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Finally, his brain loaded,
or overloaded, with detail, he decided to incorporate into
his story as much of the information he had gleaned from
that extensive research as he could. He elected to use a
rhythm and blues format combined with a classical operatic
style.
The musical style “is a
balance between operatic and rhythm and blues,” says the
composer. The R & B aspect is included because “I had to pay
attention to 21st century sensibilities – no way
could this be done without it being rhythm and blues or
without including some jazz and spiritual overtones.” A
classical opera format was a thought initially but finding a
balance enabled Tappin to tell the story in a more
appropriate way, he says.
The final story content
was another matter. When the work first premiered in 2010,
“the story was more flowing and less focused” than it is
now. Although the reviews, particularly from King’s family
and associates, were glowing, Tappin felt there was a good
deal more work to be done.
After three subsequent
readings in New York in collaboration with director Daniel
Goldstein (who is still the director), the story evolved
into one in which the King character reflects on his life
from the vantage point of the last 36 hours.
Tappin had begun to place
great importance on King’s speech on April 3, 1968 at the
Masonic Temple in Memphis, the night before his
assassination, when he spoke the inspirational words “I’ve
been to the mountaintop.”
“What prompted those
words? Was it a sense of imminence? Of death?” Tappin asked
himself. “I asked myself ‘what if?’ What if he had seen it?
What if he knew it was coming? Did he feel that death was
imminent?
“After an initial reading
in New York – I had my own thoughts at LaGuardia [about
imminence] and I thought I can use a similar approach.”
Tappin’s ideas for the
last 36 hours then turned towards a dream. “King has had a
dream, a recurring dream, and reflects on the dream in which
he returns to particular periods of his life – his
childhood, his days at the university. Then there is a
series of steps, a physical journey to Memphis and a
reconciliation of his life.”
In addition to the
challenges of the format, Tappin also felt compelled to
examine what he perceived to be the conflicts such a man as
King must have faced – the internal wars; the drive to be
non-violent versus the desire to retaliate and seek revenge;
the façade presented to the outside world regardless of the
inner turmoil.
Examining what might have
been the conflicts King faced enabled the rewrites, recalls
Tappin. However, after all these years of writing and
rewriting, Tappin freely admits that he still rewrites. He
is currently making some edits on Act 2, in particular, and
when asked if he might be standing in the stage wing on
opening night here in Toledo in April making an adjustment
or two, he acknowledges that possibility.
“I don’t know if things
like this are ever done,” he confesses.
Douglas Tappin’s I Dream will open April 6 and continue
through April 8 at the Valentine Theatre – produced by the
Toledo Opera.
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