JOB: The Hip-Hop Musical
Hip-Hop Heaven
An old testament rap on Job

Sure, a hip-hop musical sounds strange, but a hip-hop comedy that’s based on the biblical story of Job is totally outlandish. And that’s exactly what long-time friends Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion have done with their theatrical creation Job: The Hip-Hop Musical.

Saibil contends it’s not as out there as it may seem. “The thing I like to remind people is it’s not as abnormal as some people think. It’s very novel in a sense, but it has its roots in Elizabethan verse drama, in any verse drama. It’s very similar in that it’s very text-built theater, with rhythm and timing and all of that.”

Freshly graduated from Brown University, these two native Canadians cooked up an idea that was so unique and unorthodox that it just had to be seen. “We studied the story of Job in high school,” recalls Batalion. “And why not take hip-hop and use it as a narrative?”

Job was a smash at the Montreal Fringe Festival where it grabbed the award for “Best Text” of the festival and was short-listed for “Best Comedy.” The Toronto Star put Job on its list of the top ten plays of 2002. Not bad for a couple of 22-year-olds.

Job comes to town this week as part of Piccolo Spoleto’s Fringe at Theatre 99 series. For Saibil and Batalion, the fringe is not new turf. Besides blowing away folks at the Montreal Fringe last year with Job, they’ve also garnered praise at various Canadian fringe festivals for their three previous plays — Everything You Wanted to Know About Yourself But Where Afraid to Ask Freud, Carl Rosenweig, How Was Your Vasectomy? and The Grafenberg All-Stars (another hip-hop musical named after the guy who discovered the G-Spot). But Job’s given Saibil and Batalion exposure off the fringe and outside of the Great White North. In fact, at the time of this interview they were in sunny Orlando, Fla., half-way into a two-week run, after just completing five weeks in New York City.

Batalion plays the role of MC Abel and Saibil plays the role of MC Cain, the narrators of the story. The two also play all the other roles, sometimes two at a time, in this funny spin on a not-so-funny Old Testament story about a loyal servant to God who’s stripped of everything as a test of his loyalty. But in Job: The Hip-Hop Musical the story is put in a modern context. Job Low (a.k.a. Joe Blow) works for record company president J. Hoover (a.k.a. Johova) and his vice president Lou Saphire (a.k.a. Lucifer). Well, without telling the whole story, Job Low has to face a Job-like test of his loyalty.

Batalion and Saibil both come from Jewish backgrounds, and while Batalion says they’re not particularly religious, they thought it was a good story that translated well into a hip-hop musical. “People who are really into the Bible really like the play because they can follow the story better. But people like it for the theatrical text, too,” he says. “Our style is wacky humor, but the message is serious and a lot of people recognize that. They totally understand the corporate abuse that goes on and appreciate the message.”

The way the play is arranged is reminiscent of a rap show, including the old-school jogging suits and doo-rags donned by Saibil and Batalion. “It’s set up like an album and a concert at the same time, right down to the minimalist aesthetic of a hip-hip concert. There will be nothing on stage but white towels and water bottles.” Batalion says the flow of the play is reflective of a hip-hop album with ten distinct “tracks” and an intro and outro. They have actually recorded the tracks as a CD (that will be for sale in the lobby, of course).

Saibil says coming up with the bizarre concepts of their productions take time, but the actual writing goes pretty quickly for the two young playwrights who have been collaborating on films and plays since they were 13 years old. According to Batalion, they pretty much divvy up the songs and split duties writing them. “Over the last decade we really have created a collaborative process that once we’ve come up with an idea it’s arbitrary who actually writes it down,” says Saibil.

Thanks to the positive response Saibil and Batalion have received from Job, they’re already working on a sequel, tentatively entitled The Demon of the Eternal Recurrence. “It’s a Nietzchean concept,” says Saibil with a chuckle.

— Lorne Chambers 
 
Buzz-O-Meter

What is it? What could be more natural an artistic fusion than that of Old Testament Biblical tale and old-school rap? If the best art derives, as they say, from contrast and harmony, the Montreal duo of Eli Batalion and Jerome Saibil have one hell of a good start. Job: The Hip-Hop Musical is a satiric, musical retelling of the timeless tale of Job, that most put-upon of protagonists. In essence, Batalion and Saibil do their best to answer the eternal question, Why do bad things happen to good people, yo?

Why see it? Saibil and Batalion provide what by all accounts is an extraordinarily entertaining display of comedy, wit, and musical and verbal virtuosity. After their sold-out performances at the Montreal Fringe Festival last June, the duo went on to win the Montreal English Critics Circle Award for Best New Play and made the Toronto Star’s “Top Ten of 2002” list.

Who should go? These two have been making theatre and music together since they were 13. Both graduated from Brown University — Batalion graduating magna cum laude in philosophy and psychology and Saibil with honors in philosophy. So if you’re looking for mindless entertainment, you should probably look elsewhere.

— Patrick Sharbaugh

(5 out of 5) This one promises to give Baby Wants Candy some stiff competition for “most sought after ticket” in the Piccolo Fringe at Theatre 99 — and perhaps any of the theatre at this year’s Piccolo festival.