Life, Death and Jazz - in 2 Acts by G. F. Mlely

Cast of Characters and Musicians
•
and Setting

THE TRIO

THE TRIO consists of a PIANIST [performed by pro jazz pianist perceived as Lennie], DOUBLEBASSIST and PERCUSSIONIST, requiring skilled jazz musicians in the mainstream style, capable of featuring in performance and accompaniment.

ACTORS

LENNIE (American male) [performed by actor perceived as musician] this is Lennie’s story, a White jazz pianist with career challenges that have sent him from New York to San Francisco, and now from Los Angeles to Amsterdam, TN.
*CARRIE (female) journalist with major Amsterdam newspaper, interviews Lennie for article.
MARGARITE Lennie’s wife (soprano), sings play’s signal song (and may also be FEMALE JAZZ SINGER).
*DHL CLERK (female) unintentionally comic.
**AFRICAN-AMERICAN MAN expatriot American jazz musician, confronts Lennie about Carrie’s article quoting Lennie’s politically-incorrect criticism (and may also be MALE JAZZ SINGER).
*BIMHUIS ASSISTANT (female) Af-Am Man’s girlfriend resents what results of Lennie’s presence in Holland.
**CAB (African male from Ghana) owner of “Cab Kaye’s Jazz Piano Bar,” former Ghanian Minister of Culture under Nkrumah.
***GLENN STONES (African-Surinamese male) musician, provides shelter for Lennie in his fixer-upper of an apartment.
***KENNETH (African-Surinamese male) lives in Stones’s fixer-upper, vocally anti-White.
*ERIC (Male) editor of “Jazz Nu” major Dutch jazz periodical.
*HUUB (BIMHuis Secretary) books all performers into BIMhuis, Holland’s major concert venue for jazz and improvisational music.
*STAGE MANAGER (male) employed at BIMhuis.
*FRITZ (male) music critic/journalist, influential.
*JARON (male) artist agent.

SPECIAL FEATURES (may be doubled)

FEMALE JAZZ SINGER (any ethnicity) featured jazz scat performer, possibly Margarite.
MALE JAZZ SINGER (any ethnicity) featured jazz scat performer, possibly the African-American Man.

ETHNICITIES:
*Characters where asterisked are Dutch.
**Characters where double-asterisked are Black.
***Characters where triple-asterisked are Black Surinamese
Lennie is White.
Characters not otherwise specified are of any ethnicity.

“Amsterdam” Cafe CUSTOMERS (4) are drawn from the ENSEMBLE which is drawn from available characters, including the AMERICAN and the *DUTCHMAN.

Setting is in Los Angeles and, mainly, in Amsterdam, TN.

NOTE:
Mp3s often fail using
Mozilla Firefox (Netscape QT)

Demo Vocal Excerpts of the Songs
(not including the Instrumental Opening.
All material protected by submitted copyright
& WGA Registration #1065240)

Naturally, these are truncated demos, including a couple of the repeated songs which do not give the specific part of the lyric.

Act I

Prologue What A Winter It Was (Instrumental opening that gains a lyric by the end of the play)

1. 1:25 mp3 file Cafe Elixir
2. 1:11 mp3 file Here We Are
3. 1:24 mp3 file Everything Provided
4. 0:53 mp3 file Dark Song
5 . 0:42 mp3 file Fat Butterfly
6. 1:35 mp3 file Spirit In Me
7. 0:39 mp3 file Words We Say
8. 1:15 mp3 file What Is The Purpose Of Art?

Act II

9. 1:04 mp3 file Village Scene
10. 1:02 mp3 file A Little Night Waltz
11. 1:06 mp3 file Never Quite Say
12. [1st A] 1:37 mp3 file It's Not The End
13. 0:58 mp3 file Mistress Of The Tree
14. 1:11 mp3 file Here We Are (song that returns when only Lennie is able to hear it)
15. [2nd A & Bridge] 1:37 mp3 file It's Not The End
16. [3rd A] 1:37 mp3 file It's Not The End
17. What A Winter It Was (This time with the lyric)
18. 1:04 mp3 file eL Ay ("eL Ay" gets sung in place of "Rio" in the lyric as demo'd)

Everything Provided and It's Not The End reprise the finale.

*

Music, lyrics and book by

G. F. Mlely

Contact William Rocker at

jazcraft@jazcraft.net