Stars, part 2
/A quick recap from last Wednesday’s post:
CONTEXT: The problem with staging the great central poem “Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky” is, obviously, that not only do we have to show the Milky Way but also the inhabitants of the Inn strolling through it. Stars have to fall; there has to be a sense of moving through the vastness of space. What to do?
You will recall that I ended the last post with the idea that Cirque du Soleil would absolutely slay William Blake’s Inn with their technical resources and all that money. So what would Cirque do with “Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way”?
I hear the music as being cinematic, with shifting camera angles and drone shots, cutting from one moment to the next; that is, we are not necessarily watching a single seven-minute walk. After all, Blake tells us that we’ll “start our journey as children, but I fear we shall finish it old.” So from one section of the music to the next, it should look like we are now in a different place and a different time.
How to do that? My first thought is a giant turntable, à la Les Miserables or Hamilton. Our crew can be turned to face in any direction as the music shifts.
What about the stars? I think Cirque would absolutely fill the stage with little bumblebee drones, their lights programmed to swoop and twinkle, change color, and generally configure themselves into the Milky Way as a continually shifting array of stars.
Of course, Cirque is not bankrolling this venture. (Unless you want to, Cirque — just let me know.) We’re not getting drones.
Let’s step back for a moment and look at what we’ve just talked about in terms of the Lichtenbergian creative process. We started with the ABORTIVE ATTEMPT of Moravian stars on sticks, then through SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION expanded that from ten or so stars to scores, with increased “cinematic” potential. What next?
(Sidebar: It has not escaped my attention that probably the best way to present/interpret William Blake’s Inn would be via animation, or at least heavily CGI’d video.)
What next? Since I am not going to have the opportunity to deploy scores of computer-programmed/radio-controlled drones — and probably not a turntable — here in Newnan, GA, is there any way to achieve the same effect?
As it turns out, there is. We’ll reach that exciting conclusion on Wednesday in Stars, part 3.
For reference: “Blake Leads a Walk on the Milky Way” | score | two-piano score| mp3
