Songbook (3/25/19)

Songbook is a program that presents up and coming theater composers and librettists. Usually several different songs from several different artists from several different shows are presented. March’s was different in that we heard a staged reading of a work-in-progress musical. Beau had a concept, book and lyrics by Douglas Lyons, with music by Ethan D. Pakchar and Douglas Lyons. The interesting concept for the show is that all of the actors also play instruments ranging from piano to guitar to electric bass to mandolin to violin to percussion. Set in Memphis and Nashville, I was a little concerned that it would be too ‘twangy’ for me but that turned out not to be a problem. I didn’t take notes, so I’ll be flying by the seat of my pants.

Pop Pop Beau laid out the premise that young 12-year-old Ace Barker became aware that his grandfather, Beau, was not actually dead—he’d just been estranged from Ace’s mother, Raven. As a solo opening number (though there may have been backup harmonies) it was pretty effective.

One of the songs, Shut Up, was pretty darn funny. And Beau had one song that was more honky-tonk than country. Other songs along the way were So Better, Crush, and my favorite, Thursday in July, where Ace reminisces about his grandfather dying so soon after Ace just got to know him and learned to play the guitar from him. It was quite poignant. I found the final song, Runnin’, to be a little strange (somewhat addressed below).

Some of the songs seemed to just peter out instead of having real endings but that may just have been a byproduct of the staged reading aspect of the evening. And some of the plot points might have been realized better in an actual staging of the full musical. The good news is that a full staging is planned for this summer at the Adirondack Theatre Festival.

One of the best things about the evening for me though, was the fact that BrotherMeister and his husband were in attendance with me and they both seemed to like the evening a lot. In some sense, I wish that they had seen a more typical Songbook, but I’m glad they got this experience—and I always tell them that it’s a crap shoot. It can sometimes be hit or miss but this one was one of the hits. I’m already planning on attending the April Songbook later this month.

BrotherMeister, feel free to chime in with your reactions if you’d like to.

ConcerMeister