Paul Melone

Photos

Photo album of Our Lady photos is up, you can find it in the right hand column of this page, or just click here.

About fifteen photos are currently posted, more will be put up over the weekend.

The above photo is credit Eric Levenson. It shows Vincent Siders and Jacqui Parker, the actors playing Rooftop and Inez, in a scene near the end of the play. Sets and lights were designed by Eric as well, and costumes by Jenna Rossi.

Quotes from Reviews

Here are what some of the Boston reviewers had to say about Our Lady:

"a highly comic, but equally poignant fable of New York's unforgiving streets. ... Stephen Adly Guirgis is as sure a creative spirit as any playwright currently at work today. .... SpeakEasy Stage is to be congratulated for bringing this edgy, important play to Boston audiences."
Iris Fanger, in the Quincy Patriot Ledger 3/9/04


"Funny!.... It's 'Mean Streets' leavened by "The Bells of St.Mary's. .... At 39, Guirgis is one of the bright hopes of the theater.... The rants and riffs of his characters are often a brilliant mix of street smarts and wry writing. ........ As a playwright, Guirgis is an American original -- in fact he might become one of our best."
Ed Siegel, Boston Globe 3/10/04


"A smart, sharp production by SpeakEasy Stage .....Playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis has quite a way with words. ....The key to the play is the way Guirgis puts his characters' hearts and souls on display."
Terry Byrne, Boston Herald, 3/10/04

"A hilarious and poetic comedy ... Where did SpeakEasy dig up this impressive cast? ... It's impressive that there's not a single weak spot in the bunch."
Jim Lopata, InNewsweekly, 3/17/04

"A superb production ....The real story is the 24-hour journey taken by these wonderful characters who appear to be lifted right off 121st Street in Harlem."
Nick Dussault, Boston Metro, 3/12/04

"Wonderfully entertaining ....True to the text, director Paul Melone lets the humor fly with abandon without ever forgetting where the play is going. The SpeakEasy production is superb..."
Kay Bourne, Boston Banner, 3/11/04

"This is a very funny play ...One of the strengths of the play is the way Guirgis so completely captures the language of the street. The other is the way in which the cast so expertly interprets it.'
Bob Donovan, OnStage Boston

"From start to finish, OUR LADY is a delight! .... Don't miss this funky little play."
Beverly Creasy, Theater Mirror

"Theatrical magic .... a unique visceral powerhouse. 'Our Lady of 121st Street' - particularly with SpeakEasy's wonderfully jazzy staging -- demonstrates that the future of American Theater remains bright thanks to probing young talents like Guirgis."

Jules Becker, South End News 3/17/04

"In contention, even so early, as the best damn play of the year."
Larry Stark, Theater Mirror

Thanks to Jim Torres, SpeakEasy Stage's extraordinary Marketing Director, for compiling these quotes and allowing me to use them for shameless self-promotion.

Tony's Music

One of the cool things about directing Our Lady is that I was able to work with my brother, Tony Melone. Tony is a composer and musician who lives in Manhattan way up around 161st, so he is pretty close to the neighborhood that is the setting for the play. The show has no sound cues within the scenes, I only needed something to play during scene changes and to take us into the top of each act. This gave us a lot of freedom. So much of the play is about growing up in the neighborhood, so we aimed for music that reflected the popular genre of the characters' pasts, late sixties and seventies soul and R&B. The music also provided a lighter contrast to the funeral home atmosphere of the set.

I'm a big fan of composing original music for use in plays. Unless it is specifically called for in the script, I don't like using popular or recognizable songs in shows. Someone in the audience is may have a memory or prejudice associated with the song that could take them out of context of the show. Picking music that has lyrics or sounds that directly quote the situations in the play is risky, the more specific the reference the closer it gets to cliché. Original music carries no such baggage. It can be appreciated within the context of the play, and contributes to the unique sense of discovery by the audience.

Starting with drum samples from period records, Tony composed four original songs. He then cut shorter selections from the songs to fit the time needed. He was also able to alter the orchestration of the selections to give material from the same song a different feel. Only one sound cue was a direct sample from previously released materials.

I've posted a few of the selections here in mp3 format. My web site is not a streaming server, so I can't guarantee smooth playback straight off the site. I suggest downloading the files to disk and then opening later in a media player of your choice.

Download file: 01 Top of Show Into Act 1 Scene 1.mp3

Download file: 02 Into Act 1 Scene 2.mp3

Download file: 04 Into Act 1 Scene 4.mp3

Download file: 08 Into Act 2 Scene 1.mp3

Tony also has a web site in the works, check it out here (may not be done yet).

Our Lady of 121st Street Opens Tonight

Well, here it is. The show opens tonight, and I couldn't be more proud. Check it out if you are in the area, it runs through the 27th of March. Full information can be found here.