Guest Blog: Philip Lee - Do I Hear A Waltz?

Philip Lee writes a Guest Blog for West End Frame about starring in the Park Theatre's first musical, Do I Hear A Waltz?...

Philip Lee

Working on Do I Hear A Waltz? has been a real labour of love for me. Like most people, beyond being vaguely familiar with the title, I did not know anything about the music or plot before I began working on it and discovering the score and the beautiful music inside has been a real joy. I really couldn't wait to start. 

For me it was Rodgers' music that was the initial attraction of the piece. The story is difficult to summarise well and the characters can appear, at first glance, unsympathetic in a synopsis but the music though immediately stands on its own as up there with Rodgers' best. It can be sweeping and romantic, as you would expect, and in turn complex and full of character when required.

I think that I have been particularly fortunate with the music as my character Renato Di Rossi sings the type of big ballads, characteristic of Rodgers' work, that really are a pleasure to perform - although in this piece a couple of them, noticeably 'Stay', do have a remarkably modern feel. If it has been a labour (of love of course) to rehearse these songs at all it is where some of the music has been written with a specific voice in mind. Sergio Franchi who played the original Di Rossi was a classical tenor but also had a good baritone range and a strong falsetto. The song 'Bargaining' for example was composed specifically to show off all of these qualities and so is quite a challenge for any other singer!

We have all also had the small challenge of performing a piece where no one is using their own accent. The characters are either Italian or American and we have worked hard to try and make them as authentic as possible. We do have real Italians working on the production so they are keeping us in check..! It has also been fascinating to work on a book that is so unknown, we have no preconceptions of it and there is no standard way to perform it. Therefore we can really make our own decisions about the characters and their motivations and that has been a real luxury. Dramatically Arthur Laurent's book is dense and the most innocuous statements can hold a host of meanings and intentions. As the action really hinges on the character's personalities and their encounters with each other it has been really important to try and develop these relationships as the plot is primarily driven by people rather than events.

It is continually surprising that, despite the big name creatives, no one seems to know very much about the show. On Rodgers collections and in Sondheim reviews you rarely hear extracts from Do I Hear A Waltz? and even the show stopping numbers in the score are largely unknown as stand alone songs. When you start working on a production like this you are constantly on alert to discover why it so rarely performed. A week before opening and we still haven't found any fatal flaw or obvious reason why is has been lost from the repertoire. Although there are no huge events or dramatic plot arcs, the characters are finely drawn and their hopes and dreams are based on very real emotions and motivations. Perhaps this realism is the reason the piece did not originally reach its full potential – a tale of ordinary people trying to juggle relationships and pursue happiness may have simply been too ahead of its time. It certainly has more in common with Sondheim's later work like Passion or Company than in the grand, traditional Rodger's and Hammerstein musicals.

I think that it is exactly the unusual mix of these Rodgers and Sondheim that makes Do I Hear A Waltz? so special. It has the feeling of two distinct worlds of musical theatre colliding. For me it is certainly more than just a curiosity, I think its a genuinely good piece of theatre and am thrilled to be involved with its revival. 

Philip Lee

contact@westendframe.com

Philip Lee plays Renato Di Rossi in Do I Hear A Waltz? which runs at the Park Theatre until 30th March 2014. 

Philip’s theatre work includes Carousel (Barbican), The Grand Duke (Finborough), Now We Are Sixty, The Cheeky Chappie and a new Vincent Van Gogh musical. Philip has previously performed for Charles Court in The Mikado, Beowulf, Robin Hood and Tosca. Other opera credits include La Boheme (Soho Theatre/Charing Cross Theatre/Tour), La Traviata, The Barber of Seville and L’Elisir D’Amore (King’s Head Theatre and tour), Carmen (Focus Opera/Chiswick House) and The Coronation of Poppea.

Please visit www.parktheatre.co.uk for further information and tickets.

Photo Credit: Bill Knight

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