The celebration of music in Orange Alert continues with a trio of very talented performers: Tony Shaw is in charge of string instruments of all kinds, John Millar is the master of the winds, and Mira Berglund-Fitzpatrick will weave beautiful vocals.
Tony and John have supported Mira in the past, with musical interludes and backings for Mira in poetry mode. In Orange Alert, Mira sings! This is the third time they will be performing in this configuration, and even if "all forms are empty of self-existence", the trio deserves a name.
So, meet the Spritelies!
“We will perform two pieces: a re-worded-by-Tony classic, and an original awkward piece by John. The original is called The Only Home for Humans after we decided, for marketing reasons, that we couldn’t call it the Awkward Song. As always, we have had great fun – ‘so comfortable and easy to work together’ – spring to mind as comments throughout this rehearsal period, despite the grave themes touched on in the Awkward So.. oops, The Only Home for Humans.”
Songs is not all they bring to the show. Tony and John will display their skills in an amazing array of instruments. Here are a few sneak peeks in the streams of consciousness of the musicians, as they describe the four instrumentals they will perform:
Rain, rhythm, chaos is based on a rhythmic idea Tony gleaned from his rich life of strumming and listening. The way that is implemented and whatever John will add to the mix is hard to predict!
Trying to Bounce: Tony came up with a riff, which suggested a flute melody to John, who was persuaded by Adrian Goldman to learn the flute in the 2019 production of Falsettos. This is still a work in progress, hence the “Trying” in the song title.
Blue strain. Tony lays out a laid back Blues progression on guitar, which is pleasant indeed, but then John will add some strain with an instrument he played in his misspent youth, and resurrected for the aforementioned musical in 2019…
Rain, rhythm, chaos (revisited): Tony on modified Portuguese guitar, and all h*ll will break loose on sax!
As you can see, their performance is half composition, half improvisation, and half brilliance. They only way to truly know what they are going to do, is to witness them in person. You will have a chance for that in all four nights of Orange Alert.
Text: Tony Shaw, John Millar & Mira Berglund-Fitzpatrick
Photos: Anni Taponen
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