|
|
|
The Legacy of Rodgers and Hammerstein
An Interview with John Bucchino, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Jeanine Tesori
|
|
LMM: That's the other thing that is extraordinary about Rodgers & Hammerstein's work. There are no bad guys in their shows. Jud in Oklahoma! isn't a bad person; he's just the most desperately lonely man you'll ever meet. The things that are bad are all societal. You've got to be carefully taught. And the other thing that's amazing about their work is that the shows are all about community, which is something that I really respond to in my work-how we define our communities. My parents were both born in Puerto Rico. I was born here, but I didn't know where I belonged. Writing In the Heights helped me understand where I fit in. I never understood the Puerto Rican Day parade. I didn't understand why we were watching other people walk by waving this flag. (Laughter) It wasn't till much later that I realized that Puerto Rico, a commonwealth, is one of the last colonies on earth. We wave the flag because we don't have a country. I remember driving cross-country for the first time and sitting on an open plain in the middle of the country, and "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" came into my head. When the world makes you think of a song from a show, you know the artists have done their job. What I'm trying to do with In the Heights-and I don't know if I'm succeeding-is make it feel and sound as much as possible like this neighborhood. When you go to Washington Heights, I want you to be able to hear songs from the show.
IW: Rodgers & Hammerstein brought to light a number of different cultures that had never really been represented on the American musical stage-The King and I, Flower Drum Song, and, certainly, South Pacific. But we've lagged so far behind-In the Heights is one of the few Latino shows with fully dimensional characters to play on Broadway. Do you think that Rodgers & Hammerstein paved the way?
LMM: Absolutely. Thinking about Oklahoma!, when I started writing In the Heights I decided that there wouldn't be any bad guys. No matter how despicable their actions may be, everyone's got their reasons. Another thing that was really helpful for me was actually seeing Priscilla Lopez in A Chorus Line, and her doing the monologue about acting class and being the only Puerto Rican in the class. She was a three-dimensional Hispanic person onstage. It wasn't a Greek guy with brown painted makeup on (laughter); it was this lady talking about her life. That was hugely inspiring to me.
IW: Theater used to be a place where important issues were discussed, but we've entered an age that doesn't seem to be as hospitable to that kind of dialogue in the theater.
JT: Tony Kushner and I discussed this so much-we're in the business of selling art. That's what our business is. We want people to buy tickets. We don't do free things. But I find that the dialogue you're talking about, Ira, has decreased. There is a real need for issues to be discussed, but we have audiences that are not used to that dialogue, and have to be drawn into the theater somehow.
IW: But, for every show with a song like "You've Got to Be Carefully Taught," it's lovely to have "Honey Bun" to relax.
JT: George C. Wolfe calls it the party-pain ratio (laughter). You bring me to the party. I'll stay for the pain. That's what Rodgers & Hammerstein did so well.
IW: John, you did an album of Richard Rodgers's songs, and you recorded it on Rodgers's own piano.
JB: I just did improvisations on these wonderful tunes I've lived with my whole life. It was another way of experiencing his music, and it reiterated for me how well constructed and universal it is. When you suddenly launch into "My Romance," people swoon, even young people. For the CD, I played every Rodgers song I could think of, and then did wildly different improvisations and did them in different rhythms and different styles. "Isn't it Romantic?" as a tango (laughter). I mean, like wacky stuff (laughter). At his piano I felt like I'd go into a trance and play these weird things, and then come back and listen to it and think, I don't know that chord. Not to get too cosmic about it, but things came out that I couldn't explain. I don't know if Mr. Rodgers was gracing me with his presence somehow or if it was just my mind thinking, Well, this is pretty heavy, playing Richard Rodgers's piano. And that brought different stuff out of me.
IW: His music is so accessible that it lends itself to permutation without destroying it.
JB: There's something sturdy about it. I always fear that my songs are too fragile. They're complicated in a way that they can't withstand someone who doesn't quite get them doing them. But a Rodgers & Hammerstein song can withstand that and still be really powerful and moving. I was in Washington, and Mark Horowitz at the Library of Congress invited me to come tour their musical archives. Oh, my God. Have you ever done that? I saw Hammerstein's original notebooks. And on the yellow legal pad for The Sound of Music in an early draft of "Do-Re-Mi" he'd written: Sow-a thing you do with wheat. (Laughter). La-a note to follow sow. Tea-you drink with cake you eat. (Laughter) There was a lot of work involved.
LMM: There's a great story that Hammerstein tells in his lyric-book introduction where he talks about taking a helicopter tour and seeing the top of the Statue of Liberty's head, and seeing that the sculptor had made hair for the Statue of Liberty. Planes didn't exist when this was built, but he took care to make sure it was complete. And Hammerstein talks about writing lyrics for a Columbia University show. It was the opening number, and he knew it would be played while people were sitting down, so he didn't pay much attention to the lyrics. And then when they did a production of the show in London he heard the British singers speaking every word and there was a bunch of football players singing it as they sat down, and he was mortified at how bad the lyrics were. He couldn't believe how little care he'd taken. And I learned a lesson: you've got to put the hair on top of the Statue of Liberty's head, even if no one can see it.
IW: There are a handful of people, including you guys, who actually make a living at theater songwriting.
JB: I was playing piano in office-building lobbies until about nine months ago, and traveling with singers and accompanying people and playing at parties.
JT: I think those days are over.
JB: I don't know.
JT: You're about to be on Broadway. (Laughter)
JB: I told them to hold the piano job. (Laughter) I'm serious.
IW: The Rodgers & Hammerstein business model is completely unique. They were also producing a great deal of their own work when they became a dynasty. Rarely do lyricists and composers have that sort of control.
JT: Reading their correspondence, it's clear that they knew what was going on. They understood mechanical licensing, copyright, business design. They made sure that they had things to perpetuate their freedom, and the freedom of those who came after them in their families, which is so huge.
IW: The legacy of Rodgers & Hammerstein does continue, not only with their work but because they are a publishing house for the next generation of writers. I marvel at that. Not only have they protected their own work and we're able to revive it fifty-four years later; they're also paving the way into the future of musical theater.
page << 1 2
|
|
|
