"What, wilt thou hear some music?" - The music process for ASC On Tour

What is the process for choosing songs? Why are certain songs selected?  

Choosing songs is a very collaborative process, but in the end the director chooses.  A month or so before the rehearsals start, [Artistic Director] Jim [Warren] or the show's director (if it isn't Jim) emails the cast asking for song ideas for preshow and interlude.  When people have sent in their list, the director picks out a set of around 10 songs to serve the preshow and interlude.
I can't tell you for sure if everyone makes their picks the same way I do, but I tend to just listen to my ipod on shuffle and, if a song seems to be making references in the lyrics to feelings, situations, or plot developments that also happen in the play, I will jot them down.  I am amazed how often I'll be sitting in a coffee shop now, hear a song of the speakers, and immediately think, "Oh! That'd be a great song for ..."
I think Jim likes to create a final list that best fits the ambiance for the show as well as providing variety.  Sometimes a choice will be made specifically for ironic purposes - in Titus Andronicus they played "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" shortly after Lavinia has been discovered sans hands; and, last year, we started Macbeth with the Witches singing "A Spoonful of Sugar" from Mary Poppins, which started sweet and then twisted into a creepy off-key ending leading right into the show. I think when audiences can see the irony they feel like they're in on the joke.

From what musical genres/eras/etc. do you select?

We tend to draw from all genres.  We have done folk, country, pop, classical rock, modern rock, indie.  When sending in songs, people tend to send in stuff from the genres they listen to most, but I don't think there has ever been a "recipe" of how many songs from each genre make up a good preshow list.

Is there any type of music that just don't adapt well to ASC's staging conditions?

Because all of our music is played acoustically, we simply can't attain a sound that is called for for some styles of music.  We can't really achieve the thick distortion of heavy metal or the driving bass and drum of some hip hop - especially on the road, where we have a cajon, tambourine, and egg shakers as our primary source of percussion.  There are times when songs from this genre are picked, or songs with similar obstacles, and the band has to work out a way to play the song without relying on the distortion or driving drum.
We do a version of "The Way You Make Me Feel" for A Midsummer Night's Dream this year that starts out slow and "jazzy" allowing us to take a great high octane song and keep it entertaining with our limitations.
We typically don't do songs that have bad language in them or adjust them if they do ("Forget You" - "is't not the pits?" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" - "drinking my seltzer and lime").  So, we don't do much rap music because of the lyric issues as well as the driving bass and electronic needs of most of the genre.

How do you decide who sings what, who plays what instrument?

A lot of times who sings what and who plays what comes down to who is not currently being used in the scene-work rehearsal that is happening at the same time as our music rehearsal.  I try to spread the wealth for who gets to sing what in our music on tour.  Audiences appreciate the variety and we have so many talented singers.
The first few days of rehearsal I found out who could play what instrument to at least have a sense of options.  Many people who came in not playing any instruments have found themselves playing cajon, tambourine, or egg shaker to help fill out the sound in songs on which they sing backup.  If someone really wants to play or sing on a specific song, it usually happens.

What is the music rehearsal process like?

The process really depends on the group that you have.  With the 2010/11 Restless Ecstasy Tour, Aidan O'Reilly (that tour's music coordinator) would assign a song to one of four or five people.  They would be in charge of arranging that song and deciding what instruments they wanted and who would be able to fill the needs best.  That being said, the Restless Ecstasy Tour had five people who were very confident, experienced, and proficient instrumentalists.
In the Almost Blasphemy Tour, we have fewer confident, experienced, and proficient instrumentalists, so more of the music was done as a big group all in the room together.  If I had ideas for a song or when we worked on the mash-ups, I spent time after rehearsals in my apartment figuring out how the songs would fit together and sometimes making recordings of myself doing all the various parts to send to people so they had an idea of where we want to start instead of just listening to the original song and trying to talk them through ideas for where it'll go.  Usually we then work out the structure of the song; get people learning the vocals and the instruments; and, when that feels like we're heading the right way, start adding harmonies and dynamics to give more drama to the piece.  

How do you go about adding choreography to some of the songs?

Choreography is an interesting thing.  I think, in general, we don't go out thinking "let's have a choreographed song."   "Wimoweh"'s choreography came about because we had decided to make it a huge group number and it is so well known and has such energy to it that Kate Powers (A Midsummer Night's Dream's director) decided that she wanted there to be some choreographed movement to go along.  We then looked to our in-show choreographers, Denice [Mahler] and Stephanie [Holladay Earl], to come up with something that was simple enough to not mess up the playing/singing, but involved enough to fit the bill.
Some of the other preshow songs have movement that has basically grown out of the group energy when playing the music.  If it's a really up-tempo, toe-tapping number, someone (usually Dola [Michael Amendola]) will start dancing while playing.  The more we play it, the more people join in, and then we end up with the whole guitar section doing a jump going into the final chorus of "Because the Night."  The in-show music usually calls for choreography or "a dance" or specifically "a dance of shepherds and shepherdesses."  With that the choreographers, director, and music coordinator get together to come up with the style of dance and then the song that will work if we want to use an existing song or the style to compose for a new song.

How do the songs 'evolve' while you are on the road?

Lots of things can contribute to the evolution.  Patrick Earl has started to learn guitar, and, as he is getting better at it, we have added him to a couple of songs to help fill out the soundscape.  As we've had more time living with the music, we've been able to get more specific about dynamics and change things a little here and there to try and gauge how audiences have been reacting to things and how we can keep making things cleaner and tighter.  Nothing drastic has changed, but we're always looking to improve as we keep going.

What does the music do to get the audience ready before the show starts?

The audience gets a chance to meet the actors through the music.  The ASC tells the audience that we are inviting them into our world of the play.  What better way to do that than taking a couple minutes at the beginning of the play to get out from behind our characters and Shakespeare's words and let them see us as we perform and enjoy music in their world?
I think creating this bond with them during preshow really helps open them up to the play.  It also helps set the general mood of what they're about to see.  On days when students got up at six a.m. to go to school to hop on a bus to drive three hours to get to our show to sit in a chair and watch a Shakespeare play for two hours before hopping on a bus to drive three hours home, it can really help enliven a group that has had undesirable circumstances going into the show.

How does the music during the intermission affect the audience during the show?

I think intermission is always a welcome chance to recharge.  The audience wants to take in what has been happening and talk about it with friends.  The music allows them the opportunity to discuss while the show continues.  They don't have to give us full focus to still be entertained in that way.  I certainly have noticed that audiences tend to be more engaged with the second half of the plays when they've had an intermission than when they haven't.
I think music during the show shakes things up.  When we throw "Time of My Life" from Dirty Dancing into The Winter's Tale, the audiences realizes that Shakespeare doesn't have to be this holy tome that is not to be messed with in any way and that cannot be fun.  It helps to knock the pedestal out and bring Shakespeare to a level at which the audience trusts they can relate.

Can you share any specific audience reaction to the music?

I think my personal favorite audience reaction has been an incident during the interlude for Measure for Measure at the Blackfriars Playhouse.  We were playing Roy Orbison's "Crying," and, once we started, this large middle-aged man with a mustache (he looked like a stereotypical villain from a melodrama) walked up into the middle of the stage and stared up at us during the song.  I'm used to children dancing around or playing a bit on the stage, but mostly adults just get their snacks and beverages and head back to their chairs.   This guy stayed put for the whole song and, as we finished, he shouted "Roy Orbison!  Alright!  Nobody does Roy Orbison!  That was Awesome!"
I think our rendition of Cee-Lo Green's "Forget You" right before the start of A Midsummer Night's Dream has gotten many a crowd of teenagers up and dancing around.  At the Annapolis Area Christian School, three kids came up through the audience to dance on stage.  It was spirit day so many were dressed in costumes, one had a huge wig on, which fell off and Dan [Daniel Abraham] Stevens put it on and continued to sing and dance with it.

What are your thoughts on the importance of this aspect of the ASC On Tour?

I think music is a huge part of the audience's enjoyment of the ASC both on tour and at the Blackfriars Playhouse.  I think on tour it may be even more important than in Staunton, because we tend to be reaching out to groups that don't believe Shakespeare can be accessible.  The Blackfriars crowd tends to know what they're getting into just walking into the building.  On the road, we may be set up in a barn with our discovery space, pipe and drape, and spare white board with a curtain draped over it to try and cover enough of the backstage area.
Going out as ourselves and performing music that is recognizable helps shatter any preconceptions about the next two hours.  If the audience is willing to come with us for an inch because of the music we'll be able to coax them the rest of the mile with the play itself.