I have been digging in and building the material for the Winnipeg show, taking the ideas that worked last time around our West and further shaping everything so the audience goes on a stronger ride, gets a deeper experience.
The last time out the show was mostly cover tunes, this time my job is to include the originals from my solo disc's that tell more of a personal story while including classics from the Jazz and Blues, Pop and R&B and of course Nylons repertoire worked in.
I am loving starting out the new version of the show with the song"The Dangerous Game" it's kind of like the title song of a mini musical.
I learned very young that songs from the Jazz standard songbook mostly started out as show songs and have always felt it was important to understand what the song was originally built to "do" in the original context, move plot, tell story, reveal character, motive and truth. After all the great work is great work and it's important to know why it's speaking so loudly to audiences.
Having originally sketched the musical and lyrical themes of "The Dangerous Game" in New York city last August, I was deeply under the influence of the great theatre and musicals I got to see that year while my partner was working on Broadway.
The stand out productions for me were the simple joys of hearing Cole Porter's "Anything Goes" score, especially Sutton Foster's fresh take on old standards like "You're The Top", "I get A Kick Out Of You" and "Blow Gabriel Blow", "Easy To Love" and of course the tap a da tap a da tap dancing title song.
I also loved hearing the Sondheim's score for "Follies" in full production, although the show ended up feeling strangely flat, a show so chocked full of classic songs that it works just as well as a concert.
BUT the stand out experience was, of course, Audra McDonald reinventing Porgy and Bess both musically and dramatically for all time; playing Bess as written, a desperate and anguished drug addict. Her full and powerful upper range drawing every hurt and desire and complexity of emotion possible in the score. The production might have felt a little light in places (especially the choreography) but in truth her performance grounded the whole production in a reality so heart searing that it was actually life changing to see it. ..
Yeah, so New York City musical theatre. Very influential to my writing and building of a show these days. After all I'm trying to make a story through song happen on stage ...not so different from the guys building these shows and these scores.
Preview songs from solo discs at: http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/micah-barnes/id324429103
FB fanpage is at:http://www.facebook.com/micahbarnesmusic
Info on Winnipeg show:http://www.wecc.ca/site09/performers/Micah_Barnes.html
