The Authors Have Their Say

AUTHOR’S NOTE

by Dan Butler

Lindsay Michelet (Gussie) & Ian Knauer (Nick)

So here you are, having exhausted every scrap of the art of conversation with your neighbor. Tired of staring at the curtain and listening to your food digest, you leaf through the programme in quiet desperation, hoping for some scrap of interest in the guise of an ad or an article, something, anything to pass the time before the houselights dim and the overture begins and suddenly, your eyes alight on … The Author’s Note! The sacred space, the blessed addendum, the page you leaf back to with frenzied speed at intermission to find out what the hell you’ve been watching. Well, I hate to disappoint you, folks, but you won’t find much hidden wisdom here. All I can say is tonight ain’t Ibsen.

The idea for a show about a tap-dancing detective who solves crimes through his feet began almost eight years ago as a gift for a close friend of mine. Brian Jones, an amazing tap-dancer whose troupe needed a new piece. But the piece kept expanding and expanding and what began as a simple sketch for a bunch of tap-dancers was now demanding not only strong dancers, but strong actors and singers as well. I was urged by friends in New York to make the leap and write a full-blown, two-act original musical. Donald Oliver, my gifted composer, and I were introduced and our collaboration was begun. Eight years and many roads later, we have the show you’ll see tonight. It is very loosely based on an actual historical event which I refuse to reveal (Donald enjoys talking about it however, so corner him in the lobby after the performance and he’ll fill you in.) The flamingo/flamenco mix-up in the title comes from a much-corrected mistake I continue to make which I incorporated into the show. And speaking of the title, we still get pressure to change it, shorten it, something, I refuse to budge. (One of the best suggestions for a new title was "Dancing Dick"!)

Above all, "Flamingo Dancer" for me is a celebration of dance. I’ve always been in awe of dancers … from my friend, Brian, tapping away at high speed; to ballet dancers defying the laws of gravity; to Broadway choruses supporting the shows they’re in and getting very little credit for it; to modern dance companies innovating their way into newness; to square dances, two-steppers, jig makers, Native Americans, waltzers, on and on and on, all the way to the picture in my little kid’s memory of Mr. and Mrs. Gulliksen putting on a dance record and stepping hand in hand into the center of their living room where they dazzled me by "sweeping into the tempo" and letting the music live within them. Every dance has been a gift to me. So this is my gift back to them and you, wrapped up with music and mystery and intrigue and fun and a lot of laughter. The show still makes me laugh. But, of course, I’m biased. Enjoy!

NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER

By Donald Oliver

I once asked the esteemed film composer, Miklos Rozsa ("Ben-Hur," "Spellbound"), why he didn’t turn his prodigious talents towards the musical theatre, to write either for Broadway or for the opera house. He answered that he never wished to try because a composer’s success in those areas is so terribly dependent upon the libretto. No matter how glorious the score, if the book of the musical is not stageworthy, the show will not be a success.

Jessica Martin (Gussie) & friend

And so for composers passionately, and perhaps foolhardily, devoted to careers in the musical theatre (such as myself) the search for a suitable libretto is a bit like looking for the Holy Grail. What makes a libretto "suitable"? Well first and foremost, the basic idea behind the show must be sufficiently intriguing to warrant spending a goodly chunk of one’s life on its nurturing and development and then spending a usually even longer period of time trying to get the darn thing produced. Next in importance, the story must be such that the songs will enhance the show and not merely replace sections of dialogue. And last, but by no means least: even the most serious of theatrical subject matters benefit from a little humorous relief.

Over the years my searching led to frustrating dead ends; I frequently despaired of ever finding interesting material with "potential." Not content to wait for projects to come to me I initiated ideas as well, one of which I labored five years on. It is as yet unproduced. But that’s another story entirely, and one which yet may have a happy ending.

Now imagine my joy when Dan Butler first presented me with the first draft of what eventually developed into the show you are seeing tonight. A project which aspired to no more lofty goal than to entertain its audience; a story which by its very nature supported the addition of songs; and a script with jokes and gags galore! (I love to laugh and did so, out loud, the first time I read Dan’s initial pages.) And from a composer’s point of view, "The Case of the Dead Flamingo Dancer" is a dream come true. As much as it is a celebration of dance, for me it is as well an homage to popular music. The script called for a dizzying variety of styles, and I was able to write a burlesque-strip (“Like This”), a vaudeville turn ("Little Ol’ Innocent Me"), a tango ("Rita"), a hoedown (the "Lowdown … "), a blues ("Gussie’s … ") and even some flamenco guitar stuff. The show’s setting in 1942 gave license to write a "big-band ballad" ("Watchin’ the Guy I Love") and a jitterbug/boogie-woogie/swing number ("It’s In the Feet!"). And dramatizing the main character’s inner conflict allowed Dan and me to write a romantic ballad ("Something Special").

While fulfilling the assignments above, there was also the task of theatrically stylizing all of these disparate musical forms and tying them together so the music evolved into a score instead of merely being a collection of individual songs. But if you notice any of the compositional techniques I used on any other than a subliminal or emotional level then I have not done my job correctly. What I do hope you sense is the fun I had in working out the musical problems. Foolhardy my dreams of a career may be, I’m delighted that the "Dead Flamingo" is in England and I’d be grateful for the chance to write more shows. But only if I can find libretti which meet my criteria for suitability and provide challenging opportunities. If you know of any, please call me immediately. I’m in the book.

THE AUTHORS HAVE THEIR SAY

AUTHOR’S NOTE

NOTES FROM THE COMPOSER