From Under the Stage

Oh, my heart.

This is a stellar show. I’ve seen it three different times, and the CentreStage production I was part of was incredible. I was privileged enough to be the Musical Director for this show, part of the fabric from the first rehearsals when the cast were learning parts, down to selecting the most incredible musicians to form the orchestra. This was an experience beyond description.

Now, a bit of my background includes piano playing from about age 5, composing and arranging music from about 13, and conducting or leading ensembles from about 15. The first time I conducted a group I was actually 7 years old, and I think back on my impetuous youth rather fondly – and thank the Salvation Army band trainer who gave me a shot, being the youngest and smallest in a band of “seasoned” musicians at least 5 years my senior.

Back to “& Juliet”…

Advertised as a “jukebox musical”, this just means pop songs are used as the musical score. The difference in &J is that all the songs are penned by Max Martin, so the songs are all top hits of the last few decades. If you don’t know the name Max Martin, you’re listening to Britney Spears, Bon Jovi, P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, Backstreet Boys…and more all featured.

The story begins with Shakespeare’s players welcoming you to the theatre before the big star makes his grand entrance. His wife, Anne Hathaway (yes, that is her real name…let’s not dwell on that…) enters the stage to William’s synopsis of “Romeo & Juliet”. Thinking the ending where both lovers off themselves rather bleak, Anne suggests a new ending, and thus we pick up the new story. Juliet decides to keep living after she finds Romeo dead, and we follow her, her best friends, and her nurse as she travels to Paris through the magic of theatre where Anne is writing the story. Shakespeare is not entirely on board with this idea, so as the all-powerful quill is passed between William and Anne, more and more their plans for Juliet unravel until ultimately, our titular heroine is able to take control of her own life.

At first glance, you might think picking up “Romeo & Juliet” is quite…old. No, no, no, this is a completely different story. The characters have lives and complications and backgrounds that all marvelously unfold in front of your eyes. It subverts a “traditional” Shakespeare play with skinny jeans, sneakers, glitter, and a rock band.

All this to say, go and see & Juliet. It’s a story of true character, about making choices, about challenging the status-quo and standing up for the right thing. It’s about love and drama and connection, about how people can create something truly amazing when they really work to understand each other.

Musically, this is such an intelligent show. The score uses two keyboards, guitar, bass (doubling on synth bass), drums, and a four-piece string section (two violins, viola, cello). In the current version, the strings have been reduced to just two players – a violin and cello – which in my humble opinion completely misses the magic and genius of the original musical design. In the 7-piece reduction, much of the strings are put in the fingers of the 2nd keyboard, and it’s a poor substitute.  My production used the full 9-piece ensemble, though much had to be re-scored to match the current version. That’s a complicated story, but I’m glad we did it.

The music scores also didn’t include the bows – this was in the piano/vocal book only – and no play-off. Again, I had to write these, and I’m only saying so in case you saw this particular production and don’t hear the same thing from another!

QUICK MUSIC THEATRE LESSON!

When you are putting on a production, there are several printed books – literal books – which contain the dialogue, music, and more. The books with the script are called the “libretto” and may or may not have the vocal parts in the back. If it does, it’s often a “libretto/vocal” book. This is for the director and the cast. There’ll be another stage manager book with space for set layouts, lighting cues, sound cues, and movement cues.

The book used by the MD can one of several things:
a) the “piano/vocal” book.
This has a reduced piano version of the score the orchestra will play, and the vocal parts. Generally used as rehearsal piano and for teaching the music. Could be used for conducting a band but not if you’re supposed to be playing a part.

b) the “conductor/keys” book.
This is usually the 1st keys part, and includes the vocal score and cues for the rest of the orchestra, but NEVER shows every instrumental part. A reduction like this is useful IF you’re playing the keys part or the orchestra is small enough that the cues are sufficient to know what’s going on. This is what I used as I played the part and led the orchestra from the piano.

c) a full “conductor’s score”.
WHY productions don’t include this as standard IS BEYOND COMPREHENSION. Most shows don’t even provide or make one and it is INFURIATING. Sure, some MDs won’t use this, but when music notation software generates parts from a FULL SCORE, why don’t we just provide that to the MD as well? On this you’re able to see every part happening at once and actually make informed decisions about the music, rather than “wait to hear” it in rehearsal. For &J I read through every individual part to understand what was and what wasn’t included in my conductor/keys book. At least this show uses well known songs so it isn’t too difficult to anticipate what’s happening, but when one of the musicians asks a question about the score and the answer isn’t in the answer book, I think we’re severely lacking in the material that’s provided to the production.

Concluding my rant of part c, a full orchestral score is available for SOME productions, but has to be added to the order of materials. Shows like Addams Family, Les Miserables, Music Man… anything with more than, say, five parts should include a full score as a given option. Not every MD is playing the keys book. Some of the best conductors I know don’t play a lick of piano.

I digress…There endeth the lesson.

Without naming all 28 different songs used in this musical, it stands out to me how well the songs progress the story without needing to change the lyrics. This is how a jukebox musical should work. The music exists in theatre to accompany the story, set the theme or tone, tell story and be an asset to the character development, not a song for song’s sake. & Juliet is so brilliant in this that you’d be forgiven for thinking the songs were originally intended for this purpose. The arrangements are true mixes of 90s and 00s pop and Shakespearean influence with the string section. You’ve got to have rocking string players and absolute units on everything else. There’s a moment or two of difficulty for the keys 1/conductor (probably not for a finer player than I), but quality cohesiveness, tightness of approach, and overall style make or break it. Vocally, power is a must.

With banging tunes and very interesting music for the players, this makes for a FUN experience. Keys players be warned there are some extremely fine patch changes. I’m told the original broadway production used a keyboard stack set up, which would have made some changes much easier. I for one loved the sounds and synth-y-ness of the entire show, saving the “true” instruments for more tender scenes. Sound-wise, I am in awe of the detail used. I absolutely, 100% want to play this show again.

But for the love of all that is musical theatre, DON’T use sustain on the harpsichord!

– Britteny Muso