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Exclusive Interview: Michael Alan Herman and Briana O'Neal of Theatre Nova's 'Maestro' · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  what happens when ambition, romance,
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  rivalry, and a whole lot of ego collides in the world of 18th century music?
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  You get Maestro, Michael Allen Herman's delightfully wicked comedy that puts
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  artistic competitions at her stage.
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  With its larger than life characters,
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  It's market.
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  sharp humor, and plenty of theatrical flair,
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  Yeah, yeah.
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  the play takes audiences into a world where becoming the next great maestro
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  is about much more than making beautiful music.
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  And today we had the pleasure of chatting with the playwright Michael Allen Herman,
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  along with director Brianna O'Neal.
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  who are hard at work bringing this show to life at Theater Nova.
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  Thank you so much for being here,
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  you two.
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  Thanks for having us.
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  So Michael, I wanna start with you.
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  This is such an incredibly funny show,
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  it sounds like this sounds like such a great comedy,
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  but also a little bit of drama,
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  a little bit of intrigue. What was that spark that kind of first inspired
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  you to write, Maestro?
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  You know, it was actually an online date with my now wife that sparked the creation.
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  She said, Let's watch Amadeus 'cause we were across the country.
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  Let's watch Amadeus online together.
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  I was like, That sounds so boring.
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  That movie is Amadeus, like, what are you talking about?
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  And then I watched it and I was like,
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  This is the one of the greatest movies I've ever seen in my life.
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  The egos, the trauma,
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  so fun. And it remains one of my favorite classics that we've seen to this day.
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  And
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  We were thinking about plays that we could bring to life and like like weird ideas
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  and like a farce in the world of just seems like such a good happy
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  fit because there is that big,
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  larger than life kind of ~ kind of backdrop and also this sort of ego
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  of these three people who are fighting to make music together and it just sort
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  of became this really fun world to explore.
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  That's so really that's so cool.
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  And and Bri when you were kind of when you were going to like direct the show,
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  when you were kind of approached about it,
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  what immediately grabbed you about the story when you first read that?
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  I think the thing that really like grabbed me and held me is that it
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  is a period piece without like the inaccessibility of a typical period piece.
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  So the language
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  Sure.
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  is very modern and fun, and you can really connect with these characters,
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  but we also get to have all of the fun of the period setting and
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  the costumes and all of that, and kind of explore what these characters
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  how they would be if they were today or back then.
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  and at its heart it has these beautiful relationships between the characters.
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  that you just can't help but root for them.
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  So I think those are the things that kind of grabbed me and I was like,
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  yes, no I wanna get my teeth and my hands all over this one.
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  You know, it is such a fascinating story,
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  Michael. And you're you know, when you're kind of talking about
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  the world of eighteenth century composers,
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  it's not always necessarily something that maybe people are thinking about.
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  But you mentioned that the the inspiration kind of coming from Amadeus,
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  but what was so fascinating about this world of eighteenth century composers that
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  stood out to you that you wanted to write a a show about it?
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  Yeah, I think it's that specific brand of melodrama that exists in all
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  all the arts of that time. I mean,
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  classical music is so dramatic.
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  The way that it plays in front of an audience is so like these triumphant moments
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  and it's a conversation at the end of the day.
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  Music is always a conversation,
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  but I think especially in the classical music.
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  So finding that melodrama I thought translates so well
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  to to theater. And I think ~
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  Farce is a particularly ~ perfect match for theater because it can be
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  so so stylized and so fun in a way that many other art arts
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  and like entertainments aren't.
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  So I think it just sort of seemed like a really good match match era.
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  And I don't see a lot of like that specific like eighteenth century Vienna on stage.
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  They're hard costumes to like bring to life.
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  ~ but they're really fun.
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  You know, and with a sh you show,
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  you know, that has a little bit of the echo of Amadeus in it.
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  How do you want like Maestro to distinguish itself from other stories about musical
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  geniuses and rivalries?
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  So I mean, I think it's the love story that makes this one stand out.
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  Because Amadeus is this sort of,
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  you know, ~ fight between ~ Salier and and and Mozart and like this this tension
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  between the two, like what is genius and where who does it belong to?
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  But this one is about like it's about love.
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  It's about how do we express love in like the f with the full breadth of our lungs.
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  And ~ what does love feel like?
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  The the drama of it, the the play of it,
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  the sorrow of it? You know, like what does all of those pieces feel like?
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  So it is a love story at the end of the day.
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  Everybody loves a love story, especially I feel like during this period
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  of this this period again kind of gives that Bridgerton feeling a little bit too,
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  you know what mean? And people love that feel right now.
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  ~ but Bri kind of going to what you were talking about,
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  how this is, you know, a period piece,
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  but also it kind of feels a little contemporary with the way that we're we're
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  approaching it. How do you find the right balance between like that period setting
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  and the contemporary comedic energy that comes with ~ Maestro?
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  Yeah, I think so much of it, and this is credit to Michael,
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  is in the language itself, that it is written in a way that feels very accessible
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  and fun to a modern audience because we do have modern ears and a modern context.
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  So I think sometimes you approach a period piece and it's very I don't want
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  to put a wall up in front of it,
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  but for a lot of people, like that language isn't familiar to them.
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  Whereas this very much feels like you could overhear some of these conversations
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  on the subway or on the bus stop.
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  And I love
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  That we get to put that context into this this period setting.
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  ~ because you add like the wigs and the costumes and everything.
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  And just I think the the drama of the moment.
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  Like it's a very dramatic period.
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  It was a very kind of gaudy period.
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  It'd very like the Rococo everything.
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  Like it feels very over the top and it perfectly sets it to really play these like
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  extremes of
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  a farce and of this love, like everything is big and bold and I just yeah,
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  love loved playing with that and finding where we could really kind
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  of push the limits with with what feels natural.
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  What I love what you mentioned there,
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  Bri, is that like truly I've seen quite a few different shows in my in
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  my time being this. And one of them that stands out is kind of the Romeo
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  and Juliet that was on recently on Broadway.
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  I also remember back in college,
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  they, or I guess when my sister was in college,
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  I went with her to see Othello,
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  and they would take the like traditional text and they would maybe change like
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  how it was presented. And sometimes that does feel like almost a little alienating.
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  And then with this one, it feels like Michael,
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  you really kind of flip the script on that to like make it f sound
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  and feel contemporary while also having that setting that is so
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  ~ nostalgic is the wrong word,
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  but that's kind of what I'm you know,
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  I'm feeling like maybe we're all are from n eighteenth century ~ Vienna
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  a little bit here, but you know what I mean?
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  Like there's that energy. I think that it it does almost make it easier
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  to like digest as an as an audience member.
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  Totally. And I think that there's something even funnier about that because
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  we start to associate these little moments before and suddenly we're
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  in that moment with them and we relate to them.
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  And and what is comedy but not like relating to a very specific moment
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  and being able to laugh about it,
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  you know.
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  For sure, absolutely. so Michael,
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  some of your characters have some wonderfully larger than life personalities.
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  How do you approach writing characters who can be both like ridiculous
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  and also like genuinely compelling ~ to watch?
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  what a good question. Thank you.
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  Thank you for that question. I think that at the soul of a character,
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  they will tell you who they are.
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  And I think when you're really doing good writing,
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  they almost kind of get away from you and sort of like talk to you and tell
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  you like what they
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  Sure.
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  want to be. ~ and some of these characters,
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  they can be boiled down into like sort of like a soul color or a soul note,
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  whether that be like vanity, whether that be play,
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  whether that be sarcasm, like there's something that is like their center
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  and their soul. And and having that can certainly help sort of keep them.
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  in a certain world, but honestly they will let you know.
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  Like they'll sort of build and build and with a piece like this that's
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  so much about rivalry, just sort of like adding the stakes up and up,
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  like naturally escalate in in very unexpected ways.
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  So you kind of just, you know,
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  get on the surfboard and and ride to see where they're gonna take you.
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  And you know, no, Brie, with a with a script like this that is just
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  it sounds like it's so phenomenal.
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  Sounds like these characters have just kind of taken on a life of their own.
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  When you're working with the actors,
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  how do you take maybe the larger than life characters or aspects and also kind
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  of ground them back down, ~ rather than maybe ~ sitting in like
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  the over exaggeration that maybe their world is kind of living in?
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  Yeah, I think I I'm very much like a person who trusts my artists
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  and who I'm working with in the moment.
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  So when we came in that very first day,
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  I told him like you have been looking at these characters and trying
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  to embody these characters. So I'm gonna trust that you have a sense
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  of who they are. So like the very first day of rehearsal,
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  I had them just play. We just go and I said,
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  You can't be too big today. There are no bad choices.
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  Just go and play and show me who these characters are.
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  And I think from there we've been able to kind of fine tune,
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  you know, where they are, where we can ground them,
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  what moments are over the top,
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  and what moments maybe we need to to to root a little bit more,
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  ~ usually in the relationships with each other.
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  But it's definitely
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  Sure.
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  been fun to find out, especially the physicality,
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  I think, of these characters is something I think will be surprising
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  to audiences when they come in.
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  Like there are no no small movements in this show.
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  They are very big and they they fully embody these characters.
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  Oscar Kiros, who's playing ~ Pascal,
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  just has some wonderful physicality to his character and the
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  way he's bringing Pascal to life that I think will just knock your socks off,
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  to be honest. ~ so we kind of started big and then we've
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  Sure.
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  kind of whittled and figured out what moments really are where where
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  are their truths and where do they feel these things so big and so huge that they
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  just can't make it small.
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  love that because I feel like sometimes if you start the other way,
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  it's hard to almost find where the edge of it is,
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  you know. But when you start off so so large,
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  you can kind of be like, okay,
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  that's a moment that maybe needs to be scaled back a little bit.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  and it gives you it give again,
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  it gives you kind of that boundary of what is what is the care like what
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  is the biggest this character can be in that moment.
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  Now, when it comes to a show like this,
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  Brie, you know, you're combining romance.
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  You mentioned physical comedy,
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  ~ you know, dramatic tension a little bit,
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  you know, some rivalry. What is maybe the biggest challenge that is
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  to staging a comedy that has to combine all of these different elements?
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  That is a a fabulous question.
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  ~ I don't know that I could have told you going into this process what
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  the most difficult part would be.
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  I think what it's been is finding where the conflict lives and then where
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  the connection lives. Cause the conflict's on the page.
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  Like it's written into the script.
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  There's obvious moments where they are at each other's throats.
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  But also we have to root for characters who you
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  you know, can you care about and all of that.
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  So I think finding those moments where they are truly connected
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  and even when they're screaming at each other or insulting each other
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  in these absurd ways, there is some truth to that they do care about each other,
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  about their professional relationships,
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  about the women in their lives,
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  especially for the two men. they have this web of connections that really brings
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  them together into this particular story at this particular time.
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  That
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  All of like their trajectory depends on the other people in the story.
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  So finding where we play the conflict and where that connection is and
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  how we can kind of smash the two things together into like
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  a conflict connection sandwich.
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  Michael, with a with a title such as Maestro,
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  what does it mean besides the literal connection that it has to music?
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  Like what does it mean to you in the sense of maybe the larger story?
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  Yeah. It it is like that pursuit for them for the characters in a lot of this story.
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  They are pursuing this thing, ~ of like of being this great maestro of the age,
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  but there is a twist in the ending that really reveals like what it means
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  to be a maestro, who is the maestro of this piece.
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  ~ and ~ and what that true genius really is.
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  And that's like what the soul of this story is,
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  is ~ having that kind that deeper conversation on what it means to be a maestro like
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  is a maestro in this world. ~ and so it just is sort of like the obvious choice,
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  like would that be like both like sort of the the goal and then also like
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  the realization, I guess.
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  Sure. And like in the story too,
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  that has to do with maestros, that has to do with music.
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  How important do you feel like music itself was really to shaping the story
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  and the personalities of the characters in it?
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  Hugely, hugely. In fact, like each of the characters sort of like kind
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  of represent one of our great composers or music geniuses throughout history.
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  ~ I don't want to reveal them.
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  I would love audiences to sort of like have their own ideas about
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  who these people might represent,
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  but but they each have their own style and every composer has a voice.
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  And that voice is very specific.
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  And so that completely colored the the creation of these characters.
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  And so it's like the the voice of music and and like how it's expressed is is so
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  Paramount to the skeleton of this this story.
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  It's like it's really like where the words come from.
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  It's like how the words are shaped is like the the way that it it it comes.
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  and I said earlier, like it is a conversation.
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  Like so often in music, like an oboe begins and then like a violin answers.
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  And that relationship between those instruments,
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  like it's it's can be cheeky, it can be really sweet.
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  There's a lot of ~ beautiful combinations that exist as a result of that.
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  And
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  Be found the same thing, but it was like that there
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  are these different relationships and these different combinations,
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  so similar to an orchestra, that you can see these different complementary colors.
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  Absolutely. and Bri you had mentioned n the costumes,
• 13:02
  the the grandiose of the world that they're kind of living in.
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  You also mentioned again the movements and the the physical comedy.
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  How important do you feel like the visual effects are in creating
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  the world of Maestro?
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  I think they're tremendously important this time around.
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  ~ I think there's obviously shows where they are always they always affect
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  the storytelling. But this one I will say,
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  like that first day we tried those costumes on,
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  everyone kinda took a breath and was like,
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  here we are. This is what this this story should be.
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  Sure.
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  as like the sets come together and the lights have come together,
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  I think there's been that moment of like,
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  now we're not just playing in eighteenth century Vienna,
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  we're like, we're there. ~
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  I will say these these costumes by Michael's fabulous wife Josie are incredible.
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  ~ there's a sneak peek
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  That's awesome.
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  if you look on in our Facebook,
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  but they're just beautiful and they so perfectly ground these characters.
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  There's like differences between that really show them.
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  I think, especially the women in this play kind of make it for me.
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  And there's this lovely storytelling we do with one of the women,
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  Marie, ~ from the beginning of the show to the end of the show,
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  that I think is such a visual element of who.
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  she is and how she grows as a character who how she kind of reveals who she is.
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  ~ and it's just fun too. I think we put that wig the wigs on for
• 14:16
  one of the characters have this like very tall,
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  very Rococo sort of wig. And she just like stepped into this this diva opera diva
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  and it's yeah, incredible. The visual storytelling I think is a story
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  all on its own. And then you add the the story and the words and I think
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  it it just comes together as a really fun piece.
• 14:34
  You know, while you're talking about kind of the the brilliance
• 14:38
  of stepping into this world and all the pieces coming together,
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  ~ as a director, was there a specific scene that like it was just like
• 14:45
  so much fun to see it come together?
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  And like I don't want to spoil too much.
• 14:48
  I don't I don't you know, but maybe give a tease kind of like,
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  what was that scene for you as you watch it and you're like,
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  this is just so brilliant as all the pieces just kind of meshed?
• 14:56
  That is a great question. And I think it's probably the scene that we
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  had the most difficulty staging,
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  ~ which is
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  Okay.
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  towards the end of the play. I won't reveal it too much,
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  but there is this ~ moment written in where they are kind of seeing the operas,
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  their experience of the operas for the first time.
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  ~ and it's written very theatrically,
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  and I think we really kind of struggled getting into it at first,
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  what this moment is, where they're the where they are.
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  And as we've done it and we've added elements and we've added some
• 15:21
  of the physicality of that moment,
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  I think we found something really beautiful.
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  ~ that it feels a little bit like a dance and it's a little more movement based than
• 15:29
  some of the other things. But it was definitely one of those that for
• 15:33
  I would say two and a half weeks we didn't know what we were doing.
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  And then it finally kind of clicked.
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  And now I think it's gonna be one of my favorite scenes to see.
• 15:41
  So awesome. And as the playwright,
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  Michael, is there a scene or a character in the maestro that like as
• 15:46
  you were kind of starting to go through and write this that felt especially
• 15:51
  satisfying to write or to v develop as a playwright?
• 15:54
  man, it's hard to choose one among the ensemble because I love them
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  all so differently, ~ but equally.
• 15:59
  It's like pick your favorite kid,
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  Yeah, pick your favorite kid. You
• 16:01
  right?
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  know, I do think there is a special place in my heart,
• 16:06
  I think, for the character of Fleur,
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  because she, from like the moment she steps on the stage,
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  felt so much like what I would hope for from this sort of specific style
• 16:15
  of of the world. ~ she's she's a diva.
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  She's there, she's taken up the space.
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  And it's really cool to like hear her voice.
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  And I think that's one of the voices that felt so different on the page when
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  I was first writing it. You're you discover like,
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  wow, I didn't know that that voice could exist,
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  you know, from from writing of mine.
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  And it's really rewarding to like find a voice in a new character.
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  And and in many ways, I feel like she speaks so much of this like specific style
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  and and world. So I think she's an absolute darling.
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  But I also think that Marie so specifically ~
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  like holds the heart of this place.
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  I'm picking two. I'm cheating.
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  I'm cheating right now. But I I think,
• 16:52
  It's okay.
• 16:52
  yeah,
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  Marie holds this heart of the piece that that is so essential to it.
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  And and without that heart, it is just sort of,
• 16:59
  you know, feathers and and colors and and and flowers.
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  And and without that, it it's it's like it's not as deep as it as it should be.
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  And we have Marie to thank for that and ~ the the specific ~ depth that
• 17:11
  she brings to the piece.
• 17:12
  Incredible. So one last question for both of you is just what
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  are you hoping audiences are still thinking about or laughing about
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  as they leave the theater? And Bri,
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  I'll start with you. What are you kind of hoping that is left with them
• 17:21
  as they are done seeing Meister?
• 17:23
  That is a great question. ~ I want them to have joy.
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  I think that's my biggest thing.
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  And I think the thing that we really needed in this moment of the world being kind
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  of not always the most joyful place every day.
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  I think that this show has such a a levity to it and the love is there.
• 17:39
  It has depth and and joy and love.
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  And I think I'm hoping that audiences come and and can experience that.
• 17:45
  ~ and walk away wanting maybe to find some of these experiences
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  and relationships for themselves.
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  Find that love, find that friendship,
• 17:52
  find find the joy.
• 17:53
  Such a beautiful answer. Michael,
• 17:55
  how about for you? What are you hoping audiences kind of walk out
• 17:57
  of this show experiencing?
• 17:59
  Yeah, I think just ~ Bri answered it so beautifully there,
• 18:02
  but just the joy of play, you know.
• 18:04
  ~ theater, ~ we call them plays because ~ they are plays.
• 18:09
  They're we're we're like in a house and we're watching a play.
• 18:12
  So I think there's so much ~ joy that can be had in that.
• 18:14
  And I think that the playfulness that this play has,
• 18:17
  I hope that people bring that into their own lives and ~ they aren't afraid
• 18:20
  to have a little bit of that that silly joy inside themselves as well.
• 18:25
  Perfect. Thank you so much for both of you being here and talking about
• 18:28
  the brilliance of this show. We are so excited for
• 18:28
  He's about to break it on the show here.
• 18:30
  So
• 18:30
  it to arrive. And it sounds like there's so much incredible passion
• 18:33
  and work going into it. So
• 18:33
  And work going in.
• 18:35
  thank you for both for being here and taking time out of your busy schedules
• 18:38
  to chat about it.
• 18:40
  Absolutely. Thank you so much.
• 18:41
  Yeah, thank you for having us.
• 18:41
  This is so much fun
• 18:42
  to talk. So much.
• 18:43
  Yeah. So my show opens on September
• 18:45
  twenty fifth in at Theater Nova and runs through October eighteenth.
• 18:48
  So get your check us now and we'll see you there.