'JOURNEY FOR A REASON': Subject of New Ground Theatre's musical is unlikely one
By Ruby Nancy, QUAD CITY TIMES -- June 13, 2003

NEW Ground Theatre’s latest production is another Quad-City premiere, but this time the show hits really close to home for artistic director and New Ground founder Chris Jansen, who also wrote the book for “Journey For a Reason” and directs the musical, too.

Based in part on personal experience from Jansen’s high school days, which were spent in the Q-C, “Journey” traces the story of a teen suicide, attempting to answer the many questions the young girl’s friends have after she succeeds.

But this musical is not a play-by-play of actual events set to music.

 “This is not a literal translation of the real story,” Jansen says. “I find plays too closely based on reality lose something. Since the story is so familiar to the writer, not enough work is done, usually, to flesh out characters and situations.

 “This-really-happened plays often read flat and rather undramatic,” she continues. “Certain incidents and names are the same (in ‘Journey’), but as more of an homage than a literal depiction.”

 Sara, the central character, is the best friend left behind, and her questions — which mirror those of the playwright/director — drive much of the action.

“My best friend in high school attempted suicide,” Jansen recalls, “but was not successful.

 “I always wondered why, because we were close, and I had no idea she was planning anything so drastic. And the ‘why’ is what tortures Sara, who is based on me. Or,” she jokes, “me if I were a gorgeous, tall redhead.”

 Andrew Wilder, who wrote the music for “Journey For a Reason,” says joking is perfectly appropriate in relation to this show.

“If you don’t have a laugh or two you don’t engage the audience,” he says. “I don’t think people should be afraid of this piece because of the subject matter. We worked hard to make it rewarding for the audience, not just a ‘movie of the week’ kind of thing.”

Wilder, whose Broadway credits include serving as assistant musical director of “The Scarlet Pimpernel” (he was also music director for the national tour) and playing piano for “Les Miserables,” says “Journey” has meaning because it goes beyond the story of a suicide.

 “It’s a story about a high school teenage community where this (suicide) happens,” he says. “As the title implies, it’s certainly about more than just the incident itself.”

 Jansen says the inclusion of humor is deliberate.

“You can see how much trouble we’re having — telling people that it’s a show about teenage suicide, but that is has humor,” she says wryly. “They get the wrong idea, I think.”

But “Journey For a Reason” is no parody, and it’s not what some would call a “black” comedy either.

 “Comedy used in dramatic situations helps to make dark things more accessible to the audience,” she points out. “The humor comes more from the group of friends, and is not directly related to suicide or death. It helps us to relate to the group of friends and like them, and so we have — hopefully — a little more sympathy for their situation.”

According to Wilder, the variety of subjects and styles in the storytelling of musical theater is exactly what makes his work so interesting. “It allows me to get totally immersed in so many styles,” he says enthusiastically. “One will be rock and roll; one will be opera, very stylized.

 “Ballet and opera are basically European art forms,” continues Wilder, “(but) the art form we call musical theater is American. It is the great American performing art form. The star of (the first two) is the voice or the dance, but in musical theater, the story is the star. The music and the dance and the book all work together to tell the story.”

And if a local connection or a challenging topic or the cachet of the premiere of work from a Broadway musician draw in new audiences who don’t usually see stage musicals?

 Wilder says new faces in the house are good for more than the bottom line.

“Live performing arts is something we should all experience,” he stresses. “There are so many intangible things there (and) it is important.”

 Jansen also hopes new audiences come to see this show, especially teenagers who may identify with one or more of the young characters.

 “What I hope teens take away,” she says, “is what a former student of mine took from it.

 “We read the play in my high school acting class in Massachusetts (and) one of the boys had been depressed and even talking about suicide,” she recalls. “After we read the play, he told me it made him look at suicide in a new light — hurting people he had not intended to, etc. — and that he would not consider suicide again.

 “That made me feel great. If the play accomplished nothing more, at least it helped that kid.”

Contact the features desk at (563) 383-2400 or newsroom@qctimes.com.

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