Category Archives: Incidental

The Clean House (2010)

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The Clean House
a play by Sarah Ruhl

Directed by Wade Hicks for The Very Little Theatre
Original Music by Brandon Rumsey

Incidental music performed by:
Cassie Lear – flute, alto flute
Lauren Wagner – clarinet
Eric Johnson – guitar
Joseph Howe, Wan-Ting Huang – cello

Poster (left) by Max Maltz

 

[score samples coming soon]

The opportunity to compose original music for Sarah Ruhl’s richly comedic and darkly perfect play came about following my former collaboration with the Very Little Theatre in Eugene. Director Wade Hicks starred in “Humble Boy,” and was interested in collaborating on this new work following a successful run. “The Clean House” was a very challenging script to score, and my process was vastly different than my previous collaboration. I composed much of the music in attendance of rehearsals, bringing in samples and excerpts of music quite early on. Transparent, but complex, this script didn’t allow for much underscoring or extended passages of continual music, and instrumental combinations had to be chosen very strategically. The music is infused with harmonies that are reminiscent of Brazilian music and motivic transformation mirrors character development in this new score for Sarah Ruhl’s “The Clean House.”

Lane, a doctor who can’t stand to clean her own house, tries to make her tidy, logical life entirely spotless, while her Brazilian housekeeper Matilde, an aspiring comedienne, dreams of one day creating the perfect joke. Lane’s sister Virginia enters the picture with her own designs for a perfectly clean living room. And Lane’s world gets even messier when her husband Charles leaves her for an older, life-embracing woman.

Photos by John Bauguess
“The Clean House” Production Page | Reviews

Humble Boy (2009)

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Humble Boy
a play by Charlotte Jones
Reviews

Directed by Leslie A. Murray for The Very Little Theatre
Original Music by Brandon Rumsey

Incidental music performed by:
Cassie Lear, Jenna Gagne, Tara Aprin – flute
Lauren Wagner – clarinet, alto saxophone
Josh Koller, Joseph Howe – cello

Poster (left) by Dan Pegoda

Overture:

Eureka [excerpt]:

[score samples coming soon]

Humble Boy marks my first collaboration in the Eugene theatre community – and the project that inspired my passion for composing for contemporary theatre. I was contacted by a brilliant director, Leslie A. Murray, to score a play for the Very Little Theatre. From our initial talk-through which took place months from pre-production, Leslie and I learned a lot from each other about working with artists from different disciplines. I’d had experience working indirectly with theatre directors, and she had only worked with musicians on musicals. Leslie’s clear vision for this work and her advocacy for an original score set the stage for a uniquely inspired and successful production.

The story is about emotionally damaged astrophysicist Felix Humble, who must deal with the sudden death of his beekeeper father, come to terms with his overbearing mother, and face reconciliation with his childhood love. Flora Humble is his fashionable but self-conscious mother; George Pye is the family friend who cannot wait to take his place in Flora’s life; Rosie Pye is Felix’s spurned love interest who is now a nurse and mother to a 7-year-old daughter; Mercy Lott is the dotty character who provides much of the play’s comic relief and some of its wisdom; and Jim, the gentle gardener who minds his business and sticks to plants.

Photos by John Bauguess
“Humble Boy” Production Page