A popular theatrical show, which has delighted audiences in Europe and parts of North America, is making its Broadway debut later this month. Rocktopia blends some of the most beloved and best known classical pieces alongside some of the most popular rock classics, performed by amazing vocalists, accompanied by a breathtaking symphony orchestra, choral group and kick-ass rock band.
The show was the initial brainchild of theatre and Broadway veteran performer and producer Rob Evan, who collaborated closely with Maestro Randall Craig Fleischer, conductor of the San Francisco Symphony to pull together music that not only went well sonically, but also thematically as well.
“I was looking for projects that I could create that would show off the duality of my own voice, in a concert kind of setting. And it would be a legit rock thing, but then I would also turn around and sing a Puccini aria. Working mostly within the symphony and theatre world I met Randall who is my co-creator and we both had these loves. He was heavily versed in the classical world but loves rock and is a wonderful musical arranger and conductor. I grew up singing and loved rock and roll from an early age, but when people started to notice my talent they said it was better suited to opera, but I was in rock bands and wanted to do that. So, I sounded like Pavarotti trying to sing Led Zeppelin,” said Evan, a native of Georgia who played college football at the University of Georgia (as a punter/placekicker. It was while attending college that he saw his first big theatrical show, Les Misérables, and was hooked.
“I went to an American Idol-style open audition and ended up in that show on Broadway before I really realized what I was doing. It was a good happy medium because it wasn’t full-on classical singing, it wasn’t hard rock, but still had some edge to it. Then I met [the late], Paul O’Neill of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra in 2001 and they hired me for that show. They liked me because it could handle the range and it was perfect for a dramatic theatrical rock guy, so I felt like it was right up my alley. That led me to get immersed in the metal world, and I was actually embraced by a lot of the metal guys coming in to do guest spots on the Trans-Siberan shows and recordings. I remember [former Judas Priest and Iced Earth vocalist Tim] Ripper Owens and I did a scream-off one night a few years ago. So that got the wheels turning in my head and eventually led to Rocktopia.”
One of the premises behind the show is that the artists who created the great compositions of the Classical and Baroque period of the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries were essentially the rock stars of their day, meaning they had much in common with the Mick Jaggers, Robert Plants and Steven Tylers of today. One of the first blendings Evan and Fleischer worked on was Styx’s Come Sail Away and Fanfare for the Common Man, originally written by American composer Aaron Copland in the 1940s.
“There really is a commonality between these two worlds. If Mozart and Beethoven were alive today, they would be rock stars. They lived like rock stars in many ways. When Igor Stravinsky wrote The Rite of Spring [in 1913] they rioted in the streets and almost shut it down because it was so controversial. And then you look at Freddie Mercury, or Robert Plant and Jimmy Page or Pink Floyd – all these bands that I feel are iconic, and what we call classic rock now, I think that their catalogues will outlive us all and be seen as the classical music of the 20th century many generations from now.”
The way Rocktopia works is that it doesn’t do anything to alter the compositions of either the classical or classic rock pieces but melds them together into ‘movements’ as you would any symphonic piece.
“A lot of the catalogues of many classic rock bands lend themselves to the symphonic element because they have big soaring hooks. To hear the textures of all those strings and horns underneath, say, the guitar solo from a Mick Jones [Foreigner] song or Styx’s Renegade is pretty cool. We wanted to take it a step further than many of the other shows that mix rock and classical to honor the modern-day masters as much as the classical masters. So, you get things like mixing a Journey tune with Beethoven’s 9th, Ode to Joy. I remember Pete Townsend reached out, because we had to get the rights to a lot of the rock stuff and he asked what we were doing. And I said that we’re taking Richard Strauss’ Thus Spoke Zarathustra and mixing it with Baba O’Riley and then adding some Mozart. And he was, ‘oh, okay, that sounds pretty cool,’” Evan explained.
“And as it evolved we decided to treat it as if it were some sort of Masterworks thing. So, I said that we should let each movement of the show represent some sort of stage in human life. Because that’s one thing that everybody, regardless of your race or gender or anything, has in common is we all have the same human condition. We are all born, we all go through adolescence, we all go through some sort of rebellion and oppression. We all have some sort of phase of love, there’s always death involved and then hopefully there is some sort of cathartic rebirth. That’s how we started arcing the show.
“And we also said, okay with the rock pieces we wanted them to be iconic. And with the classical pieces we didn’t want them to be too obscure, because I didn’t think that was fair for the overall audience, most of whom are just music lovers who aren’t super well versed in the classical repertoire. But we also didn’t want to be scaring off anybody steeped in the classical world with too heavy and hard-hitting rock. But, listen, it’s called Rocktopia – it’s a rock show.”
The fine-tuning process over a few years led to shows on both sides of the Atlantic, one of which was filmed and broadcast on PBS in June 2016 as Rocktopia: Live from Budapest and was performed in the stunning and opulent Hungarian State Opera House. That show has become the enterprise’s calling card, and Evan believes the run on Broadway, which lasts until April 29, will help raise the profile of the show as it begins once again to tour the globe.
The show has several feature performers, many of whom have vast, extensive and highly successful careers in the theatrical or music realms. Evan is one of the primary vocalists along with Chloe Lowery (Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Yanni’s Voices), Tony Vincent (Broadway’s American Idiot, Rent as well as NBC’s The Voice), Kimberley Nichole (performed with Janelle Monae, Slash, Joe Walsh), and Alyson Cambridge (Madame Butterfly, La Boheme, Show Boat.)
Musically, Rocktopia is highlighted by Grammy and Emmy Award nominated violinist Mairead Nesbitt (Celtic Woman, Lord of the Dance), guitarist Tony Bruno (Enrique Iglesias, Rihanna, America’s Got Talent), pianist Henry Aronson (musical director for the entire Broadway run of Rock of Ages and The Who’s Tommy), bassist Mat Fieldes (Joe Jackson, the Gorillaz, Book of Mormons) and Alex Alexander on drums (David Bowie, Jimmy Cliff, Ritchie Blackmore.)
As if the show wasn’t compelling enough, Evan and his team managed to secure the time and talents of Train lead singer/songwriter Pat Monahan for the first three weeks of the show’s run, from March 20 through April 8.
“We never wanted to have a gimmick for this show. I have seen so many gimmicks where big stars have come into shows, and especially the Broadway shows, because they feel they need that marquee name to sell tickets, even though sometimes it backfires. I wanted to protect the integrity of the show but recognized that we could use some help because, again, we’re the new kid. We actually went to Pat’s management with a different idea because I didn’t think Pat was in my lane at all. I wasn’t even aware that Pat might be a possibility. I have always been a giant fan of his songwriting and of his voice,” Evan said.
“I know that Pat is a real singer because I have worked on some of his material for other things and it’s not easy to do – he can really sing. So, when his management said the other person wasn’t available, but Pat Monahan might be interested I was like, ‘make that happen!’ Pat is kind of the perfect storm for this show. He is about my age, he has had a lot of success, and he is really legit when he sings the rock stuff. He’s perfect, and he’s a great musician and a real pro.
“We had a couple of conversations and we just hit it off. He gets it and he said he loved the concept. I told him there were so many pieces within the show that he would fit perfectly into. We definitely would be thrilled to help him have his Broadway debut, I said to him. It’s a good fit for Pat, because it’s not a super long commitment, and we created some really cool things for him to do in the show. He is going to do some Zeppelin and some Aerosmith and then we did a special arrangement as an encore for his song Drops of Jupiter with a composer named Gustav Holst who wrote a symphonic piece called The Planets, and one of the planets in it is Jupiter. It’s perfect for this kind of rebirth theme because Pat wrote his song about his mother because she passed away. It just works perfectly.”
Rocktopia’s limited run is from March 20 to April 29 at The Broadway Theater, 1681 Broadway Avenue, New York. For more information, visit www.rocktopia.com. Tickets are available through www.telecharge.com.
- Jim Barber is a veteran award-winning journalist and author based in Napanee, ON, who has been writing about music and musicians for a quarter of a century. Besides his journalistic endeavours, he now works as a communications and marketing specialist. Contact him at jimbarberwritingservices@gmail.com.
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