INTERVIEW: Imagine Grover’s Corners, but with a disco ball
Photo: The Village, a Disco Musical! will play this month at Dixon Place in New York City. Photo courtesy of Eric McNatt / Provided by Fortune Creative with permission.
The Village, a Disco Musical! is a new show written by Nora Burns and directed by Adam Pivirotto. The musical, playing Oct. 6-15 at New York City’s Dixon Place, takes place in Greenwich Village, circa 1979, although dates and locations are second in this meta theatrical exercise. There are drinks, dreams and drugs, as press notes indicate, and not necessarily in that order.
Burns loosely based the show on Our Town by Thornton Wilder, but the proceedings have been relocated from Grover’s Corners to the iconic Christopher Street. Plus, there are plenty of disco numbers to go-go around.
Once can sense some autobiography on stage at Dixon Place because Burns’ own story tracks nicely with the premise for The Village. Events are centered on 1979, and that’s the same year Burns arrived in New York City as a student at Barnard College. Over the years, she has found success as a writer, performer, comedian and archivist, according to her official biography. She is a founding member of the comedy groups Unitard and the Nellie Olesons.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Burns about The Village, a Disco Musical! Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What inspired you to create The Village, A Disco Musical!?
I actually first wrote it in 2019. We did a reading in the summer, and it was set to open in May 2020. But, um, something happened. Anyway, I originally conceived it because I love Our Town. I literally open it and begin to cry, and I just wondered how my life and experiences and history and friends would fit into it. Putting The Village away for two years during the pandemic was actually the best thing for it. I did a complete rewrite, and it’s much stronger now. I always try to make the show that I would want to see, which is short, funny, silly, smart, sexy and weird, and then I added disco, which is my favorite music in the world. And it was like icing on the cake.
I take it that you are a resident of the Village? If so, for how long?
I actually live way downtown now, but I think the Village is a state of mind. When I moved to NYC in 1979 to go to Barnard, I already had some friends living in the West Village near the Meat Packing District, which was insane back then, so I just dropped my bag in my dorm room, jumped on the subway and went to their place. And it imprinted on my mind like a duckling. It’s home even if I don’t live exactly there, and it’s not even really “there” anymore anyway.
How does today’s Village compare to the 1970s version depicted in the show?
See last answer, but the show is meta and not supposed to really be back then because I never want to be one of those people complaining about how much NYC has changed. As I say in my other show, David’s Friend, “My ghosts and memories live under those glass towers, TD Banks and Spa Belles nail salons,” so no matter how much it changes, it’s always my city, my home.
What disco music can we expect in the show?
Oh my God, the music is so good! Robin [Carrigan], the choreographer, loves the same music I do, all the amazing classics. I always say I’ve been listening to “classic disco” since it was just “disco,” so she’s chosen the most incredible selection of songs, from favorites like “Loving is Really My Game” and “Le Freak,” to more obscure ones like “I Feel Disco Good” and “Love is in the Air.” I’m in heaven and never get tired of any of it.
Are there traces of Our Town in the show?
Oh yes! We don’t hide that for one minute. It’s a total homage to Our Town. Of course, I’m taking a ton of poetic license, but also we always return to it. Anytime I wasn’t clear in my writing, I’d pick up Thornton Wilder’s opus, and it would lead me back on track. It’s funny because I did Our Town in high school, of course, and I wasn’t particularly impressed with it. But after the show my mother was bawling, and now I totally see why. You have to have some life under your belt to really get the beautiful message of how precious life is.
What’s it like working with director Adam Pivirotto and choreographer Robin Carrigan?
I am blown away! I literally cannot say enough how this show would be nothing without them. They are a dream team! Adam is really young, and this is the first thing he’s directed, which is insane! He sees things in the script I would never have thought of and is absolutely brilliant working with the cast. It’s such a pleasure to watch him work, and Robin brings so much humor and life to the dance numbers. They are so imaginative and fun and hard-working and wonderful to work with, I feel beyond lucky.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Village, a Disco Musical!, written by Nora Burns, plays Oct. 6-15 at Dixon Place in Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
