Interview: Alexander Sage Oyen on Moment by Moment

Moment by Moment began life in New York back in 2013, but its ten strangers finally reach London screens this October, when Future Spotlight Productions‘ song cycle film gets its UK premiere at Genesis Cinema. Ahead of the screening, Red Bus Londinium put some questions to writer and composer Alexander Sage Oyen about revisiting songs he wrote in his early twenties,

Red Bus: Moment by Moment started life as a one-off concert at 54 Below back in 2013. What made you want to return to these songs now, over a decade later?

Alexander Sage Oyen: Moment by Moment actually began its life as a stage musical that was workshopped in NYC quite a few times before taking a new shape and premiering in concert at 54 Below in 2013. I was then incredibly lucky to have the show staged at Mahidol University in Thailand and then the show went on to some workshops with Penn State University and premieres in several countries- it’s been an incredible journey with this piece and taken me and my music to several interesting and unexpected places.

Red Bus: There’s something quite universal about the “ten strangers” idea, everyone’s had that moment of catching someone’s eye on the subway or wondering about the person crying quietly at the next table. Is that recognition, an audience seeing a bit of themselves in a stranger’s story, something you’re consciously writing towards?

Alexander Sage Oyen: All of the songs in Moment by Moment were written before I was 21 years old- I think that those younger years are incredibly creative and also potentially isolating and lonely. I’m 34 years old right now and looking back I think I can genuinely say that each and every song comes from an honest or vulnerable corner of my mind. I think as a writer that if you try to investigate yourself and your most raw and human thoughts and emotions, other people will be able to see themselves inside of those. So ultimately I think I was just trying to be as bare as possible and hope that people see some part of themself in that.

Red Bus: New York itself feels almost like an eleventh character here. What is it about the city, as opposed to any other city these ten stories could have been set in, that suits this kind of song cycle?

Alexander Sage Oyen: Honestly it’s just gotta be that New York City is the greatest city in the world! Apologies, just a little hometown pride. But genuinely- these songs were shaped in this city and have been living and breathing in the dark cabaret rooms and random musical theatre concerts- New York is a part of the DNA of these tunes.

Red Bus: What is something the audience can experience in the film?

Alexander Sage Oyen: What I most hope the audience experiences from this film is just some moment of self recognition- just that we may all be coming at this from different angles but, at least when we’re at our best, we’re all trying to do the same thing- live well.

Red Bus: With John Cardoza taking the film’s end-credit song, what does that number need to do dramatically that the rest of the score doesn’t, and why was his voice the right one to close things out?

Alexander Sage Oyen: “Time Is Standing Still” is a song that I’ve been honored to hear sung by several incredible performers but John Cardoza’s rendition is truly something else. He has such a spectacular gift as an interpreter of song and story and he’s honestly one of the best out there. A fun side story is that John and I actually worked together on this very song about 10 years ago- John was graduating from college and the students put together a cabaret of my work at the Duplex as their showcase that year and John sang this song- he always sounded stunning on it.

The song is still featured in the stage show. In all honesty, I wouldn’t say that the song does anything differently whatsoever than any of the songs in the film.

We had an amazing actor named Kyle Birch who was in the London workshop of Moment by Moment (in anticipation of the film) and left an indelible mark on the process and the show. When it came time to actually film, Kyle had devastatingly passed. We decided that we didn’t want to replace him in the film. We dedicate the movie to his memory, actually.

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