SOUND OFF SPECIAL INTERVIEW: Lance Horne Talks New Album, Upcoming Concerts & PROMETHEUS BOUND

Composer, conductor, arranger and all-around music man Lance Horne is a very busy musician these days: this week's GENIUS OF AUTISM benefit and the upcoming American Songbook Series of shows in New York; the Planet Hollywood Las Vegas spectacular playing twice-nightly to sold-out crowds called VEGAS: THE SHOW, about to re-open with a slew of new material; a series of London concerts followed by a European tour; conducting at the Sydney Opera House; and a brand new album - FIRST THINGS LAST - released this week. All of this without even mentioning the hotly anticipated new productions he has coming up! Keep your eyes peeled for ARTS & CRAFTS, his new musical created with Jake Shears and starring Sandra Bernhard and Justin Bond, as well as the new Diane Paulus production of the fresh Steven Sater translation of PROMETHEUS BOUND starring Gavin Creel. The future looks bright for a talent like Lance's and in this revealing conversation we touch on all of this and much, much more.

In The Name Of The Music

PC: Tell me about the GENIUS OF AUTISM benefit at Frankel Hall you are participating in.

LH: Marty Thomas and I are doing this event and they just kind of pulled me in to do it. Now, Laura Linney is hosting it and Deepak Chopra is speaking and Bill Cosby is doing some video stuff!

PC: Wow! What a line-up!

LH: Yeah, it's so ridiculous.

PC: What are you going to be performing?

LH: I'm doing an arrangement with Kelli O'Hara of "Cock-Eyed Optimist" into "Something Wonderful" - a Rodgers & Hammerstein medley. Also, Brian Stokes Mitchell just signed on to do "Grateful" with John Bucchino at the piano. Billy Porter and Cyndi Lauper are going to be there, too.

PC: Oh, wow. A "True Colors" finale?

LH: We are all doing it at the end. Yeah.

PC: How do you market a musical theatre album in the twenty-first century?

LH: It's so interesting. It's like clothing now. Or a car. You know, as soon as you buy a car its value changes - as soon as this album comes out its worth will be different than it is now. So, when people supported this album on Kickstarter that was really the gist of what we were going for: trying to get people involved at a grassroots level to try to get this album to happen because it's an expensive event and a lot of work - which I'm willing to put in - but the money and the support was overwhelming. But, if they gave us five bucks to start - we're giving them the whole album now.

PC: So, essentially, you feel you have to build your own audience.

LH: Yeah, two hundred or so people just donated all they could and that funded the album. And, we also knew what they were up for so that helped us create the album for them.

PC: What a fantastic Broadway cast you have assembled.

LH: We were so, so lucky.

PC: Who is Meow Meow?

LH: She's awesome. She's this international cabaret diva. We perform together a lot. She's in the West End right now working on a new adaptation of THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG directed by Emma Rice.

PC: Jacques Demy was such a genius movie musical director.

LH: Totally, and they are adding this character into the piece of a French teacher. It gives the piece a little more direction. Meow is gonna be fabulous.

PC: Sheldon Harnick worked on the stage version of that show at some point in the 70s.

LH: I'm not sure what stuff of his they are going to be using. It will be interesting to see what they cull from.

PC: It's interesting you mention Demy, because his three musical films with Michel Legrand were the first use of what we now call the pop opera format popularized by LES MIZ. He was a pop composer writing theatre music for film.

LH: Oh, yeah, it really was. I love CHERBOURG and LES DEMOISELLES DE CHERBOURG. I taught in France for ten summers, so I just immersed myself in his stuff. The song that Meow Meow sings on my album is called "January" and it's basically a combination of the tone of Legrand and Jacques Brel.

PC: A gorgeous song. My personal favorite is Cheyenne Jackson's track "Strange Bird" - what a unique and wonderful song.

LH: Oh, thank you so, so much.

PC: Is it from a show?

LH: Yes, it is. It's from a new show called THE STRIP. That is the turning point in the show. It's in Act 2 and everything is happening. It's one of those habeas corpses moments - you know, hands across the stage and you just take it all in for a second. It's a big dance show, but that's a moment to take a breath.

PC: It's the exhale.

LH: Right. And, Cheyenne asked for that song early on. He loved that song and I've never let anyone else sing it since. I'm pretty sure it's going to become his song now. He just texted me and asked me to hear it because he hasn't heard the final mix yet!

PC: Tell me about the song you chose to sing and why you didn't sing the whole album yourself.

LH: Well, everyone I asked to sing said "Yes!" (Laughs.)

PC: No way!

LH: Yeah, they really did. It was like, "You know what? Let's ask these fifteen people and I'll sing whatever tracks for whoever is not able to do it," but, then, everyone was able to do it.

PC: How fortuitous for you!

LH: It really was! So, I was just like, "OK, all right, I'll sing along with some people and then I'll do one on my own."

PC: And that one was "Asparagus"?

LH: "Asparagus" is such a fun song and it's one I love doing. This is a way we have never done it before. Our producer, Mike, just as I walked into the studio to do the recording, said, "What if we re-do it? What if we flip the whole thing upside down?"

PC: That keeps you on your toes - like any good producer will do!

LH: Definitely keeps me on my toes at all times! (Laughs.)

PC: So, is "In The Name Of The Father" the big single?

LH: I hope so. I love it. (Pause.) Again, the producer came up with that. Mike was so behind this, like the man behind the Beatles. He and I work together on everything anyway - and we just did Alan [Cumming's] show together - so, working with him on this song and seeing him just come up with that groove and it just laid the song in really tight.

PC: Unforgettable song.

LH: A lot of the musicians I have worked with for ten years. The whole album has been ten years in the making. It all came together very quickly, but it germinated very, very slowly.

PC: What are you going to be doing at the American Songbook shows you have coming up soon?

LH: We're gonna do pretty much every song from the album. Everyone is coming in who can from London. A few people can't come over - Hannah [Waddingham] is playing the Witch in [Andrew Lloyd Webber'S] THE WIZARD OF OZ.

PC: Can you tell me anything about that project?

LH: I know they have written a great new song for the Witch and Hannah loves it and loves rehearsing it.

PC: I loved her in Lloyd Webber's THE BEAUTIFUL GAME.

LH: Oh, my God! So did I. That big song of hers, (Sings.) "Our kind of love".

PC: Or, now, "Love Never Dies" as its been reclaimed to that show. Have you seen that?

LH: I saw the first version, must have been three or four months ago, and I really enjoyed it.

PC: What did you think of "The Beauty Underneath"? The heavy metal song?

LH: I know! Oh, my God! (Sings the riff). He wants to break out. Lloyd Webber wants to break out - "hand me the wine and the dice".

PC: There's a rock star in there.

LH: EVITA rocks out, too.

PC: "Lady's Got Potential".

LH: Right. Every show has its own little mischievous thing. Everyone thinks of PHANTOM first when they think of him, and that's just one piece.

PC: And even that has a disco song in it!

LH: And Sondheim sort of obstinately refuses to go into any sort of sound - each show has its own sound. Lloyd Webber fell into that 80s glut in some people‘s minds, I think, - you know, of the big sweeping melodies.

PC: What do you think of Sondheim's pop songs for SINGING OUT LOUD?

LH: "Water Under The Bridge"? Oh, I love it. I got in trouble my first week at Juilliard for arranging a Sondheim a show. They didn't have an inter-arts program back then and a whole crew of us got together and made our own Sondheim revue. It had all these weird, quirky things - I re-arranged "No, Mary Ann" and we put that in and things like that. I love it when Sondheim cuts loose. He's a brilliant lyricist and a fantastic melodist so if he wants to do it in a pop genre, then so be it - and, all the more so, because you are not expecting something like that!

PC: I specifically asked him about using rap in INTO THE WOODS and why he did it. Would you consider rap?

LH: Sure. Especially if it's coming from character. (Pause.) I stick to the same rules he does.

PC: Good plan!

LH: (Laughs.) We have an adaptation of DORIan Grey that we are looking to do in New York in the Fall and we wrote a rap song for one of the characters and it stuck. It may stay through previews. I mean, I have no problem with genre - as you can see from the album, it's all over the place!

PC: What's your favorite song on the album?

LH: (Huge Sigh.)

PC: Favorite child?

LH: Favorite child... I think right now it's "Haircut" because my little niece just sent me a little video of her in the bathtub singing "Haircut". So, that's in my head.

PC: Ricki Lake is so much fun on that - and a big voice!

LH: I love Ricki and I hope people hear this, because I believe Ricki should be doing a musical. And, Ricki wants to originate a role in a musical. I hope somebody takes advantage of her talents.

PC: Speaking of big talents, is it true you are working with Sandra Bernhard on her new musical?

LH: Yes, it's true. She, Justin Bond, Jake Shears and I.

PC: What a fierce and fabulous rock n roll team! Wow!

LH: We are going to do something on March 7 at Joe's Pub. We just did a thing in private at my house for a bunch of The Public Theater people, so we are just going to try it out there first.

PC: Is it a solo show or is it a full musical?

LH: Oh, it's a full musicaL. Sandra and Justin play cousins that reunite at the top of the show and then all sorts of shenanigans ensue. They don't play themselves, but they do play characters that resemble their traits and characteristics, for sure. It's a complete musical with a rocking band and a really fun chorus with the two of them, definitely, at the helm. It's called ARTS & CRAFTS.

PC: Great title. Tell me about working with Jake Shears.

LH: I love working with Jake. We first worked together at the Carpenters thing that we did in Central Park where Jake played Richard and Justin played Karen.

PC: That must've been wild!

LH: Yeah, it was. (Laughs.) But, after that, he wanted to take some piano lessons - which is funny, because of that song where he says "never took piano lessons", now I say back, "Hmmm, well you did take one." (Laughs.) It's great working with him and his fire-eyed "Yep, yep, yeps" - it's like a world of yeses, as they say - and it's really easy to work with him. He comes up with such great things and he's so collaborative.

PC: Were you a fan of Scissor Sisters before you knew him?

LH: Oh, yeah. We've performed together a lot since then, though. And, I love their new album.

PC: Have you seen his musical adaptation of TALES OF THE CITY yet?

LH: No, I am waiting until May to hear it. It's great to work with him and Scissor Sisters, though, and I would work with them anytime. I was just out in San Francisco with the Dresden Dolls and Armistead Maupin came backstage to visit me.

PC: Wow, what a coup!

LH: Yeah, Armistead actually ended up being the guy who drove my boyfriend and I to Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman's wedding. He actually put a picture of me on his Facebook under Music, so I guess I can die happy now. (Laughs.)

PC: And Mary Ann herself - Laura Linney - is hosting this benefit!

LH: I know! How weird is that? He dedicated his new book - which I just loved - to her. She went to Juilliard and she came back to speak when I was there, so I met her there. And, she's at Hal Prince's Christmas parties every year so I know her from there. We've never been able to talk about Armistead in particular. He's such a great guy.

PC: What were your biggest theatrical influences growing up?

LH: Well, I grew up in Wyoming and I'm a cowboy. I moved here to intern for Hal Prince the day after I graduated high school.

PC: A dream connection.

LH: It was totally a dream connection and a dream job - I mean, I'm running errands for Betty Buckley! (Laughs.) Everything about my life started the day after high school.

PC: Who else was personally inspiring to you besides Prince?

LH: I remember that I wrote to Sondheim around that time and he wrote back - which he always does and is so amazing about that, and, now, so am I about doing that if people write to me - and he said to go study with Milton Babbitt to get my form right and then worry about what I'm going to write. So, I went and studied with Babbitt for six years and was absolutely influenced by his serialism approach.

PC: Other influences - from a distance?

LH: I just adore John Adams and his approach to minimalism in classical structure.

PC: What do you think of his musical, I WAS LOOKING AT THE CEILING AND THEN I SAW THE SKY? I love that recording. So unique and fantastic.

LH: Oh, My God! It's so beautiful! There is some stuff that Marin Mazzie does on that recording - my eyeballs just cross.

PC: And Audra McDonald, too!

LH: Oh, yeah. The two of them together... as my friend would say, "it's just stupid good!" So, so, so good it's just... stupid. (Laughs.)

PC: Any shows you've seen onstage you really responded to?

LH: I loved MOVIN' OUT. It's the most beautiful piece. It's something I could have never created and it made me love it all the more. I saw that show seven times and I could see it many more.

PC: What were your favorite cast albums growing up?

LH: Growing up, my three cassette tapes to mow the lawn with were: EASTER PARADE, ANNIE GET YOUR GUN and PACIFIC OVERTURES.

PC: How eclectic! PACIFIC OVERTURES for a pre-teen? That probably set you out on your own path in the world from the get-go.

LH: (Laughs.) They probably thought they were getting me SOUTH PACIFIC, but the misguided relatives in my youth pointed me in the right direction.

PC: You really got into it at a young age? That's one of the first Sondheim scores I fell in love with, too, but it seems that few are in our shoes.

LH: Are you kidding me? It started a fetish! Now, I can do the Broadway version, the English National Opera recording - all of them. I love, love, love that score.

PC: Hal Prince's original production was untouchable - no one did kabuki on Broadway like that before. Or since.

LH: Nobody. Nobody. I will say that I saw a revival at the Donmar in London right after 9/11 and it was just... it was one of the best things I've ever seen in London.

PC: What's the best thing you've seen in the West End recently?

LH: WAR HORSE is amazing. You really can't describe it enough. It's a really beautiful piece and we are so lucky it is coming here.

PC: What's the best musical you've seen?

LH: My favorite show that I ever saw was a little show in the UK called ON THE SHORE OF THE WIDE, WIDE WORLD.

PC: I've never heard of it. What's it about? What's the style?

LH: It's about three generations. It's a combination of an Ayckbourn play and a Tennessee Williams feel with that O'Neill kind of family drama, but in a very closed setting - it was on a three-quarters thrust. It was a kind of heightened realism, kind of a European naturalism filmic approach. I saw it with Hal and his wife Judy when we were all in London at the same time.

PC: Who chose the show?

LH: We wanted to see something and we just said, "Oh, let's see this little show at this little theatre," and we all couldn't breathe after the show it was so spectacular. (Pause.) We still talk about it.

PC: To get the Master's approval must mean it's a winner! And, to see a show with him... any other experiences like that?

LH: I was in and around the Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center and I helped out on some coaching for a bunch performers and shows there. It was just back-and-forth between NYC and DC as much as I could. I'm so glad I got to be involved.

PC: A headliner of the American Songbook series you are participating in, Raul Esparza, was just telling me what an amazing experience that was an actor - and he starred in two of the shows (the only actor to do so).

LH: He was phenomenal in those productions. I loved that PASSION, and you just reminded me that Rebecca Luker is doing my Songbook Series shows, too. I know she and Lauren Kennedy just joined. Rebecca is doing "The Last Day On Earth" and Lauren Kennedy is doing the "Leap" song.

PC: Lauren Kennedy is superb and her work with Jason Robert Brown is so, so amazing, as well.

LH: Awww, so, so good!

PC: Tell me about all these shows you are working on.

LH: Oh, there's so much going on - and there's new stuff coming, too, which is really great! I have a show running two shows a night at Planet Hollywood called VEGAS: THE SHOW. My boyfriend directed and choreographed it and I arranged it and wrote some original songs for it. It's going to have a grand re-opening with some great changes in a couple of months. I'm doing all these things in New York - the Autism benefit, the Songbook Series - and London. After that, I am going over to Australia for the third year curating, music directing and performing at the Sydney Opera House.

PC: The most beautiful opera house in the world.

LH: The most beautiful opera, yes, it really is. It‘s my seventh session there in two years. I adore the people and their approach to music.

PC: What are you conducting/doing over there?

LH: Amanda Palmer and I are doing stuff together. I am on her new Australian record. Then, she and I are producing another record after that. We are putting out another album in May. Then, Meow Meow and I are going to video into Amanda's concert while I go on a little tour with her.

PC: What's coming up in New York?

LH: When I come back in March I am music supervising the new PROMETHEUS BOUND with Diane Paulus directing.

PC: And Gavin Creel starring.

LH: Yes, Gavin. He is so perfect for it. We have casting sessions this week to get all the others set. It's gonna be really amazing.

PC: What translation are you using? The Ted Hughes?

LH: Steven Sater from SPRING AWAKENING is going back to the original and translating it all himself. It's amazing.

PC: Another awesome team! How did you get involved in this?

LH: My friend Deborah does music direction and supervision and we did it for CABARET and we are now doing it for this. It's an amazing piece. I've been working on it for over a year.

PC: Are you exploring the Christ themes? I mean, Prometheus is the original Christ story long before the Bible - nailed to a rock and all that.

LH: Well, it's up to Steven how much we will focus on that. There is so much to tell, and it is being done in a rock venue so people will be standing and it will be in one act. So, I'm not sure, in terms of storyline, how far we will go with that, but it does have a pretty amazing ending!

PC: And all good things must end. Thank you so much for this today, Lance. All my best on your huge plate of projects!

LH: Thanks so much, Pat. This was really, really fun. Bye for now!

 

Photo: Cheyenne Jackson, Ricki Lake, Lance Horne by Linda Lenzi