17 July 2024
Hayden Taylor (Ngāi Tahu) is the Musical Director and Maya Handa Naff the Vocal Director for WITCH Music Theatre's upcoming production of Lizzie the Musical, based on the life of accused American axe murderer Lizzie Borden. This follows their successful collaboration on previous WITCH productions Into the Woods and Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812.
WITCH Music Theatre is an alternative production house for music theatre work in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Wellington, creating concerts, cabarets to full-scale musicals. They champion LGBTQIA+ art, progressive programming, and create spaces for local artists to create engaging and entertaining work.
I popped into their rehearsal space toward the beginning of their rehearsal period to catch up with Hayden and Maya about their roles, the production and which cast albums they're currently listening to on repeat.
What can audiences expect from Lizzie?
Hayden
Being four days in, it's constantly evolving at the moment in terms of the design and stuff. In terms of the voices and the music, we have four of the most incredible voices, some of the most incredible wāhine I’ve ever heard sing. They’ve smashed learning the show in just three days and are just nailing it.
And the music itself - it was produced in the 2010s, so it’s very punk rock, very angry – and we’re trying to hold onto that. Keeping the essence of the rage and the anger but modernise it a little bit more. Soften up the softer bits so the heart of it hits more powerfully.
Maya
It’s so incredible to have music that actually meets the emotional level of this story. The story itself is so theatrical. The story of a young woman who may or may not have murdered her stepmother and her father, and to have music that gets into that headspace and kind of explores at that level... it's really it's super emotionally charged, but it’s also cathartic.
We're at a point where the world feels really messed up and there's lots of things to be really angry about. This music gives the performers, and will give the audience, the space to feel that level of emotion and to feel that rage. But in a in a safe space, in a communal space where we can feel it and experience it together. I think in some ways it's quite timely!
How did you get started in musical theatre?
Hayden
I'm first and foremost a musician, a pianist, with a craving for collaboration. I love working with people. I love doing anything that I can bring my music and capabilities to, and musical theatre is one of the very natural pathways to go, one of many that I keep myself involved with because I don't want to sit and play music and my bedroom by myself. I really want to work with other people. That driving craving has pushed me into these different forms. I've played with drag queens and in straight plays as well and a couple of other things here and there. Then this as well. It’s just me being a musician and wanting to work with other creators.
Like working with Maya. I love working with someone like Maya because we feed off each other so well and it's very natural to be in the room together and doing that.
Maya
I’ve been doing musical theatre since I was four years old. When you see like a musical like Les Mis or something like that and you’ve got all the little kids running around, that was me. And I just never stopped! I've been a working performer and then as an adult I’ve transitioned into music directing and directing and teaching. I’m three decades into a life in the theatre.
What do each of your roles – musical director and vocal director entail and how do you work together?
Hayden
I’m the musical director, so I’m looking at the overall shape and sound of the show, working closely with Maya and the sound designer as well. And of course the band. Not only playing in the band but leading the band. I’m across how all those elements come together and tie together. Making sure that the sound and the voices versus the music and everything is consistent throughout.
I work, not only with Maya but with everyone.; it's again very collaborative, meeting everyone on an equal level. Maya and I work very well together, just pitching in and never feeling like we're overstepping, even if we are going into each other's roles. So I’m all about the overall music because I also have to think about playing the show.
Maya
In this production, I'm focused on the voices, obviously. The music in this show is incredibly demanding on all four of our performers. They have to sing all the way to the bottom of their register and then high, belting up into the rafters. And we’re going to be running this show for a month, so thinking about how to prepare to do that in a way that's going to serve the music so that they can go full out every night, but also that they feel comfortable, they feel safe doing that. That they're looking after themselves. And then also thinking about their acting and the storytelling that will be layered in and building together, how does that fit into their vocal performances? How are we telling the story through the voice? That’s the heart of any musical theatre story - storytelling through song.
So that's what I'm focused on for this production. Hayden and I have worked together now on three or four shows and we’re just looking at how the music tells the story, taking in the overall lens and the instruments and the voices.
What’s your approach to working with performers?
Maya
I'm a performer myself, so I have some insight into what that's like to be to be directed and try to craft what your voice is doing. Obviously we have some of the most talented folks in the country, so they're bringing so much, but it's about making sure that those choices are intentional, and that the thing we're doing is greater than the sum of its parts. So you know, maybe the thing you're bringing in is an amazing choice on its own. But then when you layer it with another performer’s choice it's about how we can elevate what each other is doing. It's that collaboration Hayden was talking about.
So it's really about being somebody who can sit on the outside and look at what's happening across all the different voices and make sure that we're elevating one another in that process.
Hayden
I've worked with musical directors in the past, when I was young and a lot of them seem to have this God complex and I really hated that feeling as someone who was involved with music and stuff. I thought this was supposed to be a give and take process and a collaborative approach. So I very much love to meet performers on an equal level, take all the offers they can give and put all of those offers together in a way that's cohesive to the show. I like to make sure the performers feel heard and feel like they can perform in the way they want to perform without feeling like, no, I'm the boss and I'm telling you what to do.
Maya
We talk a lot about the best idea in the room wins. It doesn't matter whose idea that is because ultimately we're all on the same team and we're trying to build something magical together. If you've got an idea that's better than mine, or if I say something and that sparks an idea from you, go for it. That’s how we work together.
What's your all-time favourite song from a musical?
Hayden
I don't know the names of the songs because I’ve just been listening to the album, but there’s a new Jason Robert Brown musical called The Connector and I've been really enjoying that. It’s about shoddy journalism. About people who are very corrupt in the journalism world. It's really cool. Jason Robert Brown is just an absolute king of musical theatre. That's probably my most played album at the moment.
Maya
I’m going to say, today – it's always today, right? –a song called Why We Tell the Story from a musical called Once on this Island. It’s by Ahrens and Flaherty, who wrote Ragtime and Anastasia. It's this beautiful closing number where these villagers from an island in the Antilles are trying to cheer up this little girl who’s terrified by a storm, and they're all singing about why we storytell, why is it important? And it's all about connecting with one another, about keeping each other safe, about celebrating life. And it's just gorgeous. And it’s a really great reminder about why storytelling is essential to the human condition, whether we’re doing it on a stage at Circa or in the living room with your family. We’re always telling stories and that's how we connect with one another. And we’re living in a time when we need to frigging connect!
I got to see a production of it not long ago and it really got to me. Celebrating one another, celebrating the human condition....
Hayden, you kind of already answered my next question which is what’s your favourite cast album to play on repeat?
Hayden
Yeah, at the moment that is The Connector? Very much so.
Maya
For me it’s Hadestown. I just recently saw it.
Hayden
We both just recently saw it!
Maya
I've been a huge fan of Anaïs Mitchell, the composer, for ages but I stayed away from listening to the album because I just wanted to experience the show and now, after five years of being open I finally got to see it and I wept for like 2 1/2 hours. I absolutely loved it. So now that I've seen it and I've got the images in my head and know the story inside out, I can’t stop listening to it.
What’s next for you?
Hayden
My next theatre project? I’m doing the next play at Circa. It's called And the Lochburns and it's written by my friend Will Duigan. I’m musical directing that for him. This is my love of doing different types of things. This is a play; it’s not a musical. My role in this is to teach one of the actors where to put his hands on the piano to make it look like he's actually playing the piano and then I’m backstage actually playing for him. Really fun stuff like that!
And also continuing gigs with the Tīwhas which is the Māori drag group that I play for. We’ve actually got a gig tonight out in Lower Hutt...
Maya
The next thing I'm looking at is maybe stepping back into being a performer for a minute, but I can’t really say much more than that.... Sorry!
Lizzie runs 10 August - 7 September at Circa Theatre.
