The Music of "Jack the Ripper"

Yesterday we brought you an e-interview with the writer of the new musical, Jack the Ripper, which premieres tonight in Charleston.

Here's the second part of our discussion, as the show's composer, Mark Scarpelli, tells us about the show.

Q: Tell us about your theatre background, and past projects...

Mark: My theater background is primarily the role of composer/musical director. I have directed a number of productions the past ten years for (CTOC) Children's Theatre Of Charleston, Kanawha Players, and (CYAC) Contemporary Youth Arts Company. When working with CYAC I am collaborating with playwright Dan Kehde. We have worked together writing and re-writing and composing and re-composing numerous musicals, operas, ballets and collections for the past eleven years.

Q: You have a new show taking the stage this week - tell us about Jack the Ripper.

Mark: Jack is a story from the folds of Dan's brain. There is fact and fiction in this production that translates into a character who I think you develop feelings for. There is a sympathetic side to this guy (Jack/Frederick) who displays much emotion as well as the ever expected rage.

Q: Jack seems like an odd subject for a musical - it's not exactly an upbeat, feel-good story. Did that present a challenge to you in composing the music?

Mark: The music for Jack The Ripper is probably the darkest stuff I've ever written yet, it is some of the most melodic and romantically dramatic. The challenge was that I had to write music for three seperate stage settings... a tavern/streets of Whitechappel, the inspector's station and Jack's studio. There is focus on particular settings at different times but the real challenge was writing for the musical events happening in all settings simultaneously. I initially scored the piece for two pianos and then developed it into a piece for piano, string quartet, electric bass and drums/percussion. In this performance we are using piano and string quartet.

One interesting thing about writing the music for "Jack" is that I had the advantage of writing to a show that was already cast. We cast this thing back in January '08 but shelved it for a number of reasons. Probably the main reason was because we were still writing this thing. The original principals agreed to stay with the project and committed themselves to a production run in October '08. Now that I knew the voices, I had the advantage of writing to their strengths. I had some incredible talent to work with (Ryan Hardiman, Kevin Pauley, Tanya Dillon-Page, Mel Larch, Elizabeth McCormick). Having these incredible voices in mind to write for made the process a little smoother.

I did not have a very "social" summer in '08 because writing Jack the Ripper was all-consuming.

Q: Which comes first - the script or the music? How do you and Dan work together?

Mark: Dan Kehde and I work best when he hands me the script and/or the libretto. From that I typically write the music and sometimes reset dialogue and or phrases to fit musical ideas. Through the creative process 99 percent of our contact is done through emails and downloads (a real timesaver).

Q: It must be a major challenge to bring a new musical to the stage - what have been some of the biggest challenges you've faced?

Mark: The biggest challenge in getting Jack The Ripper together has been "timing." Since it is almost 100 percent music there are a number of areas where the music is underscored to highlight dialogue and then out of the blue a character might sing a phrase. Working to get the correct timing and phrasing and mixing in this dialogue with music has been a tremendous effort on everyone's part. Rehearsals were organized around characters and not much around scenes. The interaction of characters and the musical counterpoint they vocally create was the main focus in setting up a rehearsal schedule. If there was more time, I would love to have spent it on full cast/street people scenes. For example, there is a "whore rhapsody" that was cut, mainly because there was not enough time to work up the scene with choreography.

Q: How has the cast managed, learning a brand new show?

Mark: The cast has been extremely focused for learning this production. There are many tricky musical sections with odd time signatures and multiple key changes and dissonance. Getting a cast to accept this and to successfully function out of the norm of a standard 4/4 time reflects mature qualities and patience. I am very pleased and proud of our talented cast and look forward to this world premiere in Charleston at the WVSU Capitol Plaza Theatre.


Thanks, Mark! That premiere is tonight, and Jack the Ripper will run this weekend and next - don't miss it!