鈥淚 started as a recording artist and a performer and nowhere near musical theatre,鈥� David Yazbek explains by phone. However, his three musicals that bowed on Broadway were all Tony-nominated for their original scores (The Full Monty in 2001, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 2005 and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in 2011). , he鈥檒l fuse both worlds at his solo show featuring Full Monty star Patrick Wilson and his longtime band he often collaborates with both onstage and off.
We caught up with the composer-lyricist, who shared details about his upcoming concert, musicals in development and what advice he would give to aspiring writers in the musical theatre industry.
Tell me a little bit about your Feinstein鈥檚/54 Below show. What exactly could audiences expect?
David Yazbek: I don鈥檛 play out very much鈥攎aybe every few months. I have never played this venue as 鈥渢he act;鈥� I鈥檝e guested. I suspect my show is pretty different than certainly any of the shows I鈥檝e seen there. My shows tend to be this combination of intricately rehearsed [material] and completely improvised stuff, so there鈥檚 a sort of intimate, floppy character to it, which I think is the essence of jazz and rock 鈥榥鈥� roll. It鈥檚 54 Below, so I have to do some show stuff. I will certainly do a few songs from my existing shows. I鈥檓 not sure I鈥檒l do songs from every one of them, but I certainly will do songs from Women on the Verge鈥�, and I may reach back and do a couple Full Monty songs. 鈥� Then I鈥檒l do a couple of songs鈥攁t least one, but maybe two鈥攆rom upcoming shows. I have a show opening in December called The Band鈥檚 Visit, and I think I鈥檓 ready to sing a song or two from that.
Tell me more about that! What鈥檚 up next for you?
DY: Well, the biggest news that I鈥檓 allowed to share is [about] this show, The Band鈥檚 Visit, which is a musical that I鈥檓 writing with Itamar Moses, who鈥檚 a really great playwright. , and we鈥檙e going to open at the Atlantic Theater. I think we go into rehearsals the beginning of October. It should open by the beginning of December, and it鈥檚 a very deep story about music and love, and it takes place in Israel in an Israeli settlement where an Egyptian police band has come to perform, except they鈥檙e in the wrong town, so it becomes this one evening of them interacting with the Israelis in this place. So it鈥檚 about the universal language of music and love. We did a reading that went really well, and we鈥檒l do another one in July. For me, that鈥檚 the big focus.
I鈥檝e also been working on Tootsie with a new writer. I started with different writers, and now I鈥檓 working with this guy Robert Horn. Hopefully that will happen the year after. A lot of that has to do with Casey Nicholaw, [who] is the director and is very busy. There鈥檚 a chance I鈥檒l do a song from Tootsie at this show, but the song I want to do is a patter song for a woman, and it鈥檚 really hard to sing. Either I鈥檒l sing it or find someone who can sing it, but it鈥檚 one of those songs that you just have to rehearse so much. I feel sheepish about asking someone to spend so much time just to sing it once.
We鈥檙e living in a generation where you have to be so multi-faceted鈥攏ot just sing, dance and act, but also create your own work. Would that be something you鈥檇 want to do鈥攃reate work that could also function as a vehicle for you to be part of?
DY: Yeah, that comes up, but the truth is I get bored repeating myself, so the idea of being in a show 鈥攚here I have to repeat myself鈥攄oesn鈥檛 appeal to me very much. It鈥檚 very hard for me to even play my songs the same way each time鈥攖hat鈥檚 one of the reasons why I have a band filled with people who are not just musicians; they鈥檙e artists. We all listen to each other, and I can change things at the drop of a hat, and that鈥檚 fun and exciting. That said, I am working on something with the guitar player in my band, who is a great songwriter, and we鈥檙e trying to figure out鈥攊t鈥檚 a theatre piece鈥攊f there is some way that we, the two of us, want to be part of it maybe as singers. He and I like to sing together; we like to play together. Would we like to play together if you have to do the same thing night after night? I鈥檓 not sure.
Can you share what that project is about?
DY: It鈥檚 really weird. I don鈥檛 want to give it away too much. It鈥檚 about fame and death in the first part of the twentieth century in the United States. It鈥檚 very exciting, and we鈥檙e writing it the way you would write an album. We鈥檙e going song by song with a very intimate knowledge of the story that we鈥檙e telling, and then we鈥檙e going to try and see how narrative the story has to be to hold it together. I鈥檓 a big believer in story being [strong]. That鈥檚 the thing that keeps the audience engaged, so the question is: How much of it do you need if you want to feature the music? This gets a little philosophical, but鈥� There isn鈥檛 much really interesting music in musicals these days. When I say interesting, I don鈥檛 necessarily mean challengingly interesting鈥攁lthough that can be true also鈥攂ut I mean truly interesting and fresh. And you can get away with a lot if your story is compelling, even if the book isn鈥檛 that good. So it鈥檚 just this interesting question of: Can we write songs with the aesthetic that we would approach an album? And then use it to drive a story forward? It鈥檚 almost an experiment in writing a musical, but it鈥檚 so far so good. Maybe I鈥檒l do a song from that at this show, too.
What has been one of your proudest moments in musical theatre writing?
DY: I think it changes all the time. In terms of theatre鈥� My proudest moment in the theatre I think took place last year. Women on a Verge of a Nervous Breakdown opened in New York several years ago, and it wasn鈥檛 ready, and we didn鈥檛 have enough time to pull it together, and we made some mistakes. I liked the show, but it wasn鈥檛 the show that I really wanted, and . It was like this beautiful show鈥攎y favorite score of mine, my favorite book of Jeffrey Lane, who wrote the book, and a great cast. I really felt like we worked so hard to make that a great show and that we succeeded, and that was my proudest moment thus far probably.
I also wanted to ask you about your biggest challenge in your career. Would you say something like that was a big challenge? Or another moment?
DY: Oh, that鈥檚 interesting. Well, that was really challenging. I think in the last several years, I鈥檝e had a lot of challenging moments with shows that you鈥檒l never see鈥攖hat just didn鈥檛 go for whatever reason. There were a couple of shows that I thought I did some really good work on that crumbled in 2008 because of the financial disaster, and there was this Bruce Lee musical that I thought had some good songs that I was working on that just鈥� It wasn鈥檛 working as a whole. So there were a lot of challenges involving shows that didn鈥檛 happen or haven鈥檛 happened yet, but again, [with] Women on the Verge鈥� It was this massive challenge to figure out what was broken and fix it and then have the confidence to mount it, and that was a challenge that was overcome. That鈥檚 a challenge [that ended in], 鈥淥h! Audiences love it, I love it.鈥� I don鈥檛 really care about , so that helped.
And, now, what鈥檚 really exciting鈥� All of my shows have been performed all over the world, and I鈥檓 always seeing little clips from Japan or Czechoslovakia or South America鈥攁ll these songs and clips and people auditioning with the songs, and people doing full-blown productions or high school productions鈥攂ut with Women on the Verge, it鈥檚 been really interesting. The show was not a Broadway hit, but it鈥檚 being done here and there. Like, 鈥淥h, there it is in Czechoslovakia. There it is in Spain.鈥� And, I鈥檓 seeing these videos and pieces of these productions, and they鈥檙e being approached with so much creativity from these individual directors. They鈥檙e taking the show鈥攖he play and the music and the lyrics鈥攁nd they鈥檙e doing their own thing with them, and what I鈥檓 seeing is just really exciting. That makes me feel like we took a show that came out flawed and that might not have had a life afterwards, and now you can just see it. You can see this vibrating life that this show has now. And, people love the cast album, and I constantly have people talking about that. There鈥檚 a U.K. cast album that鈥檚 even better than the American one. It鈥檚 just leaner and meaner and much more rhythm-oriented. That鈥檒l be out pretty soon, hopefully on Sh-K-Boom, on Kurt [Deutsch]鈥檚 label.
What kind of advice would you give to aspiring composer/lyricists and writers in the musical theatre?
DY: I usually give the same advice. When I teach a class, a master class鈥� I guess this is probably true for any genre or maybe even for any art, but a lot of the people who get into musical theatre dream about being in it from an early age, so they鈥檙e affected by some show they see or something they hear or what they perceive as the glamour of it鈥攖hat鈥檚 fine. There鈥檚 plenty of people who get into rock music for similar reasons. But, the world doesn鈥檛 need more sh*tty musicals, and what causes sh*tty musicals is the narrowness of frame of reference. That鈥檚 one of the many causes, so my biggest advice鈥攁nd I鈥檝e said this directly to people in master classes鈥� Maybe there鈥檒l be this guy who is 25 years old and plays some stuff, and it just sounds hopelessly musical theatre-y.
No one wants to hear this, so I鈥檒l just say, 鈥淗ere is your assignment: You鈥檙e not going to accept it, but if you do, you鈥檒l be very wise to do so. For one year, starting right now, when you go home, you budget an hour a day at least to go online, which is something I never had when I was a kid, and listen to everything. Listen to everything. Listen to Javanese gamelan music. Listen to musique concr猫te. Listen to Thelonious Monk. Listen to Chinese opera. Listen to Afro-Cuban stuff. Listen to Alan Lomax鈥檚 recordings of Delta blues. Everything鈥� Except musical theatre! You鈥檙e not allowed to listen to any musical theatre. Nothing under that genre for a year. You鈥檙e allowed to write, but you鈥檙e not allowed to listen to that.鈥� That鈥檚 my advice. Get out of the murky, tiny pool of swimming in just musical theatre music and lyric. And read some great poetry and, what the hell, read some great plays, too, but get the f*ck out of musical theatre land in your head, and you鈥檒l write some good musical theatre maybe. That鈥檚 my advice.
