Manhattan muses use news to inspire revue
By MICHAEL ECK
From The Times-Union
July 4, 2002
GLENS FALLS — Creating songs out of the substance of the daily news is an
act almost as old as the creation of music itself. Even in modern times, music
has been used as a bearer of the news and a commentator upon it — Leadbelly’s
“Titanic,” Neil Young’s “Ohio” and Dead Kennedys’ “Holiday in Cambodia”
being just a few examples from past decades.
But with the ever-increasing scope of modern media, music isn’t really
needed to disseminate the news the way it was in the days of the
ballad-as-broadside. That doesn’t mean, though, that musicians can’t be moved
to comment.
With “Fishwrap,” which opened Tuesday at the Adirondack Theatre Festival,
Gilles Chiasson and Bill Castellino asked a few friends in the contemporary
New York songwriting scene to join them in creating new tunes about news
stories from the past 10 months — with 9/11 being an obvious linchpin.
The thematic revue — which features the voices of Renee Borys, Eric
Collins, Maureen Russell and Jim Price — is certainly percolating with ideas,
but few smack with the power of a good ’60s protest relic, or even with a
punk-rock rant.
It seems the news might be better broadcast in more simple, vibrant forms
than show tunes — even show tunes this hip and rock-inflected.
Still, a few numbers peek out above the others, and a some are great pieces
of work.
Music Director David Nehls’ “Our World” paints a romance amid the
violence in the Middle East. “Blue,” penned by Chiasson and Michael Scheman,
tackles a vandal’s destruction of a Barnett Newman painting with a busy but
effective vocal arrangement. And Lori Fischer’s “Medal of Honor” divides its
contrapuntal melody among three members of a young family, including the
mother who died while on police duty in the World Trade Center.
The rest of the songs cover topics that include the Olympics, missing
children, environmentalism and John Aschroft.
Borys is the standout voice in the cast, and she shines especially on the
hokey country of Chiasson and Chris Roberts’ “Buy a New Life.” Maureen
Russell’s voice is too often stretched tensely to the top of its range, with
little support underneath, yet she is fantastic on the solo “The One Who’s
Lost.”
Visually, “Fishwrap” is far more exciting than the average revue. Neil
Kerr’s graphics float on a huge screen behind Nehls’ upstage piano — and the
main title graphic is echoed in paint on the newsprint-covered floor.
“Fishwrap” is too of-the-moment to have life much beyond this initial
production, but on the whole it’s an effort worth seeing — if only to hear
what’s on the mind of Manhattan’s muses.
