美国国家公共电台 NPR Into The Spotlight: Recognizing Broadway Musicians This Tony Awards Season

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Winners of the 2019 Tony Awards will be handed out at Radio City Music Hall tonight. It will be a night of actors and directors, playwrights¹ and composers celebrating their wins. But there's no award for the musicians who play the music. Their work often goes unrecognized. Jeff Lunden profiles some of the unsung heroes of the stage.

JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE²: The score for the sci-fi musical "Be More Chill" is up for a Tony, but the musicians who play it aren't even eligible³. Still, when the show opens, a light shines on a single instrument and its player.

(SOUNDBITE OF BE MORE CHILL ORIGINAL BROADWAY BAND'S "JEREMY'S THEME")

LUNDEN: It's an electronic box called the theremin. And the man who plays it is Danny Jonokuchi.

DANNY JONOKUCHI: The theremin has two antennas⁴. This one determines pitch, and the one on the side here determines the volume. And so when we turn it on....

(SOUNDBITE OF THEREMIN SOUNDING)

JONOKUCHI: ...Using both hands moving through the air, not touching⁵ the instrument...

(SOUNDBITE OF THEREMIN SOUNDING)

JONOKUCHI: ...To create a lot of these sci-fi effects.

(SOUNDBITE OF THEREMIN SOUNDING)

LUNDEN: Jonokuchi is making his Broadway debut⁶ with "Be More Chill." Woodwind player Greg Thymius is a 20-year veteran on Broadway.

GREG THYMIUS: I was exclusively a substitute for 11 years before I got my first Broadway show.

LUNDEN: Usually, Broadway musicians perform in a pit in front of the stage or underneath⁷ it. The musicians can't see the actors and often have to use video monitors to connect with what's happening onstage.

THYMIUS: We're under the stage. We're recovered. You know, sometimes you have to use a click track. We like it more to a recording⁸ studio experience, where we're a little bit separated. We're in different rooms.

LUNDEN: But this year, Thymius is center stage in the revival⁹ of "Kiss Me, Kate," where he dons a tux and opens the second act with a clarinet solo.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO DARN HOT")

JAMES T LANE: (As character, singing) It's too darn hot.

LUNDEN: In the song "Too Darn Hot," the choreography is frequently centered around him.

THYMIUS: People dance around me in that magnificent way that they know how, so it fools people into maybe thinking I'm doing something, too.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "TOO DARN HOT")

LANE: (As character, singing) But when the thermometer goes way up and the weather is sizzling hot, Mister Adam for his madam is not because it's too, too...

UNIDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters, singing) Too darn hot.

LANE: (As character, singing) Hey, that's what I said.

LUNDEN: Being onstage is nothing new for Broadway first-timer Eleanor Oppenheim. She plays upright bass¹⁰ in the revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" Oppenheim's used to playing in front of audiences in contemporary classical ensembles¹¹ and in a rock band.

ELEANOR OPPENHEIM: Because of my background as a performer who is not generally in a pit, it doesn't feel weird¹² to me, somehow. It feels just sort of normal that I'm there and that the actors and the band are all making something together in the same space with the audience.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I CAN'T SAY NO")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character, singing) I'm just a girl who can't say no. Kissing's my favorite food.

LUNDEN: Another one of this year's Tony-nominated shows to feature musicians on stage is a retelling of the Orpheus myth called "Hadestown."

BRIAN DRYE: My friends that have come see it described it as a Broadway show with trombone (laughter) or trombone with Broadway show.

LUNDEN: Brian Drye plays it.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

LUNDEN: Drye is used to playing a couple of sets a night in jazz clubs, but Broadway musicians have to play eight shows a week - some days, a matinee and an evening performance.

DRYE: About a week ago, I started to get a little delirious¹³ from it. I haven't taken a break yet. I've done 57 shows since it opened, so tomorrow's my first time that I'm sending somebody new in.

LUNDEN: Broadway musicians have to arrange for a sub themselves. Clarinetist Greg Thymius says subs are a part of a long Broadway tradition.

THYMIUS: You are bringing new people into the community as you were brought in. That's important. You have to pay forward the kindness as your elders paid you.

LUNDEN: Still, it's a far different thing to step into the spotlight¹⁴. And that's something that Danny Jonokuchi at "Be More Chill" cherishes.

JONOKUCHI: It makes it for me. Just to have a couple of moments where the band is really recognized, that the show kind of takes a moment just to acknowledge the band is a huge thing.

LUNDEN: And the audience gets to see the faces of the people who make the music.

For NPR News, I'm Jeff Lunden in New York.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WAY DOWN HADESTOWN")

UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character, singing) The wage is nothing, and the work is hard. It’s a graveyard¹⁵ in Hadestown.

1 playwrights   

n.剧作家( playwright的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We're studying dramatic texts by sixteenth century playwrights. 我们正在研究16 世纪戏剧作家的戏剧文本。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Hung-chien asked who the playwrights were. 鸿渐问谁写的剧本。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

4 antennas   

[生] 触角，触须（antenna的复数形式）

参考例句：

• Marconi tied several antennas to kites. 马可尼在风筝上系了几根天线。 来自超越目标英语 第3册
• Radio astronomy today is armed with the largest antennas in the world. 射电天文学拥有世界上最大的天线。

5 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

6 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

7 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

8 recording   

n.录音，记录

参考例句：

• How long will the recording of the song take?录下这首歌得花多少时间？
• I want to play you a recording of the rehearsal.我想给你放一下彩排的录像。

9 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

10 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

11 ensembles   

整体( ensemble的名词复数 )； 合奏； 乐团； 全套服装（尤指女装）

参考例句：

• I love to play in all types of ensembles. 我喜欢参与吹奏各种各样的合奏曲。
• The 5th Brigade is now taking 895 Land Warrior ensembles to Afghanistan. 第五旅现在携带895套陆地勇士装备去阿富汗。

12 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

13 delirious   

adj.不省人事的，神智昏迷的

参考例句：

• He was delirious,murmuring about that matter.他精神恍惚，低声叨念着那件事。
• She knew that he had become delirious,and tried to pacify him.她知道他已经神志昏迷起来了，极力想使他镇静下来。

14 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

15 graveyard   

n.坟场

参考例句：

• All the town was drifting toward the graveyard.全镇的人都象流水似地向那坟场涌过去。
• Living next to a graveyard would give me the creeps.居住在墓地旁边会使我毛骨悚然。