Wednesday, November 11, 2015
A Musical Envisions the Impossible
The Leonard Lopate Show - WNYC: Cesar Alvarez and Sarah Benson discuss their new musical, "Futurity." Alvarez wrote the lyrics and book, and co-wrote the music with his band, The Lips, while Benson, the artistic director of the Soho Rep, directed. The play revolves around Julian, a Civil War soldier dreaming of a technological utopia, and Ada, a mathematical genius thousands of miles away. Together, they're going to invent a machine to end one of the darkest periods in our history.
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I tend to not be a big fan of musicals because I feel that more often than not they force music to be used in the telling of the story instead of using it to naturally aid in the story telling. What I mean by this is that many musicals will have a scene that at some point the two lead characters spontaneously break out into song, and then go back into song. Their little singing “episode” most likely broke the scene into two parts creating a potentially very awkward moment. This has nothing to do with the capabilities of the actor or director, but with the way that the show is written. That all being said, I feel like musicals really push the boundaries of what can actually be done live on stage in front of an audience. When they are done “right” they really do tell a beautiful story, and I have found that more often than not have they gotten it “wrong”.
Even in just this short paragraph, something about this concept is so appealing to me. I love the idea of looking at something much larger and incomprehensible than one person-- in this case, the Civil War-- and approaching it from the point of view of a single participant. Additionally, adding Ada Lovelace as the other main character gives it a whole new dimension and way of approaching the topic. I'd love to hear the soundtrack to this musical, because I think it would require a very specific style of music and lyrics to be able to pull off such a bizarre idea. The summary makes me think it's supposed to be somewhat abstract and even light-hearted, which would be a unique challenge in approaching the reality of such a devestating historical era. This isn't the first time I've read about this musical, and everything I hear about it makes me want to see it more just to experience the unusual narrative and atmosphere.
I would actually be quite interested in seeing this musical, as it explores an intersection of concepts that do not usually mix. The concept of science fiction during the Civil War era is befuddling to me, as I think of it as having started in maybe the 50s at the earliest. There is an indelible correlation in my head between science fiction and kids sitting in their rooms in "nerdily" graphic-ed t-shirts, looking at hyper stylized posters of rocket ships going places beyond the moon. Not accurate, but still.
In that way, this musical is a challenge for me in premise form alone. It sounds absurd. But as I listened to the podcast, and the creators discussed the development and basis for the plot and characters (especially the parts about Virginia!) the idea of Civil War science fiction became feasible. But as I have said elsewhere, shows cannot rely on the luxury of explanation. I certainly hope this one can stand on its own.
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