The Frankenstein Playlist: Track One

The Frankenstein process has been interesting for me. The role ended up being far more physical than I expected. Our first two weeks were just combat and violence, and I suffered for my art. Pains, aches, the aforementioned wrist injury. It's just been...hard.

Thing is, there's also a very difficult emotional course to set, and the challenge of bringing the physical to the emotional. How the creature walks, how he talks, and how he fights are intimately connected to how he feels and thinks. It's been a job to create all these things, and try to merge them together. (and get the lines, which aren't there yet. Soon, I hope.)

Take a guess.

One thing that's been interesting for this role and this project is that music has become a touchstone for a lot of what's going on. I've found myself connecting with certain songs in building the character. Some of the selections are pretty on-the-nose and obvious, some get a little more ephemeral and emotional. Obviously, the artists here are some of my favorites, and probably won't surprise anybody. No apologies, this is my playlist, and my Creature.

That said...I wouldn't lay money on seeing any Edgar Winter Group tunes here.

I will continue this blog series until the show opens, or I run out of songs. I really don't have any idea which will happen first. I have the list as it is right now, but I'm finding it to be a living document, changing and evolving as my performance does.

The first track, honestly, leapt to mind the moment I was offered the part. As that might suggest, it is a rather obvious choice. Even with that, the tone of the song and the lyric are right in line with how I see the creature. It also happens to be one of my favorite tracks from my favorite album of last year.

The Creature Lives
by Mastodon



I saw the creature fall
Into the swamp from which he spawned
I heard them laugh and say
They never liked him anyway

I tried to talk to them
To help you on your feet again
They laughed and said to me
The swamp is right where I should be

The creature lives
The creature lives
The creature lives
The creature lives