To Whom It May Concern
(music and lyrics by Carol Hall)
When I Consider the Heavens
Grandad (We Were Friends)
We Believe
Walk in Love
Sandy
My Sort of Ex-Boyfriend
Miracles
I Only Miss the Feelin’
In the Mirror’s Reflection
Blind Dancing Bear
Ain’t Nobody Got A Bed of Roses
Ain’t Love Easy
Jenny Rebecca
To Whom It May Concern
Notes From The Playwright
In any friendship, one of the most wondrous and astounding moments is when a secret is confessed -something surprising, previously unknown, and quite private. It is pure revelation-a lightening crack of unprotected self, and when it is given from one person to another, being together, in the deepest sense, осcurs.
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN is about communion, which the dictionary first defines not as "a rite," but as "the act of sharing," and which in the play takes place between the actors and the audience. This communion can be an intense experience; I know because I have witnessed it. Seeing the play in a summer, sun-dappled country church in Massachusetts, or watching it in a frosty New York Off-Broadway theatre in January, over and over again I have seen the same thing happen: the performers look straight out at the audience, reveal their hidden spiritual selves, and in the act of sharing, make a connection.
William Faulkner, once asked for advice on writing, replied, "Don't tell any lies." The characters in TO WHОM IT MAY CONCERN don't tell any lies. They sit at a church service, and while the songs and prayers go on around them, they tell us what they are really thinking. In song, poem and monologue, they ask themselves and one another: "Is there a God? Does anything make sense? Why do I feel so alone?" And in the midst of the cosmic queries, they share their beliefs, secrets, guilts, solitudes, odd tales, funny stories, hopes and joys -all expressed within the shape of the formal church liturgy. (You might say that the audience hears what's going on both inside and outside the service, a sort of theatrical cubism, as it were.)
The framework of the play - the ritual of communion, or the mass -has been used by the church since its beginning and exists in parts: Songs of Praise, Lessons, The Creed, Prayers of the People, Confession, The Peace, Thanksgiving, the Lord's Prayer, and Communion.
To put it more simply, a group of people come together, say what they believe in, confess their inadequacies, ask forgiveness, and, having done that, join together hopefully to go out into the world again. One character in the play sums it up: "This ritual is a meal, and therefore comforting."
There should be no sense of "right answers," doctrine or evangelism in the play; what binds the characters together is their common human journey. A New York reviewer said, "You don't have to be a churchgoer to love TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN- you just have to be a human being with heart."
And Arthur Waskow, faculty member of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia wrote, "Jewish tradition says to be serious about life is to wrestle with God-not to bow down, not to walk away, but to wrestle. Seldom do you see Godwrestling in a synagogue or in a church. But in TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN, here it is. How do I know it's God-wrestling? It's singing with joy while struggling with despair, and living life with a whole heart. The wrestling is powerful, the hearts are whole, and the music is wonderful!"
Here it is, then: whole hearts in the act of sharing. Communion. (And don't tell any lies.)
A good definition of theatre.
Carol Hall
New York, 1986
Reviews & Interviews
Critical Acclaim For The Show
Miss Hall's new songs are gospel-flavored extensions of the homespun folk-pop style she brought to Broadway with ''Best Little Whorehouse.'' Sticking to a well-scrubbed Middle American vocabulary that everyone can understand, her simple short-phrased tunes convey a cheerful greeting card sentimentality. ''I believe in orange, the sun hanging high,'' begins one typically molasses-coated lyric. Delivered in a church setting by a strong ensemble of singers, these hearthside homilies have an undeniable charm. And Michael O'Flaherty's lively piano-based choral arrangements, abetted by the excellent acoustics of St. Stephen's Church, gives the ensemble numbers a warm full-bodied buoyancy that reaches to the rafters.
- The New York Times
“A melodic score and a joyous communal spirit which doesn’t end until the house lights come up.”
- Associated Press
“A celebration… Communities will be presenting To Whom It May Concern for years to come.”
- The New York Times
“Witty, inspiring… its applications are universal.”
- New York Daily News
“To Whom It May Concern is a genial attempt, cast in the Godspell mode, to rethink aspects of worship and the validity of Christianity in these modern times… Miss Hall’s ideas and ideals are refreshingly ecumenical… To Whom It May Concern manages to remind the observer, with warmth and wit, that true worship is not a ritual but an ongoing communication with the Almighty.”
- Christian Science Monitor
Notes From The Producers On Staging
When TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN was originally produced at the Williamstown Theatre Festival as well as OffBroadway in New York, the actual sanctuary of a working church was used. As a result, staging was confined to the aisles (center, far left, far right) and to a shallow space upstage. (In case like that, due to the fact that churches are not usually "raked," the placement of six-inch risers is recommended whenever possible to help sight lines.)
As the audience filed in and was seated, all members of the cast except for THE PRIEST and THE STRANGER also entered the house, little by little, and took their reserved seats among the "congregation." Some sat in silence, some read programs, some spoke quietly with their neighbors in the unsuspecting audience. The lights on the playing area were pre-set very low, and a random scattered pattern of subtle colors was projected across the ceiling of the church. The play officially began with THE CHOIR MASTER entering from U.R. with a lit taper, going to two candles U.R. and U.L., lighting them, extinguishing the taper, and then going to the piano D.L. (audience level) and beginning the opening number. The feeling was one of being in a church... yet there was an air of something different about it. As the music began, THe CHIlD Suddenly stood up in the midst of the audience and began singing "When I Consider The Heavens." She was followed by individual cast members joining in until everyone was singing, at which point the cast moved down the aisles and re-assembled together D.C. to finish the opening number. Ceiling lights went down and the stage lights came up brighter as they finished the number and then went up onto the stage.
Although this had the effect (as the New York Daily News critic said) of "pulling us right into the performance and welding audience and actor into a common bond," other considerations should be contemplated. For instance, if the play is in fact performed in a working church space, the audience often enters with a reverence reserved more for Sunday morning than with the excited anticipation of an evening in the theatre. (An announcement to the effect that it is all right to applaud and even laugh in this space helps "break the ice" and relaxes the audience for what's in store.) More important: if communities are to be producing this play, it is quite probable that the case will be recognizable to or even be friends with audience members, so that the surprise of actors "hidden” in the congregation will not be possible. We suggest, therefore, another option: after the audience is seated, the individual characters can appear one by one on stage, each in the final acts of dressing to go to church. In silence, THEe PRIEST can don his vestments, GRANDAD tie his bow tie, CELIA button up her dress, THE CHILD put on overalls, etc.
Those case members can leave the stage, exit, and then enter the theatre from the back of the house to take their respective seats, followed by THE CHOIR MASTER who lights the candles, crosses to the piano, begins playing, etc.
With this staging, the audience would be reminded that after all, this is a play and not a real church service. (Occasionally, we encountered audience members who did not know whether or not they were expected to take part in the ritual along with the actors!) This staging option will also allow the individual performers a wonderful moment of preparation prior to entering the house. If the play is done on a traditional proscenium stage where the play's "congregation" might be facing the audience, the device could work equally well.
All aisles can be used throughout the play, especially during the musical numbers "We Believe" and "In The Mirror's Reflection." (In the New York production, “"Mirror's Reflection" was performed from all over the house.) If this is done, the musical director must make sure all voices are arranged equally in terms of soprano, alto placement, etc. The play is performed without an intermission and should run approximately one and a half hours.
