INTERVIEW
BOOKWRITER/ LYRICIST ESTEE STIMLER SITS DOWN WITH COMPOSER YUVAL HAVKIN
ES: Hey Yuval! What influenced your style choices for the songs in “The Attic”?
YH: The ‘Charlotte’ songs are sort of rock and contemporary - the electric guitar gives her a sense of power so we believe that she has the power until the end and it’s all coming from a place of strength. The ‘Lulu’ songs sound like they are from a hundred years ago: Charleston, jazzy music. That was kind of choice that I did think about, but it also happened naturally with your lyrics. It just happened…
ES: Organically…
YH: I did think about… the energies…and how the different orchestrations will also build the worlds...from the electric guitar to the strings and harp and horn… moving it between a lot of styles.
ES: What drew you to this project?
YH: You.
ES: (Laughs)
YH: I loved your story. I remember the first time you told me about it - I was fascinated.
ES: Before you came on board, I got a lot of feedback saying that it should have a happy ending, because the ending wasn’t happy. It was you who said, “No, keep it – my boys need to see this”.
YH: Oh yeah… I remember.
ES: I listened to your intuition rather than listening to everyone else who said, “Aww, can’t you make it end happy?”
YH: It’s good, it’s brilliant. I believe in the message so much.
ES: Which is your favourite song from ‘The Attic’?
YH: I think ‘My Name in Lights’ is my favourite … but I think ‘Freedom of Your Mind’ … that’s a hit, but they are both great songs. Another point about the music is the Muses. We use them as backing vocals but there were times I thought, “should we add the Muses?” because they are supposed to be supporting Charlotte so why would they sing backup for “All Men” and the other songs that you don’t expect them to join? But it actually works so well with the harmonies and vocals and adds so much humour and depth… that’s the second thing I wanted to kind of say. Using the muses to support whoever leads, even if it’s against their interest, sometimes, blending and harmonising… Should we speak about the process of writing together?
ES: Oh, yes! How do we write together? I come up with a hook and maybe a little bit of a verse or I’ll just free write.
YH: And some of the songs were completely fine as you wrote them. On others, I maybe took one or two of your lines and came up with the melody and asked you to change all your lyrics accordingly. But I think in ‘My Name in Lights’ I hardly changed a word!
ES: Wow… and that was a very narrative driven song.
YH: And ‘Freedom of Your Mind’ I’m also not sure I changed much. There were a few songs I hardly changed… you completely gave me the structure and the mood. What happens when I compose, I’m scanning for the idea, motif or line of yours and trying to feel the energy, the flow, the rhythm and go from there and develop everything accordingly. Sometimes everything needs to change, but sometimes you wrote and I didn’t tell you to change a single word…
ES: Yay!!
YH: Everything worked so that was much easier. It works both ways, sometimes we work according to the lyrics, sometimes we have to work our way around the melody.
ES: … and the proof is in the pudding!
YH: And the product is just awesome. I love all the songs, we have so many good songs – not every musical has s many good songs so I’m very excited about it. And the story and the message…. I told you, even in the last reading, with the last song in ‘Falling Awake’, I was crying. And I thought, “oh, I can’t believe it!” I don’t know if there is such an example in the world of musical theatre that you listen to a rock upbeat song and you are crying. I don’t think there is such a thing. I think it’s an achievement for both of us.
ES: I absolutely agree.
YH: And you told me, “I want something happy” when the first composition was very soft… very sad. Because it’s actually a very sad song.
ES: The material is sad that’s why I wanted to make it upbeat. Because I thought in Charlotte’s mind she’s happy, even though we see it as tragic. She’s happy with the choice that she made to let go of reality.
YH: I don’t know if she made that choice or society made it for her. We don’t know.
ES: You get it, Yuval, you just get it.
YH: Well, I admire your ideas. So, you guide me. I know it’s sad lyrics but making it sound happy- it’s a great selling point because you get people with the catchy upbeat exciting music rather than hearing another ballad and another ballad… if we would go according to the mood of lyrics on their own – it would be a very depressing show. Now people will have fun and go out of the theatre having really enjoyed it but getting the message as well, so that’s a great achievement - because that means you can get more people to listen.
ES: Exactly.
YH: So well done to you…
ES: To us!
YH: Yeah, I’m excited.