Joe Doyle has written a musical about Robert Morris. Name doesn't ring a bell? Read on.
Inquirer Suburban Staff
Posted on Sun, Jul. 25, 2004
Joe Doyle has written a musical about Robert Morris. Name doesn't ring a bell?
Read on.
Inquirer Suburban Staff
MORRISVILLE - When Joe Doyle was asked to write a play celebrating the life of Robert Morris, he was a bit apprehensive. "Like most people, all I knew of Morris was he was the financier of the Revolution. That scared the heck out of me... . Boring," he said, with the emphasis on bor. This coming from the man who has been onstage in theaters from Philadelphia to Washington as Morris' fellow founding father, John Adams.
With an established affinity for history and theater, Doyle began research on Morris, for whom Morrisville was named. "Twenty pages into the first biography, an idea for the first musical number popped in my head," he said. "Morris arrived by himself from England at 13. Here's a kid traveling alone to see a father he didn't know." A year of research produced a 21/2-hour musical biography with 20 songs covering what Doyle called "the life and times, loves and scandals, rise and fall of Morris."
The Man Who Bought a Country, running through Aug. 15 in Williamson Park, was commissioned by Morrisville 200. The committee, which oversees planning for the borough's 200th anniversary, allocated $55,000 for the writing, arranging and producing of the play, Doyle said. Patricia Brofman, cochair of Morrisville 200, admired how Doyle delved into the project. "It's a shame, but really there's not that much written about Morris," she said.
The borough is familiar with Doyle through his productions for the Morrisville-based Actors' Non-Equity Theatre (NET) of Bucks County, which he founded with his wife, Cheryl, in 1996. Two years ago, Joe Doyle wrote and produced Dreamers, a semiautobiographical musical about his return from Vietnam as a Marine war correspondent. Doyle, 55, who keeps his graying hair long for his role as John Adams, just finished portraying the founding father in 1776 for Actors' NET and takes up the role again in The Man Who Bought a Country.
He is the official Adams for the American Historical Theatre in Philadelphia, and as such has appeared at Union Station in Washington and at Vice President Cheney's residence at the Naval Observatory compound. "Once I discovered Adams in 1776, that fire within me grew," the Morrisville resident said. "I'm probably emotionally like him, as driven as he is, impatient as he is, and don't suffer fools as he didn't."
Dressed in a Disney T-shirt and hat, with a matching Mickey Mouse watch, Doyle explained that the attire reflects his sentiment: "Theater is important. Everything else is Mickey Mouse." During the year, Doyle and his wife, who have been married 26 years, produce more than 10 plays in the 85-seat Heritage Center on North Delmorr Avenue. Since the founding of Actors' NET, Doyle estimated, the company has presented nearly 100 plays from Shakespeare to Shaw to Simon. In the summer, the company offers a youth theater program.
Joe Doyle, who said he has performed in every state except Alaska, works full time as the company's managing director and playwright-in-residence. Cheryl Doyle, 54, the artistic director, works as a technical research associate for an environmental consulting firm. "It works because we're not competitive, because the goal is the same: to create terrific theater," Cheryl Doyle said. "I bring more technical knowledge - lights, costumes, carpentry. Joe's the one who's great with writing, great with programming."
Cheryl Doyle, who is directing The Man Who Bought a Country, said it is challenging to present an original work. Her musical director, Susan Ferrara Barto, a founding member of Actors' NET, agreed. "With an original work, there is no blueprint," Barto said. "People can't go out and rent the movie... . There's no recordings until you make them."
The person responsible for recording the score was Barto's husband, Jim. As Joe Doyle described it, "I sang to Jim the harmonies trapped in my head." Jim Barto, who called Doyle an incredibly creative composer, produced a computer-generated score with full instrumentation, using sounds from such period instruments as the harpsichord, fife and drums. "Joe provides me the source material for the songs, and I create an instrumental setting that satisfies the dramatic meaning of the songs," Jim Barto said.
The songs, which range from ballads to barbershop, summarize Morris' professional and private life - including his signing the Constitution, friendship with George Washington, roles as U.S. senator and wealthy merchant, and stint in debtors' prison. "For Morris to rise so high and fall so far and still believe in America, I'm so profoundly moved by that," said Doyle, who added that he hopes to present the play annually and produce an original cast recording.
Proud of Morrisville's history, Doyle said he wanted the play to raise awareness of the borough - and Robert Morris.
"I hope we can do for Morris what 1776 did for John Adams," Doyle said.