For The Record :: Directors ready for their musical close-up

Friends Shane Scheel and Christopher Lloyd Bratten had been involved in the L.A. music and cabaret scene for some time before they found themselves a bit bored. Sitting in the backyard of Scheel's home, the two knocked back a few drinks and began to wonder if they could create something fresh that evoked the same sense of musical excitement as the shows with which they had been involved.

"We were trying to find something that would be unique," Bratten explained. "[Something] that would speak to Angelenos - that we could bring all our performer friends in on."

Chris came up with the idea of having singers perform an entire classic album. Scheel took it one step further and offered that they could do it with movie soundtracks.

"The first one that came to mind was 'Pulp Fiction,'" said Bratten. "It's one of the greatest soundtracks ever. It's iconic." But the question was: how do they limit to just one soundtrack? "That's when it expanded to - well, let's show the whole director!"

First Tarantino, then Hughes

With that, the "For the Record" series was born.

Opening a little under two years ago at Barre - the small cabaret bar/lounge adjacent to Vermont restaurant - the show began with a tribute to one of the most musically inventive directors of the past twenty years: Quentin Tarantino. Originally, it was more of a concert type of show with singers going onto stage to perform songs and then stepping off. Inspired by the "Pulp Fiction" soundtrack, which had snippets of dialogue between the tracks, the show features scenes from the films between the musical numbers.

As the show expanded, so did the directors they featured. After Tarantino, the company gave legendary 80s film writer/director John Hughes a shot. Defined by his wise choice of music used in his films, Hughes was a perfect fit. "We were really struck how beautifully he chose his music for the right moments," said Scheel.

How do they pick the directors to showcase? "It's difficult," Bratten offered. "You have to find a director that has a lot of works and who has memorable soundtracks. The Cohen Brothers was one of the more challenging that we did because you don't necessarily look at their soundtracks, but if you do, there's a lot of great music in there."

Baz Luhrmann next

A year ago, the company decided to attack the filmography of Baz Luhrmann whose films in his Red Curtain Trilogy were a perfect fit for the style of show they were creating. Starting off with Luhrmann's "Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet" with songs from the soundtrack (including "Love Fool." "#1 Crush," and "When Doves Cry,") Scheel and Bratten created a sort of mini-musical where the songs are actually sung by the "characters" from the film.

What's fascinating is that the songs, while sounding like the originals, get an added dose of theatricality that makes them fresh and exciting. Witness cast member Von Smith's version of Johnny Cash's "Satisfied Mind" from the Tarantino show and you will forever be transformed. A personal favorite is when the Princess, the Basket Case, and the Geek from Hughes' "The Breakfast Club" sang a beautiful rendition of the Smith's "Please, Please, Please," giving the song a heartbreaking meaning never seen before. Even the fun take of "Chick Habit" from Tarantino's "Death Proof" imagines the four girls from the film sitting around a bar table belting out the song complete with infectious choreography by Angela Pupello. These arrangements are small bits of genius that work incredibly well.

Anything but musical theater

But while this might seem very "musical theatre," the series is anything but. "It has a universal appeal which I think musicals don't have," Bratten said. "We've avoided the stigma of musicals. Even if you don't know the director or don't know any of the movies - there's still something about it."

The show's venue seats about 100 people with tables spread throughout the floor and a permanent stage at the far end of the room where the band and actors perform. But that's not all - throughout the show, the actors navigate the space around them, singing and dancing on the bar, alternate stages, and on various chairs, ladders, and stools placed throughout the intriguing space. (The tree outside the venue's floor-to-ceiling windows frequently gets its moment, as well.) This bit of staging gives the show the inventive originality that has become its trademark.

It's not, however, without its challenges. According to the actors, they all have bruises from banging into chairs as they move swiftly to get to their marks. What's surprising is how well the cast achieves this. Even when they bump an audience member's chair or bop them in the head accidentally, they always manage to place a re-assuring hand on a shoulder or back to let the person know they are sorry - all without breaking character.

The human connection

Regular cast member Steve Mazurek explained why they do this: "It's that human connection that makes you not hate the performers belting you in the face. You can literally elbow someone in the eye and as long as you go 'sorry' and a nice little rub - it makes everything better." Fellow performer Ben Goldberg countered with a sly chuckle. "Usually it's just us trying to get our balance again."

Which begs the question - have there been any embarrassing incidents or problems they've had to deal with?

"I mean, we are in a bar," said Margaret Spirito, another long-time member of the cast. "We're not in a theatre. So I think people don't realize that sometimes it's a song where it's a piano and a person singing and it's not the appropriate time to talk in 'that' kind of voice." Mazurek nodded knowingly. "People get drunk and they get rowdy and we have to handle it. In character or not. So that can be challenging."

Some awkward moments

Because it's such a small space and attracts a variety of audience members, there have been a few awkwardly hilarious moments. "We had someone during a very serious scene in the "Moulin Rouge" section," described Spirito. "It was dead quiet - and [fellow performer] Mike Motroni is saying something about Satine dying and some woman is like, [in a New York accent] 'You're doin' fantastic!'"

Speaking of the cast, what is noticeable about the talent involved in the show is, well, their talent. The pedigree of the performers is outstanding with many of the cast being Broadway and Touring Company veterans. Actors like Tracie Thoms ("Rent"), Anneliese van der Pol (the final Belle from "Beauty and the Beast"), Rogelio Douglas, Jr. ("In the Heights"), Ginifer King ("Gypsy") and "NCIS: Los Angeles" cast member Barrett Foa have all performed - or continue to perform - in the show. Featuring a rotating cast of about twenty actors, each show uses about eight per night, that way they can alternate the cast at any given time based on the actors' schedules.

"Initially it was just friends," Bratten said, explaining where the talent comes from. "It's a really small community. But eventually, as we started to build a little bit more notoriety, people started hearing about us and so we were able to hold auditions. We get new faces we've never seen before, up and coming talent, and referrals."

Old school camaraderie

Von Smith - a former Season 8 "American Idol" contestant - has been with the show from the start. But as the show evolved, he wasn't sure he was up to the challenge.

"[When it started] it was more of a concert experience. And a lot of random singers came in, and I was one of those people. So when [Scheel and Bratten] revamped it, they asked me back. I didn't think I'd be able to do the acting part of it, but luckily they held my hand and helped me through it and it's been great."

Sitting with the actors as they ate dinner before a performance of the "Tarantino" edition, it was easy to be struck with how much of an old school theatre company feel it had. The actors all seemed to genuinely like and support each other. Spirito agrees. "The cast was just tight - as friendships. We had such good chemistry." Darryl Semira - who has been with the show since it began and also acts as Assistant Director - makes the connection with how the show took off during the first run of the Baz Luhrmann edition. "The fact that the theme of it is 'love' - and it was also the first of its kind. None of us were quite sure how- or if - it was going to work. We kind of went through something together."

Scorsese next

What's even more amazing is the swift rehearsal process for the shows. While most of the actors work in other capacities (acting or otherwise), time isn't always their best commodity. In fact, the rehearsals generally last every day for only about a week. "It's first and foremost about the music," explained Semira. "So we start with music rehearsals. Learning the big group numbers. Everyone learns their solos with Chris (who acts as Musical Director and plays the piano at every show). Then there are staging/blocking rehearsals."

"It's a very collaborative process," he went on. "Everyone is very open to everybody's ideas. It's always a little challenging because there are three people that play each part - so when you're in a rehearsal space, you have three people contributing their ideas for what this one [part] is going to be, so there's some juggling to be done. But that's kind of the beauty of this - that everyone is bringing their own thing to it."

And "bring it" they do. Each edition of the "For the Record" series has gotten increasingly popular, so much so that the owners of Barre have decided to expand the bar/lounge into the restaurant space of Vermont. Designers will knock down a wall and revamp the entire space allowing for not only a larger audience, but more space for the performers to move around in. Their projected re-opening date will be sometime in mid-April with a brand new show based on the soundtracks of director Martin Scorcese's films.

Show is on the move

But speaking of expanding, the show has begun to travel outside of its LA environs into other locations. Having done a few shows at the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs (with four more planned for this year) and a two-show stint at The City Winery in NYC, their latest project is filling the 2300-seat Long Performing Arts Center in Austin, Texas during the annual SXSW Music Festival.

"It's great, because it brings the world of film and the world of music together," said Scheel. In fact, he promises a bigger and more elaborate production of the Tarantino edition complete with original video elements and production by an Emmy Award winning lighting designer and an art director currently working on the Grammy's.

The challenge, though, will be to keep the fun intimacy of the small venues in a monumentally larger space. "The goal of the Austin show is to remain immersive - to take you into the world of Tarantino through his music - and make it not like the traditional 'sit in a theatre and watch a musical,'" he explained. "The plan is to have cocktail waitresses coming out and serving you drinks. The performers will move through the aisles, entering from non-traditional places, using balconies... We built a catwalk that goes into the audience - so it's a challenge to approach a theatre, but it's going to be an important growing time for us."

A cast album

If the locale changes weren't enough, the company is also excited about the release of their first cast album for the "For the Record: Tarantino" show. Described by Bratten as a "hybrid between a studio album and a live recording," the soundtrack hits iTunes on March 13th, a day before the Austin performance. (It will also be available at the shows and on the For the Record Live website.

So as the "For the Record" series gets more and more popular - and as s it expands and grows into something of an institution - one question that comes up is if any of the directors they've featured have ever seen the shows. The answer is "yes." Baz Luhrmann attended the edition of his work and even took the mic at the end of the show to offer how much he loved it. In typical Tarantino fashion, the quirky director showed up unannounced - surprising the cast.

"Five minutes before the show, he comes strolling in through the back," said Bratten. "It was really exciting. I was nervous because you don't know. It's his stuff. For all you know he could hate it and tear us apart after the show. But he did the opposite. He spoke very highly of the show - he stuck around for four hours or something."

A one-of-a-kind event

And this is the feeling of everyone who has seen the productions. The energy of the cast, the familiarity of the music, and the incredible talent on display makes it a truly one-of-a-kind event that has become the best theatrical experience in Los Angeles. The people that come range in age from kids to grandparents. College students just out of theatre school will come, as well as both the gay and straight crowds, and even guys who are a little "hipsterish." It clearly taps into something universal, creating a legion of fans behind it.

Scheel offers this: "There's something universal about movies in general. [LA's] greatest export is the movie industry. It's something that no one really hates us for."

For the actors, their love is different. "No one's going to play Beatrix Kiddo in [the movie] 'Kill Bill,'" explains Mazurek, whose favorite role is Everett (originally played by George Clooney) from "O Brother, Where Art Thou."

"It's not like a play where they get redone all the time. No one but Matthew Broderick is going to play Ferris Bueller. That's honestly the best part of the show. We get to play characters that will never get to be played again by anybody."

"For the Record: Baz Luhrmann" runs through March 4th, Wednesday & Sundays at 8pm, Thursday - Saturday at 9pm.

"For the Record: Tarantino" runs every Tuesday night at 8pm through February 21st.

For more information or tickets, visit Special Note: While the shows include a cast of eight plus the band, Show at Barre would like to send everyone who has worked so hard on the show for the past few years - including the entire rotating cast, the band, and creative team - to Austin. If you would like to help send everyone who has worked so hard and brilliantly to make the show everything it is, please donate on the Kickstarter page.