Years before Peter Allen's death, playwright Martin Sherman was struck by the fact that Allen's songs should be performed in a theatrical venue, as part of a theatre piece. The concert stage was not the proper setting, he says.
Nonetheless, he did not set out to correct the problem. As he tells it, the project fell into his lap. A musical titled "The Boy From Oz," employing Allen's songs to tell his life story, had already been a huge hit in Australia when producers Robert Fox and Ben Gannon approached Sherman to re-conceive it for American audiences. Sherman—best known as the Tony-nominated playwright of "Bent"—thus found himself putting the many '70s and '80s tunes that Allen, a musical pop icon of the era, either wrote or co-wrote or composed, into that theatrical venue at last. Among Allen's more familiar songs: "The Best That You Can Do" (theme song from the film "Arth-ur"),"Everything Old Is New Again," and "I Go to Rio."
"The Boy From Oz" is slated to bow on Broadway at the Imperial Theatre, Oct. 16.
Fashioning a narrative around pre-existing songs was a daunting task, especially for a theatre artist who had never written a book musical, indeed, any musical. "I wanted to make sure that each song sounded as if it had been written for each scene," notes the soft-spoken 68-year-old American expatriate who has lived in London for 20-plus years, and meets with us in a Midtown restaurant before a preview performance.
"I didn't want the musical to be another 'Mamma Mia!' [based on the songs of ABBA] with its winks and nods to the audience," he continues. "I loved it, but I wanted 'The Boy From Oz' to work like a book musical."
Choosing and placing the songs was no small challenge, Sherman admits. Ideally, the songs advance the story, reveal character, and, at the same time, are varied and have a momentum.
Sherman emphasizes that he tried to do all of the above, but there are built-in restrictions. "Peter wrote ballads, which ultimately defined the kind of show it would be: character-driven, with a strong emotional component."
"The Boy From Oz" recounts the meteoric rise of Australian-born singer Peter Allen ( portrayed by Hugh Jackman) from relative obscurity to an international arena, a climb undoubtedly enhanced by his friendship with Judy Garland, which led to his short-lived marriage to Liza Minnelli. Allen, who was gay and ultimately died of AIDS, was a flamboyant performer, bordering on the cheesy (he was known for sporting splashy Hawaiian shirts), who surely embodied—almost managed to celebrate—the second-rate. In this account, sadness belies the strutting and glitz.
For the most part, it is a factually accurate presentation, says Sherman; still, an interpretative element is evident—Peter Allen takes on the character of a fictional creation. Nonetheless, the question remains: Short of being a musical footnote and a cultural curiosity, what's interesting about Peter Allen? Why are we hearing about him at all? Why now?
Allen is a compelling figure on several fronts, Sherman contends. "He lived a full, vivid life that corresponded to the times. He and his songs were so much a part of the '70s and '80s club scene. In his songs there was a hedonistic energy coupled with a longing for something better.
"He was a remarkable artist who died of AIDS, far too young. He was part of an entire generation of artists wiped out by AIDS," Sherman emphasizes. "It's important to remember what these artists contributed and could have contributed had they lived. Still, the values [embodied by Allen] are universal. He showed how important it is to live life to the fullest; how precious life is."
The Outsider
In addition to "Bent," Sherman has written such plays as "Rose," "When She Dances," and "Messiah." His recent stage adaptation of E.M. Forster's "A Passage to India" will be seen at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2004. He has penned screenplays, including "Summer House," "Callas Forever," a cable TV remake of Tennessee Williams' "The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone," and "Bent."
A fair number of Sherman's works deal with gay subject matter—"Bent" considers Nazi persecution of homosexuals—and yet he is not entirely comfortable with the term "a gay sensibility," suggesting that there are as many variations as there are writers.
"Some gay writers do create campy, larger-than-life characters. Others don't. I'm gay, so naturally it influences what I write about, but I'm not entirely sure in what way."
He pauses to reconsider. "I suppose one common element in my work—and that of other gay writers—is that we're outsiders, although increasingly less so. Still, society has placed us on the outside. If there is any theme that ties my work together—and I notice that after the fact because I don't plan it that way—it's the experience of the outsider looking in.
"Peter Allen was an outsider in many ways," Sherman continues. "He was an Australian living in America; a gay man in a heterosexual industry, not including the cabaret world; he did not fit the preconceptions of the sexy entertainer, he was not gorgeous, and the kinds of songs he wrote were not the most favored in his time, even though many became hits."
An American in London
Sherman was born in Philadelphia and brought up in Camden, N.J., the son of a lawyer. From the outset, he had his sights set on a theatre career. "I think I always wanted to write a Broadway musical."
He majored in acting at Boston University, with an eye towards playwriting. "All playwrights should study acting to know what actors need. Actors have always responded to my work before anyone else."
Sherman's major break, the production of "Bent," first in London and then on Broadway, took 15 years, during which time Sherman honed his craft and supported himself with an array of odd jobs.
Relocating to London was a fortuitous move for him. Sherman insists "Bent" would never have been mounted on Broadway without the London production. "But even with the London success, Broadway producers were still frightened to do it," Sherman recalls. "And to this day, no major regional theatre in the States will come near it, although it's done all over the world."
Despite Sherman's career boost in the United Kingdom, he stresses, "It's a myth that American writers are automatically welcomed over there; some are and some are not, although I do think there is a special vitality among young American playwrights now, like Suzan-Lori Parks.
"There are some interesting new voices in England as well—young black and Asian writers responding to a changing society—but they're writing novels, like Zadie Smith ["White Teeth"] and Monica Ali [whose first novel, "Brick Lane," was just short-listed for the prestigious Booker Award]. In theatre, I like the work of Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas, who wrote "Jerry Springer—The Opera," and Mark Ravenhill's 'Shopping and Fucking.' "
Living in London has unwittingly refined his playwriting; or so Sherman suspects…sort of. "It helps being surrounded by classic theatre. By becoming aware of our antecedents, the language in my plays has improved enormously. That might also have happened if I had lived here in the states. Perhaps it's a function of aging."
Sherman is keenly aware of cultural trends on either side of the Atlantic, a striking example being the three current musicals with narratives forged around pre-existing pop tunes. Besides "The Boy From Oz," there's the aforementioned "Mamma Mia!," and "Movin' Out," inspired by the songs of Billy Joel. Sherman argues that there's some terrific pop song writing out there that doesn't have its roots in the theatre, but could and should.
"I think there's something very healthy about the trend [of musicals inspired by pop songs]," he observes. "It shows a future generation of songwriters that theatre is as valid as a recording. Up until about 40 years ago, popular songwriters were theatre writers. But that changed with the explosion of the pop music world whose writers, many of whom wrote wonderful lyrics, saw no reason to write for the theatre, in part because their audience, the younger generation, had stopped going to the theatre."
Sherman sees an evolution, not simply in terms of what's happening in musical theatre, but also in the popular music scene. "Aside from rap, which I believe is a powerful use of words—in a modern if not traditional sense—lyric writing isn't very good. Some popular songwriters, however, are writing wonderful lyrics, like Rufus Wainwright. It would be great if he thought about musicals."
One thing is certain: Sherman is surely thinking about musicals—"The Boy From Oz," to be precise—and hoping that audiences share his enthusiasm for Peter Allen.
"I'd want theatregoers to feel they got to know Peter Allen and are glad they did. I hope the show makes them want to celebrate his life, his music."