An ear to match his eye
QUENTIN TARANTINO’S brilliant soundtracks are celebrated with a stage tribute that covers the director’s entire filmography
Apart from being a brilliant filmmaker, Quentin Tarantino is also a master of the soundtrack. The director knows how to choose a tune for a scene so that it burns its way into your consciousness and stays there.
His soundtracks stand on their own as great albums, merging and reviving disparate styles of music and longforgotten songs. Interspersed with lines from his movies, they highlight the intimate connection between film and music.
So it makes perfect sense that when Shane Scheel and Christopher Lloyd Bratten began thinking about putting together a cabaret tribute to music in movies, Tarantino was the first name to come to mind.
What started with the pair inviting singers from L.A.’s Broadway-inspired community to perform songs from Tarantino’s films soon led to full-on re-enactments of classic scenes from throughout the director’s catalogue, backed by a live band. Scheel and Bratten weren’t the only ones to think it was a fun idea.
“We started doing it on Saturday nights,” Scheel recalled last week, on the phone from the West Coast. “Then we added Friday, then Sunday and Thursday. It became this thing that people in L.A. responded to, and we built from there.”
That was four years ago this month. Their company, For the Record, has since created musical stage tributes to the work of John Hughes, Baz Luhrmann, the Coen brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, Robert Zemeckis and Martin Scorsese.
But nothing tops Tarantino.
“We researched him, and how he works,” Scheel said. “A lot of time, he starts a scene with a song in mind and works outward from there. ... That’s where we start with every director — who has a solid handle on, and is driven by, music? It always starts with the set list. That’s how we put our concerts together. We try to weave everything together in a smart, thoughtful way.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary of Pulp Fiction, prompting a revamped revival of For the Record: Tarantino in Concert, directed by Anderson Davis. Ongoing in L.A., the show comes to the Montreal International Jazz Festival for a six-night (and two-matinee) stand beginning Wednesday.
Pulp Fiction provides the narrative thread to Tarantino in Concert, though numbers from each of the director’s other movies are thrown in along the way. While hesitant to name his personal highlights from the performance, Scheel did reveal a few standout numbers.
“Stuck in the Middle With You, from Reservoir Dogs, was handed to us on a plate,” hesaid.“There’s also a beauti- ful arrangement of (Johnny Cash’s) Satisfied Mind, from Kill Bill Vol. 2, which Tracie (Thoms, who starred in Tarantino’s Death Proof) sings, and which brings together the moment with Bill and Beatrix in a beautiful way.
“And the lap dance from Death Proof, with Joanna Jones, who is an up-and-comer from the film and music scene in L.A. She and the girls put on quite a show.”
Also in the cast is Rumer Willis, daughter of Demi Moore and Bruce Willis (who starred in Pulp Fiction).
When asked whether the show is more about faithfully recreating scenes from the big screen or finding new inspiration for musical theatre, Scheel is unequivocal.
“First and foremost, I tell people it’s a concert tribute,” he said. “It’s music, music, music. The film is background, in an important way, but the music is at the forefront.”
If the nifty concept and Tarantino’s cool quotient help bring a new fan base out to hear musical theatre, all the better.
Vanity Fair has called For the Record “a progressive performance experience” and “postmodern cabaret.” For Scheel, it’s simply about connecting with audiences in a different way.
“I like to say it’s cabaret for a new generation,” he said. “Some people like cabaret, some like burlesque or piano bars. This is very different. As far as finding a new audience, we’ve found it in L.A.
“Most people, globally, love music and movies. A lot of people come who have never seen a Tarantino film before, and find something engaging in the concert.”
One very notable guest, who has returned on more than one occasion, is Tarantino himself. The director has taken quite a liking to the show, coming back with different friends, saying hello to the cast and hanging out after the curtain comes down.
“He has been beyond supportive of the project,” Scheel said. “He’s always so gracious with the actors, inviting them to his booth for pictures and to hang out. Last time, he came early, he came backstage and did the cast circle with the group. They all held hands and cheered. He gave them a pep talk. He sent a message yesterday saying he’ll be showing up again this weekend. Hopefully we’ll have a long relationship with him.”
One can see how this type of thing might appeal to Tarantino, whose films incorporate ample amounts of irony, and include tributes to other directors and eras. Scheel has another theory.
“I think he loves actors, first of all,” he said, “and he appreciates the effort being put into celebrating his work. People are experiencing his work in a new way. I hope he’s coming back because he’s proud of us and what we’re doing.”