'Madame X'
Music and lyrics by Paul Bruce
Book by Stephanie Masse
Based on the 1906 play "La Femme X"
Presented by AlleyCat Productions at the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, 777 N. Green St., Chicago. Performed Thu.-Sun. and select Wed. through Nov. 19. Tickets: $40-$55. For information: 312-733-6000 or http://www.seemadamex.com.
'Madame X' opens to rave reviews in Chicago
DEARBORN – Ask Dearborn elementary school teacher Paul Bruce to define the word "coincidence," and the answer will take you from a chance discovery in a local bookstore over 15 years ago to the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts where the world premiere of his musical "Madame X" is currently receiving rave reviews by the local press.
"It's almost scary how slender these threads were," Bruce – with no formal training in musical theater except experience and a year touring with Up With People in 1980 – acknowledged several days after attending the opening night performance.
After years of writing children's musicals for the students attending his school, Bruce decided it was time to write for adults. "It was not fulfilling enough any more," Bruce recalled.
So with the thought of finding a book in the public domain that would make a good story, Bruce reached for the tattered copy of "Madame X' that was sitting on his shelf. "It was the only book I had in the house at the time," he laughed. "I was so excited that I actually sat down that night and [wrote] two of the songs that ended up in the show."
Some might believe it was fate that Bruce chose "Madame X." Or did the book chose Bruce? "I was in a used bookstore the previous year gathering up children's books for school really cheap, and at the checkout counter was this box that said 'Free Books' – and 'Madame X' was in that pile."
He bought the book, never thinking it would serve as the catalyst a year later for his first adult musical.
But it was, and by the summer of 1991, "Madame X" was ready for its first workshop production. So he approached the Players Guild of Dearborn, a local community theater group, with a proposal they couldn't refuse. "I said, 'If you're willing to let me put this on, I will charge you no royalties, I will music direct, direct and choreograph for zero fees. All you have to do is provide the costuming and the scenic elements, and I will cover the orchestral costs.'"
The play sold out its run and netted the theater approximately $7,000. It also won several awards, including Best New Play by the Community Theatre Association of Michigan. Finding the best musicians drained Bruce's bank account, however. "It was worth it, because I needed to hear how this was going to sound."
The experience also brought him in to contact with yet another thread in the musical's long journey, actor Jeffery E. Hammonds. "I fell in love with the music," Hammonds recently told the Chicago Tribune. So much so that the actor-turned-producer eventually kept his promise to "produce that show professionally some day."
In the meantime, Hammonds moved to the Windy City, met and married Stephanie Masse and helped create AlleyCat Productions. Bruce also packed his bags and moved to the Big Apple for two years (1998 and1999). That's where he found success with the musical revue "A Perfectly Normal Boy." Subtitled "Every Gay Man's Life in Thirty Musical Numbers or Less," the show sold out every performance during its off-Broadway run. "It's probably some of the best work I've done to date," Bruce said. "I'd love to get that into a long-term venue [somewhere]."
A cabaret act, "Bachelors and Broads," followed. Performed for six weeks at The Duplex, the show – which "explores the wonderful relationship between gay men and women of size" – received fabulous reviews.
It was while rehearsing "Bachelors and Broads" that Bruce got a call from Hammonds asking for permission to use his material. "I'll be honest. I had no idea how serious this was. I thought, 'Sure, another community theater production of it. Why not? I'm not using it right now…'"
But a big deal it was, as Bruce learned shortly after returning home to Dearborn. AlleyCat planned to produce a "concept CD" of "Madame X" to help secure funding for the project, and Bruce was asked to come to Chicago to help. "You could have knocked me over with a feather," Bruce said when he walked into a rehearsal hall filled with 18 musicians and "some of the most glorious voices I ever heard."
A second workshop production was staged the following year (2001) at Mendelssohn Theatre in Ann Arbor, and after some restructuring, two concert stagings were produced in Chicago. Then, with funding finally secured – reportedly around $400,000 – plans were launched for the official world premiere that finally occurred Oct. 7.
"It couldn't have gone better; it was a fairytale evening," Bruce said of the musical's opening. "I guess we've been blessed. The show has received standing ovations from its first preview performance."
Although current plans call for the show to close Nov. 19, ticket sales could extend the run. And afterwards, could Broadway beckon?
That would surely be the icing on the cake for the talented composer, since he and his baby received 70 rejection letters from professional theaters all across the eastern United States – including the Nederlanders, who he says were handed the show three different times. "'There's not a memorable tune in the show,' I was told," Bruce recalled wryly.
Chicago theater critics think otherwise. The Chicago Tribune said it "has a hummable, melodic score," while the Sun-Times offered that 'several of the show's songs linger in the imagination after a single hearing."
From start to finish, Bruce's journey been an incredible experience. "This was my first attempt [at writing an adult musical], and I thought, 'Am I going to be laughed off the stage for even trying something like this?' To know every step has been so well received – words don't exist to explain how happy it's made me."
