Brownbrokers will present its 69th annual student-written musical Dec. 2-5 at Stuart Theatre. This year's presentation, "Psyche," was written by Jed Resnick '06 and scored by James Egelhofer '04.
Re-envisioning the ancient Greek myth of Eros and Psyche, the show sets to music the tale of a good-looking and free-spirited mortal who unintentionally angers the goddess Aphrodite and wins the affection of the god Eros, imprinting one of history's most influential love stories onto the stage.
Michael Perlman '05, chair of the Brownbrokers board, has been overseeing the project since the board selected the musical during a fall workshop. Perlman directed last year's Brownbrokers musical, "Transforming Jimmy Dalton."
"My job this year is better," he said. "I don't have to do any of the constant slaving that this year's director, Briel (Steinberg '06), has to deal with. Along with my board, my only job is to pick her and the musical. Then I serve as intermediary between her and the choreographer, musical director, cast and production team. I make sure everyone's happy and that we're all on track."
If Perlman seems confident, he is. He has been promoting this show since last February.
"I really love 'Psyche,'" he said. "It's charming in a wonderful way, and the story - it's what some consider the precursor to 'Beauty and the Beast.' The songs are great, and above all, I think it's very performable."
Still, it has been a long road to production - though relatively young as a collaborative venture, Resnick's musical took several years of careful planning and development.
"I've had the idea since high school," he said. "I've always loved musicals, I've acted in them. Even to this day, it's weird to consider myself a playwright."
Given this attitude, as well as his familiarity with the medium, one could interpret Resnick's seemingly innate sense of how to construct a musical as the result of an obsession. When he first began developing "Psyche," he could already boast strong tastes for the contemporary legacies of Stephen Schwartz, creator of the Broadway hits "Pippin" and "Wicked," Stephen Sondheim, cult auteur of "Into the Woods" as well as the unflappable weeper ballad "Send in the Clowns," and the late Jonathan Larson, whose Pulitzer-winning musical "Rent" continues to inspire countless hordes of tween girls to trade in their denim for cerulean stretch pants.
In drafting the lyrics for his play, Resnick tapped into this connoisseurship, and "Psyche" contains more than a few implicit tributes to his muses.
Resnick has also enjoyed collaborating with his composer James Egelhofer '04, despite differing musical tastes. The two met through the Brown theater community, including joint associations with Brownbrokers.
"It's funny," Resnick recalled. "I have trouble with classical music, which is what James considers his main influence. I'm always asking him when I hear his compositions, 'Can't this be poppier? Can't this sound a bit more Schwartz?'"
Although Egelhofer currently lives in New York, the split hasn't stood in the way of creative accomplishment.
"The show's constantly evolving, and in its current state, it's definitely a work in progress," Resnick said. "It's true that since the summer, when we were working together at Brown and could meet whenever we wanted, it's been harder to act as a team. We're never really creating a song together. But I'm always amazed at how easy it is to fix things or compose new things even if we're not in the same town."
Resnick wrote the lyrics to a song first, then e-mailed them to Egelhofer with a brief description of how he wanted the music to sound. Egelhofer relied on these notes as he outlined the song's melody. The results can effectively be described as a hybrid of Egelhofer's more classical sensibilities and Resnick's penchant for musicals.
"James is an ideal partner for me, I think, because he can create these wonderful little baroque-sounding chorales whenever my script calls for it. This is a mythological show, and I've written a few hymnal numbers in the classical style," Resnick said gleefully. "On the other hand, he's always willing to indulge my pop stuff. There's this song, 'Let Me Be Yours,' and he wrote this music that sounds like something you could imagine a boy band singing. So there's a range."
The complex task of unifying the production's diverse elements goes to director Steinberg, a veteran of the behind-the-scenes grunt work of show business. An active member of Production Workshop's Musical Forum board and a veteran of the Brownbrokers production team, she has already directed numerous productions for PW and Musical Forum, including "3 Chairs, 2 Cubes" and "A New Brain."
"Psyche" marks her first attempt at a mainstage musical.
"I'm not really an actor. I've always been more interested in theater management," she said, adding that her experience on the Brownbrokers board has helped her with this project.
"Being on Board helps - a lot," she said. "(Perlman) has directed musicals before, so I often turn to him for guidance. But in truth, I've found that in many cases, I'm lucky to have actors who come to rehearsals with a bunch of their own ideas. We often work together to block scenes."
It is up to the show's director to select the production team as well the cast, so Steinberg's job is crucial to the play's development. A firm belief in the abilities of her cast has served as Steinberg's guiding light.
"We have a very hot cast," she said. "And actually, there's a whole lot of newcomers. Psyche, for instance, is a freshman (Leighton Bryan '08), and you'll hear her. She's phenomenal!"
Asked to describe her directorial vision, Steinberg did not mince words. "The show is well-written, entertaining and comedic, so I've tried to incorporate a sense of fun into my production. Traditionally, (Brownbrokers) tends to be a class of theater that wants its audience to leave contemplating, weighing deep and heavy issues. 'Psyche' is more lighthearted."
All the same, there have been pitfalls to overcome. The cast has been unable to rehearse in Stuart Theatre - instead, rehearsals have been in dorm lounges and other available spaces.
"We've had to rehearse everywhere around campus," Steinberg sighed. "And whenever we block new songs or dance numbers, it's been a real exercise in getting my cast to just use their imaginations and try to picture the stage."
Being spread out across campus has also complicated musical rehearsals. Because Musical Director Hannah Lewis '07 rehearses separately with the show's six-piece chamber orchestra, Steinberg has been forced to rely on accompaniment CDs recorded by Egelhofer.
During a recent rehearsal in Minden Hall, the shortcomings of the accompaniment CDs were evident.
"Skip to track two," Steinberg instructed one of her stage managers. Bryan began to sing, softly, so as not to strain her larynx before opening night. Then came the Yamaha accompaniment. Sparse, plucky chords of MIDI arrangement underscored her ditty.
Meanwhile, the director was attentive. If any serious flaws arose, she could ask Egelhofer to make changes.
"My ensemble is only human, after all. Sometimes, if a song is set too high, alterations need to be made - and sooner rather than later," Steinberg said.
But in the end, she had faith. "Ultimately, I want the audience to have fun and just enjoy a good, old-fashioned love story."
Watching her show take shape, as actors Ross Cowan '07 and Debbie Friedman '05 worked to turn Apollo and Aphrodite into living, breathing deities, she seemed satisfied - confident that the shortcomings would work themselves out by the debut performance.
Even if they don't, Perlman said he'd still be happy with how things turned out.
"The only real way we could disappoint would be if, on opening night, we had nothing to put on stage," he said.
And by that logic, no one, not even a demigod, could hope for anything but a success.
