Weekly Stuff - Why Am I So Single? (it's a musical, I'm not asking), Suroor, I Played Music - Sep 13 2024
Weekly Stuff is a series from me to you in which I keep you updated on the best stuff I've read (and sometimes seen/heard/watched) this week. It won't always be made or from this week. I'm sure you can deal with that.
Hello stranger! I missed a week. It's been busy! Not to worry, though. It just means I have a lot of stuff to say this time around. Did you miss me?
The weather is getting bleaker lately, huh? We do not love to see it. At least the chilly nights provide more of an excuse to bundle up and go see some cool stuff.
Well then, what's been going on since I've been gone?
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I've always struggled with musical theatre. I've become less of a blatant hater of the craft in recent years, realising that my problem was actually with Andrew Lloyd Webber's work than the actual art form in itself. I didn't like The Phantom of the Opera. I didn't like Cats. I had a viscerally negative reaction to Starlight Express when I saw it absolutely years ago. I honestly can't even remember why. I don't think I want to.
Anyway, musicals have been making a bit of a comeback with me lately, in particular, the performance of Guys And Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. It turns out that fun songs, enough tongue-in-cheek silliness to justify those fun songs, and hilarious New York accents are all I need to enjoy a musical.
Basically, I've matured. So I was excited to check out Why Am I So Single. I haven't seen Six, the writers' previous work, but I've heard it's an absolute delight.
There was a lot I loved about Why Am I So Single. The premise is very deeply rooted in the idea of writers writing about writing, which can come across as a bit self-centred and annoying, but in this case, the joke is firmly on the fictionalised versions of the writers, which makes it far more palatable to me. The two leads spend an evening sitting in a flat moping about how woeful their dating lives are, exploring the world of dating, their identities, and their friendship with one another throughout with flashbacks, songs, and chats.
I can't fault the compositional ability of the composers. While not every track resonated with me specifically, it was so impressive to see so many musical styles and genres explored in ways that made sense in the context of the characters' conversations.
The content of the songs was more of a mixed bag to me. A gorgeous exploration of queerness and the feeling of being forced to shield your true self behind an extroverted persona who feels the need to light up the room lest they fail to meet the expectations the world has put upon them feels like it shouldn't even be in the same show as a song in which the stars make observations about dating that could have been taken directly from a 2019 TikTok.
Maybe this is a me problem. To be fair to the musical, it could be that the more basic conversations offer the relatability needed to get more folks to buy into and listen to the slightly less mainstream subject matter. It just didn't always hit.
That, and the fact that one of my musical theatre bugbears came up - a funny joke becomes less funny when it's repeated over and over again. Repeating things over and over again is how songs work, so I do feel like the musical format causes some jokes to become songs when they don't need to.
I'd definitely suggest you check out Why Am I So Single, though. Especially if you don't have the same musical theatre hangups I do. It got a standing ovation at the end, and I'm glad it did.
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I mentioned Cafe Oto in my August 9th Weekly Stuff post when I went to see Pat Thomas' fantastic rendition of Thelonious Monk's catalogue. Well, I've been going back. In fact, I'm a member of the place now, so expect a fair bit more from me on that.
This week, I checked out a performance from Suroor, a South Asian improvisational group. It was a beautiful night. The creativity I witnessed was incredible in so many different ways.
The show was opened by Sijya, a performer from New Delhi who entranced the sold-out room with a haunting vocal performance coupled with stunning live production. Seriously, click the link and go check out some videos from the performance. She was doing things with sound I rarely get to hear.
After a short break, Suren Seneviratne took to the stage, with a projector showing a couple of laptops' home screens. An unusual start, and it only got stranger. That's a good thing. He used old Apple Macs and a bunch of music-making software I've never seen before to create an audiovisual performance that's completely unique by its very nature. What a treat. Music is a constantly evolving entity, and keeping lost creative outlets alive through these means is so, so important.
For the show's final act, we got to see Suroor. Nabihah Iqbal, Dhangsha, and Paul Purgas came together in this version of the group, and they delivered such a lovely performance. It felt like a perfect culmination of the whole night, with Iqbal's vocals taking the robust production in an ethereal direction.
It was so clear just how much everyone involved in the show understood themselves and the self-expression inherent in the music they make. Love it.
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Finally, I'd like to grab a little bit of attention for myself, hope that's okay!
I hit up The Jago in Dalston for their Wednesday jam night. Each week they bring in a different band to perform some of their music before inviting members of the public up on stage. This week, the band was Kolakale Kolective, a funk and soul project headed up by bassist Asaph.
God, they were good. Every solo brought something fun and vibey to the table, and Asaph's use of effects and loops throughout was wonderful. He was able to weave in and out of other people's lead seamlessly, and you could just tell everyone up there was having a blast.
I also got to catch up with an old friend on the night, and get up on stage with my trumpet to have a quick toot! I'm far from the greatest musician in the world, but I adore sharing a stage with such talented folks whenever I do go to these kinds of nights.
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Any plans for the weekend, then? I think mine's going to be a bit of a quiet one. A bit of gardening at Curve, some crosswords, some reading, and maybe I'll make a big dinner or something.
