A New Musical
Stanley Milgram: 30’s. Tenor, Bb2-G4. An intellectual, but marked by spontaneity, imaginative whimsy, an uninhibited sociability, a wry sense of humor, and sometimes cockiness. At times, he can be caustic, but he is always in search of the truth.
Sasha Milgram: 30’s. Mezzo, C4-G5. When she meets Stanley, she is studying to be a social worker, but she, like her mother before her, is a modern dancer and lover of the arts.
Philip Zimbardo (doubles as a Fake Nazi for one scene): 30’s. Tenor, Bb2-G4. Bright, ambitious, with a sense of humor.
Mrs. Shrekn / Committee Member 1: 50’s - 60’s. Alto, F3-E5. As Mrs. Shrekn, she was an immigrant from The Pale, and as a teacher at Hebrew School, loves her kinderlach, and worries for them. As a committee member, she is one of a trio of professors/administrators at Harvard and Yale, who decide Milgram’s fate at various points in his academic career.
Rabbi / Solomon Asch / Adolf Eichmann / Mr. Wallace / Student 1 / Guard 1: 40’s - 50’s. Bass, E2-D4. Solomon Asch was one of the pioneers of Social Psychology. Adolf Eichmann was one of the architects of the Holocaust. Mr. Wallace works for Milgram, pretending to be a subject in his Obedience to Authority Experiments, and is generally easy going.
Sam Milgram / Committee Member 2 / Subject 1 / Student 2 / Traffic Cop / Guard 2: 40’s. Baritone, G2-D4. Sam Milgram, Stanley’s father, is a baker. He dies of a heart attack in 1953, at age 55.
Adele Milgram / Committee Member 3 / Subject 2 / Student 3: 40’s. Soprano, C4-Bb5. Adele Milgram is Stanley’s mother, and very proud of him.
Survivor 1: Mezzo, C4-G5.
Survivor 2: Alto, F3-Eb5.
Survivor 3: Baritone, G2-D4.
The three Survivors are, initially, Stanley’s relatives who have survived the Holocaust, but throughout the rest of the show, they are a spectral presence, observing him, haunting him. In the epilogue, they are real Holocaust survivors, whom Sasha is working with.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN (10 actors)
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN (10 actors)
ORCHESTRA BREAKDOWN
scene BREAKDOWN
ORCHESTRA BREAKDOWN
Violin
Reed: Flute, Piccolo, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone
Keyboard (Either on synth or actual instruments): Piano, Accordion, Harpsichord, Tsimbalom
Bass: Double Bass, Tuba
Drums
Percussion: Timpani, Triangle, Piatti, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Tambourine, Synth Percussion
SCENE BREAKDOWN
Most of the scenes are interiors, and the settings can be suggested with chairs, desks, or tables. Projections are often used on large screens, but primarily to give us a sense of where we are in time, or to express what is going on in the media. For example, we have film of President Truman announcing victory over Nazi Germany, and the McCarthy hearings, and images of newspaper and magazine headlines regarding Milgram’s findings or the Kitty Genovese murder. Occasionally, projections are used to give us an exterior location, such as James Monroe High School in The Bronx.
Act I:
Prologue: Washington Heights Community Service Center.
Scene 1: A classroom at Hebrew School.
Scene 2: The Milgram kitchen, with an oven, a working sink, and functional doors.
Scene 3: Synagogue interior, for Stanley’s Bar Mitzvah.
Scene 4: A street in The Bronx, in front of [a projection of] James Monroe High School.
Scene 5: The Milgram’s front stoop in Queens, NY. [Could be a simple platform]
Scene 6: Solomon Asch’s office at Harvard.
Scene 7: Committee Room at Harvard.
Scene 8: Stanley’s apartment with a TV and the Eichmann Trial [as he imagines it].
Scene 9: Philip Zimbardo’s office at Yale.
Scene 10: Committee Room at Yale (same as previous committee room at Harvard).
Scene 11: An “elevator” [suggested through stage lighting] and a party in a Manhattan apartment.
Scene 12: The Shock Experiment rooms at Yale, with a wall, three two-way mirrored windows, and a long table with the shock machine.
Act II:
Scene 1: Stanley’s lab at Yale. [There is space upstage for dancers]
Scene 2: Stanley’s lab at Yale. [There is space upstage for dancers]
Scene 3: Stanley’s lab at Yale. [There is space upstage for dancers, and the “elevator”]
Scene 4: The Milgram’s living room, where they are watching TV.
Scene 5: The Milgram’s bedroom.
Scene 6: A classroom at Harvard.
Scene 7: Committee room at Harvard.
Scene 8: A hallway at Stanford University, plus desks in the offices of Zimbardo and Milgram.
Scene 9: Stanley’s home office in Riverdale, NY.
Scene 10: A bare stage for dancers, but with projections behind them.
Scene 11: A classroom at City University of New York, and the “elevator”.
Epilogue: Washington Heights Community Service Center.