Edmonton
In Edmonton, there was no “Epic I” at all. Instead, I put some of the Mythology 101 into a new intro for “Livin’ It Up on Top” (an intro that only ever appeared in Edmonton). But skipping “Epic I” felt wrong to me. It was a missed opportunity to explore Orpheus’s gifts as a poet and falsetto singer, but it was also musically unsatisfying to go from the up-tempo, major / bluesy “Wedding Song” directly into the up-tempo, major / bluesy “Livin’ It Up on Top.” I missed the mystical modal palate cleanser of “Epic I,” however brief.
London & Broadway
“Epic I” reappeared in London, along with a version of the intro and outro recitative exchange with Hermes that moved on to Broadway. That new exchange: Where’d you get that melody? / I don’t know—it came to me was a revelation. From their earliest incarnation, the “Epics” had this haunting wordless la la refrain that switches from minor to major and back again. It was the first musical fragment that came to me in the writing of the “Epics,” and I thought of it like any old folk ballad with a nonverbal “nonsense” refrain (a lot of the old, long ballads have these because they give the singer a chance to remember the lyrics of the next verse). But the question came: What did those la las mean, if anything? Just before London, I stumbled upon the idea that the refrain was a melody Orpheus had channeled from the gods themselves—the forgotten love song of Hades and Persephone—a gift for Orpheus to deliver back into the underworld. I found this idea endlessly mythically rich, and it went a long way toward answering the question “What’s so special about Orpheus?” in a sung-through musical in which every character is a great singer. But shifting the spotlight to those la la choruses came at a price, because it fundamentally changed what was required from the “Epic” verses I’d labored over for years.
Just before I discovered the Where’d you get that melody? exchange, I wrote the following intro for Hermes as a way of contextualizing “Epic I.” I can remember André De Shields singing these words in a workshop, and I’m not sure why, but they still make me cry. It has to do with how many times I rewrote the “Epics,” and still, they never felt finished. It has to do with artists the whole world over, restlessly pursuing their work:
Hermes: Orpheus was a poor boy / But he had a gift to give us / There was one song he’d been working on / He could never seem to finish / A song about this broken world / That he rewrote again and again / As though if he could find the words / He could fix the world with them.
LIVIN’ IT UP ON TOP
Hermes
And on the road to hell there was a lot of waiting
Company
Mmmm . . .
Waiting . . .
Hermes
Everybody waiting on a train
Company
Mmmm . . .
Waiting on the lady with the . . .
Hermes
Waiting on that train to bring that lady
Company
Mmmm . . .
Lady . . .
Hermes
With the suitcase back again
She’s never early, always late
Company
Waiting . . . Waiting . . .
Hermes
These days she never stays for long
But good things come to those who wait
Company
Mmmm . . .
Hermes
Here she comes!
Persephone
Well, it’s like he said, I’m an outdoor girl
Hermes
And you’re late again!
Persephone
Married to the king of the underworld
Hermes
She forgot a little thing called “spring”!
Persephone
Are you wondering where I been?
Workers
Yeah!
Where you been?
I’m wondering
Persephone
Been to hell and back again
But like my mama always said:
Brother, when you’re down, you’re down
And when you’re up, you’re up
If you ain’t six feet underground
You’re living it up on top!
Let’s not talk about hard times!
Pour the wine!
It’s summertime!
And right now we’re livin’ it
Company
How are we livin’ it?
Persephone
Livin’ it—livin’ it up
Brother, right here we’re livin’ it
Company
Where are we livin’ it?
Persephone
Livin’ it up on top!
Who makes the summer sun shine bright?
That’s right! Persephone!
Who makes the fruit of the vine get ripe?
Company
Persephone!
Persephone
That’s me!
Who makes the flowers bloom again
In spite of her man?
Company
You do!
Persephone
Who is doing the best she can?
Persephone, that’s who
Now some may say the weather ain’t the way it used to be
But let me tell you something that my mama said to me:
You take what you can get
And you make the most of it
So right now we’re livin’ it
Company
How are we livin’ it?
Persephone
Livin’ it—livin’ it up
Brother, right here we’re livin’ it
Company
Where are we livin’ it?
Persephone
Livin’ it up on top!
Hermes
It was summertime on the road to hell!
Fates
Mmmm . . .
Hermes
There was a girl who had always run away
Fates
Mmmm . . .
Hermes
You might say that it was in spite of herself
Fates
Mmm-mmm-mmm (like “tsk-tsk-tsk”)
Hermes
That this young girl decided to stay
There was a poor boy with a lyre!
Persephone
Who says times are hard?
Hermes
The flowers bloomed, the fruit got ripe
And brother, for a moment there . . .
Persephone
Anybody want a drink?
Hermes
The world came back to life!
Persephone
Up on top we ain’t got much, but we’re
Company
Livin’ it—livin’ it up
Persephone
Just enough to fill our cups
Company
Livin’ it up on top!
Persephone
Brother, pass that bottle around, cos we’re
Company
Livin’ it—livin’ it up
Hermes
Let the poet bless this round!
Orpheus
To the patroness of all of this: Persephone!
Hermes
Hear, hear!
Workers
Hear, hear!
Orpheus
Who has finally returned to us
With w
ine enough to share
Asking nothing in return
’Cept that we should live and learn
To live as brothers in this life
And to trust she will provide
Workers
Alright!
Orpheus
And if no one takes too much
There will always be enough
She will always fill our cups
Persephone
I will!
Orpheus
And we will always raise ’em up
To the world we dream about!
And the one we live in now . . .
Cos right now we’re livin’ it
Company
How are we livin’ it?
Orpheus
Livin it’—livin’ it up
Brother, right here we’re livin’ it
Company
Where are we livin’ it?
Orpheus
Listen here, I’ll tell you where we’re livin’ it
Up on top!
Company
Up on top!
Orpheus
Livin’ it up and we ain’t gonna stop!
Livin’ it, livin’ it
Company
Livin’ it, livin’ it
Orpheus
How are we livin’ it?
Company
Where are we livin’ it?
Orpheus
Livin’ it, livin’ it
Company
Livin’ it, livin’ it
Livin’ it up on top!
Notes on “Livin’ It Up on Top”
Off-Broadway
We had done one or two residencies and workshops with NYTW when Rachel, Mara, and I sat down to dinner with its artistic director, Jim Nicola. He was running late to the restaurant and I’d had a certain amount of wine on an empty stomach before he arrived. We were all really hoping Jim would say he was ready to give us a production, but his headline was: “The show’s not ready.” He gave all kinds of intelligent feedback that I probably couldn’t hear at the time, but the really tough blow was—in his opinion, the show was “missing a first act.” We had a mindless industrial world below, and an apocalyptic world of poverty above, but there wasn’t a lot of indication of the joy of the aboveground world. There wasn’t a lot for the audience to imagine the lovers walking back to in their final ascent. My frustration was peaking with the wine and Rachel asked if I should take a walk to the ladies’ room. I hotly protested the idea that we were “missing an act” but I said I would “maybe write one or two more songs” that could paint a picture of a season of joyful togetherness for our young lovers aboveground. Those songs turned out to be “Livin’ It Up on Top” and “All I’ve Ever Known.”
I took a few early stabs at this “season of love” (Rent again!) with different musical accompaniment. One attempt, which never even made it into a workshop, was meant to encompass the stories of Persephone and Eurydice in tandem. It went like this:
Persephone: A hundred sunny summer days / Till my lover comes to find me / A hundred blooming olive trees / And a hundred grapevines climbing / Singing songs when the sun goes down / Light the fire in the darkness / Brother, pass that bottle around / And we’ll raise a glass to the harvest, it’s / Just enough fruit for the pressing / Just enough wine to fill our cups / But what we have is a blessing / It isn’t much, but it’s enough
Eurydice: A hundred starry summer nights / Since my lover came and found me / Picking fruit and hopping freights / With his music all around me / Stay up late making love / All the stars are naked / Talking sweet and sleeping rough / Our bed is where we make it, there’s / Just enough fruit for the pressing . . .
The whole endeavor felt not “in-the-moment” enough for the dramatic world I was suddenly getting a crash course in. It also became clear that the two women needed separate songs, and that pacing-wise, we needed more time to feel a progression from, as Louis Armstrong sings, the bright blessed day to the dark sacred night. But many images from that early attempt found a home in the song that became “Livin’ It Up on Top.” Persephone’s off-Broadway text went:
Persephone: Well, it’s like he said, I’m a outdoor girl / Married to the king of the underworld / Trying to enjoy myself / Six months out of every twelve / When the sun is high, brother, so am I / Drinking dandelion wine / Brother, I’m as free as a honeybee / In a summertime frame of mind / When my man comes around / Oh I know he’s gonna bring me down / But for now I’m livin’ it . . .
I remember it was important to me at the time that the first Persephone verse “feel yellow” rather than red—the sun, the dandelion, the honeybee. This was an instinct I couldn’t explain, but it may have been an attempt to indicate the early as well as the late stages of spring and summer, a gradual ripening. “Livin’ It Up on Top” always carried with it a sense of montage, as if the scene constituted both one day and night and a hundred days and nights.
Our Orpheus in those days was a bold counterculturalist, and in the second verse he launched in with his worldview:
Orpheus: Now why would a man of his own free will
Hermes: He’s talkin’ ’bout your man!
Orpheus: Go to work all day in the mine and the mill?
Persephone: You think I give a damn?
Orpheus: Why would he trade the sunshine
Persephone: Tell ’em how it is, brother
Orpheus: For a coupla nickels and dimes? / Up on top a man can breathe, when he’s / (Company: Livin’ it . . . etc.) / Orpheus: Picking fruit in the orchard trees / No one here is a millionaire, but we’re / (Company: Livin’ it . . . etc.) / Orpheus: What we have, we have to share / Brother, give me a lyre and a campfire / And a open field at night / Give me the sky that you can’t buy / Or sell at any price / And I’ll give you a song for free / Cos that’s how life oughtta be / So that’s how I’m livin’ it . . .
The Orpheus verse was followed by a narrative Hermes interlude, which underwent many rewrites, but always served the same function: to indicate the passage of time, and to launch the dance break. Then came the final Persephone verse and the Orpheus toast, which appeared in many forms, but came full circle; the Broadway and off-Broadway versions are quite similar.
I did make one controversial change to the culmination of Orpheus’s toast. At NYTW, Damon Daunno as Orpheus declared, all in one breath: Let the world we dream about be the one we live in now! Even back then, I was leaning toward the version of the line that has appeared in every other production: To the world we dream about! And the one we live in now . . . I tried to push the change through in previews but by the time I suggested it a lot of people were attached to the simple, breathless phrasing of the old line. To me, the new line spoke more genuinely, less like a “Hallmark” phrase, and was important to the “darkening” of “Livin’ It Up on Top,” which became a project over the next few productions. But there are two camps here, and strong feelings: I’ve seen one or the other version of the toast tattooed on people’s bodies . . .
Edmonton
I started trying to temper the “joyful togetherness” of “Livin’ It Up” right after NYTW for two reasons. One, the song felt thematically and emotionally abrupt; I wanted to maintain an aboveground world of hardship we could forgive Eurydice for wanting to escape, and suddenly Persephone arrived and everyone was having a great party without a care in the world! Two, I fell out of love with my off-Broadway rhyme scheme. That singsongy patterned internal rhyming in the verses, like I’m as free / As a honeybee started to feel too sunny and “music-theater-ish” to me. Too “yellow,” maybe! I wanted the whole song a few clicks “darker.”
There was no “Epic I” in Edmonton, so we had to bridge the gap between “Wedding Song”
and “Livin’ It Up” some other way. This was the first incarnation of the Hermes intro to “Livin’ It Up”—what eventually became: And on the road to hell there was a lot of waiting . . . .
Hermes: Well, the boy said spring was on the way
Orpheus: Any day
Hermes: But it seemed like this year, she was late
Orpheus: Just wait
Hermes: It’s a long way from the underworld / And her train had been delayed / By her husband, Mister Hades / Who we’ll get to down the line / Cos he does not care for the open air / Or the glare of the sunshine / And when you see that train a-comin’ / She is brighter than the sun / Shield your eyes now, brother! / Here she comes!
(Persephone: Well, it’s like he said . . .)
The rest of the song was similar to the off-Broadway version, but in Edmonton the narrative Hermes interlude foregrounded our newly embodied Workers Chorus:
Hermes: And that is how the summer went!
Persephone: Oh, I’m just getting started
Hermes: The grape got heavy on the vine
Persephone: Who says times are hard?
Hermes: And the workers brought the harvest in
Persephone: Anybody want a drink?
Working on a Song Page 5