 SPECIAL
REPORTLOVING
THE SILENT TEARS |
IN-DEPTH
WITH THE ARTISTS AND
CREATIVE TEAM |
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In-Depth
with Loving the Silent Tears |
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“I
hope that the outcome of Loving the
Silent Tears will reflect all of the
love and the goodness and the positive energy that we feel
in putting this piece together.”
A rare and eclectic artist, Vincent Paterson is a highly sought-after director and legendary choreographer whose accomplishments span the worlds of Broadway, opera, concert tours, film, music videos, television shows, and commercials.
The brilliant Mr. Paterson has been known as a key creative energy source in the careers of Michael Jackson and Madonna, collaborating with each of them for many years. He had been a prominent dancer in two of Michael Jackson’s most famous music videos. He explained, “I danced in ‘Beat It.’ I was one of the lead gang leaders in ‘Beat It.’ I was also assistant choreographer and a zombie in ‘Thriller.’ I did that, you know. [Shows the zombie dance moves from ‘Thriller’] (laughs) So I got to know Michael really well.”
Mr. Paterson went on to create what would be the King of Pop’s all-time classic “Smooth Criminal” music video. In the years to come, Vincent Paterson also directed and choreographed Michael Jackson’s “Bad” world tour, as well as a number of his other most memorable performances. For Madonna, he directed/choreographed one of her world tours and the famous performance of “Vogue” at the MTV Awards, and choreographed her “Express Yourself” video, among many other projects. Leaving his mark in Broadway theatre, Mr. Paterson received a Tony Award nomination for his choreography of Kiss of the Spider Woman, collaborating with renowned Broadway producer/director Hal Prince. His choreography and/or directing work have been seen as far as on London’s West End (Lenny for director Sir Peter Hall), in Germany for Berlin’s first original production of the musical Cabaret, and in Prague, Czech Republic (Gulliver’s Travels). More recently, he wrote and directed Cirque Du Soleil’s “Viva ELVIS” show. Equally at ease in opera, he directed and choreographed Massenet’s Manon with soprano Anna Netrebko and Plácido Domingo as conductor. He was nominated for Best Television Arts Program at the Montreux Film Festival for directing Anna Netrebko: The Woman, The Voice.
Meanwhile, in the film industry, Mr. Paterson also has choreography credits that include the Oscar-winning musical film Evita starring Madonna, and movies of acclaimed directors such as Steven Spielberg (Hook starring Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams), Sydney Pollack (Havana starring Robert Redford), Mike Nichols (The Birdcage), and Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark starring Björk). In addition to work on over 250 television commercials, Mr. Paterson directed and choreographed the TNT special In Search of Dr. Seuss, for which he received an Emmy nomination and five ACE Award nominations. Another Emmy nomination was earned for his choreography in HBO’s Comic Relief VII. In 2008, he appeared as a judge on the reality TV talent search show, Step It Up and Dance. Explaining his remarkable versatility across the art forms, Mr. Paterson shared, “I had my first dance class when I was 24 years old. So, I had had another whole life before that, that didn’t involve dance. So my interests were varied. I was as much interested in opera as I was MTV. And I think having the knowledge of how to choreograph as well as how to direct, and having studied acting for many, many years and been an actor for a while, it opened a lot of different doors, because I could relate to dancers, I could relate to actors, I could relate to singers. And I think that having that kind of knowledge afforded me these unbelievable opportunities in a gamut of genres.” As the director of Loving the Silent Tears, he masterfully carried out a beautiful vision of humanity and peace that involved presenting the profound poetry of Supreme Master Ching Hai through an all-star cast and elevating songs, along with the cultures of 16 countries represented in soul-stirring dances. On the red carpet prior to the premiere of Loving the Silent Tears, he happily affirmed, “We always do the best we can. You never know how the audience reacts, but it seemed that last night the audience loved it so much that this afternoon I’m meeting with all of the stars to tell them that if they keep on applauding, ‘You’ve got to come back and [do] one more bow.” Following are excerpts from Mr. Paterson’s interview with Supreme Master Television prior to the musical’s premiere, in which he shared wonderful stories about his artistic beginnings, working with Michael Jackson and Madonna, and directing Loving the Silent Tears. I majored in drama actually, theatre. I had nothing to do with dance. I used to pass by on my way to work a little dance studio all the time, and I would peek in and I would see the kids in there dancing and stuff. And I was about 23 years old. And finally one day I thought, “You know what? I’m a theatre person. I don’t exercise. I don’t do that much. Let me go in and see if I should maybe take a dance class.” So they didn’t have adult dance classes. And the woman was very sweet and she said, “If you’d like, you could come in and take with the young adults.” And that was kids that were like 11 to 15 years old. I studied very, very hard, and four years intensive training. I auditioned for nine months for everything I could. Never got a job. And finally broke through, and then my dancing career kind of took off. I did everything from touring the world with Shirley MacLaine, to doing commercials. I loved dancing, but I felt that I had more of an affinity for being the sculptor rather than the clay. I was fortunate enough in the very beginning. It was the early stages of music videos. So they called and said, “Would you like to try some choreography on Van Halen or David Lee Roth or something like this?” And I said, “Yeah, sure, I’d love to do that kind of thing.” So I tried it and I really loved it. And that’s sort of how it all began.
I collaborated with Michael Jackson for 17 years. Last night actually I went to a private screening [of the documentary Michael Jackson: BAD25] at Sony. The “Bad” tour was Michael Jackson’s first solo tour. Prior to that I had done a few wonderful projects with him. He called me and asked me if I would conceive and create a video for him to a song called “Smooth Criminal.” And then I did one for “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and multiple other pieces that were in his short film, Moonwalker. And then his first tour came up, and he asked me if I would direct it and choreograph it. And I did. And that was the “Bad” tour. But I went on to work with him for many, many years after that, creating performances for him on the Grammys or on the Super Bowl, a couple of commercials for Japan. The last thing that I did with him was at the end of the ‘90s, and I directed and choreographed a video that became number one around the world.
I always make notations about things that excite me or something that inspires me, or a new thought. And I not only bring that into the choreography, but in directing and in the conceptions that I come up with, and what I create. In terms of choreography, Michael told me early on, he gave me a beautiful thought. He said, “Don’t try to impose your ideas on the music, let the music talk to you and tell you what it wants to be.” So as a choreographer that’s what I’ve always done. I’ve spent a long time with the music in my head, in headphones. I just sit back and let it sort of flow over me like a meditation. And then those vague and abstract concepts start to take physical shape when I get into a studio.
The largest group that I’ve ever given any direction to was when I choreographed the Superbowl for Michael Jackson (“We Are the World”). And I had to talk to all of the people at the Superbowl, in the stadium, because we did a card trick. … Michael loved children, and so one of the things we did was we had all of the people in the audience begin to hold up these cards, and as they went around the whole entire stadium, it turned into a chain of almost paper cut-outs of little children holding hands. That would have been the greatest mass of people. And what is that, 50,000 people or something? I don’t even know. (laughs)
Madonna was also another wonderful creative being whom I had the opportunity to work with for many years. I think about 12 or 13 years. I worked on a Pepsi commercial. It was a historical piece; it was a three-and-a-half-minute commercial; it was the longest commercial that had ever been done. And I was asked to choreograph it. And that’s when I met her. She didn’t really want a choreographer when I arrived, and I was a little embarrassed about that. The director had brought me in. But I decided, “Okay, let me work with these kids that are in the background, these dancers.” And I started to play with them, and one day I was working with them and they were all facing me, and I see them sort of slowly stop. And I’m thinking, what are they stopping for? I’m standing here in front of them and telling them what to do. And I turned around, and there was Madonna. And she kind of had on a big robe and kind of fuzzy bunny slippers, and her hair in curlers. And she said, “What are you doing?” And I said, “Don’t worry, I’m not choreographing anything for you, I’m not doing anything for you. I’m just working here with the background stuff.” And she goes, “No, I like it! I’m going to go change, let me learn what this is.” So that’s kind of how it began. We got along really, really well. And I went from that to then choreographing a video for her called “Express Yourself.” And then, she asked me to choreograph and direct the “Blond Ambition” tour. I think I was the only director/choreographer that she’s ever used to do the entire show myself. All the other shows that she’s done after that, she’s hired like five or six or seven different choreographers. So I thought that was a nice feather on my cap. I enjoyed that. Then I did the movie Evita for her, which was a really fun event. I’ve done a lot of other projects with her, Academy Awards, other things, but you know, it all kind of becomes a big blur after a while! (laughs) I was approached by Cirque du Soleil to create a dance show for them. And so I worked with them for a few years, creating the piece, writing the piece. It was about Elvis Presley. So it closes at the end of August, and over a million people have gone to the show. And I really enjoyed having the opportunity to work with acrobats. I’d never done anything like that before. I like to always be challenged. I always like to try something that I’ve not done before. I got a call from Hal Prince, and he was doing a musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman. Terrence McNally had written it and John Kander and Fred Ebb had done the music. And he wanted to know if I was interested in choreographing it. It was a very strange request for me, because one day Hal Prince called; the next day Michael Jackson called and asked if I would direct his next tour. And I had to decide between Michael Jackson or doing Broadway. Well, I’d already done Michael Jackson and I’d already done Madonna, and so I’d done two hugely successful concert pieces. The “Bad” tour broke three Guinness World Records. It was the largest audience that had ever attended a live concert. It was the largest amount of shows that were ever done at Wembley Stadium, and I can’t remember what the third one was. So I thought, “You know what, I’ve done two concerts now. I’ve never done Broadway.” And if I’m going to do it, who better to work for than Hal Prince – the “Prince of Broadway,” John Kander, and Terrence McNally? I also had the wonderful opportunity of working with Chita Rivera who starred in it. In terms of directing this project, Loving the Silent Tears, I liked the idea of it. I liked the idea of having a show like this and what’s behind it. I thought, “Oh, this won’t be difficult,” because it was first presented to me almost as a revue. It was poems that had been created into songs and dances that would accompany them. As we went on, it got bigger and bigger and bigger so that it then became a story attached to the songs. And the cast went from one size to a bigger size to a bigger size to a bigger size. So now we’re talking about something that’s fairly close to almost a cast of a hundred when you figure the orchestra and the principals and the ensemble and the two extra companies that we’re bringing in. I think we might even be going over the cast of a hundred. So, from the first conversation to today, we’ve really expanded this project. We’re literally circling the globe with this project. The show visits 16 different countries, so to speak. How do we do that? Well, we came up with a device. We’re creating a train that’s sort of a train of spiritual enlightenment. While we’re in the reality of the action and the drama that transpires between two people, guided by a third, we go to these moments where something that they’re discussing, even in a very vague sense, materializes, or is appropriately sung about in these beautiful poem songs. It’s deep enough that it has a resonance to it, and I think it’s all interwoven beautifully now.
They’re beautiful poetic prayers that have been set to music. It’s beautiful sentiments. I’ve read these poems, I think they’re beautiful. But we wanted to have some narrative that would thinly weave these together. So I had suggested, maybe it’s a story about someone older and someone younger, and they’re both going through problems, seeking some kind of enlightenment, which is what most of the poems are about. And they somehow have conflict with each other, and the resolution of that conflict brings them back to a place where they’re open to step forward in their spiritual life once again.
The scope of this project for the amount of time is almost an impossibility. I think, “Oh, well, everybody thinks we’re going to do it, so we’re going to do it. We all have faith so let’s just jump in and make the thing happen.” We have three weeks to create something like 22 dances as well as all of these scenes that pull all of these pieces together. It’s a massive amount of work in a very, very limited amount of time. I had the first production meeting the other day, and I went through the script and talked through sets and sound effects and costumes and things like this. It’s a mammoth, vast production for the amount of time allotted. You come into a new project, you meet new people, it’s new energy, it’s exciting, people come with fresh ideas. I know Jody Watley is going to sing. I know that Jon Secada is going to sing. I know that Black Uhuru is going to do the Jamaican section. And they’re all very, very talented on the world stage. As for the dancing cast, I’m absolutely blown away, because the project that I did for Cirque du Soleil is closing at the end of this month, and we were fortunate enough to have some of the most amazing dancers who exist in the United States. And the majority of them are now going to come over and do this project with us. Most of the creatives are new to me. Our set designer and our lighting/projection designer are two gentlemen whom I’ve known of for a long time and have respected their work for a long time but never had had the joy to collaborate with.
It should absolutely be a magical
evening. They’re
going to hear great music. They’re going to see great
dancing. It will be a wonderful evening of theatre. You have
a fun time; beautiful costumes, great sets to look at. So all
of that I think is one reason to come, but also, I think there’s
some beautiful messages here, about enlightenment and self-realization,
and that’s always nice to hear, and that’s always
a nice reminder to have throughout life.
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