Lotus Blooming in Tampa, FL
Update: February 5, 2003
To all Lotus folk past and present, family, friends, students, and people who politely inquired about the show on some occasion or another,
This update is way overdue. My apologies. It's been a busy month.
But also a great one, I am happy to report. For those who haven't heard or might need reminding, I am in the midst of a 7-week residency at Blake School of the Arts in Tampa, FL, musically directing a fully-staged production of my opera, "Lotus Blooming in a Sea of Fire," which was originally written and performed in concert form at Dartmouth in May 2000. Blake's phenomenal musical theater director, Eric Davis, found the show through my website (with big thanks to its designer, my brother Kirk), and invited me to Blake (an arts magnet high school) to give his students the experience of working directly with the composer in the development and production of a new musical.
And oh, is it developing. I've been revising the show heavily since Eric called me in June 2002, and with his invaluable assistance I've managed to rework Lotus into something much more cogent and dramatically vibrant than what we first presented at Dartmouth. The show continues to evolve--for instance, we just decided to move the first act's big comedy number, "When the Lord Came A-Calling," into the second act--and the evolution will no doubt continue until opening night, February 20th, and beyond. I've given up on trying to "finish" this show, and just accepted that it will never really be done. A student reminded me of a famous quote today: "Musicals are never finished--only abandoned."
It's been a 24/7 kind of job this past month, with tasks ranging from teaching 25 kids their music (yes, 25--we expanded the principal cast of 6 to 10 and added parts for a chorus), to recording demos of new songs and also orchestrating them, a fairly new experience for me. At Dartmouth I shared the task of orchestration with another arranger, Oded Lev-Ari, whose work I could never hope to surpass, but it's been really fun to try.
As of this past weekend, I am "done" with the revised version of the show, and now the fun really starts. Eric has been doing a spectacular job with the staging--his work promises to be visually stunning, and his use of the expanded cast is giving the show the kind of "epic" feel that it really needs. Imagine...choreography! Lights! Costumes! Props! It is slowly sinking in that this is, at long last, the "real" thing.
The band--twelve students and two pros--is a little shaky on its feet at this stage in the game, but they are bright-eyed and eager, and when they say they'll practice, I believe them. I am taking a big leap of faith and leaving both the guitar parts in the hands of students. I'm still terrified to take my hand off the rudder, as it were--since the show was written on guitar, the guitar really holds the whole thing together--but our guitarists, Christie and Mike, are both huge champs, and I'm confident they'll have it down by Feb. 20 (fingers crossed, fingers crossed).
All the students here are incredible, really. I couldn't believe it that a high school would want to do Lotus (some of our original cast members called it the hardest show they'd ever done), but they are clearly up to the challenge. Not that I haven't had to spend many hours reviewing troublespots until my head was about to explode, but the talent these kids are bringing to the show, both as singers and as actors, seriously amazes me (once that whole head-explosion thing has passed on).
The kids call me Mr. Roberts. I am still getting used to this. One of them once said to me, however, "You look like you could go to school here." And I think, "Am I old enough to take this as a compliment?" I also found out that even before I came here, they affectionately referred to me as "Mickey T-Ro." I have found it is very enjoyable to use this moniker when referring to myself in the third person. For instance: "Villagers with Mr. Davis, soldiers with the Mickey T-Ro.," or, "Don't be messin' with Mickey T-Ro. Learn your damn parts."
I love school.
Performances are Feb. 20, 21, and 22 (Thurs.-Sat.) here at Blake, and
if you would like to come, you will receive a free ticket and my undying
appreciation (with advance thanks to the following champs who are coming
from very far away: Mom, Dad, Kirk, Lyne, Mindy, Kathie, Jack, Jim, Josh,
Tony, and anyone I may have forgotten...all the rest of you--your name
could be here!!!).
Just reply to this e-mail or call me at 813 641 7050. I am staying with
my sister Ashley, her husband Jon, and their two chilluns, Natalie and
Lindsay. And let me ask you: have you ever roomed next to a two-and-a-half-year-old
who often tries to get out of her room late at night and finds herself
gated in? It can be hazardous to ones aural health, I can tell you that.
Natalie, the original Lotus (her due date was the day of the Dartmouth
premiere), has some set of pipes on her. But every other time of the day,
unclehood is quite a party. I highly recommend it.
Much love to all, and thanks for reading this rather lengthy update. Hope this finds you well!
Yeah Buccaneers,
Pewter Power,
Gruden for President,
Pound the Rock,
Michael T