A guest blog entry from Richard Oberacker, writer of The Sandman - a little nightmare musical to be presented at this year's Festival of New Musicals.
In 1999, I became the first
American conductor ever hired by Cirque Du
Soleil. It was for their new Big Top
tour, Dralion and it was at a time
when it was still really chic to even know what Cirque was. My theater
friends were confounded by how a New York musical theater industry guy had
managed to break into the mysterious inner circle of this seemingly
impenetrable rising giant. The truth was
it had to do with one small connection followed by about three months of
extensive interviews. Many of these
interviews focused on my work as a musical theater conductor, composer and
lyricist. It began to dawn on me then -
and continued to be even more clear once I was on the inside - that Cirque was as confused and intrigued by
(but ultimately ignorant of) musical theater as the American musical theater
industry was by and about Cirque Du
Soleil.
That same year, I was selected
to present my original musical In That
Valley at the NAMT Festival of New Musicals - another organization that was
a new frontier for me. Of course I was
thrilled to learn about NAMT and to have the opportunity to showcase a very
challenging musical that I knew had very little chance of ever being produced
commercially (or otherwise, for that matter given its subject). I set about trying to figure out how I would
be able to deliver a great presentation at the festival - with all that NAMT
demanded - while doing 10 shows a week on the road with a brand new Cirque show that was still at
the time
making substantial changes daily as it prepared for an American premier in Los
Angeles. As it happened, the answer was
simple and at that time the only answer possible as far as Cirque was concerned: do NAMT only on my days off.
Now, in 1999 the Festival was a
slightly different animal. The physical presence
of the writers was not demanded to the extent it is now. Rehearsals could be scheduled over a longer
period of time and lots of rules that concerned Equity could be gently bent. And
so with the help of my co-author, I learned how to present a NAMT Festival show
by way of telephone coaching sessions, mailed rehearsal tapes and many Sunday
night red-eye flights.
The fact was that those three
months of interviews to get the job with Cirque
turned out to be their way of determining how committed I would be to them
and how serious I was about continuing to be a writer of musical theater. Working for Cirque is a lifestyle change.
It is a completely different philosophy about the performing artist and
his relationship to his chosen discipline, the show and the company as a
whole. There are very specific clauses
in the contract about what an artist can and cannot do outside their work with Cirque. Some of these clauses would appear
to an American performer as going way above and beyond a standard "non-compete"
clause. However, once I had accepted
this contract and indeed this entire approach to the work, I saw its value as
it related to creating and maintaining a Cirque
show. It isn't anything like doing American
theater - musical or otherwise – and it must function by these rules to be
everything that the world has come to admire.
After my first NAMT show, my
challenge became how to gently guide my Cirque
colleagues to an understanding of my work back in New York. I knew that I would not simply stop writing
and if I was writing, I would naturally be looking for opportunities to develop
and present my work. And that would mean
I would have to ensure there was some protocol in place at Cirque that would allow me to get away when it was necessary to
fulfill future writing obligations. And
so began my education of Cirque.
The first step was to introduce
them to the idea of an associate conductor.
I'll pause here while you contemplate the full implications of that
statement... Remember, they had never hired an American conductor and never
dealt with the structures of a standard musical direction team as we know it on
a musical. Subs in the pit? Unheard of. I
mean really, REALLY unheard of. As in, "What's a sub? How does that
work?" My Cirque colleagues and I can laugh about it now, but at the time I
had to develop a pretty good poker face so that I wouldn't damage my jaw by all
the many times it was sent dropping to the floor. I then had to carefully explain to them the
concept of how a musical is developed - the many different paths that it can
take. I had to explain what readings
were, what workshops were, what a standard rehearsal and tech period was. I had to explain where in those processes an
author or composer might be required to be present and why. I had to explain to
a large degree, and delicately of course, revenue streams. At what point was a composer being paid? Where is the line between time away to
develop a piece without being paid and pursuing "other employment"
based on future royalties? How might
these new works of mine be considered in competition with what I bring to Cirque in terms of my own (uncredited)
composing for them?
These conversations took place
gradually over the next several years and eventually they began to see the
value to the company as a whole to having at least some measures in place that
would allow other Cirque artists and
employees to explore creative endeavors outside their commitments to Cirque.
But most importantly I gained the trust of my colleagues. I let them know that my work with them would
always come first and that my gratitude to them for taking a chance on me back
in 1999 was absolute. When they invited me to be the original conductor for the
creation of a new show in Las Vegas titled Ka
that mutual trust was a given. Within
the first year of public performances of Ka,
I was selected to present another original musical for the 2005 NAMT Festival.
However, I still requested of Cirque only the least amount of time
away because Ka was so new. As it happened, I needed only 2 days away
because at that time
NAMT still didn't require the writers to be "in
residence" as it were. I also found to my surprise that my colleagues at Cirque asked many more questions about
my show at the Festival - how were rehearsals going? Did I get the cast I wanted?
Will important people be seeing it? And even (gasp!) - can I hear some of the
music from it?
From that festival presentation
forward, I noticed that other Cirque artists
were taking advantage of this newfound idea of pursuing personal artistic endeavors
outside of the regular show. Some were
doing independent films, some were showing in art galleries, some were founding
improv troupes that performed late nights in small clubs. And I saw the upper
management of Cirque begin to embrace
the idea that their artists could find a healthy balance between their work
within Cirque and outside it; that
these independent projects could fuel their passion and pride in Cirque and give them a much longer run
in a given show before burnout might set in.
That was certainly my case. Since that second NAMT presentation, I have
been able to balance my weekly show schedule in Las Vegas with five full scale
regional premiers of my various works, another
New York new works festival premier, a fringe festival
premier and all the attendant readings and developmental stages along the
way. My days have become very structured
over the years with writing and phone conferences, various rehearsals and such
followed by the consistency of going to the Ka
theater Tuesday through Saturday evenings to disappear into the world of Cirque.
Conducting Ka has become a
foundation, a grounding and not a distraction or a competitor for my
energies. And yes, come Saturday night,
I am very often on the red-eye out to New York or wherever I need to be.
To get the demo recording of The Sandman that we knew we needed, I
had to fly to New York on three consecutive weekends to accommodate a studio
schedule that afforded me the ideal cast.
And the mixing and mastering of the demo was done long distance - daily
rough mixes were emailed to me and I would send notes back to the
engineer. This went on for a few weeks
to get just what we knew the show would require. It cost us more money but the
truth is, doing what we do long distance will always cost more money. That's just part of the deal I've made with
myself.
With this year's invitation to
present The Sandman at the NAMT
Festival, I was a bit concerned about scheduling a full two weeks away from Ka since writers are now required to be
in residence. And Cirque contractually
reserves the right to grant or deny any requests for leaves of absence. I was also concerned about my daily schedule
before my evening show times because I happen to be preparing another new
musical for a New York reading and yet another new musical for a series of work
sessions with a new director. I have
found that the trick is to deliver any assignments for NAMT as soon as they are
requested. "5 Things you should
know..." - hand it in that week.
Song clips? Do it that night.
Script edits? As soon as humanly possible. It's a bit like being back in school and knowing
if you got your homework done early, you would have more time for the fun
stuff. We were all that disciplined in
school, right? Well, at any rate, this has certainly been a second chance to do
it the right way.
And as it happened, Ka experienced an unimaginable tragedy
in July that forced us to temporarily close the show for over two weeks. While much of that time was filled with
meetings and rehearsals to bring the show back into performance as soon as it
was appropriate, I did find that it afforded me extra time to focus on The Sandman. I was able to deliver a more considered edit
of the script still very much ahead of the deadline. I was able to schedule phone conferences at
more convenient times, especially with the East Coast without worrying too much
about my rigid performance/gym/sleep schedule. And I was able to get an
enormous amount of work done on the other two musicals so that when the NAMT
crunch time rolls around, it will be my one and only concern. To quote Dot by
way of Sondheim, "You choose things, and then you lose things." It's very true. I chose to accept the original offer from Cirque. I chose to be away from New York
for most of the year, to be away from all the opportunities of the city with showcases,
parties and chance meetings on the street that can lead to wonderful connections
and even more wonderful new work. I
chose financial security over the bohemian thrill of piecing together a living
as a freelance musician in the city. I
have lost out on opportunities for sure.
Out of sight is indeed out of mind, although a good showing of the right
material at a NAMT Festival can make up for years of being off the radar. But I
have thirteen years of creating magic with Cirque
Du Soleil. I have been in the inner
circle for the creation of two magnificent and groundbreaking productions.
My own musical contributions are
on those stages nightly. And most importantly
to my future, I have taught a behemoth company that has always prided itself on
being the first to do things, that sometimes it's okay to adopt some of the long-established
practices of the musical theater world.
I taught them a thing or two about how a new musical is made. I taught some of them what a musical actually
is... I know, breathe, take a moment... And thank heavens, because really, what
on earth would they have done if they had to learn it from "SMASH"!?
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