ASHLEY SAT DOWN WITH ME AND SHARED THE THEMES BEHIND CHASING THE SONG, HOW THE SHOW HAS EVOLVED SINCE LAST YEAR’S READING AND HIS VERY PERSONAL CONNECTIONS TO THIS SHOW AND LOVE OF THE ‘PAGE TO STAGE’ PROCESS.
How has Chasing the Song evolved since the reading during the 2013 DNA series? Last year we all learned and grew from the concert
reading experience. Within in the first three weeks after the DNA series, we made huge plot adjust- ments. Three new songs were written and there was a change on the timing for intermission. We also threw out two songs. This year the rewriting and rethinking was focused
on how to make it ready for a full-fledged staging. This included adding in set design. During the concert reading, we had four pianos on the stage. Audiences really liked that, so those pianos have remained the centerpiece of the set. They move around and can be recombined to demonstrate different groups and people making music. When we first talked aboutChasing the Song, you mentioned how you appreciated that the lead character is a female voice. Did the story retain that voice? Yes. As the show evolved, it revealed two gen-
erations of female voices; it has become a mother- daughter story. Edie, the mother, was forced to choose between staying at home and having a career. She chose career. Her daughter, Ginny, never agreed with her choice, but as she strives to earn her place in the 1960s male-dominated world of songwriting, she realizes that people like her mother forged the way for the next generation of women. I am excited to see the modern women’s rights movement represented on the stage. Memphis was all about the way the world was changed in the 1950s. Music really was the engine of that change and race was central to that
plot.Chasing the Song looks at the 1960s, when many women took to the work place and they were asking to be taken seriously. In 1964 my mother was going through all this, it felt
like the end of the world when she divorced. She was shunned for a while; it took a long time for people to change their minds. I was 12 and I watched her grapple with those changes and the career possibili- ties for a woman in the ‘60s. This was a “wow” moment; there is one in every
area of civil rights. As a gay man, I am aware of a whole generation of people who came before and helped to change the world. They made it a lot easier for today’s LGBT teens and 20-year-olds to come out. Likewise, there is this whole generation of women who made difficult choices and made the world a more equal place than it was back in 1959.
Musically, what was happening? The show’s score has rock ‘n’ roll, R&B, soul, funk,
gospel and a few leftovers from the ‘40s, such as The Andrews Sisters. Rock ‘n’ roll was well established by 1955; then The Beatles hit the scene in 1964 and there was a dramatic transition away from American rock ‘n’ roll. Everybody who had been writing American songs was out of a job, because it was all British, all the time. On top of that, The Beatles wrote their own songs. Every American songwriter was forced to reinvent and it led to moments of huge change. There had never before been a moment like The Beatles hitting America. Six out of ten records, 60 percent of all albums sold, were The Beatles. Do you believe a situation like we had with The Beatles could ever happen again? The world is changing every bit as fast now as it was
in the ‘60s. I mean, kids say facebook is for grandpar- ents now. Today’s world is far broader; no one group will ever represent 60 percent of the music scene. Why did you create the page to stage program? I love giving writers the chance to experiment.
When a show has an opening, there is a cut-off, a deadline. The fact is, with a page to stage produc- tion, the creative artists go back to work the next afternoon. After each performance, audience “talk- back “sessions are held, so the very day of rehearsal has major discoveries and script changes that are handed to the actors. How do the actors deal with this; being handed script changes just before curtain?
We start by creating a safe environment. This show
is not going to open; the press does not review it. The audience knows it is all brand new, fresh and full of discovery. But really, we are asking them to live the worst
actor’s nightmare: That they are on stage and don’t know any lines, staging, or what they are supposed to do. Brave souls. Tell me about the casting process. We had to find people who were not only a triple
threat; they act, sing and dance, but they also play an instrument really well. Cast members play piano and guitar, bass, bongo, ukulele and violin; they must have a deep musicianship. This show had demanding callbacks. We had to investigate every single way they could perform. All of them have a crazy set of skills. I can’t wait to seeing this next DiPietro, Bryan, Trujillo and Ashley collaboration! Thank you. Joe and David are so interested in how
we deal with a changing world. How do we evolve as people on issues of civil rights? How does music contribute to social change? Our collaboration is really going to be triptych, as Chasing the Songends, the journey will continue into the 1970s and the roots of gay civil rights.
Chasing the SongrunsTuesday, May 13 through Sunday, June 15 at the La Jolla Playhouse, 2910 La Jolla Village Drive. For tickets and more information call 858.550.1010 or go to
lajollaplayhouse.org.
CHASING THE SONG:
THE DRIVE TO MAKE MUSIC Chasing the Song: The Drive to Make Music, a free La Jolla Playhouse event with Tony Award- winning composer and Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan onMonday, May 12 at 7 p.m. David Bryan shares his musical experiences and songs right from his piano! Learn about Bryan’s influences and his crossover from rock ‘n’ roll to musical theatre, including his work on the three- time Tony Award-winning musical Memphis. Moderating the evening is Christopher Ashley, La Jolla Playhouse artistic director andChasing the Song director. Reservations are recommended; to RSVP please visit
lajollaplayhouse.org.
MAY 2014 | RAGE monthly MAY 2014 | 19
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