Time for us to talk about theatre. With the whole pandemic situation, we drastically reduced our evenings at the theatre and music venues. And yet, our consumption of music, musical theatre and plays has never stopped.
Between new albums and online theatre, we got under a lot of cultural pieces. While our dear British venues only can start thinking about reopening with social distancing, some quicker than others, or on other online and viable alternatives, we looked for the music they’re sharing.
Because, really, music is absolutely everywhere all the time in theatres. We did mention it before, and now it’s time to see it from another angle.
Inspirations:
Music inspires, obviously. And that’s other musicians, actors or even directors, we are really curious to know who has listened to what for this play or that role. And, almost as an answer, we found out some playlists around this theme.
We noticed that the Jamie Lloyd Company has been really inspired by The Sonics and The Monks for Pinter’s The Homecoming, but by Depeche Mode, Vivaldi and Röyksopp, among others, for his rendition of Betrayal.
Then, it’s the one for Cyrano de Bergerac, brilliantly interpreted by James McAvoy, that caught our attention. Full of The Specials and Stormzy, we really get the essential point of the play is to have the rhythm and the flow as main characters. After all, Cyrano is the Stormzy of his time, right?
Same idea, a couple of theatres away, is the playlist curated by composer Grant Olding for The Bridge Theatre’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream that is aiming to keep the audience immersed into their new version of Shakespeare’s play. And it works like a charm.
The issue here is that these playlists aren’t that common or easy to find. When, really, we love them.
Cast recording :
In the catalogue of classic moves, we also get the recordings of some shows. They are legions. With Olding, we get the music he wrote for Jekyll & Hyde at The Old Vic. For the Bridge, two of their upcoming productions have their own playlists.
But all of this is nothing compared to the astronomical quantity of musicals: Hamilton, SIX, Les Misérables, The Lion King, Kinky Boots, Follies revived in 2018 at the National Theatre, 42nd Street, Anastasia, Hadestown…
These recordings are sometimes awaited for a long time as they are the heart of these shows and have a great impact on their audiences. Meanwhile, getting the name of all the bits of music used in a play without using Shazam (yes, I’m still using it), that’s a bit complicated – if not impossible. Don’t use your phone during a play, kids.
Exit music:
As for the exit music, that’s the one played during the outgoing of the audience, and it’s far from being usual. But when it’s there, it’s the last treat that reminds us of the outgoing of any concert we’ve been to.
The champion of the category, and that’s the main excuse for this article, is Jamie Lloyd, him, again. As if he wanted to never write down the last dot, the period, for his powerful and modern adaptations, or as if he wanted to hit his audience in the heart and ink the show in them, the theatre-maker has worked with his team and, during our lockdown, released a playlist just for his shows’ exit songs. A familiar feeling crawls on us. What about you?
