I met Alaina in 1999(!) and fell in love. Circumstances forced us into a long-distance relationship soon after and, when I disappeared to West Africa for a few months in 2001, we ended it. In my grieving, I found solace in Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album; the songs captured so many of the emotions that I was feeling, love, loss, longing despair, hope, resignation and freedom. I knew that the band members had been experiencing intense relationship trauma while recording the album and somehow managed to navigate the emotional minefield to produce one of the greatest records of all-time. It is haunting and beautiful, depressing and inspiring and when I listened, it clarified my own emotions. Fortunately, our love was strong enough to overcome the test breakup; we reunited in a few months, were married four years later and have shared our lives and been joined by two incredible children. I believe going through the painful interlude made our relationship stronger and more secure so, in a way, I am grateful that we had the opportunity to even briefly experience the dark and tormented side of love.
We are still together and closer than ever and occasionally, we can leave the kids (thanks Grandma!) and go see a show; last week we saw Sleep No More (see below) and on Tuesday we saw Stereophonic at Playwrights Horizons, which portrays the recording process and tumultuous relationships of a fake band that resembles Fleetwood Mac and their fabled Rumours sessions almost note for note. The new music, inspired by sultry seventies sounds, is beautifully composed by Arcade Fire’s Will Butler. The set is a groovy recording studio by David Zinn and action occurs in the console room, as well as behind the soundproof glass in the recording room, plus plenty of implied drama off-stage and between scenes. The talented actors play their own instruments and sing, their connections cohering and dissolving in the harmonic interplay and counterpoint; abusing themselves and each other with a web of emotions heightening and fraying under increasing tension and pressure as they pursue their one common goal of producing great music together. It is entertaining theater and brought me back to my temporary musical crutch of emotional consolation, Rumours; while I wait for a recording of this beautiful Stereophonic score, I was glad to find a new live release of classic Fleetwood Mac from 1977 to tide me over!