'me, me, me...'

The effect of identity politics and post-modern philosophy on musicals and opera. Everyone says theatre is the most collaborative of all the arts, but nowadays it's all tainted by people trying to make everyone shine equally - in order to take credit for the 'social moment' or some other such PR nonsense - or by scene-stealers. Actors are self-obsessed. Here's Sondheim snarking about them re: Into The Woods (p. 92) 'One of the many reasons that I would make a bad director is that I have a limited tolerance for actors who can't resist suggesting changes in the script ... their overview of the piece more often than not is bounded by the perspective of the characters they play - good for the characterisation, bad for the small nuances and large shape. In musicals particularly, since numbers are seen as chances to shine (versus scenes, which depend on the circumstances of the situation and the presence of other actors), most of their suggestions are useless. The ones that are tolerable are the trivial ones: a change of word or phrase, which to them is important, since it means that they have contributed to the creative fabric - not a bad thing, since it heightens their performance. Only once in my experience has an actor said something that I immediately latched onto, not only a good notion for a lyric line, but also an insight into a character that hadn't occurred to me. It came from Joanna Gleason, who played the Baker's Wife, and who, in a late-night conversation, noted in passing that she felt like she was "in the wrong story." With a jolt, I suddenly saw the Baker and his Wife in a way that I hadn't seen them before ... They were a contemporary couple who had awakened one morning to find themselves in a medieval fantasia, surrounded not only by their own anxieties but by all the fairy-tale figures they had grown up with and probably loathed.' - One thing that Michael Bell taught me about arranging is that giving every instrument a solo line is often awkward and ungainly. Not everyone needs to shine in every piece. The same applies to writing opera. - I can sing. Ken can sing. Hamish can sing. Gareth can sing. Noticing a pattern? Conductors and composers are expected to demonstrate in opera world. Most opera composers in NZ have a full voice, if not a world-leading one. - Notice that The Perfumed Garden isn't set in NZ, isn't about my life, and does require a significant number of singers from Muslim countries. That's the opposite of 'me, me, me' - that's 'writing tunes for overlooked minorities and hoping that it'll be funny to watch and teach all those aggro blokes about sex.' I barely understand Islam, but I'm a brilliant musician that was keen to write in that idiom.