A Brazilian Blast

About the author:
The wonderful part about being a writer for the stage is that it can take you anywhere. Ask musical theater writer Kirsten Childs. Her new musical Miracle Brothers transports audiences to the colorful world of Brazil--complete with enchantment, history and adventure. Of course, Childs is no stranger to stage magic. She appeared alongside Chita Rivera in Chicago and performed on Broadway in Dancin', Jerry's Girls and Sweet Charity. She is also a graduate of NYU's Musical Theater Writing Program. Childs is widely known for her musical The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, which debuted at Playwrights Horizons in 2000 and earned her numerous awards, including the Richard Rodgers Production Award, the Jonathan Larson Foundation Award, the Edward Kleban Award for Lyrics and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Grant. Here, Childs recalls how she changed her original idea for Miracle Brothers, and how the developing story emotionally affected her late mother. Grab a caipirinha and enjoy Childs' intimate First Person!

I was commissioned by the Vineyard to do a show about four years ago. Planning to write a sweeping romantic swashbuckler set in the South Seas with pirates, castaways, friendly dolphins and a plucky island girl, I began to do research. To my great chagrin, there were no damn pirates in the South Seas, at least not near Tahiti, where my story was set. I said to myself, hmm, where would pirates be likely to check out the booty?

Someplace where there were beautiful people, of course! I moved my story to Brazil and, as I found out more about that fascinating country, everything began to click into place. Percussively. To sensuous Brazilian rhythms, with cuicas and congas, berimbaus and guitars. Miraculous transformations occurred. Swashbuckling became capoeira an Afro-Brazilian way of fighting, castaways turned into runaway slaves, and my plucky island girl morphed into a pair of black and white Brazilian brothers. Did I mention the dolphins? Instead of the friendly sea creatures we all know and love, they shape-shifted into seductive, beautiful otherworldly beings that amused themselves by creating a strange and wonderful adventure for the two brothers, an adventure testing the strength of their brotherly bond.

I would call my mother in Los Angeles to tell her the story in installations. She loved it. More importantly, she remembered it--a major miracle in itself, considering my mother had Alzheimer's. It was so much fun sharing the story with her--it made us both laugh and helped us cherish the time we spent together before she died. My mom was very adamant about me figuring out a decent feel-good ending for the boys instead of the noble, tragic one I was going to have. I think it was her way of healing the scars of her own family background--a background that included blacks and whites that denied the existence of each other. It's a dysfunctional family experience more common than one would think, and the descendants of such famous Americans as Thomas Jefferson and Strom Thurmond share it. I've always loved the way magical fables and fairy tales deal with difficult subjects. In writing Miracle Brothers, I think I've found a way to take on the story of my ancestors, both black and white, in a way that doesn't make me feel defeated--in a way that makes me rejoice in the power of love.

Doug Aibel, the artistic director of the Vineyard, told me that without a doubt Tina Landau was the director for this project. If I hadn't known that when I witnessed the magical landscape she had created for Dream True her collaboration with the wonderful composer Ricky Ian Gordon, I knew it seconds after I spoke with her for the first time about the project. Tina saw the world of Miracle Brothers with a clarity and depth of vision that helped me to define the world even more thoroughly. The creative team that has been assembled is indicative of her poet's eye. Choreographer Mark Dendy has constructed a dance language for the show that's as sexy and lyrical as Brazilian Portuguese. The musicians, led by musical director Fred Carl, infuse the music with homegrown soul and Brazilian axé spirit. The rest of the production team is equally as impressive, and though the list is too long to mention everyone by name, this is a perfect opportunity for me to tell you to go to the theater's website to check out the roster of unbelievable artists who are creating Bahia on 15th Street.

OK, let's talk about the actors. They sing, dance, act, swordfight and do capoeira. Everyday before rehearsal, they take an optional capoeira class with capoeira expert and their now beloved friend Esquilo Porto. Oh--and by the way, they happen to be Kerry Butler, Cheryl Freeman, Jay Goede, Anika Larsen, Nicole Leach, Tyler Maynard, Darrell Moultrie, Clifton Oliver, Karen Olivo, Devin Richards, Gregory Treco and Bill Youmans. It's unreal how fabulous they are. It's exciting.

Through a South American lens, I got a chance to examine the humor and humanity in a painful chapter of North American history and work with generous, beautiful, wondrously talented artists while I was doing it. I also got to immerse myself in an enchanted country like Brazil, where so many incredible cultures merge. And I got to do it in New York City at a wonderful theater like the Vineyard! What a blast!