Bluefinger: The Fall and Rise of Herman Brood (review)

In 2007, Charles Thompson (known as Black Francis while fronting the legendary 1990s rock band Pixies, and then as Frank Black during his successful solo career) recorded his concept album Bluefinger about the life and death of Dutch rock'n'roller, painter, and outspoken speed-junkie Herman Brood. Though Brood failed in his goal to achieve massive popularity in North America, he did become the biggest star in the Netherlands. His story reflects the stories of so many artists who nearly made the big time, but instead had to live and die with the seemingly paradoxical experience of "localized fame."

In 2008, Pixies biographer Josh Frank attended a production of playwright/director Jason Nodler's Speeding Motorcycle, an experimental music play based on the work of outsider-artist Daniel Johnston that became a darling of the Houston and Austin theatre scenes that year. Afterward, Frank met with Nodler and suggested translating some of Thompson's work to the stage in similar fashion. They eventually agreed to an adaptation of Bluefinger. After two years of development, including extended research trips to Holland and consultations with Thompson, Bluefinger: The Fall and Rise of Herman Brood premiered in Houston. Together, the script and the production offered a complex case study of the artist as cult object, simultaneously celebrated and aloof, as well as an opportunity to consider how varying degrees and spheres of fame can be enacted—on and off the stage.

Nodler's company, The Catastrophic Theatre, is known as the foremost avant-garde theatre company in Houston, and their work attracts serious attention within the city's arts community. However, the buildup to Bluefinger transcended the usual buzz that surrounds noteworthy new plays; the mystery was such that people outside the production began to see it as a secret society. T-shirts emblazoned with a mysterious black-haired man looming in front of a brick wall with "brood" graffitied on it began turning up at plays and rock shows, bars and coffee shops. Beyond the tantalizing involvement of Thompson, Nodler cast two Texas musicians with great cachet, Matt Kelly and Michael Haaga, to play, respectively, Herman Brood and Black Francis. The strength of Kelly's immersive and virtuosic performance made him the centerpiece of the play (he appeared every bit Brood's equal as a blues-based piano player, and his near-equal in rock-star charisma). Kelly also headlined late-night shows with his band Lick Lick at Houston rock clubs after select Bluefinger performances, leading a cross-section of cast, crew, and audience from one haunt to another and calling to mind a latter-day Dionysus.

The Bluefinger audience first met Haaga as Black Francis, performing songs from the album abetted by a full backing band (one of two flanking the stage—Brood had his own band as well) and providing oblique narration via evocative lyrics about Brood's life and death. The dual bands were used to great effect throughout the play. For the most part, they performed separately, with Brood's band capturing a scruffy, late-1970s punk/new-wave sound, and the Black Francis band nailing the complex sonic flood for which Thompson is well-known. The two bands occasionally came together, most notably on Thompson's "Your Mouth into Mine"—a rousing, guitar-heavy song about one artist drawing inspiration from another. This number made exhilarating use of the stereo setup, with the two bands trading off musical phrases—an effect highlighted by quick lighting shifts. It even incorporated a few bars of "Where Is My Mind?" to the delight of Pixies fans in attendance.

Although billed as a rock opera, the show's label proved only partially accurate, since spoken scenes, often transcribed from and/or inspired by interviews with Brood and those who knew him, comprised much of the production. The first such scene depicted Brood's widow, tour manager, art dealer, and biographer memorializing and establishing him as...