Something I've Been Dreaming About For a Long, Long Time

News came across my twitter account today that has literally kept me bouncing since I read about it. I willingly DUSTED my apartment when I got home. That’s how happy it made me. The news that Adam Pascal (from Rent) wants to bring an album that literally shaped how I am as a human being, that has literally kept me alive, to Broadway.

Operation: Mindcrime is the 1988 breakthrough concept album brought to you by the letters Q and R. Queensryche, a progressive metal band from the Seattle area, has always had a way of looking at the world that defies the metal stereotype yet it is hardly inaccessible. Operation: Mindcrime, the story of a young junkie (Nikki) who is trapped in a world of his own making (or is he?) fights against a corrupt political system in the name of revolution. One of the best concept albums in history, and arguably in place right behind Pink Floyd’s The Wall, the tales of overrun wealth, corrupt religious and political leaders, and lovelorn, star-crossed lovers are as relevant today as they were twenty years ago. Set to screaming guitars and thudding bass lines the music pumps through my blood, as vital to my very life as breath and water.

And today, I discover that Adam Pascal, musician and Broadway hero, wants to bring the story that inspired my first novel, that kept me alive, that shaped how I look at the world, to the stage where it can be accessible to even more people.

Forgive the fangirl in me while I squeal, scream, cry, and gnash my teeth in abject joy.

Queensryche is not a band that is part of the mainstream, let alone the metal mainstream. The two most commercial albums in their library – Mindcrime and the 1991 explosion Empire – are where most people stop. Often, brilliant opuses such as Rage for Order and Promised Land are completely overlooked. Since the runaway success of “Grunge Rock” in Seattle in 1991, Queensryche has often seemed irrelevant in today’s world. Geoff Tate’s once glass shattering voice has nowhere near the strength it used to have. The departure of key songwriter and business-minded guy Chris DeGarmo in 1997 offered a blow to the band from which they have still not recovered. The sequel to Mindcrime, boringly titled Operation: Mindcrime II, helped bring the spotlight back to the band but even with a renewed energy in their writing, they still linger outside of the scope of most radio play and over the years, many fans have simply given up the ghost rather than struggle through what has been a rollercoaster of emotion and quality since DeGarmo’s departure. Those that have stayed have discovered that Tate is a more than capable song-writer and that the band’s last five studio albums have in fact not completely sucked and have evolved as the band itself has grown and changed. What we have also learned is that Tate seems happiest when he can create a character to sing through.

Which is what makes Mindcrime a perfect option for the stage. In this post-Bush era, people are starved for intelligence in their entertainment. We seek things that make us think. In this tough economic time, we flock to stage shows and movies, seeking hope and change and reflections of the world we live in – any kind of escape. Mindcrime will allow audiences the chance to step into a world so like our own but one so narrowly avoided. What would four more years of “compassionate conservatism” done to us? As we see real life Nikki’s emerging from the woodwork, shooting up abortion clinics and the Holocaust museum, we are in a place, a perfect place, for this terrifying reflection of society. After all, if it’s this bad now, where would we be with a different government in place? I can’t help but wonder if the Dr. X character will look a lot like Mr. Limbaugh.

There are some problems, of course. The album is vague and the storyline needs to be tightened up to bring it to a Broadway stage. All players and former players must be on board, especially if Queensryche is to help with composing future material. To keep the music consistent, it means that once again, Chris DeGarmo must come back into the fold in some form or fashion. It means bringing true heavy metal to a Broadway stage. True metal – not the fun and joyful hair metal that is a part of Rock of Ages. (And yes, I want to see that one too.) But those problems are not insurmountable.

So yes, Adam. Yes. Bring this brilliance to Broadway. Bring it once again to the world.

I’ll be there, watching.

Link: Rent Star Wants to Bring Mindcrime to Broadway