In these extraordinary and uncertain times of COVID-19, with venues closed and live performance at a halt, NiteLife Exchange is reaching out and covering the effect the crisis is having on performing artists
Music director Alex Rybeck is a pianist, arranger and composer is well-known for his work in theater, cabaret and the recording studio. He’s the recipient of multiple MAC Awards, including two 2020 awards for musical direction and original song. In cabaret he’s worked with such notables as Karen Akers, Liz and Ann Hampton Callaway, Ann Kittredge, Jeff Harnar and many, many more. His Broadway credits include Grand Hotel and Merrily We Roll Along, among others. His work with major celebrities would fill a phone book and include legends such as Metropolitan Opera diva Roberta Peters, Marni Nixon, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Patricia Neal, The McGuire Sisters and Eartha Kitt. Rybeck attended Oberlin College and NYU, where he was taught by Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Stephen Schwartz, Arthur Laurents and Comden and Green.
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Alex Rybeck (AR) Six Questions:
NLE: Besides the inability to perform live, has the pandemic crisis significantly changed your life? If yes, how?
AR: I find this question hard to answer. “Besides performing live” would seem to indicate an activity that is somehow set apart from the rest of my life. In fact, it is pretty central to everything I do. Live performances (and I include rehearsals with that) are my main source of income, and in fact, my main source of human interaction and social life. My performing life also routinely involves a lot of travel. Now there are no rehearsals, no travel, no performances, no face-to-face interaction. So—“besides that?” Well, I am eating at home, making all my own meals. That’s okay. My piano was tuned just before everything shut down; that’s good! And while I have long used Facebook to stay in touch with friends, I now find myself really enjoying phone calls; it’s just nice to hear the human voice on the other end of the line. One significant change would be the sense of helplessness one feels when a relative or friend is in need of help; the ways to help others are severely limited when you cannot physically reach out. It’s heartbreaking to miss out on visiting someone who is sick, or attending a wedding, funeral, graduation or family reunion.
NLE: A music director is, by nature of the work, often in a supporting mindset. Do you find this true now? If yes, how do you reach out to support friends and colleagues at this time?
AR: As a Music Director, who works with many different artists, I am invariably in different parts of the creative process simultaneously: from having preliminary brainstorming sessions with one singer, exploratory searches for material with another, creating and honing specific arrangements with another, to actually performing shows with yet others. Since the quarantine, with all current performances canceled or indefinitely postponed, I’ve happily been able to move forward on other projects that are in formative stages. I had fun brainstorming with singer Maureen Brennan and director Mark Waldrop in a 90-minute phone meeting. I composed a love theme for a horror movie which will hopefully be produced once the quarantine is over. I had another lengthy phone session with another filmmaker about her screenplay and its musical needs. So, yes, I feel I’m able to keep making supportive contributions to various projects, via phone or computer.
NLE: How do you move through your day? What helps you the most to cope with isolation?
AR: I have been fairly lazy since self-quarantining. I have this idea I will finally make order out of my cluttered apartment. I’m working tirelessly on getting started.
NLE: People with pets often report their animal companions are delighted to have more company at this time. You have a most unusual pet. Do you detect a difference in attitude now that you’re home more?
AR: I have a pet corn snake, Petula. Snakes, unlike dogs, are not especially geared toward human interaction. They like to be left alone for the most part, and they don’t need walking! So there’s been no special change in our typical low-maintenance relationship. She did shed recently. That’s how caring she is—she’ll literally give you the skin off her back.
NLE: Do you think when this crisis is finally over that there will be a change in the way we view performance? Will digital retain a significant presence in the way artists deliver their talents?
AR: One would hope that when nightlife returns, and the theaters, cabarets, and concert halls are open again, there’ll perhaps be a newfound appreciation of the artists who were absent for so long. After 9/11, people were afraid to attend live events for a while. I remember going to see the just-opened musical Mamma Mia, and was so grateful for the escape it provided. So I guess I hope there’ll be special appreciation of being able to gather with people again, and be entertained by live performers.
As for digital presentation—thank goodness we have this technology now to get us through this period of isolation. I think it’s undeniable that more people than ever are availing themselves of this option—both those who are putting out product, and those who consume it. This increase in DIY entertainment inevitably means more folks are comfortable with producing and receiving it. I would guess more artists will continue down this path, and explore the possibilities it presents. Even before the pandemic, Liz Callaway began posting videos of herself rehearsing songs in her car. These little videos (which she calls “Auto Tunes”) have become very popular with her fans. She unwittingly picked a great time to start posting these! And Ann Kittredge invited me out to her house to create a “living room concert in her dining room,” just before the city shut down, which she’s making available on YouTube.
NLE: Many Facebook memes point out that it’s art in its many forms that have helped people cope, especially in quarantine. Do you think this message will endure, will be seriously taken on board, when life returns to normal?
AR: There have been some amazing videos (I am avoiding the adjective “viral”) such as that of the quarantined Italians who stood on their balconies and sang. Or the “virtual choirs” and “virtual orchestras”—collaborations that defy the current isolation of artists and audiences. Will this message endure? To be perfectly honest, and it pains me to say this, I don’t think so. Not in this country. America has never put the arts on the same level as other human endeavors. In most civilized countries, the arts receive substantial government subsidies. Not here. Music and arts programs are the first programs to be killed when budget cuts happen. The public doesn’t consider what we do as a “real job,” let alone essential. So no, I think life will return to normal fairly quickly, meaning that everyone will soon forget how much they missed during this pandemic.
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