Our opera blogger Scottie Roche catches up with with composer Christian McLeer, whose G Train the Musical will be presented on May 5th at 1PM and again at 2PM at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts | Exhibition Hall. G Train The Musical is Reno’s first look at NVO’s reinstated educational outreach program known as THE STUDIO, which at one point brought opera to over 20,000 kids per year in the Sierra-Nevada region.

Christian McLeerComposer of G Train The Musical

SR: Hi Christian, thank you for chatting with me, we’re very excited here at Nevada Opera that your show G Train The Musical is coming here to Reno. How did you come up with the idea to write a musical about a ride on NYC’s subway system?

CM: Living in New York City, the subway is an essential part of of life. It connects practically everything and you can go almost anywhere from the Bronx to Brooklyn for $2.25 - in fact if you combined all the tracks in the subway together you’d have 656 miles of subway to ride on. That’s amazing for a city so big, but that also means everyone is on it. There are endless situations that could be a show about the Subway, and many of them pretty funny..

SR: Why did you specifically choose the G Train out of all the trains in NYC?

CM: Before I married my wife, the G Train was the only regular train that went from where she lived in Greenpoint, Brooklyn to where I lived in Queens. It’s the only train that connected us to one another directly. Most trains that travel between Brooklyn and Queens go by way of a long trip through Manhattan, but the G Train travels without a Manhattan detour. It is a really short train with only about 4 cars in it. Often, I would find myself stuck on the G Train for a while with some interesting characters. These characters were definitely worth writing about.

"It Can Happen On The G Train"

SR: G Train has played outside of New York City to audience acclaim in Mississippi, Massuchusetts, Connecticut, Louisiana and now it’s about to open in Reno, Nevada. Why do you think it has so much appeal across the country in places where people may have never set foot on a subway, why do you think G Train has such a universal appeal?

CM: I think the G Train appeals to people outside of NYC because we all relate to situations in which we do not relate to people. The need to endure the stresses of our differences in our societies wherever they may be is universal.

SR: G Train uses electronic tracks instead of piano or orchestra, is there any reason you decided to go that route with the piece?

CM: The electronic tracks in the G Train are filled with the actual sounds of the NYC Subway System. So much inspiration came from the sounds of the subway that I take almost every day, that I decided to take a microphone and recorder and capture as much of it as I could. I then used the computer programs Reason and Logic to sample and arrange the sounds in to a musical score mixed with synthesizer sounds.

SR: I see what you mean, when I first heard your score for G Train I found that I listened to the sounds of the Subway in a completely new and musical way. G Train also incorporates elements of pop music, opera, and even rap, how did you come up with such a wide array of sounds for the show?

CM: G Train doesn’t adhere to any particular style of music; the characters are all from different backgrounds. If you were to ride the Subway and really listen to what people are listening to you would provably hear more that 30 different types of music between stops. That is a part of NYC and it’s also a big part of my compositions. I feel really comfortable composing and performing many different styles of music. It is a big part of the diversity and culture of NYC.

SR: As a classical composer can you tell us a bit about the process you went through in writing the Rap number in G Train?

CM: The Rap number was composed in classical Rondo form. Some of the other rap numbers were created as parodies of the popular Rap songs popular when the show was being written. But when it comes down to it it’s just faster lyrics or patter without the pitches.

SR: Rap rondos, I love it! What can you tell me about the voice overs in the show, where did they come from?

CM: The voice overs are from me imitating inaudible conductor directions from the subway loud speakers of the day (they, are much better now). I mean no disrespect to the MTA [metropolitan transit authority] workers! I really respect their work and the legendary subway system that they keep running.

SR: When a new audience walks away from a performance of G Train, besides humming your music and singing your lyrics, is there a key message you hope they come away from the experience with?

CM: I hope after seeing the G Train that people feel a little better about the world and the differences of the people they share it with, and that they have been able to escape – if only for a little bit – from whatever it is that they need to escape from. This is entertainment after all! That’s why it is such a privilege that I can be a composer.

If some one gets all the little messages in the text, the tone rows, the fugues, the canons, and all the other little compositional techniques I threw in there, or if it inspires them in some way that would be a huge complement of all.

SR: Thanks Christian, we look forward to seeing your show here in Reno! Thanks so much for being a part of all the excitement and growth here at Nevada Opera, and especially for taking us all on a ride on the G Train.