The performer assures that without Tin Pan Alley “Les Miserables”, “Rent” or “Hamilton” would not exist, and he says that there is a transition in the musical from the grandiloquent to the small format. He also emphasizes that the musical in our country once again had a great offer with pre-pandemic rates.
“Jazz, far from dying, is reinvented and is present in all musicals. “It would be good if the producers offered musicals not only from Broadway but those written in Argentina, there is a lot of talent here,” says Agustín Iannoneone of the protagonists of “Tin Pan Alley, Broadway nights”, which is restored on Friday at Castor y Polux, Tacuarí 955, with performances on Fridays at 8:30 p.m.
With address of Pablo Gorlero and the actions of Cecilia Cáceres, Joaquín Catarineu, Emanuel Ntaka, Luli Chouhy and Daniela Rubatti, The show evokes the 1920s, Broadway’s most prolific. In 1927 alone, 50 new musicals were released, at a price of $3.5 a ticket, with 20 million spectators, double today’s number. Tin Pan Alley was the cradle of jazz and the musical through which Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers and others passed through. We spoke with Iannone.
Journalist: What route does the work take?
Agustín Iannone: It is a compendium of songs by composers of the last century who were located in Tin Pan Alley, in the center of New York, what would be the lower Mahattan area today. It was a very important cultural focus, composers, producers, editors met, there was always noise. In fact, it is called that because of the noise of cans, pianos and instruments. The songs are jazz and tap and ragtime emerge from there. It was the rise of talkies and there was a lot of work for those composers, people of African descent were beginning to be given voice and visibility. Giving a voice to those who do not have one, that is culture. It came from white actors who painted their faces black to sing. There are 20 songs with three women and three men. Pablo Gorlero brings together the direction of this music hall with journalism, so the audience listens to spectacular music that they surely heard somewhere, a vinyl or a movie, and between song and song there are explanatory texts so that they can take away information about what was happening.
Q: How did jazz determine everything that came after?
AI: Everything that emerges at that moment then influences the cultural movements that follow. Jazz emerges there and today there is jazz in all musicals and films, La la land, Wiplash, Babilon, Far from dying, jazz is reinvented, and is present in all musical theater movements. From tap he moved on to hip hop, but jazz was the seed of everything. Without Tin Pan Alley we wouldn’t have “Miserables”, “Rent”, “Hamilton”. For example, Lady Gaga goes from pop to making songs with Tony Benet. In the show there is live piano and voices, costumes that allude to the era, the staging is austere with choreography. All the people are learning more and want to go listen to that on Spotify.
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Q: What can you say about current musicals?
AI: I like to differentiate between Broadway and local musicals. It is moving from bombast to more sincere and honest shows. It is a logical path and people manage to empathize. The audience goes to the theater to identify themselves and with the great musicals of the past it was more difficult for that to happen. More real, historical themes are sought, “Hamilton” tells it from hip hop, with inclusion, because the director has Latin roots. There is a transition from the large to the intimate. And the musical in our country once again has a great offer with pre-pandemic rates, which generates a lot of work and is in demand from the public. There is a very good and large Argentine musical market in the off-screen and I would love for producers to be encouraged to produce national shows instead of bringing them from abroad. There are great creators who end up on the sidelines because they cannot sustain themselves, there are very good works like “La misfortune” or “I want it now” and people accompany them, Paseo La Plaza gives them space and I applaud them. The independent is where the most beautiful proposals arise, the team puts everything into it.
Q: What other projects do you have?
AI: We will do with Gorlero a musical written by him “The Minoica”, an adaptation of the myth of the labyrinth and the minotaur. This came up in a talk, we talked about myths of Borges and Cortazar and in three weeks I had it written. We premiere in June at the Picadilly. This work speaks about freedom, from a more human side, and precisely in this year where that word is named but for each one it is something else. The time we live in at a cultural level is complex and it is essential to risk continuing to do things even if these aids are no longer available. The musical is the most complete art because it has theater, music, dance, and the public receives it very well when it is spoken from the heart.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
