Cast members Steven Saelzler and Ilana Lieberman rehearse with the pit for the upcoming production of “RENT.”
Photo courtesy of Melissa Rechin / Photo Editor.
MAGGIE GILROY
Reverb Editor
Tucked beneath the three story set of “RENT” will be a five piece rock band. While it will be located behind the onstage action, it will act somewhat of a character of its own, the lengthy score serving as the driving force of the musical.
Conducting the band is Ray Stewart, an associate professor in the School of Music. As Stewart previously worked as a Broadway musician, he was quite familiar with Broadway musicals. However, most of his work has been with more classical musicals such as “Oklahoma,” “My Fair Lady,” “Barnum,” “State Fair,” “South Pacific” and “Chicago.”
Stewart accepted the position of conductor of the musical, albeit reluctantly, with the understanding it would be “West Side Story.” However, he described this reluctance as intensifying “into moments of fear” when the choice for musical was changed to the more contemporary rock opera, “RENT.”
“I had no knowledge of ‘RENT’ other than it was a Broadway hit,” said Stewart, a self-proclaimed “old school Broadway guy.” “It was a new style of musical in its day 15-20 years ago, and I was heavily into contemporary brass chamber music at the time anyway.”
As Stewart was unfamiliar with contemporary musicals, he had to not only learn the music, but the new style of musicals now popular on Broadway.
“So, part of my personal commitment to this production of ‘RENT’ is an attempt to bring myself up to speed with the ‘new breed’ of Broadway show,” Stewart said. “I see ‘RENT’ as a sort of ‘founding father’ of a new Broadway era.”
Stewart brought himself up to speed with “RENT” by learning the show through the movie version; however, he had trouble getting through the musical. It wasn’t until he watched “RENT: Filmed Live on Broadway” that he found himself enjoying it.
“The songs and the characters started to grow on me,” Stewart said.
Stewart then busied himself attending production meetings, rehearsals with the casts and rehearsals with the band.
Coaching the musicians to sing in this more contemporary style is vocal coach Casey Gray, an adjunct voice faculty member. Gray also assists “RENT” rehearsals as the rehearsal pianist and works with Stewart in the band as a pianist as well. As both rehearsal pianist and pit pianist, he serves as somewhat of a middleman, reporting changes made during cast rehearsals to the band and vice versa, filling in the cast on changes made during band rehearsals.
As The School of Music is a classically based school, Stewart is not the only musician who may be out of his or her element. However, this classical training has served as a foundation for the contemporary music both the musicians and singers are required to perform.
“The classical technique really can divulge into any other technique,” Gray said. “Classic technique is the best to have to not hurt yourself. But you can definitely take that and apply different techniques to it.”
Gray said that singers need to keep this technique in mind in order for singers and musicians not to hurt themselves.
“Playing something like that, so driving and everything, you have to pace yourself. And that’s basically what the classical technique does for you, is to teach you how to pace yourself, not overdo it, not overwork,” Gray said. “And I think that it’s great that we can also have that style through mostly classically trained performers, as well.”
Gray explained that it is this technique that will help the singers maintain a voice at the end of the run.
“Rock is a style, and it takes a technique; it takes great technique,” Gray said. “You have to apply all of it and be thinking it the whole time: have your breath behind it, whatever you need. You have to keep that there for the entirety of the show or else you won’t make it until the end.”
Gray’s plan for the coming weeks until the production’s April 4 premiere is to make sure the singers sing in a healthy manner.
“My biggest goal for this is to keep them healthy, to make sure that they can make it another month … that also is enough time for them to blow their voices out by over singing and screaming in this rock sense. And I want to try to incorporate the rock sound in their voice without having it feel that way.”
During performances Stewart will not be holding a baton in his hand — but an electric bass.
“There is very little conducting in this show,” Stewart said. “I would call it rock chamber music because we rock out on certain tunes but in other moments we rely on eye contact, head nods and even the occasional ‘sniff breath’ cue in order to play together and provide stability to the actors. Other times I’m using the neck of the elec bass like a conductor’s baton but that’s mostly for cutoffs at the end of songs.”
As Stewart will be behind the cast, he will be giving the singers cues through a camera which will be fed to TV monitors in the house of the Marvel that the cast will look at in order to ensure that they are facing the audience.
While Stewart initially felt fear in approaching the show, his tune has since changed.
“From costume design to carpentry, from scenic design to stage managing, it has been professional on every level,” Stewart said, “and I’m ecstatic to be a part of it.”