Craig Adams: “LIFT is about people and connections”

Perfect Pitch has released the concept album of LIFT, a new British musical by Craig Adams and Ian Watson. This recording, which will be available to buy from Thursday 31 May 2012, features West End names including Louise Dearman, Michael Xavier, Jennifer Tierney, Paul Ayres, Julie Atherton and Jack Shalloo.

LIFT has been developed by the Perfect Pitch network since 2008, when it was performed as part of the Perfect Pitch 2008 showcase at Trafalgar Studios, and this recording marks the first album of a new musical to be released on the Perfect Pitch label.

Craig Adams has written the music and lyrics from LIFT. Craig Adams is a composer, lyricist and arranger also trained as an actor, having worked in musical productions of shows such as MAMMA MIA!, JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT and ZORRO. His first show, LET HIM JUSTICE, was performed at London’s Cochrane Theatre. Craig won the Tim Williams award for Best song in the ‘New Music/Old Lyric’ category in 2010 for “Live Hence By Truth” (Lyric by William Shakespeare). His songs have taken part of the recent Song Cycles shows BEYOND THE GATE and A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO, and of their consequent cast albums.

Craig Adams –who from September 2012 will be Composer in Residence at London’s Finborough Theatre– tells us more details about this upcoming concept album of LIFT, and shares with us his thoughts about New British Musical Theatre.

HOW WAS ‘LIFT’ BORN? HOW WOULD YOU INTRODUCE THE SHOW? Originally it was an idea created whilst I was at Drama school. As part of our course we had to create a 45 minute devised piece of theatre to perform. A handful of people suggested setting something in the lift at Covent Garden tube station and it seemed like an unusual idea.  Introducing the show is always difficult. I usually say … LIFT is about people and connections. The connections we have without knowing about them, the connections we lose sight of and the connections we don’t mean to have ... that has become the way I explain the show on the album sleeve! It’s one minute in each character’s thoughts - that minute can last a long time, exploring their problems and dreams but at the end of the show you get to see the whole minute played out in full and you realise that what you’ve witnessed as an audience is just the time it’s taken for the lift to reach the surface.  
HOW MANY YEARS HAVE YOU AND IAN WATSON BEEN DEVELOPING THIS SHOW? WHICH PROCESS HAVE YOU FOLLOWED? We’ve been working on the show since 2007. I initially started working on the show much earlier than that but there was always something missing. Then by a complete stroke of luck I met Ian and I instantly knew he was the right person for the job – he was a little bit crazy! But what was important is that he got the idea of the show. When it came to writing it was a pretty easy process. We talked a lot and made sure we had clear connections for all of the characters before we really got down to putting the hard work in. Characters are really important to me in a story. If you get the characters right, the piece can sometimes write itself.

HOW DID IT COME UP THE IDEA OF RECORDING THIS CONCEPT ALBUM? AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU? First of all it means everything. It’s been a long time in the making really. My initial idea was always to put the show on first and let people see it as I intended it to be seen. But the show is quite complex and it has become clear to me that it is very difficult to understand on the page alone so Perfect Pitch came up with the idea of the concept album. On talking about recording it more it suddenly became a really great tool to get the show out there, as it’s meant to sound, and let people get a real flavour for it.

NO DOUBT ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR SONGS OF THE SHOW IS “LOST IN TRANSLATIONS”. WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR A COMPOSER WHEN A WELL-KNOWN PERFORMER CHOOSES ONE OF YOUR SONGS TO BE A PART OF THEIR REPERTOIRE?
It’s amazing having really great performers sing your work. And what is so great about Julie (Atherton) and Kerry (Ellis) is that they are so different and I was astonished at how worlds apart their versions were. When actors chose to sing your stuff it means a great deal … it means that you are kind of getting it right I suppose. As a writer you spend a lot of time on your own, thinking about the lyric and how it tells the character’s story and after spending all of this time with the song and character, it’s a magical moment when someone really brings it to life and finds the details you have been adding for so long.

AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE THAT IN ‘LIFT’ CONCEPT ALBUM, THIS SONG HAD TO BE SUNG BY LOUISE DEARMAN?
I have been working with Louise for many years and I have always loved the skill she has as a performer. I think she has one of the leading voices in the West End at the moment. She is also a brilliant actress who really thinks about her choices in detail. And funnily enough Louise was the first person to ever sing “Lost In Translations”, well before Kerry and Julie performed it! I decided in, 2005 I think, to put together an evening of my work at Battersea Barge and Louise sang a couple of songs that evening, of which ‘Lost’ was one. I have always remembered the first time I heard I her sing it and had always vowed to work with her again on it, so when we decided to record the album she was my first choice. I can’t wait for people to hear her version – it is flawless and brilliantly captured.

HOW HAS THE RECORDING PROCESS OF THE ALBUM BEEN? WHAT WOULD YOU HIGHLIGHT OF THE PERFORMERS WHO HAVE TAKEN PART OF IT? The process has been amazing from beginning to end. There were a few moments when I thought things would never come together, but I suppose you always have moments like that on any project! And as for performances I could literally go on all day but I’m so pleased with every single performance and everyone has little moments that I love. What was important for me is that it sounds live, and that the acting of the lyric comes across so you really feel like these characters are singing/talking to you and I think we have achieved that. Also the musicians that played on the album were second to none and they have really brought the arrangements to life in a way that I could never have imagined.

YOU BEGAN YOUR CAREER AS A PERFORMER. WHEN DID YOU BEGIN TO WRITE MUSIC? AND WHEN DID YOU DECIDE THAT YOU’LL BE FOCUSING YOUR CAREER ON MUSIC FULL TIME?
I’d always written music and in fact I almost went to study music at University – wanting to be a concert pianist and classical composer! But after I finished my A-Levels I took a year out and did a lot of Theatre in Manchester (where I lived.)  This gave me the buzz to go to Drama School and I got into Mountview. I always kept writing whist studying to be an actor. It was just always something I did and during my time there a couple of performers sang some of my stuff and obviously the initial idea for LIFT was born here.  I do think it was important to train as an actor and it has helped me understand character and the drama that is needed to write.  I decided to start writing full time and stop performing whilst I was in a production of Zorro. It was just a natural progression and it totally felt right at the time. I always thought that I would miss performing but someone once said to me that when it’s right you will know and I did.

YOU WON THE TIM WILLIAMS AWARD IN 2010; YOUR SONGS HAVE TAKEN PART OF SHOWS SUCH US ‘BEYOND THE GATE’ OR ‘A SONG CYCLE FOR SOHO’; AND LAST WEEK YOU TOOK PART OF THE OPENING DOORS FESTIVAL, SHOWCASING ‘LIFT’. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT ALL THIS BUZZ IN LONDON SUPPORTING NEW BRITISH MUSICALS IN THE LAST YEARS? This buzz is amazing. It really feels at the moment that there is something in the air and it’s very exciting and inspiring. MMD and PERFECT PITCH are doing some great things for writers. You need that support so much. It’s really important that you are allowed to fail and then go back to the drawing board and get things right! There is still a divide though between the young writers getting songs and workshops produced to having full scale productions. This is the next step, with producers trusting the next generation of writers to write the scores for the new big shows.

SPECIFICALLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE WORK OF PERFECT PITCH PROMOTING NEW MUSICALS? HOW HAS IT BEEN WORKING WITH THEM?
Their work is essential. Without them and their support the likes of myself wouldn’t be doing what we’re doing. There is a huge gap in past years in British Musical Theatre writers and it’s because Perfect Pitch and MMD didn’t exist. We are all learning together and this is exciting.  

WILL ‘LIFT’ HAVE A COMPLETE PRODUCTION IN LONDON SOON?
I certainly hope so. There are a lot of things happening at the moment. A lot of people talking about various things but I am certain that a production will happen. Soon! I just can’t wait for people to hear the show as I have always intended. I just hope people like it!

COULD YOU COMMENT OTHER PROJECTS YOU ARE WORKING ON?
Well, there’s lots of things in the pipe line. I am about to start at the Finborough, writing music for their productions. I am also going to be workshopping a show there called “Therese Raquin” based on the Emile Zola novel – this also has a workshop in New York later in the year. And there is also a major project that I am working on with Perfect Pitch. I can’t really say any more about this but we are planning workshops later in the year and it is on a huge scale so very exciting stuff. Bring on the future!