ANDY DRACHENBERG: You’ve been working on Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson through three different productions of the show now… What’s been the most exciting part of bringing this piece to Broadway?
ALEX TIMBERS: We’ve been working on this show for 6 years now. We did a production of it at the Williamstown Theatre festival, out in LA and two productions at the public, and every time we are able to get it a little better, and a little better. So, what I’m excited about with the Broadway production is that you’re seeing the best version that this show has ever been. It’s also been really interesting how the show continues to reflect and refract the politics of today. We started writing it during the Bush administration and over the years its really seems to mirror Clinton, Reagan, Carter, Obama, and now the Tea Party.
AD: After six years of Bloody Bloody, what happens when you sit down in the audience and the lights darken? Has every preview brought with it another surprise?
AT: Well, one of the most liberating parts of a Broadway preview process was that it’s lengthy. We really had the opportunity to make a ton of changes while listening to the audience and see what they were responding to or not responding to. Everyday we went in there and changed and tweaked, so every night the audience was seeing a different show than the night before.
AD: What influenced you to write Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson?
AT: When Michael Freedman (composer) and I first started working together, I said to him I want to do a show with “Emo” music and “Emo” culture and he said I know you’re interested in historical figures, isn’t Andrew Jackson the ultimate “Emo” President? That was the springboard into the show. The influences for the show have been varied from South Park and Monty Python, to Shakespeare’s “Coriolanus” and Arthur Kopit’s “Indians.”
There are a lot of rock musicals that are very self serious or angst-y and I what in part makes this unique is that it’s irreverent and fun. The type of comedy that you’re seeing is the type of comedy you would more likely see in a Will Ferrell movie or a Ben Stiller movie, or on Thirty Rock or Entourage. Less so than the Neil Simon 1950 comedies that Broadway seems so obsessed with. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jacksonis sort of brash and outrageous, the way the music works isn’t in the traditional sense where there’s music every three minutes, or everything is underscored. It’s really a very funny play, that is very political and very moving, but it also has these kick-ass songs that stop the action and really get your adrenaline going. Can I say kick-ass, is that ok?
AD: It’ll be our secret. Tell us a little about your team on the show.
AT: This show is actually providing Broadway debuts for about 90% of the team. Most of the cast are young people who have never been on Broadway before. They’ve worked off Broadway or at the Upright Citizens Brigade or in comedy clubs. This features a lot of fresh talent being seen by a major audience for the first time. Heading up the cast is Benjamin Walker who is this thrilling young performer who has this great mix of attributes as he plays Andrew Jackson.
AD: What are some of the things returning fans should look out for on Broadway?
AT: One of the most exciting aspects in doing it on Broadway is that we’ve been able to really take the immersive design that was so exciting down at the PUBLIC and really extend it all throughout the house. So what you see is over five miles of Christmas lights, crazy pieces of taxidermy and chandeliers throughout. These “Versa Tubes” which are enormous sticks of moving light, we’ve got ten of those above the house and it really feels that whatever seat you are in you’re a part of the show!
AD: I’m guessing you’ve noticed Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson already has a strong following. There are people already going back for their 4th or 5th time already. What do you think is pulling people back in again and again?
AT: One of the things that I think is most enticing about the show is that it mixes politics and comedy, which is an age-old fusion, in a really sort of fresh contemporary manner. People who have been coming back have fallen in love with the lowbrow humor and the stylistic experimentation, but there are real things being said about society and how politics really work, there is also a surprising emotionality to the show and that is something people don’t really expect.
AD: So this is really a show for everyone?
AT: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson may seem like a show for young people, but over the years we’ve found it’s appeal to be incredibly broad it’s for the intelligencia and for everyday people like you and me.
Alex Timbers (Writer & Director) is Artistic Director of the downtown company Les Freres Corbusier. Recent directing: Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson(OCC and Drama Desk Awards, Public/CTG); The Pee-wee Herman Show; Gutenberg! The Musical!(Drama Desk nom., Best Director of a Musical); Hell House (Drama Desk nom., Unique Theatrical Experience); A Very Merry Unauthorized… (Obie Award and Garland Award, Best Director); Heddatron, Boozy, Dance Dance Revolution (all Les Freres, writer of latter two). Former president, Yale Dramat. Thanks to Oskar, Andy, Jeffrey, Jerry and Mike Ritchie.