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Night Side Songs
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Dr. Judy Kuriansky |
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Night
Side Songs (photo: Marc J. Franklin) |
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Night Side Songs
Sing-A-Long Eases Suffering
By Dr. Judy Kuriansky |
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Enter the intimate
Claire Tow Lincoln Center theater for a new off-broadway
musical Night Side Songs, and you become part of the
production, given a songbook, and invited to sing along as
five actors embody various roles as patients, caregivers and
medical professionals navigating illness.
The innovative and heartfelt creation is the brainchild of
two brothers, Daniel and Patrick Lazour, who are musicians,
music theatre writers and Teaching Artists with Lincoln
Center Theater. The talented pair wrote the music and words.
“We were inspired by the upsetting experience in our early
20s of our grandmother and soon thereafter our uncle, going
through cancer treatment,” Patrick shared with me, “and we
wanted to bring the universal experience of love and loss
into the public sphere.”
“Especially in a world that can be so callous, we want to
show the sweetness in the every day and in the tenderness in
human beings, especially during times of emergency.”
At the outset, we the audience are taught to sing in chorus,
called upon several times throughout the storyline. The
words are simple, ranging from “Mm, Mm” to addressing deeper
issues, like “I won’t know what to say, But I will check in
on you” to “Will you let me know, I can let you go?”
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Night Side Songs
(photo: Marc J. Franklin) |
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Everyone sang
shamelessly regardless of age, on my night. It was obvious
since the lights are deliberately up in the house
throughout—which further facilitates the communal
experience.
While other productions are immersive, the uniquely
participatory sing-a-long drives you to be part of the
drama, as the characters consider the emotional and
financial costs of a cancer diagnosis (What are the
treatment options? Who is a good doctor? How much does it
cost a day
- $44,701.36?).
A young woman falls ill but then finds romance in remission
and then her mother falls ill and dies.
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Night Side
Songs (photo: Marc J. Franklin) |
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There is so much to
relate to, and memories awakened, from the
show. On a personal level, my father died of cancer (over
dramatic years), and so many other beloved family members
are sadly gone. Then, on a professional level, I have a
project with Ukrainian colleagues to help a group of women
double-stressed with cancer and the war. Also, the cause of
the play’s mother’s death is sepsis – a disease my friend, a
Georgia (the country) physician, health advocate and
parliamentarian, Dr. Mariam Jashi, had recently told me is a
leading, though all-little-known, cause of death about which
she wants me to help create awareness. Often called "blood
poisoning," it’s a severe infection that usually leads to
death -- as it did for Patty Duke, Christopher Reeve, and
Pope John Paul II. Even Madonna had a bout of it. I remember
when actor Billy Porter had to withdraw from the lead role
in Broadway’s Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (which I invested
in) when he got sepsis in September 2025.
Dealing with and healing from the emotional ups and downs of
illness, of course appeals to me as a psychologist, but
clearly affects everyone.
Who can’t relate to the questions when someone dies, like
they muse in the play, “Do you throw away all their stuff?”
I still have 3 storage units of all my deceased loved ones’
furniture, clothes, papers and other belongings.
While the topic is sad, the music and participation lifts us
from grief to engage us in communal caring, comfort and even
joy. It’s the three important lessons I learned from years
of being a call-in advice host on my LovePhones radio show:
sharing helps, we are not alone, and there is always help
and hope.
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Night Side
Songs (photo: Marc J. Franklin) |
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Although all
illnesses can trigger similar experiences, sadly, cancer is
particularly tragic – and common. Shocking statistics warn
that about 40% of men and women in America will be diagnosed
with cancer at some point during their lifetimes, with
cancer as the leading cause of death worldwide.
Interestingly, I have recently become addicted to an
afternoon soap opera, Beyond the Gates, on WCBS-TV
(for the first time in my life) where the matriarch of a
prominent black family finds out unexpectedly that she has
breast cancer. Going public on an interview with TV
personality Gayle King, urging early testing and offering
resources, leads to an avalanche of audience response.
The writers of Night Side Songs are musical
theater-composing brothers I adore, Patrick and Daniel Lazour, who are Drama Desk-nominated artists. I loved their
production of the off-Broadway production, We Live in Cairo,
about a group of rebel youth during the Arab Spring. I
brought many Ambassadors to the United Nations from Arab
countries to see it, and they all loved it.
Very divergent from that indie-rock political-themed work,
this folk-style creation pulls on your heartstrings,
consistent with the brothers’ charming, sensitive, and
engaging personalities.
“With We Live in Cairo, we were using six characters
to tell an epic story of a changing country,” Patrick Lazour
told me. “With Night Side Songs, I think Daniel and I
really wanted to challenge ourselves to tell a very simple
story.” The work certainly touches everyone and families on
a very personal level.
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Writer and
musician team brothers Patrick and Daniel Lazour
with Dr. Judy Kuriansky |
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“At least for an
hour and a half, we want people to remind themselves of
their vulnerability and their heart,” says Patrick. “No one
should be ashamed of their feelings, especially when opening
up to the unknown.”
The title of the musical comes from a phrase used by
American writer and critic Susan Sontag who wrote an essay about
illness metaphorically as a country, quoted in the musical's songbook: “Illness is
the night side of life, a more onerous citizenship. Everyone
who is born holds dual citizenship in the kingdom of well
and in the kingdom of the sick. Although we all prefer to
use the good passport, sooner or later each of us is
obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as a
citizen of that other place.”
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In the seat next to me, I could tell that young woman was
moved. Indeed, 23-year old Carly Baker, NYU Steinhardt
graduate student, told me afterwards, “I rarely ever cry at
a show, let alone have to hold in audible sobs like I did at
the show,” adding, “As the songs and story went on, I
reflected about my grandmother who passed due to
complications after being in remission from breast cancer.”
Besides the story evoking memories, the music, she said,
also brought her to tears.
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Dr. Judy
Kuriansky, actor Brooke Ishibashi and her friend
and attendee Carly Baker |
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My friend who came
with me, Aransas also cried. “It was surprising
and significant how moved I was, she said, given that I see a lot of
theatre,” she added, given her role as an Associate Producer
at Leve Productions. But the show hit home as for so many of the audience.
“I got a deeper understanding of my mother’s ongoing
profound grief and constant tears about my grandmother’s
tragic death from COVID after a period of hopeful remission
from lung cancer.”
The show’s uniqueness was also inspirational, explained
Aransas Haley, 27, given her penchant for experimental and
abstract productions that she’s exploring with a partner
Trey Tetreault in a start-up Lavender Marriages Productions.
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Aransas Haley and
Dr. Judy Kuriansky |
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Three students from
Boston College came together, after seeing the play in
Boston at A.R.T. (the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard
University). It had triple meaning for Kara, 22, who lost
her father and grandfather on the same day (from a car crash
and a sudden heart attack, respectively) and her grandmother
from Alzheimers.
What did she like most about the play? “Community,” she
answered. That’s indeed the most common and comforting
reaction, backed up by much research that proves that
support and love of others is key to coping and healing with
illness.
Her friend, Teresa, 20, never lost anyone, but the play
still impacted her, since her roommate has chronic
illnesses, but she loves her and helps her.
Even behind-the-scenes production staff agree that the play
is powerful because of the community it creates, the
commonality of the experience of illness and loss, and the
possible healing, assistant director Bibiana Torres told me.
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Costume designer
James A. Goodwin, Dr. Judy Kuriansky,
and assistant director Bibiana Torres |
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It’s so ironic that
actor Robin de Jesús is doing this play about caretaking
while he is now caretaking both his parents. Doing this
role, he told me, has extra meaning. |
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Dr. Judy
Kuriansky and actor Robin de Jesús |
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The actors I talked
to after the show agreed that they tend to linger after the
show among the guests when so many attendees want to share
their stories. That’s also proven by research that people
both want to, and gain from, sharing with others after a
powerful emotional experience.
Research also proves what Daniel Lazour has said, that
“Singing together is a catharsis.” I agree, as both a
psychologist and a musician.
Given the play’s setting in contemporary times, costumer
Jason A. Goodwin did research checking out what people are
wearing on Instagram, but the play was not just about the
clothes, he told me, but about what the characters were
going through.
The Claire Tow theater is the perfect setting for this
production, given its aim to appeal to new audiences in an
intimate atmosphere of 112 seats.
I was delighted to be invited to a reception for the show
where the director spoke and the brothers performed music
selections. |
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The Lazour
brothers playing a selection from the musical at a private
reception |
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The Lazour
brothers with Director Taibi Magar |
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Claire Tow
Theater
social media manager, Celese Lindsy
and Dr. Judy Kuriansky |
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The show has
traveled to hospitals and community centers in Philadelphia,
which strikes me as perfect venues for this production to
inspire so many people. The limited run at Lincoln Center’s
Claire Tow Theater in New York City is until March 29:
LCT3.org |
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Bookmark Dr. Judy's Column on Black Tie International
Magazine
https://blacktiemagazine.com/Judy_Kuriansky/Judy_Kuriansky_Main_page.htm
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