive to make both better. Theatre can be used for trivial, frivolous, or even harmful purposes. It should be used to promote the good in all its forms. That purpose comprises its link to the divine, and comes, somehow from the same spiritual sources that drive the best of “religious” impulses. Theatre people are missionaries because they are doing the same essential work as those who spread “the word.”

What does “theatre of the Good” mean to ... [Douglas Abel] ... ? [I]t does not mean that theatre becomes a dry sermon with dialogue, or a “Back to the Bible”—any bible—with intermission. It does not demand the joyless, prescriptive, pedantic or “preachy.” Theatre of the Good does not eliminate comedy, entertainment, enjoyment, mischief, wonder or plain fun. It does give all these things a purpose, as well as a standard against which both day-to-day and long-term work can be judged. It provides a benchmark for deciding which work should be chosen for performance, and how it should be performed.

This was written almost 20 years ago. If Theatre of the Good had been instituted as a standard and benchmark for even half of our influential theatre companies, would the world be a different place, today?

Sometime ago, I wrote this observation:

When we glorify the anti-hero—that "natural man" who strides so boldly and pervasively through our modern drama, cinema, and literature—we miscalculate the measure of our creation. But when "all things are done unto edifying," then our gifts redound to the glory of God, and His light expands a little more into the darkness.

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1. Theatre Alberta News, Winter 2000:1, p. 3

Community Theatre Forms

For Free (or pay what you wish)

As I have (slowly) pursued my hope of finding or founding a local New Play Development Centre, I have drafted several forms for future use, and have decided to share them for free (or for whatever donation a theatre might wish to make for their use). You can find the PDF files (& PayPal button) at:

Form I: Actor’s Code
https://www.zanthymhouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/ActorsCode.pdf

Form II: Audition Tips, Procedure, & Casting Policies
https://www.zanthymhouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AuditionTips.pdf

Form III: Auditioning Form || Auditor Notes
https://www.zanthymhouse.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AuditionForm.pdf

I hope you will find these forms helpful in increasing professionalism and efficiency in your theatre administration.
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