Corkman’s run on Broadway
IT’S the hottest ticket in London. The Book of Mormon, at London’s West End Prince of Wales Theatre, is booked out until May.
Irishman Cian McCarthy is the musical director of the Tony-winning (nine awards) musical, as he was for its winning Broadway run and US tour.
TV shows such as Glee, and competitions such as How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, have brought musical theatre to a teen-plus audience. Add in South Park writers with clever musical innuendo and old-fashioned big, belt-it-out numbers, and the new rock and roll is born.
The Book of Mormon is composed by Bobby Lopez, who co-wrote the score to Broadway success Avenue Q, but the big names that have kept the show on Broadway for two years are South Park writers, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who wrote the libretto and collaborated on the score. Their irreverent humour is unlikely to disappoint in the tale of two Mormons spreading ‘the word’ in Africa. Corkman McCarthy, 28, is overseeing its conversion to the London stage. “I sit in the auditorium and make sure the sound is what it should be, that the composer’s intentions are on stage, and that the jokes land as they should every night,” he says.
“It’s not always as easy as it sounds.” Daily rehearsals echo the punishing regime of its run in New York. Performers come and go, and stay motivated, and understudies keep up to speed. The energetic McCarthy has worked in NYC since graduating from Berklee College of Music, where he got a scholarship to study jazz composition. This led to session musician work in buzzy clubs such as The Blue Note, Webster Hall, Birdland and The Bitter End, alongside Robin Thicke, Corinne Bailey Rae and Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings. He has worked with Idina Menzel, Jane Monheit, Gavin Creel, Lea Salonga, Pentatonix and Marc Broussard. McCarthy works hard. On Mondays, his only day off from evening show and twice-weekly matinee performances, he networks in studios and plays music. While in Los Angeles for three months, he visited film studios, sitting in on the Jay Leno Show and doing session work for Sesame Street. “That was really fun,” he says. “Session work is my relief from Broadway. I love the variety you can find, in New York, of pop, funk, folk, jazz on the lower East Side and Lincoln Centre. I’m very lucky, in that I haven’t had to audition for anything since my first time, with In the Heights.”
That musical was his big break, in 2008, when he was 23. He was keyboard player on the show, set in Upper Manhattan in the Latin quarter. “Though I had studied jazz, these great Salsa rhythms were new to me, but I learned quickly, all about Samba from Brazil and Bachata, from the Dominican Republic.”
From the beginning of its Broadway run, In the Heights was a hit, winning four Tony awards, including for ‘best musical’. “That changed everything for me,” he says. “It got me into the scene. Lots of people want be a Broadway music director, but it’s not so easy to break into it. I was very lucky.” Not long after, he started conducting the show.
The youngest conductor on Broadway at the time, he was three years with the show, touring the US. McCarthy moved on to the development of a new musical, Tales of the City, based on Armistead Maupin’s book, and became its musical director and conductor. “They let me come up with ideas. It was the first full production of the show, a world premiere, and, hopefully, it will soon come onto Broadway and, maybe, even the West End. I’ll return to work on it then,” McCarthy says. He’s excited about working again with the dynamic Jake Shears and John Garden of the Scissors Sisters, who have written the music and lyrics, with a script by Jeff Whitty, the Tony-winning librettist of Avenue Q and Bring It On — The Musical. The director is Jason Moore, known for Avenue Q, Shrek — The Musical, and the recent hit movie, Pitch Perfect. “Scheduling a creative team takes time and people like me come and go at various stages ... figuring out the time to say ‘stop’ and not add more songs is difficult. In the Heights opened on Broadway in 2008 and took eight years of development.” Working with creative teams in NYC, McCarthy is foremost a musical director, but sometimes starts as an arranger or orchestrator and the work evolves. Or, he breaks off from other work to arrange. Life is never dull. “NYC, and the West End in London, are the two hubs for developing new musicals and theatre. For me, NYC is the place to be”.
Having studied piano from the age of five to 15, with Kay O’Sullivan at City Music College in Cork, he then studied music with Jan Cap, at Cork School of Music. He appreciates his time with the Montforts stage school, and with Philip McTaggart Walsh, who gave him his first job as musical director of a local show. Playing at Cork Guinness Jazz festival added to his musical versatility.
Composition has always been his main interest, though now he is also offered orchestration and conducting. He enjoys every stage of production and every job. “It’s satisfying when, at the beginning of a show, during brainstorming sessions, you make suggestions and they survive to the production,” McCarthy says.
He initially wanted to do film scores and it’s still on his list of ambitions. “But I have ticked a few ambitions off my list, already. Being part of a hit Broadway show was a big one.”
Once the London production of The Book of Mormon is set up, McCarthy will return to the US to join the national tour in Detroit. After that, he goes with it to Pittsburgh, Boston, Toronto, and Washington DC.
“And, after that, I go back to NYC to do some session work, which is a big break from the pressure of the stage,” McCarthy says.
When asked about his next Broadway musical, McCarthy is tight-lipped. His contracts often have privacy clauses. “All I can say is that it is expected to be on the NY stage soon.”
San Francisco is his second favourite city. “It’s laid-back and creative. I lived in Hollywood for three months and was dying to get out. That moment of being in a taxi in New York, heading for Brooklyn when the bridge comes into view with the sun setting, is when I know I’m glad to be back in NY. I have no plans, yet, to come home.”
