BY MICHAEL G termipe{ to smash the maehinery of Broadwayto create something new. "If I was satisfied that musical theater was jugJ fine and dandy as it was, I proba- bly would not have accepted the commis- sion fto'write "Adding Machine"l because I would have nothing to add to the discus- sion,"'in3ists Schmidt, 31, a native of Mil- waukee who lives in Park Slope with his wift!;jylf we want to consider the form still alive, somebody's got to at least try.</p><p> And I'm not even trying that hard.</p><p> I'm just do- ing what the play is dictating me to do." Based on the boldly experimental 1923 play by Elmer Rice, "Adding Machine" is athat tells the story of Mr.</p><p> Zero (Joel Hatch), a cog in the wheels of big business, a small man who works in accounting and finds himself suddenly replaced by the innova- tive device named inthe title.</p><p> As anon5rmous as his name, with a shrewish wife (Cyrilla Baer) at home, Zero finally wakes up and strikes back in a moment of violence.</p><p> Scenes of mech- anized work (with echoes of "Metropolis" and Chap- lin's "Modern Times") are counterpointed by songs built around the rhythmic jotting down of numbers and scraps of gossip traded at dinner parties.</p><p> The show moves from Zero's dull job to his dull home life to prison, execution and even the afterlife.</p><p> For Hatch, a Chicago actor who came with the project to New York , Zero is acharacter he can identifywith. "As an actor, I can relate to failure," laughs Hatch, wlro in fact works regular- Iy. "That's something I get crystal-clear, as well as the pain and the defensiveness that creates.</p><p> Zero has a brief mo- ment where he thinks something good is going to come his way. , And it doesn't." While Hatch loves musi- cals and frrst performed in New York with "Annie War- bucks" - the sequel to "An- nie" - Schmidt has no pa- tience for the conventional.</p><p> In fact, his co-librettist, Jason j Loewith, wasn't even certain that : Schmidt had ever seen a tradition- al musical.</p><p> But a lengthy r6sum6 creating innova- tive sound designs brought Schmidt to ev- eryone's attention as a rising talent.</p><p> Hewas commissioned by the Windy City's Next Theater Company to create a music theaterpiece around Rice's play. "To be honest, when ybu're 27 and someone says they want you to write an opera, and when you're finished, they'll produce it, you say'Yes!'" says Schmidt. "So I actually agreed without reading the play first.</p><p> Then I read it.</p><p> It's a very deep- ly thought, deeply felt, powerftrlly written piece of literature.</p><p> It's a complex, strong black cup of coffee." For Hatch, unlike the character he plays, his work couldn'tbe more satisfying.*I love the genre of musicals," says Hatch. "I've done a lot of musicals.</p><p> And I feel [this show] is an opportunity to ex- pandthe medium, "Musicals don't just have to be about pretty people singing pretty songs.</p><p> There can be something that hits people at a deeper level." O dark chamber opera ir la "Sweeney Todd"
