Morreale Monologues

for soprano and piano

text by Vin Morreale, Jr.
(2020) Duration: 15:00

PURCHASE SCORE
PURCHASE CD “Force of Nature” by Emily Albrink and Kathleen Kelly

Morreale Monologues
by Vin Morreale, Jr.
adapted by Steve Rouse

1. I KNOW I LOOK GOOD
Okay. I know I look good. Really good. In fact, it's almost embarrassing how good I look. Well yeah, I know everyone says you should be modest and all that...but maybe that's just an excuse for people who don't look as good as I do. After all, if God blessed me with looks like this, the least I can do is let others appreciate them, don't you think? Okay. I know I look good. In fact, it's almost embarrassing how good I look. Really, really good.

2. THANK YOU
I'm going now. I'm sorry, it's time. But I want you to know...It's important you realize...What I'm trying to say is...just, well...thank you. Thank you for all you've done for me. Thank you for loving me even when I wasn't able to love myself. You made me stronger. You made me whole. And I just wanted to say thank you for that. Thank you so much.

3. CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET?
Can you keep a secret? ’Cause I can't. I mean I thought I could. I even promised I would when she told it to me, but now it's like my head is bursting, I want to tell someone so bad. Can you keep a secret? ’Cause I can't. I promise I won't tell. At least I'll try not to. I mean you can't expect someone to keep a secret forever can you? Can you keep a secret? ’Cause I can't. Especially a really, really good one like this. Can you keep a secret? ’Cause I can't.

4. REST NOW
It's okay. I know you're tired. But you can rest now. We both know you've earned it. You've done your job. You've worked hard. Protected us all these years. You've got so much to be proud of, so proud. A good name. A beautiful family. They all love you and they're all so proud of you. You've done your job. You can rest now. You're done so much for all of us. It's time to rest now. Just close your eyes and go to sleep. It will be all right. I promise I will miss you every day of my life. But I'll get through it. I will get through it. So you can sleep now. Just go to sleep. So you can sleep now. So sleep now.

5. I LOVE THIS SONG!
Oh! I love this song! Don't you love this song? I hear it on the radio in my car, the music blasting up so loud the windows rattle. I don't really sing. Well, in the shower I do. In my car, the music blasting, I am a superstar! A driving diva. I know I can't carry a tune. Cats and small animals run away when I try to hit a thing above B-flat. But isn't that the beauty of music? For three minutes I can fall in love. Break some hearts. Be tough and sexy and just about everything I'm really not. Ooo! Oh turn it up! Don't you love this part? I hear it on the radio in my car, the music blasting, I am a superstar! A driving diva. The windows rattle. The music blasting. A superstar, a driving diva. Oh! I love this song!

PROGRAM NOTE
In the spring of 2020, I was searching collections of monologues for a new set of songs I wanted to compose for my University of Louisville School of Music faculty colleagues, soprano Emily Albrink. Morreale Monologues sets five short monologues from Vin Morreale’s 300 Monologues. I am drawn to setting monologues and especially Vin’s monologues for meaning of the same characterizations that Vin details in an essay introducing 300 Monologues:

“…monologues can be either inadvertently revealing or self-deceiving…”
“…may let the very foundations of our personality slip out, whether we want them to or not.”
“…quickly reveal more than the character intends, or even understands about his or her own beliefs.”

There are so many wonderful monologues in 300 Monologues that the challenge for me was to narrow my choices to a few. 300 Monologues is divided into two sections of monologues: 180 dramatic and 120 comedic. Based on length, personal impact on me, and whether the texts “sang” to me, I narrowed each category down to about a dozen each, then finally down to the five monologues in this work: three comedic and two dramatic.

The songs are arranged in an alternating pattern of comedic and dramatic, with the two dramatic songs being the second and fourth of the set. We start and end with humor.

The history of Morreale Monologues has a very unexpected twist. After I had purchased Vin’s 300 Monologues, I realized very quickly that I wanted to set some of them. At that point, I needed to contact the writer and/or publisher to see if I could get permission to set the texts. In researching Vin, I was shocked to discover that he had a Louisville connection with his acting teaching and was further shocked when I learned that he was living in a suburb of Louisville! I immediately met with Vin for a delightful afternoon of wide-ranging conversation and walking through his wooded property. I still can’t get over the synchronicity of this!

The texts as they appear in Morreale Monologues have been adjusted only slightly. In a couple of spots I have universalized the text, taking out a few specific references in the hope of allowing the pieces to speak to more listeners. In a couple of spots I dropped a conjunction or an article to allow the melodies to flow more freely. In a few places, I repeated snippets of text. All of these are trivial adjustments, really, and have no impact on the power of Vin’s words.

The score contains the preferred order of the songs, but I am open to rearranging them, extracting them, or dropping them from the set.

Steve Rouse
October 2020