The Folly of Sondheim

Tyran Parke, director of the very special event Follies in Concert, talks to Coral Drouyn about being a Music Theatre Nerd and lover of all things Sondheim.

There are the fans who worship musicals, who find their escape from life sitting in the darkened auditorium and watching the story and the music unfold on the stage. Then there are those who are ON the stage, telling the stories, and those behind the stage, guiding the storytellers and, inevitably, storytellers themselves.

Tyran Parke is all three, and he’s arguably one of the busiest people in the industry – but that’s okay because he wouldn’t have it any other way.

‘Just this year (2016),” he tells me, “I’ve directed a huge cast in Great Expectations for NIDA, workshopped a new musical, been to China for an Andrew Lloyd Webber show, directed a new Australian work Crossroads in Melbourne, had talks on another new musical and now I am taking on Follies, which I absolutely adore.”

I point out that it’s still only May and most directors would think it was folly to be doing that much work.

“The rest of the year is looking very full as well,” he tells me, “but the time to rest is when there is nothing exciting for me to do.”

He’s right of course. Tyran is a creative in every atom of his body, and a creative has to create, there’s no other choice.

“It’s not really like I’m driven,” he explains, “I mean, it’s not about making money or getting a name and being famous. That’s never been the goal. In fact I probably wear too many hats at times, and people want me to stick to one thing, to hang a label on me. I don’t know how to describe myself … I’m just …”

‘A storyteller?” I suggest, and he enthusiastically agrees.

“That’s it exactly. I’m a storyteller, and it doesn’t matter if I’m singing, or acting or directing; I have this need to tell stories, to connect with people emotionally, to touch them. I think that’s why I love creating cabaret shows, because they are intimate and it’s easier to make that connection with your audience.”

Tyran manages to do that beautifully with his singing and cabaret performances; it’s his beautiful rich tenor voice that easily reaches the heart. But it is likely that his time on stage will be limited in the foreseeable future, despite that being his main goal in his years at WAAPA.

“I started out just wanting to be the best performer I could be. There wasn’t a plan to direct and I don’t know yet how far I can go as a director, but it’s something I have to do. I need to push myself. As a performer I can have only a smaller vision of a production, whereas, when I’m directing, the vision takes on a grand scale and all things are possible. I think - I’ve been told - that I have good instincts. I hope that’s true, but I need to explore them a lot more. One thing I do know is that I have such a passion for Music Theatre, and you should always pursue your passions.

Tyran’s passion is such that his home in Sydney is filled with scripts and cast recordings and young performers actually come to him looking for audition pieces. Some of the pieces are quite obscure, because Tyran’s tastes are wide and varied. But one name always stands out above the rest - Sondheim.

“I am an obsessive Sondheim fan,” he confesses. “There isn’t a show I don’t love, and the show at the top of my bucket list to direct is Sweeney Todd.” Last year Tyran was supposed to play Bobby in another of his favourite Sondheim musicals, Company, but artistic differences caused him to withdraw.

“I feel so strongly about Sondheim’s work, I just couldn’t go along with some of the choices being made. I’m really not being precious, but I do believe you have to have total respect for the composer. It has to be about the work … and then the chance to do Follies came along.”

The chance arose from Tyran directing last year’s concert production From Broadway to La Scala with David Hobson and Lisa McCune. Producer Adrian Storey asked Tyran to direct another production with Hobson.

“I wasn’t enamoured with that choice, but I did want to work with David again - he is like a spong, just absorbing every new thing he’s exposed to, and Lisa is a delight; and so I thought Follies. It’s a wonderful show, straddling two totally different time periods, and we were able to get David and Lisa to say yes.”

Most people would have settled for those two stars, but not Tyran.

“I started making a wish list - not thinking I would ever get the stars I longed to work with. I mean Nancye Hayes has been in every Australian Production of Follies - who wouldn’t move Heaven and Earth to hear her sing ‘Broadway Baby’ once more?”

It only took one email and Nancye said “I’m in.”

Tyran had an agenda to get Philip Quast on board.

“This is an artist who has played Sondheim leads all over the world, and yet we’ve never seen him here, at home, in a Sondheim show. We may not get to see his Sweeney Todd, but at least now we can get to see his ‘Ben’.”

Tyran employed the same tactics with his other stars – Debra Byrne, Anne Wood, Queenie van de Zandt, even Bert and Patti.

“No-one even hesitated, or needed persuading, it was just amazing.”

It also means that this production has a line-up of talent that is perhaps the greatest ever seen on an Australian musical stage.

Now you might be thinking ‘Fine, but it’s a concert version, just good singers singing Sondheim songs,” but you would be so wrong.

“The thing with Stephen,” Tyran explains about his friend, “Is that his songs are not stand alone pop tunes. It’s why he’s had so few hits. The music and lyrics grow organically from character and story and so they need context. Yes, they are good songs on their own, but when you hear everything around them, all the emotions that build to them, you know it’s a dis-service not to place them in the ‘book’ where they belong.”

Tyran made the bold decision, with ridiculously limited rehearsal, to do the entire show so that the audience can hear the songs evolve from the action and dialogue around them. It’s the full show experience, even though scripts will be in hand, “as security blankets more than anything else,” Tyran says.

It’s a lot of work, but Ty wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s only what Stephen, and the artists, and - most importantly – the audience, deserve.”

And so 28 performers and a 23 piece orchestra will take to the stage of the Melbourne Recital Centre for just three - yes, you heard right -three performances only on May 24^th and 25^th. There is no possibility of an extension or of going interstate, so it’s not surprising there are Sondheim fans flying down from Sydney and even across from Perth for the occasion. For Tyran it doesn’t matter whether it’s 3 performances or 300.

“It’s a gift for me, and I hope for the audience. It’s about creating magic, and once the overture starts, and there’s no more I can do, I will be just another Sondheim fan in the dark.”

I’m glad to say, so will I.