A Funny Thing Happened

Though Mr. C was supposed to take this week off, he has e-mailed me to say that the characters wouldn't let him sleep unless he corrected some things and wrote a third draft. We are now at 82 pages (18 shorter than draft 2) and I'm very excited to read it whenever he allows me to.

From what I can understand, what he is trying to do in this third draft is create stronger characters with larger motivations. Madeline and Roderick have to be working on a cure for death (her scientifically, him musically) far before anything happens to Annabel Lee. Roderick's drive to write a symphony to end the world should be even more a part of his daily conversation. Madeline has to be even more psychopathic and potentially dangerous.

There is a giant ice machine that was in draft two (invented by a Dr. Gorrie in the mid-1800's), but I think that its presence has been diminished in the latest draft. Too heavy-handed, perhaps. There is a great allusion, though, that you can make to "The Tell Tale Heart" using the thumping of the ice machine as a constant annoyance. And WHY is there a gigantic ice machine in this New York seaside mansion? There is a fine line between making the audience curious and blowing the climas three or four scenes in advance.


On the musical front, I have worked a bit on a song that Madeline writes to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Annabel's death. It is very simple- a huge departure from her atonal experiments of the first act- but still progressive, with constantly shifting keys AND a shifting refrain that strikes different parts of the melody each time it is repeated. I'm not sure that makes sense in writing, but if you could hear it, you'd get it.

As I was writing an e-mail back to Mr. C about my various thoughts for future redrafts, I had an odd idea that will probably come to nothing but I thought interesting enough to pursue for a few days, at least. In the show, so far, we have happy songs and we certainly have sad songs, but we don't have any FUNNY songs. I know... I promised that this one wouldn't be funny- but I figured out a way to put it in and keep it internally consistant with the characters' logic. Basically, it would be Madeline singing the song of love that William can't because of his fear. She would be singing it as though she were him but to herself, if that makes sense, and in doing so would be mocking him and flirting with him at the same time. I'm not sure what I think yet, but I'm working out some ideas in my head. It's not knee-slapping funny... it's subtle.

Which reminds me that, last summer, my actors used to make fun of me by suggesting we re-title "Tragedy!" as "Subtlety! (A Musical Comedy)."

I'm just now starting to feel recharged on wanting to write comedy. Maybe by the time we're finished with "Usher" I'll be ready to go for another farce.