6 minute read
Discovering Galileo
A conversation with the creative team
Galileo reconsiders everything we know about the scientific genius who mapped the sky, shedding modern light on the themes and arguments engendered by his radical discoveries.
Comprising lyricists and composers Michael Weiner and Zoe Sarnak, book writer Danny Strong, and director Michael Mayer, the creative team brought their rock-and-roll sensibility to a story that might play quite differently than what we were taught in school. These creative visionaries sat down with Berkeley Rep staff to discuss the musical’s origins, the central debate of truth versus power, and its contemporary relevance.
ON THE GENESIS OF GALILEO
Michael Weiner: The way that this started — and it feels almost cliché to say — I was in a bookstore, and I came upon a book about Galileo and started reading through it. Almost immediately I thought it could be a great musical. I had known the basic history, but as I was sifting through the pages, I felt that there was an opportunity to explore the topic in a way that could speak to a contemporary audience — something that hadn’t been done before with this material. Danny and I have been friends for a long time starting back in Los Angeles and one day, we were talking about what we wanted to work on, and I said to him that I wanted to do a rock musical about Galileo.
Danny Strong: And I said, well, can I write it?
ON THE MUSICAL’S CENTRAL THEMES
DS: Denying truth for power was sort of the underlying theme and idea that we wanted to explore. It’s such a thrilling, relevant debate — dramatizing how a global institution could literally deny facts for their own benefit. It’s ultimately a ‘power corrupts’ tale, which is a very old theme, but a theme that is extremely relevant and important today where the truth is whatever a politician wants it to be. When we realized this would be a guiding principle, the show started exploding in relevance and importance to us.
ON GALILEO’S RESONANCE NOW
Michael Mayer: Over the past several years, it feels like we’ve been entrenched in an existential crisis regarding truth and how we navigate it amidst a world of fake news. Now we are facing the very real possibility of heading back into this crisis and that is truly terrifying. Galileo’s story prompts us to consider the price of truth and the battle of ideologies we’re all living through. There seems to be a significant portion of the American population yearning to turn back the clock. It wouldn’t be surprising if some suggested that the Earth being round is just a theory. This is the world we find ourselves in. The Galileo story resonates because it addresses these issues. The intersection of faith, science, politics, and policy is particularly pronounced in American culture today, echoing Galileo’s struggle.
ON ART AND SCIENCE
Zoe Sarnak: My background academically is that I’m a math and science kid. I went to undergrad at Harvard for molecular and cellular bio, and my dad’s a mathematician. When I started writing music, it wasn’t like I was drawn to writing musicals where molecules sang to each other, but I have always felt really drawn to the fact that there’s something shared between people who search for academic truths and artists. We sort of think the same way. We’re dreamers. Then, given my background with rock music, there was something about getting the call to co-write a rebellious rock-and-roll Galileo that I was like… I think this is the greatest. It’s every entry point I could ask for.
ON GALILEO’S COMPLEXITY
DS: When I first started reading about him, he instantly reminded me of Steve Jobs — how brilliant he was but also how difficult he could be. For me dramatically, I loved it. I loved that he wasn’t just this lovely, sweet guy, but that he was a really difficult and complicated personality. And I think, at times, people like this have qualities that will change the world. Galileo’s stubbornness makes him incapable of denying the truth. He’s not capable of staying silent. To have someone so heroic, and their heroism is driven by their flaws, is such a gift to a dramatist.
MW: And it made perfect sense to us that the musical language of the show would be contemporary. Galileo had a rock star personality — brazen, unpredictable, and at times, difficult. He was the kind of guy who would smash a guitar.
ON THE DESIGN
MM: Our intent with the design in this production is to embrace the dichotomy between the historical events and the rock music that gives voice to the emotional lives of the characters living those events. In every department, my hope is that the audience will experience both the formal nature of the history and the anarchic nature of the rock and roll emotional journey.
ON VIRGINIA, GALILEO’S DAUGHTER
ZS: We love Virginia. I’m a big Virginia fan. We wanted to look at a relationship between her and her father where we can see that she has the same DNA as him — that sort of fiery passion and that desire to search for the stars — and that she’s even sort of a sounding board for him. And then see that, societally, there aren’t options for her to feel that way.
ON PREMIERING AT BERKELEY REP
MM: The Berkeley audience is particularly great because they have either actively sought out or have become accustomed over the years to appreciate new works and alternative storytelling methods, whether it’s in musicals or straight plays. The narrative function in a theatrical space and the wide range of methodologies used to convey these stories have been challenging Berkeley audiences since the beginning. This show is no exception. I’m excited because I believe Berkeley, with its highly educated, politically engaged, and spiritually attuned audience, is an ideal setting for our experiment as we push the boundaries of traditional storytelling.
