In harmony

Turner and Mahoney in tune at Trinity

by Bill Rodriguez

When we see Chris Turner and wife Rachel Mahoney playing music for Trinity's current As You Like It -- onstage and on the fringes, rather than in an orchestra pit -- they'll fit in as naturally as Pan piping in the woods. In the ensemble tradition that Trinity Repertory Company has come to epitomize, the two musicians have given fresh meaning to the expression "playing along."

And that has been so since 1987, when they abruptly left London to join a Trinity production in the midst of rehearsal. Actor Peter Gerety (now on TV's Homicide) was directing his first play there, A Christmas Carol. He had seen the musicians perform in Rhode Island, and wanted to tap into their buoyant exuberance for his take on the emotional classic.

"We immediately connected with Peter," says Chris, 48. "But we had no idea what the hell was going on. We arrived in the middle of the rehearsal process -- and he didn't know what to tell us. He was like, `Well, do something!' "

But actor Bill Damkoehler, who was doing the music direction, just smiled reassuringly.

"He said it would all fall into place," recalls Rachel, 49. "But to us, doing Christmas Carol for the first time seemed mammoth."

Nonetheless, they immediately began adding elements that are still part of the annual performance, such as incidental carols, sound effects and spooky, moody music in the Ghost of Christmas Future scene.

"The most important thing about any production is that the story gets told, so you have to find the best way to tell that story as a musician," Rachel observes. "And it really takes a long time to develop the production to the point where you are really telling the story. So you can't get attached to any piece of music. You have to get very used to this Zen approach, where if something doesn't work you just have to give it up without even a second thought and go for the next one."

They are speaking in the living room of their East Side home, late for the interview because director Oskar Eustis was thoroughly into some music they were improvising at the As You Like It rehearsal. Before them is lots of artwork on the walls, their trusty snaggle-toothed spaniel Bodger between them on the sofa, and well-deserved glasses of a good beer in their hands.

"One of our strengths is spontaneity," Rachel notes. "It's hard to tell at this point, but I think there will be some bits where we'll be using some of this huge collection of ethnic instruments that we've collected over the years."

Chris briefly demonstrates the eerie sounds of Thai and Chinese "harmonicas" -- bamboo devices that emit complex chords that Chris plays in haunting Philip Glass-like repetitions.

"You can pull up that knowledge," Rachel says, "and use it alongside the choral arrangements and things that Amanda does, and it's a very positive meeting of the minds."

Amanda is Amanda Dehnert, musical director of the production. The Turners are performing with Kevin Fallon and several Trinity Conservatory students.

"We just sort of add our little funny colors," Chris says. "I think I'm going to play the alphorn."

If so, Rachel will play the goat horn. Chris's main instrument is the harmonica and Rachel's is the fiddle. He won an international harmonica competition in Germany in the '70s. The daughter of a Virginia coal miner, Rachel grew up listening to fiddle music in the Appalachian Mountains and currently teaches it, privately and at the Music School. But the list of what else they can play well enough to perform is formidable. For him it's bagpipes, flutes and "all wind instruments, more or less." Rachel plays accordion and bowed psaltery. Both can play, to some degree, any brass instruments they pick up.

When they met in London, squatters in a derelict building, she was studying glassblowing at the Royal College of Art. He was studying liberal arts at Ealing College and taking what band gigs he could. (Having played harmonica with his father and brother, Chris discovered the blues "harp" at 16, blown away by a recording of the legendary Sonny Terry. Three years later he was in the acid rock group Screw, opening for the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park.) Chris and Rachel teamed up, free spirits, traveling about picking up Celtic tunes and inspiration. By the late '70s they were in Rhode Island in the folk eclectic Nee Ningy Band, where they so impressed Peter Gerety.

Although they have been familiar at Trinity for more than 10 years, last year audiences were most impressed with Chris for blasting forth his one-man overture for The Music Man. He attacks mouth organs with such frenzy that he runs through, by Rachel's estimate, at least $2000 worth annually. She says there have been years when they've spent more to replace his harmonicas than on rent.

These days Chris has been playing blues Wednesday nights with guitarist Thom Enright at the Trinity Brew Pub, right behind the theater. Until rehearsals began, they had been playing Sunday nights at Maverick's in Wayland Square in the acoustic band the Providence Whole Bellies, and they may resume in the spring. Chris and Rachel also do lots of private parties. Testimony to his growing popularity as a blues master, this Sunday, January 31, Chris will give a harmonica concert with the Rhode Island Philharmonic, playing two pieces written by classical music composer Paul Nelson, plus a solo composition.

By the end of As You Like It, no fewer than four couples get married. In that closing scene, the characters would do well to follow the music around them to the source if they want to learn how to live in harmony.

As You Like It is at Trinity Rep January 29 through March 7.