Philadelphia Theatre Company (PTC) and Artistic Director Taibi Magar are set to debut ‘Night Side Songs’ this week, a musical exploration of illness, mortality, cancer, and the dignity of caregivers.
Rooted in the real-life experiences of local doctors, hospital staff, and patients, the production is composed by Daniel and Patrick Lazour (The Lazours). Before its official run from Feb. 21 through March 9, the show will tour area medical centers. The PTC team describes this “musical convergence” as a tribute to Philadelphia’s “eds and meds” community, blending humor, grace, and deep empathy.
Doubling as this new musical’s director, Magar told Metro that her personal connection to ‘Night Side Songs’ runs deep.
“I lost my father to cancer 15 years ago — I was his primary caretaker for 2 years — and lost my mother just last year to cancer,” she says. “This musical, then, was a really rewarding process to navigate complex feelings and processes with the larger community”
Involved with its development for the last five years with PTC’s co-artistic director (and husband) Tyler Dobrowsky, Magar calls this musical a perfect piece for Philly — “the city of eds and meds.”
“Music is always a transformative experience; none, though, as transformative as ‘Night Side Songs,’” says Magar.
The Brothers Lazour, Daniel and Patrick, pick up the thread – of finding solace from illness in song – for ‘Night Side Songs’ by stating that its origin story was in this writing a folk musical about a hemotherapy, and the studies of blood.
“We wanted to do something universal, something corporeal,” says Daniel Lazour.
“We wanted to create something to do with the body,” adds Patrick Lazour.
The brothers first started collaborating, compositionally, when they were 14 and 12, writing “fluidly between music and text,” notes Patrick.
As kids at an all-boys Catholic high school in Boyleston, MA, they go back-and-forth describing the arc of their musical work before ‘Night Side Songs’ as influenced by theater giants such as Sondheim, Brown, Guettel and Webber.
“As two Lebanese kids, we were additionally inspired by world music, Arabic music and folk music,” says Daniel.
‘Night Side Songs’ went through an early experimental stage where it could have been a capella, or more pop-oriented.
“What finally worked, though, was when we hit upon making the audience and its voice part of our score – so, communal singing – especially those who have had, as a touchstone, the experience of cancer in their lives, and the lives of their family,” says Patrick.
“The communal vibes are so healing,” says Daniel. “Music coming out of our mouths, hearing voices to our left and to our right affect us chemically.”
Now, characters such as Yasmine Holly, (played by Brooke Ishibashi) could invite each audience into songs and stories inspired by Philadelphia doctors, hospital staff, and patients in cancer care.
“We are turning ourselves to something that we are all a part of, whether we want to be, or not,” says Patrick in choosing to make a musical about cancer care in the first place. “It is an onerous citizenship.”
The brothers have experience with such medical care as several of the Lazours’ family members went through cancer treatment. “It may be macabre to say, but we’re proud of this show,” says Daniel.
Linking ‘Night Side Songs’ to Philadelphia, PTC and its in-the-round staging, both brothers remark on Taibi Magar’s artistic vision (“she takes care of our story arcs, and the audience… in surprising, weird, fun ways”) and the initial run of Philly medical space tour stops with doctors and patients in tow, before arriving at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre this week.
“Moments like ‘Miracle Song’ — a vision fable taken from our first meeting with a chemotherapist — and ‘When You,’ a song from a cancer patient eight years in remission will move you,” says Patrick.
“We get audience of guys who come, not knowing what to expect with their arms crossed daring us to entertain them, but something happens during ‘Night Side Songs’ … they start singing along,” says Daniel. “From that moment on, we’re off to the races.”
‘Night Side Songs’ is on stage at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre from Feb. 21 to March 9. For information and tickets, visit philadelphiatheatrecompany.org
