just another whistle stop...

a number of years ago I collaborated with a friend on a play which was performed by the Perth Summer Theatre. (For two weeks, fortunately, not just once.)

My friend wrote the play, I composed the music and wrote some songs. One of the actors, who was stressed out from learning to play guitar in a week for the show, was tired of me hanging around on the set and offering advice as they rehearsed, so I was instructed not to bother coming to the final rehearsal.

The music involved both live-on-stage performances and a bunch of taped bits...and when I got to the premiere performance I realized that the sound tech was not familiar enough with the music to know that he was one cue behind and the wrong cue was playing for each sequence. The actors trouped on though. The dramatic climax was a scene (kind of gothic) where a guy struggles and ultimately gets kicked to death by a horse he's trying to break, in a solo dance kind of thing. The music for this segment was a dark electric guitar arrangement of "Jenny's Welcome to Charlie" of which I was inordinately proud. Unfortunately the previous cue on the tape, which was what was actually playing when the actor/dancer was earning his merit badge in improvised choreography, was a rather smarmy waltz. The poor guy was getting waltzed to death by a horse.

When the curtain dropped on that scene, the few of us that knew something was wrong just about cracked up. I advised the sound guy what had just happened.

Haven't done another play score, but now I have a better idea what "artistic control" means--and I'm not shy about sharing my opinions!

Wilie-O