Murderous Music
Set to music, the archetypal figures and enduring themes of jealousy and revenge that have seen the murder ballad reincarnated through the ages achieve “an aesthetic level” of enjoyment, Jordan argues. And it was “the rhyme and patterning” when “you add the art” that ignited her enthusiasm for writing a ballad of her own – along with Elvis Costello and his song ‘Psycho’.
“What hit me was the fun of the story, the fun of the lyrics: there are so many twists. When I heard that, I could see how this would work”, she enthuses.
But as the extreme pitch of Jordan’s murder ballad found its echo in Nash’s amped-up music, “the form became looser and more of the drive of the story started to enter the songs, so now it’s not a pure murder ballad with a beginning, middle and end,” she explains.
Jordan and Nash worked on the music and lyrics collaboratively, riffing on Nash’s songs and the back catalogues of their favourite artists to find inspiration for their story. “Juliana had never done any theatre, but she has this mind-blowing ability to get into a situation and identify what the feeling is,” Jordan marvels. “She’d come up with something, which almost never sounded like whatever song we’d been talking about – but it always accomplished what we needed it to.”
Jordan compares the process of working out the tone of Murder Ballad’s songs to acting. “We would get to the bridge, I’d tell her what the switch was and how this woman, Sara, had changed.” These character beats, “what the feeling was without the words,” were what the lyrics and music flowed from. “Although it was really easy in a way,” Jordan laughs. “Sara wants to kill. That was pretty straightforward.”
A distinctive feature of director Trip Cullman’s production of Murder Ballad at The Studio at Stage II is its trampling of the divide between cast and audience: the performers clamber over tables and argue their way between people sipping drinks in a set dressed as a low-rent bar. This in-your-face approach seems like the perfect fit for a seedy story of deception and betrayal, but Jordan reveals it wasn’t what she and Nash had originally envisaged.
“When we started writing it, we thought of it almost as a radio play,” she says. “We’re doing the album right now and, basically, apart from one sight scene, which has no words, you could listen to the whole thing and get the whole show, because the lyrics contain time and place – everything.”
Coupled with what Jordan describes as Nash’s “huge aversion” to all things musical theatre, this meant that the original idea was to perform the piece in an actual bar, with a band. It wasn’t until they discussed their plans with Cullman that the production took on its current shape. “He was really smart and basically said, OK, that’s what we’re going to do – set it in a bar.”
Initially, this “freaked out” Jordan and Nash, but they quickly came round. Weaving a tale historically rooted in communal storytelling through a throng of theatre-goers has “added a lot” to the experience, Jordan says. “And we have a really, really sex cast – bizarrely sex,” she adds, smiling. “A lot of them are big musical theatre people. One of the thrills is being so close to these majorly out-sized talents. It’s not like a big Broadway stage, where they’re up there with the scenery. Here they’re in your face.”
With Murder Ballad now open, what does this explorer of the darker side of human nature have lined up next? “My dream is to write a trilogy of these crime ballads,” she reveals. “I think I know what the next one is, so I’m beginning to mull that over.” While she doesn’t go into detail, one thing is clear: audiences should expect some “some dark things” to come their way.
Murder Ballad is on until 16 December at The Studio at Stage II, New York City Center. You can read our review here.
First published by Exeunt Magazine
Posted in: Interviews
