The Broadway Fake Book: 'Bounce'-ing Back!

At a breakfast press conference held this morning at Angus McIndoe, Stephen Sondheim and Harold Prince announced that the upcoming concert performance of Bounce, being held May 9 as a benefit for The Actor's Fund of America, will not, as originally planned, simply be a sing-though of the the score as it was performed in try-out engagements in Chicago and Washington DC. Instead, the original cast will perform a complete read-through of a newly-revised version of Bounce intended for Broadway, written with the assistance of the newest member of their creative team, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"I've been trying to get Andrew involved with this project ever since Chicago", explained Prince, "but obviously it's a delicate subject to bring up to any composer/lyricist. Especially one as accomplished as Steve."

Sondheim nodded quietly as Prince continued.

"I love Stephen Sondheim. The man is a genius and our working relationship has always been based on total honesty. And the honest truth is that Bounce requires a type of score he's not accustomed to writing. It's a vaudeville-style musical comedy that needs catchy tunes, and let's face it, Steve hasn't written a catchy tune since "Comedy Tonight".

The twenty time Tony Award winning director/producer chuckled warmly as the Pulitzer Prize winning dramatist gave a brief smile and softly grunted.

"If I may interrupt for a moment please", requested Webber, "I'd like to make it clear that I have not written a single note of music for Bounce, nor do I intend to. My role in this project is to provide coaching for Mr. Sondheim. His work is certainly brilliant without help, but I've simply been making suggestions on how to make his melodies more accessible to the public."

"Yes, people somehow get the notion that I don't like Andrew", Sondheim added, "or that I don't respect his music, but that can't be further from the truth. We have different goals in the types of musicals we write. He and Hal have had a very successful partnership mounting two long-running popular hits. The success of Phantom and Evita speak for themselves, and it's only natural that if we're trying to put on a more audience-pleasing show we should take some hints from the best. And I'm sure Andrew knows that if he ever wants to try writing a Pulitzer Prize winner he can come to me for assistance."

"That would be lovely but I'm afraid I'd have to relinquish my English citizenship for that and the Queen would renounce my knighthood.", joked the three time Tony winner.

"But seriously", Sondheim continued, "Andrew has been very valuable in demonstrating how unnecessary it is to use a surplus of words in getting a lyrical point across. I've always relied on intricate rhyme schemes, alliteration and rapid-fire patter to tell my stories completely, but working with Andrew has taught me that most people find that sort of thing just plain annoying and they'd rather hear simple, repetitive lyrics which don't get in the way of the melody."

"And let me tell you", added Prince, "the actors complain about it all the time. Who can learn all those words?"

Webber explained, "I've always encouraged my lyricists to just come up with one or two important points for a song, and to keep writing variations on them that can fill up thirty-two measures. You don't need to keep hitting the audience over the head with details. For example, everyone knows the story of Jesus Christ. Tim Rice didn't have to explain to the audience who Mary Magdalene or Pontius Pilate was. A brief outline that could support choral pieces and high belting solos was all that was necessary. Same with Evita. Maybe not everyone is familiar with the story of Juan and Eva Peron, but really, it's a brutal dictator and his ambitious wife. How much more do you need to know? Do you think anyone has ever understood a word that any Eva has ever sung during "A New Argentina"? Of course not. But the high belting tells you she's a strong and passionate woman and that's all that matters."

"Yes", Sondheim agreed, "fewer words and more high belting."

"And don't ever forget the power of visuals in telling a story.", Webber continued, "Visuals give information far quicker than words and they don't get in the way of your melodies. For example, the first act of Bounce takes place during the Alaska Gold Rush. Now, instead of having pages and pages of dialogue and lyrics saying "Oh, we're in Alaska, gee it's cold" we'll be having an enormous glacier appear on stage. Well, actually it is rather small for a glacier, but on the stage it really is very impressive."

"You should see what (set designer) Eugene Lee has come up with!", chimed Prince. "Just looking at it makes me chilly."

"And act two takes place in Florida. They're on the beach for goodness sake, but previously the audiences never saw the ocean. So what we've devised -- this is really quite brilliant -- is a musical interlude where the glacier is inside this huge plexiglas tank and it melts under these enormous heat lamps. And when the whole thing is finished we have the Atlantic Ocean. Stephen has even written a new song for Richard Kind to sing while swimming in the ocean. It's a very catchy melody called "I Like to Swim in the Ocean."

"At first I was reluctant to write the song", added Sondheim, "because I couldn't figure out how anyone could sing while swimming in a tank of water. But then Andrew taught me about the value of lip-syncing."

"Lip-syncing is an important tool if you want your score sung properly for eight performances a week." explained Webber."The so-called "purists" complain that it's not really live theatre, but lip-syncing helps insure that your star will be able to perform a tremendously difficult score with lots of high belting every single time. Do you want understudies going on continually because the stars are ruining their voices by trying to sing impossibly high notes every night? That's what theatre without lip-syncing gets you."

At this point Harold Prince read the following statement from Bounce's book writer, John Weidman, who was not present at the press conference:

"I'm very excited to have another opportunity to work on Bounce with a firm belief that we can create a musical deserving of a successful Broadway run. In revising the book I've taken the advice of several colleagues, all of whom asked to remain nameless, and have been reading comments posted on theatre web sites, especially those from people with bootleg videos of our Chicago and Washington engagements. Although they are certainly illegal, comments posted by those who own bootlegs are perhaps the best resource we have in making creative decisions. When you ask an audience member after a performance what they thought of the show you usually get comments like "I didn't like that character" or "Most of the jokes weren't funny", but that doesn't help you pinpoint specific trouble spots. People who own bootlegs are generally passionate and knowledgeable theatre-goers who watch the videos over and over again and are able to point out exactly which jokes don't work and what is needed to create more interest in the story. I wish to thank all those who express opinions on theatre web sites and let them know that we who create musicals are paying very close attention to your posts. You are having a tremendous effect on the future of Broadway."

Although the press conference ended without an opportunity for questions, the voice of Michael Riedel could be heard from the back of the room as the threesome rose to leave:

"Steve! How do you think your fans are going to react to you taking advice from that limey hack?"

"Who gives a damn about them?", Sondheim muttered as Prince gingerly led him out of the room. "If I can live the rest of my life without another over-analytical social outcast telling me how Sunday in the Park with George changed his life I could die a happy man."

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone!