FOR THE INQUIRER<\/a> <\/p>\nLife as we know it may have stopped during Winter Storm Jonas, but not for the Wilma Theater production of playwright Tom Stoppard\u2019s new work, The Hard Problem, or for its most striking cast member, saxophonist Michael Pedicin.<\/p>\n
The tall, bald, tan Pedicin marched down snowy Broad Street for weekend evening performances and Sunday\u2019s matinee. As he\u2019s done since Jan. 6, he appeared on stage, playing as scenes changed and characters considered their quandaries.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m one of those crazy people who enjoy snow in the city,\u201d Pedicin said between performances. \u201cIt was wild getting there, but fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201cwild getting there, but fun\u201d axiom could describe his journey as one of Philly\u2019s most prominent ax men: the son of jazz\/ R&B sax great Mike Pedicin (\u201cstill sharp at 98\u201d); a student of legendary local music teachers Buddy Savitt and Dennis Sandole; asession man for albums from Gamble and Huff\u2019s Philadelphia International Records; and a sideman at Atlantic City gigs for Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.<\/p>\n
Pedicin the player has done it all. As a leader, he\u2019s been making exquisitely soulful and subtly complex jazz albums since 1980, such as The Ballads and his most recent disc, Why Stop Now\/Ubuntu.<\/p>\n
Pedicin has a Ph.D. in psychology from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, with a practice specializing in the creative mind and its practitioners. He\u2019s also a professor of music and coordinator of jazz studies at New Jersey\u2019s Richard Stockton College. He was wrapping up 2015\u2019s semester in December when he caught wind of his next wild, fun excursion.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a call from Daniel Perelstein, the Wilma\u2019s resident composer and sound designer, about music for the show,\u201d Pedicin said. \u201cI assumed they wanted an orchestra, so I inquired as to how many pieces, when Danny says, \u2018One. You.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Stoppard never wrote a saxophonist into his play, based on the \u201chard problem of consciousness\u201d and its theories as formulated by Australian philosopher and psychologist David Chalmers. Yet Stoppard\u2019s 22-year relationship with Philadelphia\u2019s avant-garde Wilma and its prime motivator, Blanka Zizka, meant the playwright trusted his director.<\/p>\n
In a chat with a reporter during rehearsals, Stoppard said: \u201cWhen Blanka first told me about her idea for a saxophonist, I asked if she was sure, then simply trusted her instincts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zizka claims that in the play, the main character, Hilary, struggles with the consequence of a decision she made as a 15-year-old. \u201cI thought about this moment of decision as something I call \u2018frozen time,\u2019 something that Hilary carries with her, always,\u201d the director said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wanted to express her longing, hope, and fear in a play that speculates about origins of consciousness and is deeply saturated with ideas about biology, evolution, and neuroscience, [using] something that doesn\u2019t represent science \u2014 by art.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zizka didn\u2019t want recorded music for transitions between scenes; she wanted the music to become another character. \u201cI wanted a live saxophone player who can improvise over a basic composed structure so that the performances can breathe and change every night,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
She also wanted a reed sound but isn\u2019t sure why. \u201cIt was intuition; probably something to do with breath, and that a saxophonist must give himself completely to the instrument.\u201d<\/p>\n
That would be Pedicin, who speaks of his improvisational largesse and its freeing sensibilities as one would a child or a lover.
He believes his life is improvisational (\u201cwhich must be hell on my wife\u201d) and even teaches a course called \u201cImprovisation, Creativity and Consciousness.\u201d \u201cIt is about freeing oneself of bias, of dogma, and to allow yourself to live in the moment,\u201d he said.
Pedicin got The Hard Problem gig immediately, due to his abilities as a player, and, Zizka noted, \u201chis interest in neuroscience.\u201d<\/p>\n
He started during rehearsals, even reading lines with the actors on stage. At first, he played from the corner of the stage apron, in the audience, and backstage. It was only by chance that he played on stage with the actors moving in and out of a scene, which made him part of the action. \u201cSuddenly, I could relate to Hilary [Sarah Gliko] because I could look into her eyes and see what she is going through, as a character and as an actor,\u201d Pedicin said.<\/p>\n
Though improvising, Pedicin is not blowing manically or harmolodically, as would Anthony Braxton or Ornette Coleman. \u201cI want to blow hot but always remember I\u2019m working a scene,\u201d Pedicin said of being respectfully corralled. His flow is liquid, smooth, and soulful within the confines of a scene\u2019s feel and vibe.<\/p>\n
His physical presence is daunting \u2014 a bald man in black against an all-white stage set. Performing with an audience in front and behind the stage gives the illusion that Hilary is peering right through him; that he is a spirit guide. This etherealism has led audience members to theorize that Pedicin is either Hilary\u2019s conscience or perhaps even God.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I cast Michael, I knew it had to be an older player, someone with a long life experience,\u201d Zizka said. \u201cI guess that\u2019s why now so many audience members think of him as a presence of God.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pedicin thinks he could be The Hard Problem\u2019s inner voice or guiding light. \u201cGod is good, too,\u201d he said with a laugh.<\/p>\n
The Hard Problem, Wilma Theater,
265 S. Broad St., through Feb. 6, showtimes vary; $45;
215-546-7824, wilmatheater.org.<\/p>\n
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Real improv at the WilmaBy A.D. Amorosi FOR THE INQUIRER Life as we know it may have stopped during Winter Storm Jonas, but not for the Wilma Theater production of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":733,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelpedicin.com\/n\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}