Ghostlight Records, has released commentary for the Tony winning score of The Bridges of Madison County with composer Jason Robert Brown and star Kelli O'Hara adding commentary to each of the numbers. It’s such an interesting, and informative things that makes a Bridges lover like me very delighted. More often than not filmmakers get the monopoly on audio commentary for the obvious reason that you can listen to the commentary while you watch the videos, so in that way it makes more sense than an audio commentary for a cast recording which is already an audio.
And there may initially seem to be something morbid in constantly looking back on the closed Bridges of Madison County. What makes me so happy about this commentary release, though, is the way it allows for something that doesn’t often happen in musical theatre. You’re liable to see filmmakers and television makers stopping to analyse, opine on and give reasons for their motivations in creating characters but actors and creators of musical theatre are so constantly working on the next thing (or maybe their visibility is so low) that it seems rare to hear them having the time out to discuss something in detail like this. Which is why the addition of the Tony nominees to the Hollywood Reporter awards season roundtable discussion this year was so impressive to me. Finally, we get to hear stage performers talk about their cast.
If anything I wish the audio commentary on The Bridges of Madison County was longer. Perhaps there’s something to be said against looking behind the curtain but it’s always intriguing to hear how some ideas were formed. I’d have loved if book-writer Marsha Norman (of the excellent ‘Night, Mother) sat in on the recording, too, even if she didn’t have a role in creating the score, necessarily. But, I won't get greedy, and will appreciate the interesting glimpses we've been presented with.
Here are the most intriguing things learned from the audio commentary.
“Get Closer” is an homage to the Dinah Washington track “What A Difference A Day Makes”
If this were thirty years ago there’s no way that “Get Closer” wouldn’t become a legitimate radio hit. Brown admits he wrote it as a deliberate homage to the Dinah Washington school of music (specifically “What A Difference A Day Makes”) and it’s such an excellent example of homage done right. The influence is pervasive and yet “Get Closer” is its own song. It’s indicative of one of my favorite things about the score for The Bridges of Madison County – from Francesca’s Italian roots to the southern tinges of Bud, to the country fair songs – it’s such a great showcase for all that Jason Robert Brown can do as a composer.
“Another Life” is influenced by Joni Mitchell
Now that I know this, I can't un-hear when I listen to it. it follows up on the homage of “Get Closer”, although “Another Life” is less about a specific song and more about a general mood (although I’m getting slight traces of “A Case of You”). Inspired by the line in the novel about Robert's first wife Marian being a folksinger, Brown got the idea to write Marian's number as something in the vein of what a Joni Mitchell type in the sixties would have written about him. It's Marian's single number of the show, but important for revealing more about Robert than about Marian – a character we know we'll never see again. And, it's an effective number in that way, “Another Life”. It’s interesting how Brown says in the commentary that this song is a reflection of the way falling in love with someone else can turn you into someone you don’t even recognize.
Hunter Foster’s underrated-ness, Bud, and the non rhyming “Something From a Dream”
I’ll admit that Bud’s “Something From A Dream” is possibly my least favorite song from the score (albeit a score where I think all the numbers are great), but Brown does such a good job of explaining its purpose. I hadn’t even noticed, for example, that it’s completely non-rhyming (an attempt at showing the kind of language a character like Bud would speak in, without artfulness). I love how both Kelli and Jason make note of what Hunter Foster brings to the recording and the show, though. It was Marsha Norman’s idea to have the show begin with the chaos of the family which became “Home Before We Know It”, and the way on the recording we immediately can tell so much about Bud and his relationship with Francesca through the way he things.
One of my favourite Bud related things on the audio commentary I hadn’t noticed before is the discordant notes running through Bud’s solos on “You’re Never Alone” to represent the way the ostensibly estimable phrase could be seen as something macabre, too. It’s a classic example of how knowing more of how the music was created makes you appreciate even more.
"State Road 21" was the last song written for the show
It replaced the original Act Two opener, which the producers as be reworked. This makes me so curious to hear what that original Act Two opener sounded like (the producers asked for it to be replaced). He suspected they wanted something like “One Night in Bangkok” (what would that even sound like in context of Bridges?), he knew that would never work…
“When I’m Gone” was to exist as the idea of a song that Charlie may have heard in church or on the radio
I like that note because in some ways, “When I’m Gone” might be my favorite of the male songs. It’s not as overtly homage-ish like “Another Life” or “Get Closer” but there’s the easiness of the music redolent of Christian country spirituals. And the bluesiness of the song made it even more fitting for the montage in the show, Brown admits.
The Light in the Piazza connection and Kelli never using her voice as only an instrument
“Who We Are And Where We Want To Be” makes excellent use of Kelli O’Hara’s ability to mellifluously sing “ah-ah-ah-ah” and yet it never occurred to me the connection it might have to the original Kelli O’Hara singing “ah-ah-ah” show – The Light in the Piazza! Brown admits he was very reluctant to use too many ahs just for the fact that listeners might thing he was trying to rip-off Guettel “It felt very natural to me that Francesca should not always be verbal. That there are things which can be expressed simply with a musical phrase that words might get in the way of [….] but I was nervous about doing it because there’s a lot of that in The Light in the Piazza”. Even great musical composers worry about originality
Kelli speaks of learning from Florence Birdwell and never just using your voice as an instrument, it has to mean something. So when there’s more than one ah, every single one must mean something specifically. Is it weird that even though Kelli has so few words to sing this is my favourite Robert/Francesca duet? At least in terms of how they sound together, the marriage of the voices on this particular song with those “ah-ah-ahs” is immaculate.
On finding the perfect closing that’s “Always Better”
The show in an early version closed with "It All Fades Away" and then in the coda Francesca sings a reprise of an earlier song to her children. Everyone involved felt this was deeply unsatisfying. And Jason and Marsha battled with what would work. Over dinner one night Jason asked Marsha what she would like to see as an ending, and she broke down sobbing when she said she could see it ending with Francesca on the bridge and Robert (a dream or a ghost of him) appearing to wrap his arms around that. Much discussion later they realized the entire point of the show was to say, it’s okay to not have been successful in choosing one life over another but the fact that both existed was enough. And eventually Jason sits down and writes the sublime “Always Better” which is essentially the thesis for the show. What this commentary makes even more intriguing is Kelli noting how Marsha’s notes on being a woman in the business add to the texture of this song. Sometimes you’ll sacrifice work for family or family for work but the ultimate point is you’re better for having both in your life, no love is more or less (Jason reiterates this point in talking about the eternal struggle of the artist). And once the love is sincere, that is always better regardless of the result. It sounds passé but hearing Kelli and Jason talk about how they reached there is beautiful.
"To Build a Home" was the last song written for Act One
Do we all agree that the Act One opener is the best song of the show? “To Build A Home” might, in fact, be my favorite single piece of music from a show this century. Jason points out that he had many ideas for the opening number but none of them were really great. But they just kept working through it then Bartlett Sher (the director) suggested a Thornton Wilde-esque idea of having the look of the show be more suggested than realistic and Jason fell in love with the idea of watching Francesca literally build the life around her that she wanted. (I LOVE that image.) Even more fantastic, the cello bit which marks the opening of “To Build A Home” only came into being when the song was written but when he heard it in the song he realized it was Francesca’s note and went back to reintegrate it into previously written tunes to be in line with that note. I wish the audio commentary spoke more to the leitmotif in the show, because The Bridges of Madison county has some of my favorite use of leitmotif since probably Caroline, or Change.
Even more interesting Kelli notes how Jason wrote the song skipping the parts of her voice she does not like to sing in most, instead using her favorite parts of her voice – either the lowest, or highest. It’s one thing writing the show with Kelli in mind (as this was) but having been written half way through the process when Jason heard just how Kelli would sound as Francesca this song becomes the ultimate Kelli song. Brown admits the song is built on the best parts of Kelli's ability as a vocalist, and Kelli notes “I'd never been presented with a song I knew I'd feel better than I'd ever felt in my life singing it.” I’m trying to imagine the inevitable Bridges revival – can anyone sound as sublime as Kelli does on this track? Or can the song’s irrefutable excellence transcend singer?
I'd love to see Ghostlight making this a regular thing with all their releases, giving us just a glimpse of the moment behind the scenes that informed the creation of the scores and shows we love so much. And how great that the sublime Bridges is one of the first for it to be done with.
You can listen to the commentary here.
