http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006611270313

By Brent Hallenbeck

Q & A about 27

November 27, 2006
Is the Great White Way ready for Kurt Cobain?

Or Jimi Hendrix, or Janis Joplin, or Jim Morrison?

The rock musical "27 Heaven" will open just off-Broadway next spring, according to its creator, Ian Halperin. The co-author of the top-selling book "Love & Death: The Murder of Kurt Cobain" is taking his play on the road before it settles down in New York, including five shows Wednesday through Sunday at FlynnSpace in Burlington.

Halperin, 42, talked by phone recently about the musical and its heavenly setting, its chances of succeeding in a genre known for lighter fare and the one thing the four musicians at the heart of the play have in common -- dying at age 27.

Free Press: Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison are from the same era; Cobain is from a completely different time. How do you link them?

Ian Halperin: The play starts at the time of his (Cobain's) death in April '94, and when he awakes he awakes sort of in this, how can I describe it, like this hazy oblivion, and they're (Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison) already through these exclusive gates, and he has to make the decision throughout the play whether or not he wants to join the other three by going through those exclusive gates. He's clearly conscious of the extent of his own misery and his destiny and it transforms his torment -- as we all know Kurt Cobain was very tormented -- by seeing the transformation they've gone through.

FP: When you cast the production, did you focus more on actors who had the look or those who captured the essence of the musicians?

IH: The most bizarre thing to me was we did do a casting in New York, and over 3,000 people auditioned. It was a bit of a freakish experience because I realized how many people needed work in theater. The acting was definitely the first thing. I didn't realize how many Joplins and addicts are out there. Women literally showed up at 8 in the morning with a bottle of Southern Comfort in their hand. The acting and enthusiasm for each of the characters was key for me. I didn't want four actors who were putting needles in their arms 24-7, just people who could get into the character of these four icons and really bring it out in an interesting and tasteful manner.

FP: Is there something strangely magical about dying at 27? It seems like you're old enough to have accomplished something yet young enough to stay forever at your peak.

IH: I've done a lot of research for this on the play -- 27, it's a very pivotal year in people's lives. I don't think it's some coincidence they all died at the same age. There's a lot of spirituality involved in it, and I just think it's an intense year, 27. It's entering a different phase of life, they're getting out of their mid-20s into their late-20s and they're no longer going to be this young pup who can do anything and get away with it. Some people have a lot of problems dealing with it, and also dealing with the past, the intense past. Face it, after 27 -- a lot of us don't -- but you've got to grow up a bit.

FP: Pop musicals centered on lighter acts (the ABBA-oriented "Mamma Mia!") seem to do well while those about deeper musicians (the recently demised Twyla Tharp musical based on Bob Dylan) often fail. The musicians in "27 Heaven" make for some pretty heavy material. Can you reach the carefree Broadway crowd with that?

IH: I think the big impetus for writing this play was having spent quite a bit of time in New York the past few years and seeing that the American musical canon has spawned uniquely American classics and there hasn't really been something to reach out to the rock underbelly of the world yet, and I thought there was a big void. ... It's really going to give a different meaning to the "musical" and reach into the depths of the psychology of these people, and they'll be able to relate to it. It's definitely not a suit-and-tie type of event, but for the people who go to the glitzy and schmaltzy musicals it will be good for them, to see something different for once. ... I've had offers right away to bring it right to Broadway, and I've vowed to keep it off-Broadway because I don't want to make the mistake the Dylan people made. I just don't want to commercialize it at all. Places like the FlynnSpace, 180 seats, every seat in the house is good. My goal is just to have 180-300 seats a night and to really give everybody in the house a very intimate view of these people and not to feel like they're a mile away.

FP: If you could meet only one of the other three musicians (he met Cobain), who would it be, and why?

IH: Definitely Hendrix because I feel from a mystical, from a spiritual and also a fashionable point, he was so ahead of his time. I had a chance to visit the EMP (Experience Music Project) Museum in Seattle and his whole wardrobe is there. I had never seen a rock star with clothes like that. No one has really come along like that, not even Prince. He definitely had the most depth, was the most talented and, I mean, in 200 years his guitar playing will still be remembered. There's only one Hendrix who could play guitar like that. I'd love to be able to have breakfast or lunch with Hendrix. It would almost be like meeting God.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at 660-1844 or bhallenb@bfp.burlingtonfreepress.com
 

return to Ida's LA Woman Confidential home page   

 for more Doors news and reviews