Musical Meeting

This morning Rich and I met with Josh Fardon to hear the latest versions of the songs and to plan for Saturday's workshop. Fardon's work is amazing, perhaps most notably because he picks up on the contradictions in the characters, crafting surprising pieces that disrupt more superficial readings of the text. For example, though it begins with a sweet and simple melody, he has added in a dark, ominous layer to "Toy Tea," at once capturing the innocence of the symbol of a child's tea set as well as the doom this prophecy foretells. The songs also greatly complete the text, or more specifically, how the text will work in production. The music provides tangible clues to how the scenes will go, especially in terms of how we can best use the ensemble.

An ongoing dramaturgical issue arose during our meeting - how to rework the text for production. I have been creating a hybrid text of the two versions Ruth has given us (which are significantly different in parts) while also dividing up the lines between the two narrators and finding moments for the ensemble to take center stage. The ending - which Rich and I had previously edited to suit our concept - must again be tweaked, as Josh was composing off of a different version of the script. Also, the parachute scene between Reiko and Game Boy is currently written as two separate monologues/songs, and we would like to combine the two into one duet. My task, then, is to make production revisions that are in keeping with both the text and our production concept.