BARBA: Brazilian Body Percussion Musical, a new musical about Fernando Barba and the body-music ensemble he founded, gets two developmental readings at Open Jar Studios next month, on Monday, November 16 at 6pm and Tuesday, November 17 at noon.
theatreC, Amas Musical Theatre and Radio Drama Network are presenting both concert readings in Studio 11B at 1601 Broadway. Admission was by RSVP, and both dates are already listed as sold out on the Amas Musical Theatre website.
The source is Barba’s own life and his autobiography, Sound from the Start: A Body Percussion Story. Barba founded Barbatuques, the Brazilian ensemble that uses the human body as its instrument. The musical picks the group up at a breaking point: Barba’s diagnosis has upended everything just as a make-or-break concert is offered, and the members have to decide whether the sound can outlive the man who built it.
It started as an exercise. Carlos Bauzys and Kim Bixler were paired at random during auditions for NYU Tisch’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and told to write a scene and a song against the clock; the song they produced about Barba, Just This Moment, became the first piece of the show. Bauzys, himself a Brazilian body percussionist, writes the music and Bixler the lyrics, and they share the book. An earlier showcase staging, directed by Luis Salgado, played Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater with R.Evolución Latina.
The reading company is Kianna Batista, Amy Sabrina López Conde, Elias Husiak, Nathan Leitão, Max Pollak, Senna Prasatthong, Vin Ramos, Alyssa Redenburg, Jon Rodéz, Corina Sabbas, Hikari Salgado, Alice Reys, André Sguerra and Aimara Torres. The band is Eric Davis on guitar, Melany Abarca Vásquez on flute, Skyler Volpe on bass and Thiago Trad on drums. Matt Graham is associate music director and also performs, Dave Ferdinand designs the sound with Jamie Rivera operating, and Griffin Barr is production stage manager.
