‘Stereophonic’ goes deep into the creative process
WHEELS DOWN: The First National Tour Cast of Stereophonic is part of the BroadwaySF season at the Curran Theatre through Nov. 23. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
For some people (like me), experiencing the slow burn drama of a mid-’70s band recording an album in a Sausalito studio is three hours of insight into the roiling, messy, fascinating, frustrating, thrilling experience of making art. For others it might represent the torture of watching self-involved brats twisting themselves into soap-operatic, drug-addled tangles in a quest for pop stardom.
Playwright David Adjmi’s Stereophonic now at the Curran Theatre as part of the BroadwaySF season, is all of those things and a lot more. Its four acts in three hours (including intermission) span the better part of a year in which an unnamed rock quintet records the follow-up to an album that, after a lull, has begun to ascend the upper reaches of the Billboard charts. It’s a pivotal moment for the group, which breaks into several sub-groups: there are three Brits and two Americans; and there are two romantic couples (one American pair, one British pair) in various stages of emotional upset as well as a drummer whose own marriage (outside the band) is facing some challenges.
If it sounds like a “VH-1 Behind the Music” episode about Fleetwood Mac and the recording of their “Rumours” album in Sausalito, you should be playing Trivial Pursuit – RPM Edition.
Playwright Adjmi and director Daniel Aukin are after something deeper and more interesting than something salacious, like a prototype episode of “The Real Rock Stars of Sausalito,” even if the play’s semblance of a plot doeshinge on who’s breaking up, making up or possibly going solo.
MASQUERADE: Claire DeJean is Diana and Denver Milord is Peter in the First National Tour of Stereophonic. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
The interesting thing here is the intricate examination of the creative process itself and the incredibly blurry line between personal and professional when it comes to making art as a group. Who is really in charge? Who has the greatest talent? And does the greatest talent win and therefore became the leader?
There’s another complication here, and that is looming fame. When the band begins work on the new album, their previous album has only just started to gain traction, and by the time they finish the album a year later (and in Los Angeles), they are full-fledged rock stars with No. 1’s under their collective belt. There’s a pressure not only to make something they consider great but also to please the record company and, of course, potential record buyers.
Our window into this process is truly a window: a proscenium framed glimpse of a working recording studio with the engineer (Grover, played by Jack Barrett, who for my money is the star of the show), the assistant engineeer (Charlie played by Steven Lee Johnson) in the foreground pushing levers and twiddling knobs surrounded by beanbag chairs, bags of cocaine and lots of ashtrays. Above the recording console on the second level of David Zinn’s wonderfully realistic set, are the windows of the actual recording space where the band performs.
Drummer Simon (Cornelius McMoyler) may be the father of the band, but his position as leader has been usurped by the highly annoying but very talented alpha guitarist Peter (Denver Milord), who has, almost by default, installed himself as resident producer. His love is Diana (Claire DeJean), lead singer and burgeoning songwriter (we’re thinking Stevie-Lindsey here). Peter is pushing everyone too hard and imposing his will too much and will end up pissing off just about everyone, but especially Diana, Simon and Reg (Christopher Mowod), the bassist, who is married to keyboardist/vocalist Holly (Emilie Kouatchou)…but probably not for long (they are the Christine-John of this version).
FLEETWOOD THIS MAC: An emotionally, creatively and romantically intertwined band tries to make an album in a Sausalito studio in the Tony Award-winning play Stereophonic. Photo by Julieta Cervantes
Trying to wrangle all of this drama is engineer Grover, who is harboring a secret: this is his first major gig and he did not, as he asserted in his job interview, engineer for the Eagles. Grover, in a wonderfully grounded and warm performance by Barrett, probably does the most evolving over the year covered in the play, maturing as a person and as an engineer learning to handle big, creative personalities and the fireworks that can surround them as well as all the vagaries of a recording studio that doesn’t always work the way it’s supposed to.
The actors, under Aukin’s direction, are finely attuned to the space the play affords the creative process, which includes its tediousness, its contentiousness and its silliness. The British accents are a little wonky, and there is some unevenness in the believability of some of the characters in this hyper-real environment, but it’s important to consider that these performers are playing characters who are adept at playing instruments and singing and making fantastic-sounding live music (the terrific, period-perfect songs are by Will Butler, formerly of Arcade Fire). The play’s musical moments are as enthralling as they are enjoyable.
The songs are essential not only to create a believable recording session but also to demonstrate the results of the process that all of these artists are, to varying degrees, passionate about. Even when they’re goofing around or fighting or suffering from substances or insecurity, they come together as a band and something powerful happens. We understand better why they’re doing this because the play takes us into the proximity of what it must feel like when you’re part of something that clicks and becomes bigger than its individual parts.
The music is where it all comes together, and you could say the same of Stereophonic itself.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
David Adjmi’s Stereophonic continues through Nov. 23 as part of the BroadwaySF season at the Curran Theatre, 445 Geary St., San Francisco. Running time: 3 hours (including one 15-minute intermission). Tickets are $$62.01-$181.35. Call 888-746-1799 or visit broadwaysf.com.
