Stout 43
JULY 21. 2006 iu
music
SONGS
Musical Chairs
See is dense and unlistenable; Unmade Bed is hysterical and sophisticated
by Floyd Sklaver
usical theater composer Michael
John LaChiusa is that rarified bird
most cherished by the intelli
gentsia—the noble failure. Time and
again, he’s written music theater
pieces of arcane sophistication (The Wild Party, Marie
Christine), earning the admiration of foundations
giving grants, nonprofit theater directors who other
wise disdain musicals and critics who like that kind
of thing. In other words, everyone but audiences.
His musical See What I Wanna See (Ghostlight)
is no exception. Listening to the world premiere
recording of this production from the Public
Theater in New York, one wonders just who would
want to listen to it. Occasionally tuneful without
being hummable, the score is a postmodern take on
1950s film noir soundtracks. There’s not a song
here you want to sing along to in your car. Fans of
Idina Menzel, who is featured here, will just have
to keep lip-synching to their recordings of Wicked.
Even worse, See What I Wanna See possesses a
densely complicated story told from multiple
tives that requires a careful reading of the synopsis
and following the libretto. Even deliberately obtuse
American operas like John Adams’ Nixon in China
(recently performed in a definitive production by
Portland Opera) require less of the listener. What’s
this show about? I have no idea, and 1 don’t care
enough to find out. Who wants to work that hard?
sleeping with), having sex with an actor who
readjusts his hair mid-coitus or, in “He Never Did
That Before,” realizing your lover is cheating
because he tries something in bed he only could
have learned elsewhere. The ballads are enormous-
ly touching, as well. Brutally honest without being
self-pitying, the loneliness expressed in them is
tempered with self-deprecating humor, as demon
strated in this lyric, a reference to the unmade bed
that sat on the stage of the original production:
I could die here tonight.
Die unknown, here in my bed.
And yet it is abundantly clear
ar more satisfying is the world premiere record
That even the act
ing of Songs from an Unmade Bed (Ghostlight),
Of being dead
by music theater singer Mark Winter, which
Would only feel redundant here....
connects 18 cabaret songs by as many composers,
Campbell has a gift for expressing ideas that are
yet all with lyrics by the witty Mark Campbell. The
Kith surprising yet inevitable. There’s not a senti
concept works astonishingly well. Campbell’s
ment here that most gay men won’t identify with. As
distinctly gay worldview provides continuity, while
a result, the entire album is the kind that gay men
the range of composers provide variety. Unlike
won’t be able to resist singing along with, not only
LaChiusa, the music here manages to be sophisticat
because of the “Oh my Gixl this is my life" lyrics, but
ed without being off-putting. Why any of these 18
also because of the manageably conversational range
composers aren't getting LaChiusa s commissions is
in which singer Michael Winther performs. Winther
a mystery to me.
has a lovely, easygoing bari-tenor voice of the
Most of the songs concern the ins and outs (pun
Michael Feinstein variety: a sheer pleasure to listen
intended) of dating, yet somehow they never
to, but accessible—the kind of voice your average gay
manage to be redundant, dealing with such previ guy who sang in choir thinks he has, but doesn’t. He’s
ously untapped material as being the “other other
backed by a trio of piano, percussion and cello, the
woman" (one of two fuck buddies a married guy is
latter highlighted in “He Plays the Cello,” a hysteri
F
cal love song akrut a Kiyfriend who can’t play in
tune, ingeniously composed by Jeffrey Stock:
He plays far pleasure
And not far art. ,
He plays in private.
And that is smart.
The arrangements of the rest of the songs are
equally inspired; the inclusion of the cello especially
provides a touching counterpoint and sophistication.
Most moving is “Our Separate Ways,” composed by
Stephen Hoffman, which mixes the pathos of a
memorial service with bitchy observations:
Maurice read a verse he wrote
(Completely devoid of charisma).
Debra swallowed a note
Midway through her melisma.
This is the kind of album that makes you wish
you’d seen the original production or hope that
Winther will bring the show to Portland. Funny,
romantic, wise and moving, Songs from an Unmade
Bed is a must-have for any gay guy who is single,
was single or will be single. e
FLOYD §KLAVER
frequently sings along with Broadway
divas in the car.
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