Is Neal Medlyn the next great pop diva?
Maybe not, but we'd put a ring on it anyway
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Fusebox promises to bring provocative, entertaining experiences from the theatrical world, and The Neal Medlyn Experience Live! epitomizes both: Texas-born, New York-based performance artist Neal Medlyn deftly interweaves personal narrative and recycled pop-culture references, resulting in unusual shows like his eponymous underground hit (named one of the “Top Five Dance Events Of 2008” by The New York Times), which faithfully recreates Beyoncé’s 2007 concert DVD The Beyoncé Experience Live! through Medlyn’s strained warble and awkward choreography. Before his appearance at Fusebox on April 29, during which he will perform both solo and as part of a “song battle” with Maxi Giel! & Playcolt, Decider spoke with Medlyn about his bizarre signature of art and its influences, his willingness to put himself in a position to get the crap beat out of him, and a future project that's aimed squarely at the Radio Disney crowd.
Decider: How did you survive an East Texas childhood to thrive in the world of theatrical arts? Feel free to cry like you're on a Barbara Walters special.
Neal Medlyn: Pop radio, of course! Specifically a station out of Tyler, Texas called Y99 that played all the hits. I listened to them intently and imagined all sorts of bizarre shenanigans were going on. I falsely thought the Salt-N-Pepa hit "Push It" contained the command, "Pick up those dicks!" which inspired all sorts of confused, excited wondering. I watched Madonna roll around on the floor. Saw Andy Kaufman on TV. I had plenty of TV friends that lived in an exciting somewhere else. That helped a lot. My brain has always just run wild.
D: You've no doubt heard it all when it comes to reactions to your performances, but is there one that stands out?
NM: There was once when I had a weekly show in a really bad bar in NYC where people would do drugs downstairs. Just like two guys would be doing drugs, which is menacing. A bunch of people is fine. I started my show by running off the stage and into the crowd, and there was a guy there who later informed me that he was going to beat me up but decided to watch the show instead. That caused me some trepidation. I also did an early, early performance in a coffee shop in Nacogdoches with my Texas noise music genius friend Danny McMahon, where we had to be escorted straight to a car after the show, lest we get in physical peril.
D: What inspired you to start emulating pop divas—and Beyoncé in particular?
NM: Michael Jackson, I suppose. I spent so much time as a child watching him onstage, and I’ve had a lifelong obsession with stage presence and charisma and the mechanics of all that. As I got more into weird art, I loved people like Karen Finley and Lisa Carver and Kathleen Hanna and all that wild, intense American performing, which stage diva-ing is a part of. With a more conventional star like Beyoncé, a lot of that is an interest in the pacing and structure and weirdness of concerts. I love concert films because they’re such strange, wild affairs meant to induce this particular kind of pop ecstasy. I like seeing popular culture all ramped up, like the Jonas Brothers movie where they end up spewing white goo on their audience from big, elaborate, almost crotch-level cannons. It’s a weird, weird wonderland over there that us self-respecting adults are ignoring. My next show, by the way, is built on Disney pop, Britney Spears, and abstinence.
D: Do you see yourself as paying homage or mocking those performances?
NM: I certainly don't think of myself as mocking or poking fun at pop culture, or even the people whose songs I use. I choose the music and subjects because I find them interesting and peculiar and wonderful American creations with which I identify.
D: In your Beyoncé show, you include monologues from women talking about committing acts of violence. Are those real?
NM: Yes, it was real—and was and is one of my main interests in that show! She had just sung a song offering herself up in this very servile way—that she would put his doo-rag on, turn on the game, get his slippers—and then the next thing you know, they're talking about killing a guy for asking her to iron his shirts or something. The cheekiness! It's a Chicago rip-off, with the women dancers doing interpretive dance, faux-Bob Fosse moves while these “jailhouse confessions” play over the P.A. I'm almost positive the monologues were written for the show. There are laugh lines in them and they’re read by actresses, and abstracted enough not to be the subject of litigation. That disconnect is part of what's kinda neat. I also like to believe Beyoncé celebrated her “birthday” every day of the tour. In the video, she’s surprised at the end by the entire crowd singing “Happy Birthday” after the dancers wheel out a big cake. Fake stories, fake birthdays!
D: What wisdom would you impart to other artists looking to emulate your stage confidence?
NM: Stay in school. Don't do drugs. Probably don't go to art school, but do as many projects as you can. And if that doesn't work, buy a bag of fake penises and take some birth control pills onstage and get crazy!
