Loving Is Always Worth Repeating

Coral Drouyn talks to Jason Langley, the director of a new musical about Gertrude Stein having its Australian Professional debut this month

It’s not often that we get an Australian premiere of a Musical with impeccable multi-award-winning creators, that very few people have even heard of; yet that’s precisely what will happen from the 21^st of January for a limited season at Chapel of Chapel, when Loving Repeating begins its limited run.

When the subject is the great literary figure Gertrude Stein and the subject is her love of art, words and Alice B Toklas, one might be concerned that this could be …in blunt terms … a giant artistic wank. Director Jason Langley laughs when I suggest that to him.

“Far from it,” he tells me. “It’s incredibly accessible to everyone who likes their musicals smart, melodic and beautiful. It may not be full of chorus girls and showstoppers, but we’ve gone beyond that in the past twenty years. We’re used to people like Sondheim giving us smaller, intelligent musicals with blissful music designed for a smaller orchestra. That’s where Loving Repeating sits.”

Jason, who now directs far more than he acts, despite being a fine actor, has directed the show once before, at WAAPA, where he has had many triumphs … but he also saw the show in America and was captivated by it.

“It has a score by Stephen Flaherty, so you know it’s going to be good,” says Jason. Flaherty of course wrote the beautiful Olivier award winning Once On This Island and won a Tony Award for Ragtime – then there’s the academy award nominations for Anastasia.  His usual partner is lyricist Lynn Ahrens, but this time he worked with Frank Galati, a Tony award winning Director – and with the words of Gertrude Stein herself.

“Every word in the show is Gertrude Stein’s own,” Jason explains. “But it still had to be structured, adapted, put into lyrics, and that’s where Frank Galati was so brilliant. It was first produced in an art gallery, and that whole idea of Stein, who was so involved in the art world, living her life in a sequence of art works is appealing and not at all intimidating. Stein was a funny writer but also an intellectual, and she wrote in code, because Lesbian women didn’t write overtly about sex in her time. Some of the writing seems to be obtuse, but once you know that a word like “Cow” is actually a euphemism for a female orgasm, you understand where the humour is coming from.” It’s even believed that Stein is the person who coined the euphemism Gay for homosexual.

Of course it’s no coincidence that Loving Repeating is part of the Midsumma Festival here in Melbourne but Jason is adamant that this is NOT just a show for a gay audience. “It’s good theatre, a marvellous new musical not before seen here on a professional stage, and so it’s for everyone who loves musical theatre. They’ll be laughing, they’ll be turned on and, yes, they will be moved. I don’t really have an interest in directing anything that doesn’t touch people on a personal and emotional level. And we have a fabulous cast, including three different Gertrudes at various times in her life.”

That cast includes Music Theatre Divas Deirdre Rubinstein and Nicole Melloy with a full professional ensemble and a five piece band under the direction of Ben Kiley.

It’s a brave move for first time Producer Glenn Ferguson and his new enterprise Vic Theatre Company – another welcome addition to our independent theatre community. But Glenn knows all the risks, as he is a performer of note himself. What’s more the company’s mission statement is that all actors will be paid, including for the rehearsal period. “It’s something I had to do,” says Glenn. “As artists we are so often prepared to work for nothing in something we believe in….but we shouldn’t have to. So I raised money any way I could…through sponsorship, friends, even crowd funding.”

It did mean a shorter rehearsal period than for a main stage production but Jason reveals that the internet was a secret weapon. “A lot of time early in rehearsals is spent discussing the text, exploring the characters, before you actually get to blocking. We used social media for that process. We would all get on-line through our closed Facebook page and have deep discussions for hours without leaving the computer. I think clarity is perhaps my greatest asset as a director. By the time we all got together for the first rehearsal, we were completely sharing the same vision.”

And that vision comes to life from January 21^st, not in an art gallery, but in a Chapel, surely equally as special?

Loving Repeating plays at Chapel off Chapel from January 21 to February 8.

Photographer: Albert Comper.

chapeloffchapel.com.au