Marva Newton is a calypso enthusiast who plays guitar, produces concerts and events and manages media and publicity for several artistes and artisans. In this piece exclusive to the Sunday Arts Section, she writes about her experience in staging a T&T musical in New York.
It was just about 21 years ago that I had the distinct pleasure of learning Bro Valentino's calypso while adding to my own personal storehouse of examples of this great art form called calypso.
It all started when I was selected as guitarist for the debut production of playwright Zeno Obi Constance's De Roaring 70s, a calypso musical titled after Bro Val's composition. Produced back then by Canboulay Productions–an outfit noted for Rawle Gibbons' groundbreaking work of a similar fashion–the musical jump started the 1994 Emancipation celebrations in Port-of-Spain. It then moved to Queen's Hall for a 1995 Carnival run.
I recall feeling elated at having yet another opportunity to express myself musically and artistically doing significant work in theatre, collaborating with respected musicians such as Ewart Serrant and Desmond Waithe. On quite another level, the experience drove home the fact that I knew so very little about the events that occurred in Trinidad–and to a lesser extent, Tobago–during those turbulent days of the Black Power Movement.
De Roaring 70s tells the story of Ma Jacob who makes valiant attempts to keep her son and the rest of her small family out of the chaos and confusion of the 1970 uprising. Using calypsos of the era to chronicle the events and happenings of the day, the plot treats with the stark realities of the struggle for dignity and unity among people of African ancestry. Clearly a time of great creativity, the incisive lyrics and tuneful melodies of Bro Valentino, Duke, Kitchener, Sparrow, Chalkdust and Shadow, to name a few, stood out during this period.
Fastforward to 2015 and I am once again working with director and trusted colleague Louis McWilliams, who first directed De Roaring 70s.We were both working on Ten To One... A Sparrow Musical–he as artistic director and I as music director. Ten to One was successfully staged during this year's Carnival celebrations.During the rehearsal phase Louis approached me to work alongside him on the New York premier of Constance's musical.
I wish that I could say that I gave an immediate positive response... but I had my reservations, none of which had anything to do with forces or factors external to me, mind you!But here was the compelling deal: Louis McWilliams' work spoke for itself. As co-ordinator of the theatre arts programme at UWI, St Augustine, he had directed numerous award-winning plays, calypso and Broadway musicals both locally and abroad. If anyone did, he had to the experience and expertise to pull this off like a boss.
Add to that, the Brooklyn based producers Nandi Keyi and Glenda Cadogan, known professionally as the Sapodilla Sisters, had formerly staged several successful productions individually in the US. Only last year they teamed up to present one of the Caribbean's longest running plays, Jean and Dinah, featuring Rhoma Spencer and Penelope Spencer. Jean and Dinah played to a sold out audience, much to the producers' and everyone else's delight.
Compelling facts. After considered thought, I decided to give it a go. I was familiar with the play and most of the music that featured in it. My resolve was to travel to New York and ensure that the cast was comfortable with singing and performing calypso with all its beautiful syncopation and inflection. My mission also entailed providing the accompanying ensemble with the means to interpret and execute the music as authentically as possible, while leaving space for fresh interpretations as each scene within the play unfolded and took shape.
We, Louis and I, soon learned that the New York-based cast was a wonderfully diverse one which included a mix of enthusiastic, skilful acting professionals and community level practitioners from Antigua, Jamaica, the US and T&T. We wondered briefly how would issues such as accents and ideolects affect the integrity of the work, if at all.
We soon determined that while the musical is set against a decidedly Trinidadian background, the recurring motifs are all universal in appeal. Having such diversity within the cast served to increase the chances of others identifying with the fundamental themes and identifying with key characters to better understand the ultimate message.
The director and I arrived in New York on May 16 and with just about five short weeks to go before opening night on June 19, we began the challenging and rewarding work of mounting De Roaring 70s in Brooklyn, NY, as part of its music and Caribbean Heritage month.De Roaring 70s opened on June 19 at 8 pm and will run for six performances over two weekends–June 19, 20, 21 and June 26, 27 and 28. Showtime on Sundays is 5 pm. The venue, St Stephen's Hall, 2806 Newkirk Avenue, Brooklyn, New York.