Bret McKenzie to guest curate 2020 New Zealand Festival

Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie to guest curate 2020 New Zealand Festival in Wellington
Emily Brookes
19:55, Aug 07 2019


Bret McKenzie discusses his plans and inspiration as guest curator for the 2020 New Zealand Festival.

Watch here.

Bret McKenzie of Flight of the Conchords fame is the second guest curator for next year's revamped New Zealand Festival.

Wellington native McKenzie - also a founding member of reggae-funk band The Black Seeds, Oscar-winner for the song "Man or Muppet"from 2011 film The Muppets, and, of course, Lindir, aka Figwit, in The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies - said that he "grew up with this festival."

"What I'm enjoying about working on the festival is looking back at things I loved when I was growing up."


"I still think Wellington's the coolest city in New Zealand,"says native son and New Zealand Festival guest curator Bret McKenzie.

He particularly recalled unusual performances such as one that was staged at the ferry terminal entirely in Fiat Bambinas, and another which, at intermission, turned the set around so that the second half of the show took place behind the scenes.

McKenzie was also inspired by his own time as a performer. "It really felt like Wellington was alive with a great creative energy," he said.


McKenzie (right) is best known as one half, with Jemaine Clement, of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords.

"I would love to get an atmosphere like that for the Festival (in 2020)."

To that end McKenzie is planning non-traditional events to be staged during his week that he hoped would "really get the city to come to life."

One will lead people on "an adventure" around the greater Wellington region, finding sculptures by local artists Kemi Niko, who staged a similar event a few years ago.

"There was a map, almost like a treasure map, and hidden in the hills and round the South Coast of Wellington were these miniature huts made of recycled products," McKenzie said.

"Me and my kids, we went on these missions in the weekend following the maps. It was like a treasure hunt but for works of art."

The father of three said that he was keen to add some family-friendly activities to the Festival and also to have some events, like this one, that would be free.


Bret McKenzie "grew up with"the Festival and was inspired by performances he loved as a child.

"People only go to one or two shows because the festival's so expensive, and this is free and you can go in your own time."

McKenzie will also bring a project that he has been working on with the National Theatre in London for the last couple of years, an adaptation of Booker Prize-winner George Saunders' surreal, satirical novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil.

He plans to workshop the musical during the Festival, a process that would usually happen in London for West End shows.

"We'll do this development workshop series where the audience will come along and each night the show will probably evolve as it goes," he said.

"It'll be something more than a script reading, something less than a fully staged show."

It would involve British performers alongside Kiwi ones.

"I love supporting local artists. I've been so lucky to get to work overseas and lots of local artists don't get that chance, so it's cool to be able to bring those connections to NZ and foster new relationships with artists for people that come over."

McKenzie, who now works primarily in Los Angeles, said that he was excited to be working on the iconic event in his home town.

"I'm really familiar with (the Festival) and the audience, and what it means to the country and the city," he said

"I still think Wellington's the coolest city in New Zealand. Wellington's rocking."

Flight of the Conchords star Bret McKenzie returns home to guest curate New Zealand Festival
WED, AUG 7


It’s just been announced he’ll co-curate the New Zealand Festival in Wellington. Source: Seven Sharp

National treasure Bret McKenzie is back on our shores to guest curate the New Zealand Festival.

The Flight of the Conchords star told TVNZ1's Seven Sharp today that he would be looking to get people out in Wellington.

“I’m choosing shows for next year’s arts festival," he said. "I want to get some shows that get people outdoors, get families out and about in Wellington, a couple of shows that connect New Zealand artists with overseas artists.

“That’s the idea, but we’re actually figuring out the programme.”

The former Black Seeds member also revealed that the Oscar he won in 2012 for the song Man or Muppet is stored on his piano, which he acknowledged is maybe a little intimidating for his kids as they learn the instrument.

“The Oscar lives on the piano at the moment, it’s quite good, if I’m writing a song, I can look up and think is it [the song] good enough?

“And then keep working on the song, I have another piano I work on when I don’t want the pressure.

“I hadn’t really thought about it but the kids practise on that piano with an Oscar above them, maybe I should move it,” a laughing McKenzie said.

“My son asked me the other day if I’d sell it [the Oscar]. I was like, 'Yeah, I probably won’t sell it, I don’t think'.”

[size=150:1ci82hg8]Academy Award winner Bret McKenzie on what inspires him, and what Kermit the Frog is like in real life
07/08/2019 | Vita Molyneux


[size=85:1ci82hg8]Bret McKenzie is a man of many talents - he's an actor, an Academy award-winning composer, comedian and all-around good bloke.

Now, McKenzie has been announced as a guest curator for the New Zealand Festival in 2020.

One of McKenzie's contributions will be a musical interpretation of the creepy, surrealist novella "
The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil"
which he has developed alongside the National Theatre in London.

"
[The novella] is really strange for sure, it's really surreal, quite dark and quite funny,"
McKenzie told Newshub.

"
For the festival, we're going to put some shows on with a Wellington audience as part of the development process,"


Developing a stage show is a time-consuming process - McKenzie says eight years is the estimate for most musicals.

With two years of development under his belt, he is excited to share the show.

"
We're getting to the point where we've got a draft of a script and the benefit of presenting and workshopping these shows is you can kind of make your mistakes and develop it,"
he said.

It's also a great opportunity for audiences to contribute.

"
Fans and audiences can give you feedback and you can have ideas which then spark the kernel of the next project."


"
I'm inspired by artists coming together and collaborating and just hanging out and how that can inform and feed everyone's ideas in a really healthy way."


A Wellingtonian at heart, McKenzie says he's excited to recreate his own memories of shows in the Capital.

"
I'm excited to really bring Wellington to life with shows and events,"
he said.

"
I just have such fond memories of going out and seeing shows and meeting artists, and it really inspired me and I hope I can inspire other New Zealand artists in the same way."


The New Zealand Festival will be held in Wellington from the 21 February until 15 March 2020.

[url=Watch the full interview.][/url]

[size=150:xnysal1e]Announcing Bret McKenzie: Guest Curator for the 2020 New Zealand Festival

Academy Award-winning composer, musician, actor and comedian Bret McKenzie has been announced as a Guest Curator for the 2020 New Zealand Festival. Best known as one half of Grammy Award-winning Flight of the Conchords and musical supervisor for The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted movies, he is joining Lemi Ponifaso as the second of three Guest Curators brought on as part of the New Zealand Festival’s fresh approach to the 2020 programme. Here, we talk to him about his upcoming guest curator role.


[size=85:xnysal1e]Image: Bret McKenzie, Photo Sara Tansy

So Bret, what was your reaction when you were asked to be a Guest Curator for the 2020 New Zealand Festival?

I was really excited - I love the Festival, I’ve grown up in Wellington and have always enjoyed going to shows. My Mum took me to shows as a kid, and when I was in my 20s doing theatre we all used to go to them together. I have such fond memories of Wellington just coming to life for those few weeks.

I remember one, I must have been really young. We went to this show down near the ferry terminal and the show was these Fiat Bambinas driving around with the actors inside the cars telling this insane story. As a kid it totally blew my mind and I still remember it really well. That same company came back a few years later and did a show in the Chaffers supermarket carpark. For the first half you watched the show and in the second half the stage turned around and you watched the show from backstage. It was an amazing production.

How are you approaching your NZ Festival Guest Curator role?

I’ve never curated a festival before so it’s all quite new to me. What I’ve done is looked back and thought about what I love about going to the Festival. I want to create something that’s family-friendly as I’ve been looking for activities to do with my kids recently. I also want to connect international artists with local artists. I did this big Muppet concert in Wellington last year and one of the great pleasures of that was connecting Wellingtonians with Chris Caswell, an American composer, and New Zealand and American puppeteers. I loved that connection and I’m hoping to find ways to do that again.

There’s a very Wellington story behind your commission of a new visual arts installation work being created in the Kāpiti coast by Kiwi artists Kemi Niko &
Co. Tell us about that?

A few years ago New Zealand artist duo Kemi Niko &
Co [by Kemi Whitwell and Niko Leyde] did an installation in Wellington where they built these sustainable miniature huts and scattered them around the hills of Wellington and the south coast. You got a treasure map where the treasures were these little huts, and when you looked through their windows they told a little story. One day I was running in Mount Cook and bumped into the artists. They told me they were fans of mine and I told them I was a fan of theirs and that we had been looking for them to do something with the NZ Festival. So, they’re working on it at the moment.

One of the key events in your Festival series is a new work you are making with the National Theatre in UK, a musical version of George Saunders’ cult story, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. Tell us about how that project came about?

When I got asked to look at this adaptation of a George Saunders’ book by British theatre director, Lindsay Turner, I was so excited by the insanity of the story and the challenge of turning it into a show. It’s quite a surreal political story where the world it’s set in isn’t real, and it feels very politically relevant today. The way these musical theatre shows get developed is we do little workshops and tests and I thought that instead of testing the show in London or America, we could test it in Wellington. It will be a work in progress where we’ll re-write during the day and it will evolve as the Festival goes on.

What do you want to see come from your Guest Curator role?

I’m curating the Festival for one week of the three weeks and I would really love the city to come to life, it’s one of my fondest memories of the Festival being in town. The connection of people going out, meeting each other and the artists. Wellington can feel quite sleepy through winter and when the Festival comes round in the summer, the city really thrives.

From the quirky to the powerful: New Zealand Festivals of the Arts 2020 programme release
Eleanor Wenman
12:30, Nov 07 2019

Musicians, poets, writers, dancers - the list goes on.

Artists of all kinds will descend on Wellington next year for the biennial New Zealand Festival of the Arts - and with the launch of the programme today, people can get a glimpse of what's on offer.

Concerts for dogs, never-before-seen productions, whatever you're after, there'll be something for everyone, creative director Marnie Karmelita said.

Next year's festival - which will run from February 21 to March 15 - will have a distinct flavour of performance each week as the three guest curators present their distinctive line-up of events alongside the festival programme.

[...]

The third guest curator, comedian Bret McKenzie, will be giving people an insight into creating a piece of theatre as he presents showings of his work in progress on The Weta Digital Season of the Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil.

McKenzie is collaborating with London's National Theatre for the production, which is based on a George Saunders novella.



[...]

* For a look at the full programme, visit the New Zealand Festival of the Arts website.

Ami wrote:

From the quirky to the powerful: New Zealand Festivals of the Arts 2020 programme release
Eleanor Wenman
12:30, Nov 07 2019

Musicians, poets, writers, dancers - the list goes on.

Artists of all kinds will descend on Wellington next year for the biennial New Zealand Festival of the Arts - and with the launch of the programme today, people can get a glimpse of what's on offer.

Concerts for dogs, never-before-seen productions, whatever you're after, there'll be something for everyone, creative director Marnie Karmelita said.

Next year's festival - which will run from February 21 to March 15 - will have a distinct flavour of performance each week as the three guest curators present their distinctive line-up of events alongside the festival programme.

[...]

The third guest curator, comedian Bret McKenzie, will be giving people an insight into creating a piece of theatre as he presents showings of his work in progress on The Weta Digital Season of the Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil.

McKenzie is collaborating with London's National Theatre for the production, which is based on a George Saunders novella.



[...]

* For a look at the full programme, visit the New Zealand Festival of the Arts website.

Stuff

Oscar-winning songwriter and half of Grammy Award-winning duo Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie is one of Wellington’s most successful artistic exports. With events for families, comedy lovers and music buffs, Bret is bringing a buzz to his hometown in the Festival’s final week.

"What I've done is looked back and thought about what I love about going to the Festival. I want to create something that's family-friendly as I've been looking for activities to do with my kids recently. I also want to connect international artists with local artists." - Bret McKenzie

As you’d expect, music and comedy influence Bret McKenzie’s programme, with hearty laughs, stinging satire and soaring melodies. Headlining the week is a theatrical coup he has scored for Wellington: a work in progress production of a new National Theatre (UK) musical adaptation of George Saunders’ darkly funny The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil. You’ll see Phil before the rest of the world and can say “I was there when…”

Bret wants families to come out in force for the Festival. He’ll be taking his kids for an arts adventure on the Kāpiti Coast and around Wellington’s green spaces in search of the enchanting miniature huts created by artists Kemi Niko & Co. Free for three weeks, this is a must-do whānau activity – take the train, the bus or walk for a great day out in our beautiful region.

From the Netherlands comes the virtuosic musical comedy group Släpstick, with a show perfect for all ages. They were a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and their hilarious five-star show, raved about the world over, comes to New Zealand for the first time.

Music is central to Bret’s work and his concert series celebrates fellow New Zealand musicians that influence and excite him today as well as some unique international collaborations. Don’t miss the trio of late night gigs in Shed 6 on the Wellington waterfront. In the 2020 Festival’s final week, lovers and dreamers of all ages will see their city transformed by a touch of McKenzie magic.

Bret McKenzie's Events

“Saunders’ pitch-perfect mimicry of brainless and self-justificatory presidential utterances contributes to a unique blend of hilarity, horror and sci-fi”
— SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ON THE BRIEF AND FRIGHTENING REIGN OF PHIL

Welcome to Outer Horner, home of Phil: an embittered nobody with a chip on his shoulder, an external mounting-rack that houses his brain, and an opinion for every occasion.

When neighbouring Inner Horner suddenly shrinks, forcing its inhabitants to spill over the border, it is Phil who steps into the breach. This is the tragic and hilarious story of the brief and frightening reign of Phil.

A new musical version of George Saunders’ cult story is in the early stages of development at the National Theatre in London. Now, for the first time, its creators Bret McKenzie, Tim Price and Lyndsey Turner offer up a work in progress showing of their first draft to a live audience.

With script in hand, actors, musicians, singers and technicians will test out their new material, rewriting each day in response to the audience and turning the Festival into a living, breathing development lab for Saunders’ brilliant and timely satire on nationalism and power.

A 'work in progress' showing of a new musical based on the novella by
George Saunders

Book by
Tim Price

Music and lyrics by
Bret McKenzie

Directed by
Lyndsey Turner

There is a free post-show talk for this event on Wednesday 11 March at Shed 6.

BUY TICKETS

[...]

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is under commission to the National Theatre of Great Britain and is presented in association with the National Theatre of Great Britain.

A Conchord, a legend, a firebrand: Meet the guest curators of the NZ Festival of Arts
Sam Brooks | Culture Editor

Sam Brooks interviews the three guest curators of the New Zealand Festival of Arts: Bret McKenzie, Laurie Anderson and Lemi Ponifasio.

An Oscar-winning Conchord, the world’s most beloved multimedia artist, and a world-renowned director and choreographer with an attitude. Three weeks, three unique visions of what a festival can and should be.  

In 2020, in its 35th year, the New Zealand Festival of the Arts (Te Taurima o Aotearoa) will be handed over to the artists in the service of bringing more artistic voices into the conversation, broadening and brightening the discourse in a way that only a festival can.

These three artists have been invited to curate a week of the festival, each contributing signature selections to the overall programme while giving their week a distinct identity and feel. An arts festival is a platform for extraordinary art, the kind that you often can’t see outside of a festival context. This year, the chance to also be given a degustation of what not just one, but three artists passionately believe in and think that you should see is something that’s rarely done.

I got the opportunity to speak to each of these three guest curators about what they’ve got coming to the festival and what they perceive their role in co-curating the festival to be. Each had a distinct vision for their week, but also a shared understanding of their role in presenting a catalogue that challenges the audience on how they understand art.

[...]


BRET MCKENZIE, GUEST CURATOR OF THE NZ FESTIVAL OF ARTS. PHOTO: SARA TANSY.

BRET MCKENZIE – Comedian, actor and composer – Week three

Bret McKenzie needs no introduction. He’s a Conchord, he’s got an Oscar and he’s one of the most famous exports to come out of New Zealand in the 21st century. Which is why I’m alarmed when he’s the one who calls me.

I panic and grab my colleague’s dictaphone and try to find a quiet place to talk as I stutter through greetings and get the recording started. I’m alarmed at how familiar his speaking voice sounds when I’m more familiar hearing his tones backed by guitars (and supported by another distinct Kiwi accent). After the usual pleasantries – it’s a windier-than-usual day in Wellington – we get to talking about his view of the festival.

McKenzie has never curated a festival before and he quickly realised that as a curator, it wasn’t his job to dictate what the work was. He sees his role as facilitator not dictator.

“I prefer it when people just ask me to do what I want to do, so I did that to the artists. I just asked people to do whatever they wanted to do. I didn’t really want to force an agenda onto the people coming to the festival.”

McKenzie comes to the curator job as a Wellingtonian, and someone for whom the festival has been a regular part of the biennial arts diet. It’s from that experience that he hopes to lighten the meaning of what an arts festival can be and attract a new audience.

“Sometimes they can be quite heavy, reading the programme. They’re always really good, but sometimes they seem that they kind of push the audience away. Sometimes arts festivals can be a little highbrow or a little heavy.”


BRET MCKENZIE, GUEST CURATOR OF THE NZ FESTIVAL OF ARTS. PHOTO: SARA TANSY.

McKenzie’s week is anything but heavy; it’s full of his famous dry humour and wit. And of course a bit of farce and clowning around. There’s Urban Hut Club, a roaming arts treasure hunt along the Kāpiti Coast designed by visual artists Kemi Niko & Co; Släpstick, a mix of clowning glory, music and appropriately, slapstick, from the Netherlands; and a range of late-night gigs including a Sara Brodie-directed concert from Estère and Nadia Reid returning to New Zealand with her new music.

As well as curating week three of the festival, McKenzie also brings one of his own works: a still in progress production of his new musical The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil (adapted from George Saunders’ novella of the same name), commissioned by the UK’s National Theatre and created in collaboration with director Lyndsey Turner and playwright Tim Price.

“It’s a quite surreal political story, loosely about a sort of loser who becomes president of this fictional nation and his brain falls off all the time. So it’s really dark and funny, and I’m really stoked that’s going to be part of the festival.”

It’s also a way for McKenzie to practice one of the other things that he’s preaching for his week of the festival: a chance for artists from across the world to collaborate with each other. The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil has a team comprised of performers and creatives from both the UK and New Zealand, and many of his other shows are also collaborations.

Shades of Shakti is a concert performed by some of Wellington’s finest musicians and sārangī maestro Sangeet Mishra. There’s also a performance from a die-to-see trio: 2019’s most beloved and acclaimed songstress Aldous Harding, indie favourite Weyes Blood and local rising stars Purple Pilgrims.

“I’ve been really lucky with my success overseas and being able to collaborate with people from all over the world. I’ve got so much out of doing that and I’m really stoked that there’s a couple of projects that create that for other local artists. It’ll create a little way to begin relationships for those artists, which I think is really important and special for them.”

McKenzie’s week of the festival sneakily but no doubt intentionally reflects who he is as an artist. It’s a genial, accessible week of work that’s also, on closer investigation, cannily smart. There are some once in a lifetime collaborations to be seen here (I can’t emphasise enough how much of a must-see that trio-concert is) and that’s what makes the festival so special.

Much like Anderson, he sees his ultimate role as connecting audiences to unique experiences.

“With an arts festival, you can’t help but start to think about what art is and what art does. I think the one thing that interests me is the way art can bring people together, so I’m really hopeful that these shows will do that.”

[...]

Over three conversations, each delightful and stirring in their own way, I got three different views and perspectives on what the festival is, and what that festival means to them. Three views that are as different as the weeks they’ve each curated.

It’s no secret that festivals exist as a platform for great art. But with next year’s New Zealand Festival of the Arts, we’ve been given a rare chance to not just see great art, but to view the world through the eyes of three artists who have changed the world, which I don’t say lightly.

‘Icon’ is another word I don’t use lightly. But for just a few weeks in February and March 2020, we have a chance to see the world through the eyes of three icons. It’s a chance to widen our views on what art is, and can be, and for art to smash a few mirrors.

artsfoundationnz 12 Days of Arts Highlights

Day 7, as told by Marnie Karmelita, Creative Director of TĀWHIRI festivals and experiences. "And then there were two. In August we welcomed Wellington’s own Bret McKenzie as the second of our Guest Curators for the New Zealand Festival of the Arts 2020 in a special event at the Grand Hall of Parliament House. The Oscar-winning comedian, musician and actor joined internationally acclaimed New Zealand director and choreographer Lemi Ponifasio. A fitting location to highlight the value of the arts to the economy and wellbeing of our community."

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

Sometimes collaboration happens between companies, and sometimes it happens when you get three of the right people in the same room and wait for the magic to happen. Both approaches come together in The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, a musical adaptation of George Saunders’ cult novella by lyricist and musician (and festival guest curator) Bret McKenzie, Welsh playwright Tim Price and British theatre director Lyndsey Turner.

Price and Turner they had been trying to find a project to work on for a few years when the director read the book, and sent a copy of it to the playwright. “This was it,” Price recalls. “We took it to the (British) National Theatre where Lyndsey is an associate and they were keen to support, so we had a pint together in London and spoke about our dream collaborator on this and Bret was at the top of the list.

“When you’re working with the National Theatre anything is possible because agents and managers actually do pick up the phone. So we spoke to Bret over email and Skype, and we met together in LA for a week to see if there was a show in the material and if we liked working together and thank the Lord we did and now we’re here.”

McKenzie describes the story as “dark and funny”, and says he’s stoked to have it at the festival, where it will be performed as a work in progress. “It’s a quite surreal political story, loosely about a sort of loser who becomes president of this fictional nation and his brain falls off all the time.”

The New Zealand Festival of the Arts is a crucial stepping stone in Phil‘s development process. For the creators, it’s taken a lot of emails, Skyping and figuring out timezones to get to this point.
“Lyndsey and I might bash some stuff together and send it over to Bret, or Bret and I might catch up with each other to discuss a song and then he’ll send it to Lyndsey, or Lyndsey and Bret figure out some stuff and send it to me,” Price says.

The show’s cast is a mix of Kiwis and Brits. “It’s a way to begin to create relationships for those artists, which I think is really important and special for them,” McKenzie says.

The collaboration will continue until the moment Phil is performed, and then within the festival itself. Price says the performance in Wellington will change in response to audience reaction. “Parts of it will be really stable, and parts of it we’re still to discover the right way to present, and we’ll be really honest about that on the night. The Wellington crowd is going to be an integral part of the journey of this show.”

Book now to see Bret McKenzie's new musical right here in Wellington during #NZFEST

Secure your seats to the 'work in progress' showing of The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil A new musical by the UK's National Theatre, making its debut in just a few weeks time.

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil
10 –14 Mar 2020
https://www.festival.nz/events/all/brief-and-frightening-reign-phil/

The George Saunders-inspired musical with songs by Bret McKenzie
By Russell Baillie | Feb 14, 2020

George Saunders and Bret McKenzie tell Russell Baillie about a new musical that’s making its stage debut at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts.

George Saunders has one word for his novella, The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, being turned into a musical by, among others, Bret McKenzie, Flight of the Conchord and Muppet music master.
The reason he has only one word, he tells the Listener, via email from his creative writing professor desk at Syracuse University, is that he’s busy adding to the pile of stories in which The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil resides, somewhere near where the pile first started. The pile now teeters and it is topped by Lincoln in the Bardo, which was his first novel after many years of novellas. And which won him the Man Booker Prize in 2017 after many years of winning awards and fellowships not quite as important for stories not quite as long.

Before he offers the one word, he is apologetic that he’s unable or unwilling to give more. He blames that novel.

“I owe Random House three (3!) books and did so much yapping for almost two years re Lincoln and found it was starting to erode my intelligence – so I’m sorry to not be able to oblige,” he writes obligingly. “I’ve been in this mode for about three months now and it is really helping – it’s somewhat akin to being, as we say here, ‘in the woodshed’. That is, getting out of ‘here’s how I feel’ mode and into ‘how do I feel’ mode.”

When Saunders appears “Live from New York” at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts next month – where The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, the musical by, among others, Bret McKenzie, is having a live debut – presumably, he will be out of the woodshed. Or perhaps they will be running a cable into it.

Fortunately, he has written before about writing The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, a parable that seems partly Orwellian and partly Dr Seuss-ian, before. The story is a tale of two countries, Outer Horner and Inner Horner. The latter is surrounded by the former. The latter has a population of seven. But, as it’s such a tiny territory, not everybody fits into Inner Horner at the same time. This leads to border disputes with Outer Horner, where, soon, a guy named Phil, who, like all Horner-ites is composed of flesh and machine parts and vegetative portions, takes charge.

The story, wrote Saunders, became “that rare and not-so-sought-after thing, a kids’ story about genocide … Needless to say, all hope for marketing tie-ins vanished.”

That may be so. But now there is hope for The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil’s 130 pages to become, well, almost the first George Saunders story to become anything else. There have been some short films based on his work and an Amazon pilot, Sea Oak, starring, among others, Oscar nominee Glenn Close as a woman back from the dead to annoy her relatives. It wasn’t picked up for a series, disappointing only those hoping to write “fatal attraction” headlines for a show about Close playing a zombie.

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil’s adaptation for the stage by, among others, Oscar and Grammy winner Bret McKenzie, is a musical. That’s possibly funny because Saunders’ prose already sings. So does he. He once sang a song on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, entitled, possibly, “It’s a beautiful day but not for you”, done as a duet with the host and inspired by his first children’s book, The Very Persistent Gappers of Frip. It was funny in a Flight of the Conchordian way.

Making The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil funny in a Flight of the Conchordian way was the idea of prominent English theatre director Lyndsey Turner and rising Welsh playwright Tim Price. They have the backing of Britain’s National Theatre to develop the production. They got in touch with Bret McKenzie some years before Lincoln in the Bardo shone a new light on George Saunders’ tall pile of short stories.

McKenzie said yes and started writing songs. Now, as one of three curators at the New Zealand Festival, he’s staging a work-in-progress version with a local cast before it progresses, hopefully all the way to the UK.

cKenzie says the production has its challenges, among them that, in the book, Phil’s brain falls out regularly. Other characters will need to have body parts that fall off, too.
“It’s a dream gig for actors with prosthetics,” he says, not seriously. It’s also a nice change from his previous efforts. “I was just excited by how different it is and how political it is. And, weirdly, it was written more than 10 years ago. But it’s just so eerily relevant to current politics and I love that it’s something a lot darker than the stuff I’ve done in the past.”

It’s Price’s job to make “the book” (the musical’s script) out of a book that seems more resonant today than it might have in 2005.

“Like all great stories, it feels eternally relevant and applicable to all sorts of current events,” Price emails from somewhere in Wales, “from Trump, to Brexit, to Boris. But I’m sure people living in countries I’ve never heard of will also read this book and roll their eyes with recognition. Mediocre men failing upwards seems to be a pretty universal problem.”

Unlike McKenzie, Price’s previous work has been strenuously political, with works on Bradley Manning, Scottish independence and the Occupy movement. So it’s a nice change from his previous efforts, too.

“Who wouldn’t want to want to play around in George Saunders’ mind for a few years?” he asks. Which brings us back to asking the reluctant author for one word about what he thinks of The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil being turned into a musical.

The one word is: dreamy.

New Zealand Festival of the Arts, Wellington: The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, March 10-14; George Saunders Live from New York, March 12.

This article was first published in the February 8, 2020 issue of the New Zealand Listener.

Bret McKenzie debuts new musical theatre as a work-in-progress exclusive for Festival
Kate Green 05:00, Mar 06 2020

VIDEO INTERVIEW (7m30s)

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is a piece that will change with each performance, a new musical based on George Saunders' cult novella of the same name.

For the first time, creators Bret McKenzie, Tim Price, and Lyndsey Turner offer up the first draft to a live audience.

Kiwi actor Tom Knowles said the play was "the most live and collaborative way you can do anything".


Local comedian Bret McKenzie has curated the final week of the festival which has a strong music element.

"Instead of just one person's vision we have amazing songs from Bret coupled with a cool design, director Lyndsey [Turner's] vision, and then the script."

It was staged as "live musical theatre - a rehearsed workshop".

After every performance the group would discuss and rework the script, meaning every night would be different.

"It will involve us sort of going back to the drawing board after each show, discussing and working out what works and didn't work that night."


The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil is based on George Saunders' cult novella of the same name.

McKenzie is one of Wellington's most successful artistic exports, half of Grammy-winning duo Flight of the Conchords and an Oscar-winner for his original songwriting on The Muppets movie.

Collaborating with him are Price, a Welsh screenwriter and playwright, and Turner, an Associate of the National Theatre.

The cast had learned a series of original songs by McKenzie that might make it into each performance.

"It's amazing to be working with him, he's an idol for a lot of us," Knowles said.

Creative director Marnie Karmelita said, "Bret offers Wellington artists the chance to workshop the script with the creative team from London and our Wellington audiences the chance to see it even before the World Premiere."

Knowles said McKenzie's music was ideal for dealing with the big issues in the book - around power, where does it come from, how do people react to it.

They were serious, heavy topics that people dealt with on a daily basis, made accessible and entertaining through comedy.

"His music is very real," Knowles said. "He's got a real knack."


Bret McKenzie is one of Wellington's most successful artistic exports, half of Grammy-winning duo Flight of the Conchords and an Oscar-winner for his original songwriting on The Muppets movie.

The cast for this "real eye-busting, heart-wrenching piece" was made up of seven Kiwis, and three English actors, just 10 in total, Knowles said.

"The fact that we're working alongside the [English] National Theatre, and award winner writers - this opportunity is massive."

* See it at Shed 6 March 10-11, 7.30pm; March 12-13, 6.30pm; and 4pm on March 14. Tickets $59.

Stuff

A Conchord Takes On Totalitarianism
Friday, 13 March 2020
Article: Max Rashbrooke

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil

National Theatre

Until Saturday, 14 March

Reviewer: Max Rashbrooke

This Festival of the Arts production is modestly billed as a ‘work in progress’ – but is already well advanced, remarkably polished, and looking like a surefire hit.

The show is an adaptation of the George Saunders novella The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, turned into a musical by writer Tim Price, director Lyndsey Turner, actors from Britain’s National Theatre, and our very own Bret McKenzie, who provides the music and lyrics.

An acute and blackly funny look at totalitarianism, the piece starts as the residents of Inner Horner are tumbled by an earthquake into the encircling state of Outer Horner. One Outer Horner resident, Phil, seizes this opportunity to exploit and foster resentment between the two populations, rapidly interning the unfortunate citizens of Inner Horner and taxing them for the privilege. How this can happen so easily, and how ordinary people respond, provides the rest of the narrative.

The overall feel and the set are low-key-funny: the characters sport a weird array of headgear, shinpads, spray bottles, boxes and other unidentified objects, while good use is made of live animation projected in the old school OHP style. The acting and singing are generally excellent. Daniel Rigby, as Phil, is inevitably the star, especially during his extraordinary moments of stuttering, freeze-framing descent into mental collapse. Meanwhile Jeffrey Kingsford Brown, alternating the roles of Gus and the President, is exceptionally funny. But there isn’t a weak link anywhere in the cast.

Unsurprisingly, McKenzie’s music is to the fore, and bears a recognisable Flight of the Conchords signature. It’s a cheerful rifling through the back catalogue of musical genres in the post-ironic manner we’ve come to expect, taking the mickey out of each genre but in such a gentle way as to simultaneously express sarcasm and love. And his writing is as funny as ever. Who, after all, could resist the rousing chorus, ‘It’s going to be a great day – but not for you’, or the motivational classic, ‘Sometimes you gotta f**k another man up’?

The overall text and narrative, meanwhile, are well handled. Some of the jibes at authoritarian leaders are predictable, but for the most part the show manages to land fresh punches from fresh angles, and the writers make full use of the power of surrealism to portray something familiar in a new light.

There are, of course, some minor weaknesses in something that remains a work in progress. A couple of scenes between Freeda and daughter Gertrude, although strong in their own right, feel poorly integrated into the rest of the narrative. It’s not totally clear what role is played by the various appendages the characters sport, and therefore why their removal is so significant. And the miking of the actors is not always immaculate.

Other inconsistencies will also need to be straightened out. The show can’t quite seem to decide whether its overall vibe is British or Kiwi, with the result that various incongruous accents are on display and the humble fried potato is labelled as both ‘crisps’ and ‘chips’.

These are minor points, though. The only serious reservation, perhaps, applies to all political theatre – namely, will the people who actually need to see it buy tickets, or will it simply reinforce the prejudices of a liberal, theatre-going elite? Only time will tell, of course. And those who do attend the final version – or indeed this work in progress – are guaranteed a very entertaining, and at times unsettling, night out.

'The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil' a satire for the times
Sonya Stewart
16:18, Mar 11 2020

The Brief and Frightening Reign of Phil, Based on the novella by George Saunders, script by Tim Price, Music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie, directed by Lyndsey Turner, Shed 6, until March 14. Reviewed by Sonya Stewart.

This new work is based on the 2005 novella by George Saunders which means it predates the current American administration. Eerily it seems as though this satire was written for it.

With music and lyrics by Bret McKenzie and script by Tim Price what has resulted is a primary school play meeting Animal Farm via one-off broadway musical.

This "world premiere workshop" was commissioned by the National Theatre of Great Britain and showcases New Zealand and international talent.

Performed with scripts in hand, the quality of the show is barely impacted.

As the show is being reviewed and adjusted after each performance these books are very necessary, even on opening night one of the songs had only been written the day before. I couldn't tell you which one, they were all excellent.

Bookended by a Douglas Adams-style narration by the "God" of this dystopia, this is the story of Inner Horner and Outer Horner.

Their citizens are built of gaskets, bolts and flange converters and each country is content to stick to its own side of the fence.

Unfortunately a natural disaster strikes and the people of Inner Horner become refugees in Outer Horner.

Now secluded and monitored by border guards (including the eponymous Phil, played by Daniel Rigby), this is where things start to go awry.

The thing about Phil is his brain is bolted to the top of his head and sometimes it falls off.

It's in this almost evangelical state that he comes up with his best political speeches and thus his ascension from jobless loser to President begins.

I was a bit unclear of the differences in character between Phil and Phil-sans-brain, apart from too many red bulls, but Rigby shines, bringing the comedic timing and physicality needed for the role.

As Phil states: "I'm not out of control, I'm superb."

Man's inhumanity to man is not a new concept. But the overarching themes of nationalism, abuse of power and dirty politics are couched in a story that's also funny, and musically affecting.

Standout solos by Carol (Naana Agyei-Ampadu) and a younger and thus smaller-brained Phil (Devon Neiman, also playing Leon) were vastly different in style and content but both beautifully written and performed.

The aptly named Freeda is charmingly played by Vanessa Stacey and it's her character that feels like the most developed.

Despite a small lag in the second half from a belaboured point, it's clever and funny, sad and worrying.

With the obvious talent both on and off the stage working on it I hope I get to see the final product.

March 14 · Wellington, New Zealand

Went to the musical today, it was amazing. New Zealand is a bit far away from everywhere else, so we usually get very second-hand cultural events, if get them at all. So, I used this rarest opportunity to see the musical from the Oscar winning composer Bret McKenzie ahead of anyone else, in unfinished state though (of course, there must have been a catch ). Very topical political satire, great songs and outstanding performance @ Shed 6