Rated among this country’s finest dramatic singers, Helen Medlyn has the ability to move effortlessly between musical worlds – from cool jazz to classic opera. She’s currently performing in Hell Man at the Herald Theatre, along with pianist and arranger Penny Dodd. It’s the final show in their ten-year ‘Hell’ cabaret series, and the Arts Laureate will be tackling songs by some of the “big boy balladeers”, including Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Robert Schumann.
During what hours of the day do you feel most inspired?
Usually in the middle of the night when I'm just dropping off to sleep! In
the dark, with no glasses on, I scribble the idea down on a piece of paper
by the bed. In the morning, if I'm lucky, I can decipher my scrawl! Desperate
desolation occurs if the heiroglyphics prove to be totally nonsensical in
the cold hard light of day!
How would a good friend describe your aesthetic or
style?
"Cool, uncluttered, elegant, unpretentious" (Penny's description!)
What aspect of your creative practice gives you the
biggest thrill?
It would have to be when I'm sitting on stage, as part of a concert with a
big orchestra and massed choir. The power and beauty of the huge sound that
arises from these combined forces is truly spine-tingling. I get surround-sound
in the best seat in the house! The Verdi Requiem at full pelt cannot be beaten.
Your show Hell, Man is described as "bulging with
‘boy’ songs". What was it about this concept that appealed
to you?
A number of men friends – when listening to me talk of my sadness, confusion,
frustration when it comes to love – commented that heartbreak and hopelessness
are not the sole domains of us girls; that, when love is going awry, boys
too feel the agony and the ecstacy. So, I thought I'd try to tell a bit of
their side of the story.
You’ve been doing the 'Hell' cabaret series with
Penny Dodd for ten years – what's next?
Haven't a clue! Although Hell, Man is the end of the “hell” run,
I can still see us doing more cabaret, but maybe a bit more avant garde, more
edgy. As we get older, we tend to want to push bigger envelopes.
What’s the biggest challenge you've faced doing
the Hell cabaret shows?
Culling songs. Over the ten years, Pen and I have discovered so many wonderful
pieces and wanted to include them all, but, Penny is tough from a musical
point of view, so if the words are great, but the music's rubbish, it's out!
And I endeavour to be tough from a wordies point of view, ergo, if it doesn’t
meet my needs in telling my story, no matter how beautiful the music, out
it goes!
What's your number one best experience project-wise?
Very tough to limit it one, but I'm going to say singing Mahler's "The
Song of the Earth" for the first time. It was with the Auckland Philharmonia
under the baton of Miguel Harth Bedoya at the Town Hall. I was coached by
the wonderful Rosemary Barnes, who worked with me on getting the piece just
right. I had a dress made especially in gold velvet shot with green, so I
looked like a part of the earth. The concert went well and it was the start
of me having a kind of Mahler love affair – his music spoke to me, I
felt I'd met my soulmate – and everytime I sing Mahler, I’m in
heaven.
Has the way you played as a child has influenced how
you work as an adult?
Gosh, I don't know. I loved the jungle gym and games of softball at school,
I played 'bash a ball around' tennis with my sister on the back lawn, I liked
climbing trees, I had fun making up scenarios with my dolls and toy trucks,
and I loved to read and listen to the radio! So, to answer your question,
I guess because I loved feeling my body's strength and flow, because I revelled
in the vividness of my imagination and I recognised the power that words can
have, I have embraced all of those into a work ethic that demands I tell my
stories clearly, with intent and meaning behind them, and I put my whole body
into what I do.
How do you think your environment affects your work?
A lot, although I try not to let it! I'd love to live alone, but, as I have
no home of my own, I'm constantly on the move, staying with friends for a
few weeks here and there, so to have the chance to march to my own domestic
and singing drums would be heaven – for me and my work. I'm blessed
with my friends, who put me up (or should that be "put up with me"!)
and when they ask me to house sit, it's brilliant to have a house to myself.
It helps me keep my focus, manage my time better, concentrate on me…and
I can sing whenever I want to without driving my friends insane!
Are you a big picture or a details person?
In a performance piece, I'm always looking at the details: looking at the
punctuation or word placement, wondering why a composer wanted to put a rest
there, seeking a different way to sing an old song to make it new. However,
when I look at the work I have coming up, I'm more of a big picture kind of
gal. This is so I can work backwards from the performance date and –
taking into account how large, how difficult and in what language a piece
is – work out how long it will take me to learn and plan that learning
process accordingly. Sometimes, as many freelancers like me do, you have many
jobs on the go at once, and you need to keep to your plan to ensure none of
them falls off the trolley.
Who or what has inspired you recently?
Ray Hawthorne. In my career and in my personal life, I would say he has left
the biggest footprint. He came into my life just when I needed a boot up the
backside! From being a scary director, he has become a great friend, mentor
and advocate.
If you could go back and choose a completely different
career path to the one you've chosen, what would it be?
I desperately wanted to be a spy when I was little! God knows why! But, if
I had my life again (and, I still may do this!), I would do massage therapy.
I have good healing hands that seem to emanate a warmth of their own. I'm
an out-and-out amateur, but I've relieved the aching muscles of colleagues
using the little I know and I would have loved (and would love) to explore
the art of touch for health.
What place is always with you, wherever you go?
I'm a Westie Chick (a Henderson Valley girl!), so Te Henga and Muriwai are
in my bones, but, because I'm an Aucklander, through and through, Tamaki Makaurau
is the answer; the sea, the islands, the volcanoes…I love my city, it
makes my heart sing.
What's the best way to listen to music, and why?
Live. Why? Because those sounds will never, ever, in a billion, squillion
years be heard exactly the same way as you are hearing them in that moment…and,
then, they're gone, living only in your mind, in your memory, where only you
can hear them, feel them, be moved by them. I saw Frank Sinatra live and I
will never forget it – goosebump territory.
You are given a piece of string, a stick and some fabric.
What do you make?
A hammock. I'd use the stick to beat off the buggers who wanted to turf me
out of it!
What’s the best stress relief advice you’ve
ever been given?
“Buy some Rescue Remedy”.
What's your favourite word?
Darling.
What’s great about today?
I woke up in a warm bed (sadly, alone, but, hey, you can’t have everything!
Or can you?), packed my suitcase full of a frou-frou frock and a tuxedo and
other paraphenalia, and I flew from Auckland to Christchurch – over
the country I live in and adore – to do what I do: perform, which is
something I love to do; people pay me to do it, I’m not too shabby at
it, and it makes people giggle and weep and think. I drank clean water, had
good food to eat, and I had the money to pay for it. I breathed fresh air,
spoke to my lovely aging parents, loaned my niece the kitset bed that I keep
in my lock-up (in the hope that I’ll have a house one day!!), and I
laughed…a lot, which is my wont.