Excerpts Moby Dick, In Concert Under the Whale- Page 2

[3GamesToLove]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 7:59pm

i don’t think there’s any relationship at all between Moby-Dick and the Signature residency. He’s still set to have two more shows in the five-year period, as the rewards for his Octet recording Kickstarter suggest.

[schubox]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 8:33pm

ColorTheHours048 said: "victoriafr said: "Sorry, I'm not really sure if this is a stupid question, but is there any chance of this coming to New York for a full-fledged run after Boston?"

Unless it’s a total bomb, there’s no way this doesn’t come to New York after the run at A.R.T. I’m all for shows having a life independent of NYC, but given that Malloy and Chavkin are both based in the city, it seemsmore likely than not that it will come here."

I talked to Dave at the Guggenheim preview for Octet and he said it was coming to NYC eventually 

[Ledaero]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 9:21pm

I'm confused about the situation, and my confusion is compounded by the lack of understanding of the relationships between the various theaters. So excuse my dumb questions.

- What is the relationship between the Signature Theatre, where Dave Malloy is a listed as having a residency as Signature's first musical theater writer, and any other the other theaters - including ART? I assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that Malloy's agreement with Signature was a separate thing from his Moby Dick musical.

- I knew, or thought I knew, that the Moby Dick musical was being developed by the Public Theater and Berkeley Rep. (As a San Francisco Bay Area resident, I was hoping it would premiere here.) But after some delays in announcing a full season, Moby Dick wasn't on the Berkeley Rep's 2019-20 season. And it's not on the Public Theater's 2019-20 season. That seemed unusual to me. I have a hard time believing either theater would reject Malloy's Moby Dick musical. because while Great Comet may have been a financial failure on Broadway, it was a much-praised musical that raised Malloy's profile. (Octet was an easy sellout, albeit in a small theater, and he raised enough money for a cast recording in a day.)And Rachel Chavkin just won a Tony. The concert this weekend seems to have stirred a lot of attention.

- So my assumption was that something else happened instead, and that Chavkin and/or Malloy preferred to go to ART (where they have experience from Great Comet). That could be totally wrong. I don't know what role, if any, the Berkeley Rep or Public Theater have with the Moby Dick musical at this point. Any idea?

- While I'm very interested in this show, it does not seem like a Broadway musical. But the timing of the ACT run makes me think it could premiere somewhere in New York City sometime in the spring (or possibly next fall). It's clearly not headed to the Berkeley Rep or the Public Theater this season. I suppose it could the next season, or it could go somewhere else entirely as Malloy and Chavkin rework and revise it. That wouldn't surprise me, given their histories together and separately, but I probably have no clue."

Don't feel like the questions are dumb, all are totally reasonable confusions!

-There is no relationship between Signature and any other regional theater, and there is no development connection between Moby-Dick and Signature. I don't know why Dave didn't try to get the show done there after he was brought into Residency and Berkeley Rep fell through, but I would guess that: 1. Signature is too concerned about the expenses of such a large show, especially having never done a musical there before Octet, and 2. Because the show was already being developed by other theaters, it would not qualify as a Residency show since he isn't writing it in-house at Signature.

-I totally get the confusion about it not running at Berkeley Rep and/or the Public. I also grew up in the Bay Area, so I have friends who helped develop it at Berkeley Rep in its early workshops and it was made very clear to me that the show would premiere there before moving to NYC. But I was talking with Dave sometime last year and he mentioned to me that the regional theater that was supposed to premiere it fell through (presumably Berkeley Rep), but he couldn't mention any specific theaters by name to me because of legal reasons. So that's the extent of what I know about the situation, and going back to the original post this is also the reason Octet was created in the 1st year of his Residency at Signature.

-So it's not a matter of the creative team preferring to go to ART (though they have a great relationship with the company after Comet obviously). It's that wherever they were going to run the show before ART fell through, and I have no idea what the reasons would be. I assume it's financial reasons and the theaters not being able to budget it (the show is going to be 5 (?) hours long and that's an insane amount of overtime pay for everyone, particularly musicians). It could also be a matter of timing and season scheduling not working out. But those are both speculations, I wish I knew more specifics. I don't know if the theaters will have any sort of role going forward. I assume not Berkeley Rep anymore, but maybe The Public still?

-The show is definitely not heading to Broadway. I think it's safe to make the assumption that, at least for the next 5-10 years, none of Malloy's shows will go to Broadway. He has too much of a grudge against the commercialism of Broadway after Comet and he's very adamant about not taking his shows to Broadway. Also his shows are far too experimental to survive in any sort of commercial setting. So he'll live in Off-Broadway houses, and maybe he'll keep recreating commercial off-broadway ventures like the Kazino for Comet so that his shows can have open runs. I mean, he just performed Moby-Dick in the Natural History Museum, so I don't think creative performance opportunities are out of question for him.

[bear88]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 9:45pm

Ledaero, thanks for your reply. 

I wonder if the change in leadership at the Berkeley Rep made a difference (Tony Taccone departing), or if it was just a money thing. If Moby Dick is still going to be five hours, that's a bit daunting. (Taccone did stage Angels in America last year, but that's not a musical, is done in two parts, and is Angels in America.)

Anyway, bad news for me on not seeing it on the West Coast in the forseeable future. I'm sure it will head to NYC in some form after the ART tryout.

[3GamesToLove]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 10:44pm

Performances at ART on two-show days are 2pm and 7:30pm. It’s not five hours anymore. With those performance times I’d be surprised if it was much longer than 3. People who know Equity rules would know better though.

[lila12]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 10:54pm

I was at AMNH tonight and he said the 90 min excerpt is half the content/length of the show - so that’s 3 hours.

Updated On: 7/27/19 at 10:54 PM

[LightsOut90]

Posted: 7/27/19 at 11:37pm

Ledaero said: "victoriafr said: "Sorry, I'm not really sure if this is a stupid question, but is there any chance of this coming to New York for a full-fledged run after Boston?"

That's a very interesting question, and the assumption is yes. If I remember correctly, Moby-Dick was originally developed under cooperation withBerkeley Rep and the Public, and it was originally supposed to run in Berkeley Rep's 18/19 season and then transfer to the Public for 19/20. BUT then something happened whereBerkeley Rep and/or the Public dropped the show unexpectedly for last season, and Dave went into scramble mode to rebook Moby-Dick at a different company. ART offered him a spot in the 19/20 season, but then with no show in an 18/19 season Dave scrambled to get another show up (which is why Octet was createdand produced, and why it also has such a generic title since he didn't know what it would be about when he quicklybooked a gig). So now that it's running at ART, I don't think it's public knowledge whether the agreement is still on with the Public or not for now their 20/21 season. They would be fools to turn it down and if they do,someone else will certainly pick it up with how much hype Dave has, and how he managed to have a sold-out double extended run of Octet this past spring."

you have zero clue what you are talking about Octet wasnt a scramble Dave has a five year residency at Signature he has been working on it for awhile. 

[Ledaero]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 12:55am

"you have zero clue what you are talking about Octet wasnt a scramble Dave has a five year residency at Signature he has been working on it for awhile."

Please correct me if and where I'm wrong, I would love for m information to be as accurate as possible. But my memory is that I was talking to Dave around January of 2018, around the time he was doing Little Bunny Foo Foo with Anne Washburn, and I was informed that Moby-Dick had fallen through for the 18/19 season at a regional theatre, and that he had gotten it placed into a new venue (ART) for the 19/20 season. He said he needed a show for the next season, and decided to take the opportunity with his new Residency at Signature to fill the gap of the year. So that'd be about 1 1/2 years of development? Like I said, if you know better than I do please let me know.

[bear88]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 4:11am

I'm curious about what people thought of the Moby Dick performance, but I'll revisit this whole confusing theater situation one more time.

I haven't chatted with Dave Malloy, as we're not pals, but I'm a little leery of making too much of vague comments he made to anyone a year and a half ago. I'm not saying anyone is wrong; I'm just cautious.

What we know (I think):

- The Public Theater and Berkeley Rep were developing the show. 

- While many people assumed it would premiere in Berkeley and head to New York City, that isn't happening. We don't know why. Instead, the premiere is at ART.

- Dave Malloy has a residency at the Signature Theater, where his first musical there - Octet - premiered this spring.

- The Moby Dick show is apparently no longer 5 hours or whatever unwieldy length it had been but actually is 3, according to what Malloy told the audience on Saturday, according to lila12.

What we don't know:

- Much of anything else. It's reasonable to conclude, based on what happened, that something prompted the Moby Dick musical not to happen at the Berkeley Rep (assuming that was really on tap) and start at ART instead. But that could be wrong.

- When and where it will move to New York City.

- What role (if any) the Berkeley Rep or Public Theater have with the show now, or if it will ever play there.

I would actually be surprised if there is any connection between Octet and the Moby Dick musical. Malloy has been working on the latter for years, and it's a large-scale project with Rachel Chavkin attached. Octet is a smaller musical that's part of his Signature residency. (Even if Malloy wanted to forge ahead, the director of the Moby Dick musical has been kind of busy lately.)

[cmstygar]

Posted: 7/28/19 at 9:05am

Ledaero said: "That's a very interesting question, and the assumption is yes. If I remember correctly, Moby-Dick was originally developed under cooperation withBerkeley Rep and the Public, and it was originally supposed to run in Berkeley Rep's 18/19 season and then transfer to the Public for 19/20. BUT then something happened whereBerkeley Rep and/or the Public dropped the show unexpectedly for last season, and Dave went into scramble mode to rebook Moby-Dick at a different company. ART offered him a spot in the 19/20 season, but then with no show in an 18/19 season Dave scrambled to get another show up (which is why Octet was createdand produced, and why it also has such a generic title since he didn't know what it would be about when he quicklybooked a gig). So now that it's running at ART, I don't think it's public knowledge whether the agreement is still on with the Public or not for now their 20/21 season. They would be fools to turn it down and if they do,someone else will certainly pick it up with how much hype Dave has, and how he managed to have a sold-out double extended run of Octet this past spring."

FYI. The title “Octet” is a thoughtful, purposeful double reference to the cast of 8 and the construction of an IP address (at the very least). I don’t think Dave has the capability of doing anything generic.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 7/30/19 at 9:52am

I attended Friday night as a lottery winner. The music is beautiful. I haven’t read “Moby Dick”, but I got the sense (which was confirmed by the person I went with, who has read it) that Malloy’s score truly evokes the feel of the story and captures the moments perfectly.

I’m not completely sold on the entire Ballad of Pip section. In this concert setting, it felt like a lot of time was spent on one character, but perhaps within the full context of the show it would make more sense. I liked the “Tambourine” song to a point, but I definitely think it could use some cutting.

Although the music is gorgeous, I left the performance unconvinced that this particular property translates well to the theatrical stage. I’ve seen a play adaptation of it before and felt the same way. Even picturing a full staging with this score, I’m not sure if there is anything that could be done onstage that would make me feel actively entertained by watching this. I almost feel this would be better suited as a concept album. Curious if anyone who saw this this past weekend had a similar reaction?

[Synecdoche2]

Posted: 7/30/19 at 10:51am

GilmoreGirlO2 said: "I haven’t read “Moby Dick”, but I got the sense (which was confirmed by the person I went with, who has read it) that Malloy’s score truly evokes the feel of the story and captures the moments perfectly."

Having read the book, I can tell you that this is definitely not true.

[schubox]

Posted: 7/30/19 at 3:29pm

lila12 said: "I was at AMNH tonight and he said the 90 min excerpt is half the content/length of the show - so that’s 3 hours."

Yeah at the Guggenheim performance he said it was a little over 3 hours