Sunday, September 7, 2003

How awesome is the music of Thomas Newman? If you don't know who he is by name I'm sure you're familiar with his music. If you've seen American Beauty, Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Erin Brokovich, Pay It Forward, or Finding Nemo, then you've heard his music. He's just a fantastic composer. He's Randy Newman's cousin and his father was a big composer too. There's just a lot of musical talent in that family.

Listening to some of Thomas Newman's music I was reminded of when I played Orin in Mourning Becomes Electra. That was a seriously intense play. It was during my junior year of college. I think we did a fantastic job for as difficult a play as it is. Eugene O'Neill was one talented, but fucked up writer. I used to have a routine of listening to a mix of music that I put together to try and find my focus before the show. To try and tap into the range of emotions I would have to play over the 3 hours of performance. The tracklisting was: "Sugar" by System of a Down, "Plastic Bag Theme" from American Beauty by Thomas Newman, "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana, "Words and Everything After (Demo)" by The Color Turning, "Rifles" by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana, "Theme from Six Feet Under" by Thomas Newman, and "Two Missing" by Onelinedrawing.

That play got to me. Took something out of me. Most roles I could separate myself from, but this one got to me. Not terribly, it only lasted during the performances and for about a week afterward in which I could still feel the pain of Orin, but still...

It wasn't easy to portray a rich, jaded civil war soldier in love with his mother, resenting his army general father, who then kills his mother's lover, forces her to suicide, goes completely crazy, decides that he's in love with his sister, and then ultimately kills himself. It was just a wee bit intense. But such a good play.

Technically it's already Sunday, but in my mind it's not until I wake up. Tomorrow will be a day of rest indeed.