Crime Theater

JAN: Arlene Violet, a former nun, was the attorney general in Providence when I was a reporter there in the mid 1980s, and all sorts of corruption was percolating. She later would write her memoir, Convictions, and go on to become Rhode Island's number one talk radio host. Now, she's written a play, a musical about the mob, called The Family, and it starts running at Providence's prestigious, Trinity Repertory Theater. next month: from June second to July first.

I don’t open all my emails from Trinity Rep. in Providence but when I saw a musical about the mafia – I was sold, even before I saw that Arlene Violet wrote it. I knew from her vast experience as Attorney General that she had the material. But my biggest question for Arlene was this: How did you decide to make it a play – AND A MUSICAL, at that?

ARLENE: Enrico Garzilli, the brilliant composer and lyricist, had just finished his Michealangelo, a musical at PPAC. He suggested that we do something together. We decided that it should be about the Mob since during my two stints in the office of Attorney General (1976-77-head of Consumer Fraud) and in the mid-80’s as Attorney General, I often interacted with informants, police and the accused. There were so many stereotypes, I felt that it was time to do something authentic so the public would understand how these mob operations were able to take root since today’s gangs follow a similar pattern.

I love the tradition of musical theatre where the dialogue leads up to the emotional moment of the scene which is carried by the music/lyrics. For maximum dramatic impact, we decided on a musical.

JAN: The Providence Journal reports that you got your inspiration from Raymond Patriarca, the former mob boss. Tell me more about that.

ARLENE: - Don Marco, the godfather, in THE FAMILY, is the personification of a mob boss like Raymond Patriarca. The “boss” is able to keep the “respect” of the neighborhood because he sometimes does charitable things. I believe that sometimes good guys are bad and bad guys are good so this element is in the musical. One incident in Patriarca’s life where he did an extremely generous act is in THE FAMILY.

JAN: Tell us a little about the plot of the play.

ARLENE: The musical is called THE FAMILY because the godfather has to juggle his mob family(a wise guy defects into the witness protection program which, in turn, causes this witness his own family problems, his own family where his son does not want to be a member of the mob,and the “family” demands of his community. All the “family” conflicts converge in the climax of the musical.

The protagonist is Don Marco. His antagonist is Joe Barros, the wise guy who goes into witness protection. They do a “minuet ‘of trying to take each other out with tragic consequences.

JAN: This play sounds terrific. What was the hardest part of writing it as a play? How is it different from telling a story in book form?

ARLENE: The biggest difference in writing a play from a book is that you have to have an enhanced visual /aural perception of how to advance the story. While writers are told all the time to “show the story” and use these cues, in theatre anything that can be told in a minimum of dialogue. With “sight/sound “ it is critically important not to overwrite. Because I am a believer of the “traditional musical’s” structure, I believe that dialogue leads up to the emotional impact of the scene with music.

JAN: What’s it like working with a composer? Do you have input into the songs and lyrics or is it completely the composer’s domain?

ARLENE: Working with Enrico was a joy. He is brilliant and because of this fact, he is never threatened .We often talked about both the structure of the musical and the lyrics because I was more of a “thug’ than he was!

JAN: Are you the producer as well? Tell us about casting?

ARLENE: I am the managing producer. We have what is called in the business a “Front End Investor” agreement. These Rhode Islanders who invested, insisted that I be the producer in control (they also are producers) re husbanding their respective investments. Casting is always difficult for a musical since the actor must be a “triple threat”, i.e. must be a great actor, singer and dancer .We did close to two hundred auditions from the northeast to come up with the sixteen cast members.

JAN: We have a lot of crime writers who follow our blog, Any advice you have for anyone wanting to use their material to write a play?

ARLENE: Re the wonderful crime writers on this blog, my best advice is to believe in your work. Then revisualize/auralize your Work re scenes. You get to (and must) “show” much more in a play then the written word.

JAN: You’ve been a nun, lawyer, attorney general, author, radio talk show host, playwriting, (and possibly producer? ) What haven’t you done, and what could possibly be next??

ARLENE: This sounds like I can’t keep a job! My next most important goal would be to be a crime writer as good as the people who are reading this!

JAN: I went to see Menopause, the musical, Thursday night at the Trinity Repertory Theater in Providence, and it's a play that I've been wanting to see for a long time and never got around to it. Anyway, the production was terrific, well staged, great singing, great comedic acting, and fun songs. The three women I went with, along with the rest of the audience, couldn't possibly have had a better time.

But I was -- and I hate to admit this -- just the tiniest bit disappointed. And it had nothing to do with the actual performance. I kept thinking that I'd wished I'd seen the play when it first came out, when it was fresh and seemed more over-the-top. So I'm pretty sure my reaction really had to do with my expectations.

They'd been built up to a point where the real thing just couldn't satisfy them. I remember once when Bill and I went to see the movie Bonfire of the Vanities. It had gotten terrible reviews, and we had been planning to see another movie that was sold out, so we decided to just hold our nose and see it. Because our expectations were so low, we really liked the movie. So I'm wondering, do you think that your own expectations color your response to plays, movies, concerts, books -- maybe a bit unfairly?? Have any of you been burned or assisted by what you, yourself, bring to the show?

RHYS: I was recently taken by a group of friends to see Jersey Boys. That was another play I'd been dying to see. It was the Broadway touring cast and the singing was outstanding, but again I was reminded of the old Peggy Lee song, "Is that all there is?" It was too loud, for one thing and no great scenery, no special effects, no big production numbers which I love in a musical (I'm a sucker for 42nd Street and its big tap routines).

I don't know about you but I find that recent musicals are sadly lacking. Where are those songs that everyone keeps singing as they leave the theater? Where are the good stories? I just wish that Rogers and Hammerstein were still alive.

ROBERTA: Ruh-oh, I just convinced my sister to spend the big bucks to see Jersey Boys on Broadway. I'm going to try not to expect too much! I think this happened with my husband reading THE HELP. By the time he got around to it, I had raved about it so much that maybe it couldn't possibly live up to what he expected. For me, it was a surprise love affair, head over heels. On the other hand, look at the folks who salivate for the latest in a popular author's series, like the Harry Potters. Expectations certainly haven't seemed to hurt her sales!

HANK: Oh, did you see the broadway musical Titanic? It was supposed to be fabulous, but we saw the touring company version, and it was--so pitiful. The scenery looked as if it were drawn by first graders. (But not as cute.) On the other hand, everyone told me Wicked was fantastic fantastic--and I worried--could it be *that* good? And yes, it was.

But Jan, I heard Shutter Island, the movie, was terrible. So we netflixed it, just to see--and I thought it was terrific! SO maybe I was giving it the benefit of the doubt--because I expected it to be bad.

RO: I'm frequently disappointed by things that are overhyped. Some recent bestsellers - which shall remain nameless - have left me thinking "What's the big deal?

" Okay I'll mention one. Universally lauded, soon to be a major motion picture. A bunch of over-privileged, underachieving Upper West Side thirty-somethings who are genuinely surprised that they are not more successful than they are when they haven't done anything to merit the adulation they crave. I was so bored I started to count the number of times the heroine folded and unfolded her coltish legs. And every time the "he said, she said" story lagged, the author threw in a mention of Tolstoy - to remind us that this wasn't an episode of Sex and the City, but a work of serious fiction. Ack.

OTOH, I loved Jersey Boys! Who knew I was such a Four Seasons fan. The lyrics must have been laying (lying?) dormant in my brain for decades. You'll have fun. Then again...I had fun at Mamma Mia so there's no accounting for taste.

HALLIE: So interesting... yes expectations do affect how I react. Expect the worst and you can never be disappointed! Not a great philosophy of life, however. The same dynamic is at work when you 'discover' something that no one told you about - the pleasure of finding a great book/movie/restaurant/city/food, of discovering for yourself is lovely. Like eating capers on Crete. Who knew capers could taste that good? It's one of my pleasures as a book reviewer, reading books that I know absolutely nothing about and finding the one that knocks off my socks.

RO: I bet they're like the capers in Sicily. Yum. Welcome home!

JAN- Don't know if I could listen through an hour and a half of Abba music, but I loved Jersey Boys, too! Also capers. In any country.

Come tell us if and how your own expectations color your reviews.