The Lyrics of Fly Babies / Piojos

WELCOME TO MY FRIDAY BLOG

Audiences have responded beautifully to the lyrics/music of FLY BABIES / PIOJOS. Pregones makes musical plays. We walk the tightrope between plays-with-music and musicals. It gives us more freedom, a broad range of performance and staging choices. We learned that from the combination Brecht-Weill and the way Latin American and Caribbean theater absorbed their aesthetic, then transformed it. They rocked.

The LYRICS of

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS

Segment 2 of 6

All lyrics by Rosalba Rolón. © 2011

Music by Desmar Guevara

photos: Erika Rojas

Desmar Guevara

Working with Composer and Pregones Musical Director Desmar Guevara is always an adventure: sometimes we lose our way, other times we know exactly the way. But we always know where we want to end up. We generally discuss the spirit of the song, the placement in the script and its instrumentation. I say: 'this is what I mean' and I read it to him, to which he answers 'this is what I hear' and he plays it. In the end, we are led by the story and, in great measure, by the ensemble.                                                                            

 I then retreat to write and occasionally create some initial melody on my piano, usually very late at night. I record it --either I sing it or play a few notes-- and email the recording to Desmar. If he likes it he works on a preliminary arrangement.  If he doesn't or is not sure, we discuss it and he counter proposes a melody or we just improvise together. On most occasions, I have no idea of the melody but once he gets the concept he composes for the lyrics and more often than not, says: "it's too short; write some more".

Rosal Colón and Shadia Fairuz

I must credit the amazing improvising abilities of our acting and music ensemble for the success of the lyrics. Once Desmar and I present the musical number or the musical scene, the actors jump in to learn it, dance it, move it and very often add to it or reshape it.  We warm up as a group for a good half hour or more before rehearsal begins.

Here I am sharing portions of some of the lyrics of Fly Babies/Piojos  --four out of 14-- and about the process when writing and staging them. That is, for those that are based on reasoning. Other songs just... happened! The opening song, performed by the Clean Police, is one of them.



FLY BABIES 

"Fly babies" is an euphemism that becomes clearer as we get to know the characters of the play. The larger than life description of these tiny creatures, backed by electronic music offered a great opening for the production. We gave life to the song about 3 years ago. It was the first song I wrote for the play. We then re-mounted it with a more aggressive beat and some fluctuations, improvising with Elise Hernandez, a cast member.

As for the choreography, I have been haunted for years by Ivanov's dance of the Cygnetes in Swan Lake. I asked our choreographer Antonio Vargas to create a choreography for our Clean Police inspired by the dance of the cygnetes, taking into consideration that it should transform into movement. In other words, not dance. As actors, they could create a very interesting visual image based on a proven sequence -- the now legendary dance of the four swans.

Omar Pėrez

Fly babies (x3)
From head to head
From body to body
From town to town
From country to country

Always scratching
Nobody’s watching
Lice are crawling
Snowflakes falling
We see them jumping
They seem to fly
They seem to hop
We don’t know why
They call them lice
We call them Fly Babies.



LITTLE BASTARDS  
I first became acquainted with the business of high end lice consultants after The New York Times ran a series of stories about lice in New York City and specifically in upscale neighborhoods and schools. Businesses claiming specialty in lice removal services have been sprouting nationally over the past few years. I couldn't resist the idea of creating a character --CHIC-- whose line of work is lice removal for the rich. Played brilliantly by Elise Hernández (in pic), it goes like this:
 

I am a high end lice consultant

For upscale families

The children play

And the parents pray

As they secretly call me.

I am a high end lice consultant

It takes a very special skill

To kill the little bastards.

Fly babies, I mean.

Elise Hernández

I am not to be seen

I am no to be heard

Squeeze in

Squeeze out

A paralyzing feeling

Of despair

I understand

I do!

I am a high end lice consultant

It takes a special skill

To kill the little bastards.

Fly babies, I mean.

             

            A PELO SECO  (apply to dry hair)
       

Sung in Spanish, this number began as a spoken scene for  Georgette, a 'high end' opera singer with lice. She is reading instructions from the box of a lice removal remedy. But reading the instructions was holding back the flow of the scene. Played by Shadia Fairuz, I thought I was wasting an opportunity to use her powerful voice. Why not read the instructions as a Spanish aria? Desmar and Anthony began to improvise, Shadia joined in, then I joined in.  It all came together. The following is a short segment of A PELO SECO during one of its early rehearsals.

En español:

Use una toalla ● para que la ropa no se moje ●  úntese a pelo seco ● u a otra

área afectada ● comience por las orejas ● y la parte atrás del cuello ●  los piojos se arrastran  ●  para arriba y para abajo… 
Hablado: ¡Yo no puedo hacer ésto!

In English:

Use a towel ●  To protect your clothes ●   Apply to dry hair ●    Or any other infested area ●  Begin around the ears ●   And behind the neck ● Lice crawl up and down!...

Spoken: I can't do this!

     

                         

WHO’S ON YOUR SIDE?
The character of Liberty sings this song towards the end of the show. Rosal Colón plays the role with dramatic depth and conviction. Liberty is an activist who has found the analogy between the lice she carries on her head and those in power who behave pretty much like lice.

Rosal Colón (center) in the role of Liberty

Throughout the play she looks for something that unites us all and resents the Brown alert as one more attempt to create social discord. She has felt quite alone in her struggles until the moment they are all surrounded by the Clean Police for a lice inspection. I worked on an initial melody and Desmar worked with the cast to navigate the lyrics, which are meant to be sung on one breath per verse. Here are a couple of sections of the song.


At the start of a new day
Who’s on your side?
To change the world
Is good to know
Who's on your side?
Kingdoms and world superpowers
Have the virtue of behaving like
The lice I have on my head
There is exhaustion everywhere
Who’s on my side?
We can’t hide it anymore
Who’s on your side?
It’s the plague of a new age
Who’s on your side?

CHORUS

Our souls have been infested 
It’s an international hangover 
But let’s look around and

Find each other

It's just one side!

Fly Babies/Piojos - The Songs

ACT I
Fly Babies -- Cast 

A Pelo Seco -- Shadia Fairuz

Little Bastards -- Elise Hernández

Brother vs. Brother -- Rosal Colón

Buscando Piojos -- Rosal Colón 
Step step step -- Elise Hernández/Cast 
Deténganse -- Cast

Diversity -- Elise Hernández/Cast


ACT II

Ocho Tramos -- Elise Hernández, Rosal Colón, Shadia Fairuz

El Rascador -- Jesús Martínez/ Cast 

Mechón a Mechón -- Cast

Crawling Wonder -- Omar Perez/Shadia 

Who's On Your Side -- Rosal Colón/Cast

Fly Babies Finale -- Cast

Musicians: Desmar Guevara, Anthony Carrillo, Alberto Toro, Benji Willis 

   

Next segment - next Friday!

Fly Babies / Piojos: As I watch...

WELCOME TO MY FRIDAY BLOG!

As an artist of Pregones Theater I have performed many roles: actress, dramaturg, lyricist; and have directed a nice share of our repertory. I have created this blog to share my reflections on the way I make theater, in the context of Pregones Ensemble. So here is my first posting. I wrote it in November, after a very special performance at our beautiful theater in the Bronx.

Enjoy! Rosalba

FLY BABIES / PIOJOS: As I Watch...

November 19, 2011 @ Pregones Theater                                                                              

by Rosalba Rolón  -  Fly Babies blog 1 of 6                                                                                           

I sat all the way in the back of the theater to watch FLY BABIES / PIOJOS. Until that day, towards the end of the run, I hadn't had the courage to sit for the entire play. Each time I tried to watch it my attention was split between the performance, the audience, the sound, the tech booth...

Somehow I found the level of concentration needed to just sit and watch, without judgement, wondering how the heck we got to that point. I heard the songs I had written and the words I had found to tell a story, the characters I had carved. All of it was being 'told' back to me. FLY BABIES / PIOJOS is a musical play about lice. A social satire revealed through an entomologist, an opera singer, an upscale lice consultant, an activist and a struggling actor. Who carries lice, how does it spread, why do people from different backgrounds react different to them, how can they be controled? "The problem is the global exchange of certain kind of people", says one one of the characters. This point of view shapes the 'brown alert', created to control the explosion of 'brown' all over the world.

On this day the theater is packed with a very mixed audience. The youngest at least 3 years old. The oldest way into her 90's. Neighbors, visitors from out of town, teenagers and adult couples. I didn't know any of them which is a great thing. It is the kind of audience whose reactions are truly from the heart and from the gut.

As the play unfolds I see and feel its strenghts, I see the creases, its imperfections, like a tailor who sees a stitch out of place and would love to just grab it and fix it in the moment. But the actors and musicians own Fly Babies by now. The board ops in the tech booth are dancing while running the lighting, digital and translations boards. They are all giving 200%. To their delight, the audience gives 200% right back. The after-performance dialogue is meant for a group of students, but a good chunk of the audience stays for the conversation. The questions are astute. The testimonials are heartwarming. The performance is a triumph.

I can iron those creases later. I can fix the stitches in a snap. There will always be another opportunity. That's the beauty of a live performance, and of Pregones Theater. I will write about the process of creating FLY BABIES / PIOJOS in another blog. For now, I sigh.

WE DID IT!

(piojos - Spanish for "lice"; pronounced pee-o-hos)

Here’s to:

the players: Desmar Guevara (my right hand), musical director and composer, Antonio Vargas (my left hand), choreographer; actors (In alphabetical order) Rosal Colón, Shadia Feiruz, Elise Hernández, Jesús Martínez, Omar Pėrez; musicians Anthony Carrillo, Alberto Toro, Benji Willis;

the tech/stage team: Cleo Vivas, Jessica Moya, Milton Ruiz; stage manager Karina Fernández, stage/magic hand Charmaine Santiago;

the creative team: Lucrecia Briceño (lighting), Brian Ireland (set), Harry Nadal (costumes), Fish Rodríguez (visuals); Erika Rojas (photography)

my co-conspirators: Alvan Colón Lespier, Jorge Merced, Arnaldo López;

the awesome staff: Maggie González, Priscilla Aguilar, James Figueroa, Shaina Sosa, Bobby Bodón, Norma De La Cruz, Ismael Estrada.

Next Blog ... Next Friday

Fly Babies / Piojos - The Lyrics