Post by LJ on Jan 24, 2009 9:41:43 GMT -6
Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan is a driving force behind 'Memphis'
By GIANNI TRUZZI
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
The pairing of a rock music god and a mild theater librettist/lyricist may seem unlikely.
COMING UP
MEMPHIS
CREATORS: Book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, music and additional lyrics by David Bryan
WHERE: 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave.
WHEN: Previews start Tuesday; runs Feb. 5-15
TICKETS: $22-$81; 206-625-1900, 888-5TH-4TIX (584-4849), 5thavenue.org
But the partnership of Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan with off-Broadway success Joe DiPietro has been surprisingly comfortable.
"Memphis," their latest and largest collaboration, brings the early days of rock 'n' roll to the 5th Avenue Theatre, which begins previews on Tuesday. The co-production with San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse is inspired by the life of Dewey Phillips, a Memphis DJ who challenged the times by playing music by black artists along with white ones.
DiPietro is best-known for his satiric musical about romance, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." Patrons of Taproot Theatre saw his dramatic play, "Over the River and Through the Woods," performed there last spring.
After DiPietro completed the script for "Memphis" eight years ago, he had no idea who could create music that would be roof-raising authentic. "I knew some talented theater composers," he said, "but I wished that I knew a rocker."
He did, however, know a rock music agent, who passed the script around. DiPietro was surprised to soon find Bryan at the other end of his phone. "Rock stars don't call me every day," DiPietro said.
The script came to Bryan at the right time. "I'd wanted to find something to do outside of the band," which had taken a break but never broke up, Bryan said. "Jon (Bon Jovi) and I have been playing together since we were 16 -- that's now 30 years."
As it turns out, the two weren't such opposites. DiPietro and Bryan are both in their 40s and had similar childhoods in suburban New Jersey, where they still live. Although "Memphis" was the project that brought them together, they have written other shows, including "Toxic Avenger," a musical based on the 1984 cult horror film.
Composing musicals isn't quite the leap for Bryan it may at first appear. His childhood training was as a classical pianist and singer, and he's comfortable comparing the forms of popular tunes against that of a Beethoven sonata.
But teaching others to play the parts he has written, or even having to write them down at all, is a very different experience than being part of a rock band.
It's different for the singers, too, especially those whose voices have been trained for traditional musicals. "In rock 'n' roll, there are notes that aren't like notes," said Bryan. "They're something in between and it's the way you scoop into it."
He also pushes the cast -- led by Broadway performers Montego Glover and Seattle native Chad Kimball -- to rise to rock 'n' roll's fury. "When I'm playing in the band," Bryan said, "I'm sweating -- giving 120 percent." Once his singers achieve that energy level, "everyone's eyes open up a bit."
The band Bon Jovi will always go on, Bryan said, but the shift to musical theater has its rewards. The golden-maned rocker says a musical takes longer to develop, but "you can get 23 songs covered in two hours, not just a lifetime."
Even better, Bryan is considered old in rock 'n' roll, while in theater he's young. "The producers say to me, 'Hey kid, how ya doin'?' And I say, 'Really? I'm a kid?'
By GIANNI TRUZZI
SPECIAL TO THE P-I
The pairing of a rock music god and a mild theater librettist/lyricist may seem unlikely.
COMING UP
MEMPHIS
CREATORS: Book and lyrics by Joe DiPietro, music and additional lyrics by David Bryan
WHERE: 5th Avenue Theatre, 1308 Fifth Ave.
WHEN: Previews start Tuesday; runs Feb. 5-15
TICKETS: $22-$81; 206-625-1900, 888-5TH-4TIX (584-4849), 5thavenue.org
But the partnership of Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan with off-Broadway success Joe DiPietro has been surprisingly comfortable.
"Memphis," their latest and largest collaboration, brings the early days of rock 'n' roll to the 5th Avenue Theatre, which begins previews on Tuesday. The co-production with San Diego's La Jolla Playhouse is inspired by the life of Dewey Phillips, a Memphis DJ who challenged the times by playing music by black artists along with white ones.
DiPietro is best-known for his satiric musical about romance, "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change." Patrons of Taproot Theatre saw his dramatic play, "Over the River and Through the Woods," performed there last spring.
After DiPietro completed the script for "Memphis" eight years ago, he had no idea who could create music that would be roof-raising authentic. "I knew some talented theater composers," he said, "but I wished that I knew a rocker."
He did, however, know a rock music agent, who passed the script around. DiPietro was surprised to soon find Bryan at the other end of his phone. "Rock stars don't call me every day," DiPietro said.
The script came to Bryan at the right time. "I'd wanted to find something to do outside of the band," which had taken a break but never broke up, Bryan said. "Jon (Bon Jovi) and I have been playing together since we were 16 -- that's now 30 years."
As it turns out, the two weren't such opposites. DiPietro and Bryan are both in their 40s and had similar childhoods in suburban New Jersey, where they still live. Although "Memphis" was the project that brought them together, they have written other shows, including "Toxic Avenger," a musical based on the 1984 cult horror film.
Composing musicals isn't quite the leap for Bryan it may at first appear. His childhood training was as a classical pianist and singer, and he's comfortable comparing the forms of popular tunes against that of a Beethoven sonata.
But teaching others to play the parts he has written, or even having to write them down at all, is a very different experience than being part of a rock band.
It's different for the singers, too, especially those whose voices have been trained for traditional musicals. "In rock 'n' roll, there are notes that aren't like notes," said Bryan. "They're something in between and it's the way you scoop into it."
He also pushes the cast -- led by Broadway performers Montego Glover and Seattle native Chad Kimball -- to rise to rock 'n' roll's fury. "When I'm playing in the band," Bryan said, "I'm sweating -- giving 120 percent." Once his singers achieve that energy level, "everyone's eyes open up a bit."
The band Bon Jovi will always go on, Bryan said, but the shift to musical theater has its rewards. The golden-maned rocker says a musical takes longer to develop, but "you can get 23 songs covered in two hours, not just a lifetime."
Even better, Bryan is considered old in rock 'n' roll, while in theater he's young. "The producers say to me, 'Hey kid, how ya doin'?' And I say, 'Really? I'm a kid?'
