Lots of people are checking out Otherworld Theatre Company’s TWIHARD! A Twilight Musical Parody and are loving it—so much so that performances have now been extended at the Apollo Theater through Sunday, Nov. 9.
As the musical director of the production, Brian Rasmussen of course has had a key role in TWIHARD!’s success. Windy City Times recently talked with him about the musical’s process, his dream collaboration and the importance of representation.
Note: This conversation was edited for clarity and length.
Windy City Times: Congrats on the production and extension! Did the extension surprise you at all?
Brian Rasmussen: I wouldn’t say I was surprised, but we weren’t necessarily banking on it because every iteration of the show is, like, “We’ll see how it goes.” But the extension that we planned on hopefully happening—so we’re pretty pleased with that.
WCT: You’re a composer and an operatic tenor. Did you pretty much pop out of the womb singing?
BR: [Laughs] Well, I started piano lessons at five and I’ve been making music ever since. I don’t know how old I was, but I think I scribbled my first thing when I was a kid. But I started writing music when I was a teenager, and I then started a rock band. I also did a lot of music in high school and went on to music school.
When I was a kid, my parents took me to see the hometown symphony orchestra, the Sioux City Symphony; somehow, they got Van Cliburn to play the Tchaikovsky piano concerto. I didn’t know how big of a deal Van Cliburn was but, from that moment, I thought music was pretty cool. It’s a really lovely story.
At age 12, I put my foot down and decided that I wanted to be involved in music: “Come hell or high water, I’m doing it.” [Laughs] When music impacted me when I was younger, it was almost like a spiritual experience.
WCT: For those who don’t know, walk me through the genesis of TWIHARD and how it came together.
BR: A couple years ago, I was gigging where I could and trying to get a foothold as a professional musician. A friend who I was teaching with—Ginny [Weant], who’s actually in the show—asked, “You can probably do improv piano, right?,” and I said that I could. So I was a pianist for some of the musical improv shows at Otherworld Theatre, which is where I met Tiffany [Keane Schaefer, who wrote and directs TWIHARD!]. She was impressed with my piano-playing and she asked something like, “You think of that right out of your head?” I said, “Yes, I can think of music that quickly.”
I had gotten to know a lot of people there and the place started to feel like a home. I mentioned that I’m also a composer and, one day, Tiffany asked if I wanted to write a Twilight musical parody—and I quickly said yes. Opportunities don’t come like pretty often; I had spent most of my career singing. It was a big leap of faith for her to trust me with something like this.
We started with an outline, figuring out where songs would go. I think we started with 12 songs and ended up with 31. [Laughs] It just kept building from there. When some people hear “musical parody,” they think it’s going to be a goofy little thing with a few songs. But the composer in me can’t just write a little song. We both agreed that we had to care about the characters.
A teacher once said to me that the best comedic moments happen in moments of genuineness or sincerity, like the very opening moments of the show Schitt’s Creek. So I rolled with that: There are some moments that are deeply stupid and silly, but the music is dead serious—which makes it even funnier.
WCT: And does this production cover all the Twilight movies or just the first one?
BR:Just the first one…
WCT: Oh—so there are sequels possible.
BR: Yes, and there are some winks and nods to that. But what I think is really brilliant is that fans sort of act like characters in the musical itself. So it’s like Twihards perform in the story—things like fan fiction and meta commentary. It becomes a bridge between actor and audience because a lot of Twilight fans attend our shows—and some are in costume.
WCT: I was going to ask you how this production was made so as not to offend purists or hardcore fans.
BR: Well, Tiffany is a hardcore fan so that’s a great place to start. [Not being offensive] was also something that I was adamant about. We can separate a spoof from a parody because I think a parody is done with love. I think of movie parodies like Spaceballs, which is goofy and silly but done with a love of Star Wars.
WCT: Why do you think musical parodies, like Titanique [a parody of the movie Titanic] and TWIHARD!, are so popular?
BR: It’s hard to say, although I try to put myself in the position of what audiences want. I think dealing with a pre-existing property that people know and love is safe in terms of marketing and business.
In musical theater right now, there is a lot of “Movie: The Musical” and it feels a bit saturated. But with a parody, you get the draw from fans, but they also stay for the goofiness and silliness, and there’s a fresh take on a property they know and love.
WCT: What are two or three of the best musicals—not musical parodies—you have seen?
BR: My favorite musical of all time is Sweeney Todd. It was one of the most influential pieces of music ever for me. I wasn’t like other teens; I was really into [Stephen] Sondheim. [Laughs] I was doing theater, choir, band and everything else in high school, and I was really into him and the big, grand things: Phantom [of the Opera] and Les Miz. This might be a hot take, but I really liked Jekyll and Hyde.
But Sweeney Todd affected me because of the pure genius of the score. I remember seeing all the advanced, intricate, finely crafted techniques that Sondheim used in the piece, and it really bridged my love of classical music to the role of musical theater. I think a lot of people described that score as more of a film score than a musical-theater one because there are operatic motifs, like the madness motif and the love theme. In my musical, there’s a vampire motif and there are Edward, Bella and Mullen family themes; I wanted to feel like it’s one cohesive piece of music and not a series of songs that were thrown together. That’s what I think Sondheim does brilliantly, not just in Sweeney Todd but in all his works: It’s one cohesive piece, which takes a lot of work.
My second favorite is hard to say, but I’ll say Les Miz. I just love that music so much. We did a junior production at a community theater in my hometown; I got to play Marius and it was very lovely. It’s where I learned what it’s all about—this music-and-acting thing. That’s a score that’s fascinating because it was my bridge to loving opera and getting a degree in it. I love that Les Miz sung through and that there’s no dialogue, and it strikes me as a pop opera.
WCT: I was also going to ask the one person who you’d want to work with—and I assume Sondheim is at the top of that list.
BR: Yes. Just having a conversation with that man would be… If I could have a meeting with Sondheim—may he rest in peace—I think half of it would just be me saying, “Thank you for everything you created and what they did for me.” I’ve also read some of his books in which he talks about his process; to be a fly on the wall and see how he worked would be the most invaluable experience ever for a composer.
I feel the same way about John Williams—just to see how he ticks. He was another massive musical influence on me. I’m a huge Star Wars fan.
WCT: Wait. Are you telling me you love Jar-Jar Binks?
BR: Oh, I just ignore that part. [Smiles] The light sabers and flashiness made me fall in love with those movies as a kid—but it was also the music. I would rewind just to listen to the score in the background.
WCT: There doesn’t seem to be quite the focus on film scores as there used to be.
BR: Yeah, and I wonder about that sometimes. There’s a lot of great film music, but I feel like there’s a push from [some people] that they don’t want it to be a focal point.
WCT: Asking you something that I’ve asked a variety of people, what does queer representation mean to you?
BR: I can’t overstate what it means to me. I remember when Heartstopper came out on Netflix, and it’s a sickeningly adorable romance with these teenage boys who fall in love. Everybody loved it, saying it was something we all needed. I think it resonated with a lot of queer men, specifically in their 30s and 40s, who grew up during a time when they didn’t see a lot of queer people. I think I met my first gay person when I was in high school. When I saw that show, I thought, “Oh, what that would have meant to me if I could’ve seen it as a kid.”
What it means to see yourself represented on screen is really special. And as an actor and performer, I’ve gotten to play queer characters; in community theater a long time ago, I did a production of The Normal Heart, which is a tough show. Also, I did a world premiere of an opera called Wet Dirt; it was this beautiful piece about self-discovery and grief. I got to meet the composer, Collin Kemeny, afterward and I told him how meaningful that role was for me.
I think it all comes back to you what I would’ve needed as a young queer person. I relish that young queer people get to see themselves on the stage and screen, or hear themselves in music—and I think that’s remarkably beautiful.
WCT: Is there anything you wanted to add?
BR: Speaking of queer representation, even though TWIHARD! is a heterosexual story, we do a lot of queer things [in the parody]. There’s fan fiction—which seems predominantly queer to me—and a lot of wish fulfillment. It was awesome when Tiffany wanted to incorporate the fan theories and fiction into the show. That brings it to a wider audience and presents our take on it.