Up next in 10
Edgar Allan Poe Comes to Life in Off-Broadway's NEVERMORE- Watch Sneak Peek!
Nov 8, 2022
NEVERMORE - The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe,a unique theatrical experience combining haunting music, poetic storytelling, and stunning stagecraft to tell the fascinating and moving life story of iconic American writer Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849), will begin performances at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues) tomorrow, January 14, 2015, with an official opening night scheduled for Sunday, January 25, 2015. The show's creator and designer, Jonathan Christenson and Bretta Gerecke, gave BroadwayWorld a behind the scenes look at the new production. Check it out below!
Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
0:02
We're at New World Stages to bring you a sneak peek at Nevermore
0:06
the imaginary life and mysterious death of Edgar Allan Poe. This unique theatrical experience will open on January 25th
0:13
and I caught up with its creator, Jonathan Christensen, and the show's designer, Bretta Gerricky
0:19
All our days are transits, and all our nights are dreams. So we all play a little part of this tiny little stage
0:30
where nothing's ever really as it seems. How did this all come about for you
0:36
Well, we were doing a piece called Frankenstein, and we were looking at a bunch of images from Edgar Allan Poe's work
0:44
and I started reading some of his stories and was intrigued. And so I started reading about the man himself and his life
0:49
and found that the story of his life actually read like one of his macabre tales
0:54
and became interested in developing a piece that told the story of Edgar Allan Poe's life
0:59
So how do you explain the evening? Take me through it, what it is. Well, basically we start with Poe as a young man
1:06
His parents were theatre people, which a lot of people don't know. And so the piece starts in a theatre with a group of players telling the story of Edgar Allan Poe
1:14
from the time he was a child through to his death. He died very young and he was actually kind of the rock star of his age
1:21
And so we wanted to really make the piece something that spoke to audiences today
1:26
had a really contemporary feel, and reminded them that he's not a historical piece
1:30
He's not sort of a museum character. He's very much alive and edgy, and was very much so in his day as well
1:40
Everybody is fascinated with Poe. I mean, generation after generation. Why do you think that is
1:45
Well, I think that, I mean, I think first of all, he was an amazing writer. he had a huge influence on so many different writing forms he he a he you know the whole mystery genre and Sherlock Holmes work and all of that it it all very much a product of stuff that he was writing But it just beautiful evocative work It really takes you on a huge emotional journey
2:05
I think it speaks to people just as much today as it always did. And, you know, the thing about this show is it's not really made for people
2:10
who necessarily know Poe's work. It's for people who've never even been introduced to it
2:14
I think that you can go on an amazing journey and get a beautiful taste of what Poe's all about through Nevermore
2:21
The name of Poe, it's cursed, my boy. And things never go our way
2:30
He'd go on to say, Good things don't come to those who wait
2:36
The best things in life are not free. Today's blue skies are grim harbingers
2:44
of tomorrow's adversity. And then he said, So whatever good my boy comes your way, don't expect it to last
2:58
For the name of Poe, it's cursed my boy, and you'll never escape your past
3:09
Well we began, Jonathan Christenden and I began about six or seven years ago
3:14
We were both very excited about the idea of working on Edgar Allan Poe
3:17
We both loved his stories from our sort of teen years and have hung on to them
3:22
And one of the things we're excited by is in the theatre, it's very difficult to scare people
3:27
because that's something sort of reserved for film most often because of point of view, I think
3:32
And we were excited by the prospect of scaring an audience and then pulling them back in
3:37
with the beautiful, romantic, heartfelt stories of Edgar and also about his life
3:44
and what his life was with the bits and pieces that we know
3:48
So we were, I don't know, thrilled at the idea and it just grown and grown and grown ever since then So we very honored to be here working on it Of course there are many challenges but I think the thrust of our work is always about collaboration So it been a collaboration not just with the story the creator the author the music but also with the actors
4:08
There's a lot of dialogue back and forth, and also with the choreographer, during rehearsal
4:13
and sort of developing the pieces that we're about to look at with body movement
4:18
and with their own sort of storytelling of character to sort of help enhance the through line of the piece
4:27
So the challenges are always, I think, the give and take of it
4:31
Like, how do you find the perfect skirt for this imaginary world
4:36
this very dreamscape world that we are inventing for the story of Poe
4:41
because there's not all that much that's known that's fact about his life
4:45
A lot of it is made up. A lot of it is fiction. And so our fiction is added to their fiction and his fiction
4:51
And how do you then keep the story real and full of compassion and generosity and mystery
4:59
but also make sure that everyone is sort of contributing to the storytelling in the way that you need
5:11
different her mood became sunny and bright and she danced around their tenement flat
5:19
and sang songs late into the night here we go all our days are transient and all our nights are
5:29
dreams so we play our little part on this tiny little stage where nothing's ever really as it
5:37
What are these? These, we call these the bell coats. So there are a couple of coats and as you can see
5:45
we started with a period line early 1800s and then we sort of extended it and exaggerated it so the pieces are a bit more sculptural than they are clothes And we also experimented with structure and with materials So these are made out of tissue paper landscape fabric masking tape lots of glue
6:08
This is all hot glue gun. And, you know, when you're up close to them, you can tell what the actual materials are
6:14
But at a distance, they're very mysterious and unusual. So this piece was actually inspired by the way this particular performer moves
6:24
So it sits on her hips, the elastic sits on her hips, and then as she rotates her hips, the skirt moves almost like a giant hula hoop around her
6:31
So this was entirely inspired by the performer. She's made out of hundreds of ribbons that are all masking tape
6:38
So, you know, part of the experimentation of this project was just, you know
6:43
I was just in my studio trying things out, and I had some hose, some garden hose sitting around
6:50
and I went into the backyard, I grabbed a bunch of twigs out of our alleyway
6:54
behind Catalyst Theatre in Edmonton, and I brought those back in, and I had heaps of masking tape
7:00
and I just went for it. And this is one of the results of going for it
7:05
From the same source, he'd never taken his sorrow
#Comics & Animation
#Events & Listings
#Movies
#Poetry
#Live Comedy
#Animated Films
#Drama Films
#Broadway & Musical Theater