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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Welcome to The Roundtable! I’m your host, Robert Bannon, and today I’m thrilled to have the award-winning brother songwriting team known as The Lazours, Daniel and Patrick Lazour, joining me to discuss their moving new musical, Night Side Songs.

[0:30] Daniel Lazour: Thanks for having us, Robert!

[0:32] Patrick Lazour: Yes, it’s great to be here.

[0:34] Robert Bannon: Night Side Songs is inspired by Susan Sontag’s idea of illness as “the night side of life.” Can you tell us more about how that concept influenced your work?

[0:50] Daniel Lazour: Absolutely. The idea of illness really shapes our understanding of time, family, and connection. We wanted to explore those themes through the perspectives of patients, caregivers, doctors, and researchers.

[1:10] Patrick Lazour: It was important for us to create a piece that reflects the complexity of these experiences, and we did extensive research to ensure we were representing those voices authentically.

[1:30] Robert Bannon: That’s fascinating. How did you go about creating songs around such difficult subjects?

[1:45] Daniel Lazour: We found that music has a unique ability to express what words sometimes can’t. It became a way to articulate the emotions surrounding illness and care.

[2:00] Patrick Lazour: Communal singing also played a significant role in our process. It allowed us to create a shared experience, which is so vital when dealing with heavy topics.

[2:20] Robert Bannon: I love that. The original Off-Broadway cast album was released on August 21. Can you tell us about the cast and the recording process?

[2:40] Daniel Lazour: We were lucky to work with an incredible cast, including Robin de Jesús, Brooke Ishibashi, Jonathan Raviv, Kris Saint-Louis, and Mary Testa. Their performances brought the songs to life in a way we could have only dreamed of.

[3:00] Patrick Lazour: The recording process was a labor of love. We wanted to capture the essence of the live performances while also making sure the album stood on its own.

[3:20] Robert Bannon: It sounds like a beautiful project. What do you hope audiences take away from Night Side Songs?

[3:40] Daniel Lazour: We hope it sparks conversations about illness, mortality, and the importance of connection.

[4:00] Patrick Lazour: Ultimately, we want people to feel seen and understood through the music.

[4:20] Robert Bannon: That’s such a powerful message. Thank you both for sharing your insights today!

[11:13] Daniel Lazour: Both with the cast, the Night Side Songs cast at Lincoln Center, and with the audience, these 25 invited audience members that came to the recording studio. So that's the score. It's a, as you said, a folk score and quite simple in its way. And really the show is tracking the course of a woman named Yasmeen Hawley, sort of this every person, as she goes through, she enters the night side of life. So Susan Sontag speaks about that everyone holds dual citizenship in the day side of life and the night side of life, and the night side of life is illness. And so this woman, Yasmeen Hawley, goes through treatment, she enters the night side of life, goes through treatment, she gets married, she deals with her mother.

She experiences her mother's passing, what that end of life experience is. She deals with all of the quotidian elements of what life is, with this undergirding of illness and of being a patient in this world, in this like crazy, frenetic, berserk kind of world. And so hopefully, you know, our intention with the project is really to show the finitude of life, yes, but also the beauty of life. You know, we always say one of our, I think one of our like moments of theater was seeing Our Town, the David Cromer Our Town. And I think the simplicity, do you remember that?

[13:00] Patrick Lazour: I sure do.

[13:01] Daniel Lazour: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, right? We were pretty young when it, I think, what, 2013, 2012, 2013?

[13:09] Patrick Lazour: I think earlier, maybe.

[13:11] Daniel Lazour: Yeah, maybe even earlier. Just seeing that and just seeing the simplicity and to be able to capture power and like the cosmos in such simplicity, I think is something we were very inspired by. And it takes place in Worcester, you know, like I think like Our Town, I'm just thinking about the residences, like, you know, that takes place in, you know, a little town in Massachusetts on the border of New Hampshire. And Night Side Songs takes place in Worcester, Massachusetts, our hometown.

[13:37] Patrick Lazour: It's just a personal element to it, for sure.

[13:39] Daniel Lazour: Exactly, yeah, you ground it that way. And, you know, we started...

[13:44] Patrick Lazour: Oh, sorry, sorry.

[13:44] Daniel Lazour: No, please.

[13:45] Daniel Lazour: Just quickly, we started writing the show, actually, in this iteration of the show, as we were experiencing the treatment of our grandmother and uncle in very quick succession for different types of cancer. And it was just a very illuminating, obviously, very unfortunate and very illuminating experience for us, how illness is treated in this world and in this country specifically. And that we were like, probably in our 20s when that happened. And so we had some time to think about it and to really, like, consider the questions that we had around it. And this show doesn't have any answers, but it considers those questions that we kind of honed in that time.

[14:40] Robert Bannon: Oh, I think you're muted, Rob.

[14:42] Daniel Lazour: See, I'm professional.

[14:44] Robert Bannon: If you want to get a sneak peek, you can watch an incredible YouTube video of my stuff, which is out, and then you can obviously listen to the album and stream the album. It's so good. So Daniel, tell us about the cast that you guys put together that are going to be on the record.

[14:59] Daniel Lazour: Yeah, it's a killer, a killer ensemble. We've got Mary Testa, we've got Brooke Ishibashi, we have Robin de Jesús, we have, who am I missing, Patrick?

[15:15] Patrick Lazour: Chris Saint-Louis.

[15:15] Daniel Lazour: Chris Saint-Louis, and the incredible, he plays Frank and he's Jonathan Raviv, he's so close to us. Literally, as I was like, I'm like, there's something, some glitch is going to happen. But yeah, no, it's an incredible five-person cast. And they're just such musicians, but beyond their musicality, they're so casual in their approach to leading group song. And I think that's what really struck me about their musicianship, that they welcome the audience in, they welcome the audience in to sing along, to join them in the storytelling of it. You know, and that's a really tall order, because all at once you have to be a consummate professional, and the show requires them to take on all of these different characters.

And then you also need to just be yourself and be likable, whatever that means. And that's hard, that's a hard ask. Walk on stage, do all the things you would do as a theater performer, and don't scare anybody away from singing along. And that to me is what's incredible.

[16:35] Patrick Lazour: Yeah, you're breaking the norms, Patrick, you're breaking the norms of the theater. And that's what I love about it.

[16:39] Daniel Lazour: Absolutely.

[16:42] Patrick Lazour: I well, yeah, you know, that's, we're trying, you know, I think what we're, what we're doing, I mean, I always say we follow what interests us. And you know, there are people, there are a lot of people, a lot of peers of ours who are doing very similar, you know, who are doing things that are equally as, you know, as interesting. I mean, I don't want to say my own work is interesting.

[17:05] Daniel Lazour: You think you're interesting.

[17:08] Patrick Lazour: Yeah. But no, no, equally as, you know, sort of form, genre defying, form breaking. And so we're just very privileged to be to be a part of that tradition, like a new musical theater tradition that is not only about breaking a form, but also about simplicity, like musicals being simple and effective and accessible to people. You know, I mean, we love, you know, we've written many musicals that have the set and the book and all of those things that avoid the risks of financial collapse, which, and those shows are amazing. You know, they're, they hold a very special place in our heart. And also there's room for the musical that is just five people and a piano and a group of people in a room.

[18:00] Daniel Lazour: Yeah. I mean, and we like to think too, like it's music theater is all around us. You know, the second, some story, however long, however simple or complex, whenever some story is being told with music, that's music theater. And, and how can you harness those different elements in new ways? It great breaking the norms a little bit, but, but keeping, you know, keeping the, the, the thing about musical theater that, that, you know, we all love, which is like music can actually like harvest the emotion even more, you know, than, than, you know, so many other types of storytelling. So I don't know, that's sort of like how we like to think about it. How can we be so how can we have a real beginner's mind about this form?

It has 12 tracks. You can be streaming it right now. Lincoln Center, this show broke records with attendance for the theater. It got a whole bunch of nominations for a whole bunch of stuff when it was out and had its run like drama desk for best outstanding music drama league for outstanding production of a musical or tell a nominations for musical and ensemble. And it was at Harvard. It was at Philly. It was in New York. It is something that has been shown and proven to touch people and hear incredible music and storytelling that you can now listen to home. So to ask you both before you go, who do you envision Patrick, listening to this? Is it like tonight, I'm going to go home and cook dinner? Is it going to be my ride home? Is it going to be while I'm reading a book in the backyard? What do you what should we do when we put when we press play?

[19:38] Patrick Lazour: Oh, oh, oh, any and any and everything. I think it's a first of all, it's an event in and of itself. We have these things. We have these album nights where we sit and we listen to albums through us and our us and a few friends. And I think it's great for something like that to listen through to sit with a glass of wine. And just or whatever floats your boat. And just listen through it's 40 minutes long. It's a beautiful thing. I think a dinner, a beautiful kitchen, a beautiful dinner, no, or like cooking with your loved one and listening to this strutting around the kitchen. That is also an amazing thing. Also, you know, it's also for a good cry, a good cry in the car. It's also for a good cry in the car.

If that's, that's what yeah, I mean, and it sounds like a heavy subject matter. But there's so many light, there's such a lightness of being hopefully to too many of the tracks. So, so we encourage a listen down to to figure out which tracks are appropriate for which moments, you know, the contour.

[20:42] Daniel Lazour: Yes, the cycle, the journey, the rollercoaster of emotions that you're going to feel. Plus, you're going to hear Broadway, TV, theater, movie superstars sing their face off with a beautiful score and beautiful storytelling that you need to. So, if you love theater and you want to know what's next and you want to know what's coming down the pike and you want to see what the up and coming theater writers and when people complain that every show on Broadway is a movie or something that has been rejuiced to a musical, then come see something original. Come hear something original and support this. And then we spread the word and we'll see where the story ends. Because it's not done yet, Lazours. This is only the beginning.

[21:20] Patrick Lazour: Amen. We agree with you. This is only the beginning. Look, big houses can't sustain these big price tags. So get a piano and five people up there and then stay.

[21:26] Daniel Lazour: Amen. I mean, Patrick always says that to any theaters listening, this show is a very cheap date in terms of producing, you know.

[21:32] Patrick Lazour: Another cheap date too, Tanya. You can ask my husband. I love it. I love it.

[21:43] Robert Bannon: This is Daniel and Patrick, everyone. Remember their names. Remember the Lazours brothers. They're going to be, we're going to follow you. You can listen, follow it, share it on social media. Tell somebody who loves songwriting or art and theater about this show. And then you'll be on, you know, tell us, spread the word. And you two come back anytime you have something new and exciting to talk about. My show is your show. It's such a pleasure to be able to talk to you both. Thank you so much.

[22:04] Daniel Lazour: It's such a pleasure.

[22:05] Patrick Lazour: Thank you. It's such a joy.

[22:08] Robert Bannon: We'll be right back at you.