The Theater Equation is the musical adaptation of Ayreon's 2004 Rock Opera The Human Equation. The run consisted of four shows in Rotterdam on September 18 and 20, 2015. The last was the one recorded for the live album released in 2016.
As a Milestone Celebration for the tenth anniversary of The Human Equation, Arjen Anthony Lucassen's former manager Yvette Boertje originally proposed a trio of fan-made concerts performed under the title Ayreon's The Human Equation Theater Experience, but after some of the original cast and musicians got into the idea, the organizers decided to make it a greater venture.
Cast
Returning from The Human Equation
- James LaBrie as Me
- Marcela Bovio as Wife
- Irene Jansen as Passion
- Heather Findlay as Love
- Magnus Ekwall as Pride
- Eric Clayton as Reason
- Devon Graves as Agony
New
- Anneke van Giersbergen as Fear
- Michael Mills as Rage/Father
- Jermain "Wudstik" van der Bogt as Best Friend
- Peter Moltmaker as Doctor
- Nienke Verboom and Katinka van der Harst as Nurses
- Anita van der Hoeven as Mother
- Arjen Anthony Lucassen as Forever of the Stars
Musicians
Returning from The Human Equation
- Joost van den Broek - musical director
- Ed Warby - drums
- Jeroen Goossens - flutes and woodwinds
New
- Marcel Coenen - guitar
- Freek Gielen - guitar
- Johan van Stratum - bass
- Erik van Ittersum - keyboards
- Ruben Wijga - keyboards
- Ben Mathot - violin
- Maaike Peterse - cello
- Epic Rock Choir - backing vocals
The Troper Equation
Tropes regarding this musical's parent album can be found in The Human Equation folder in the Ayreon page.
- Ascended Extra: Rage. Devin Townsend appeared in only three songs in the album, but Mike Mills gave Rage (and Father, too!) more stage time.
- Canon Foreigner: The hospital personnel, who get to sing parts originally by either Wife or Best Friend.
- Color-Coded Characters: The emotions, to wit:
- Creator Cameo: After "Confrontation" all the lights go out, and what looks like a pod is wheeled to center stage, where Arjen, playing the Forever, emerges.
- Dark Reprise: Several passages recur over the course of the musical, often with changing perspective.
- Despair Event Horizon: Agony and Fear (and sometimes Rage) push Me into this, but Me ultimately defies them.
- Dramatic Spotlight: "Look at Me. I'm alive!"
- Everyone Meets Everyone: All the emotions gather around Me when the beat drops in "Isolation".
- Freudian Excuse: "Childhood" and "Trauma".
- Gender Flip: Anneke van Giersbergen portrays Fear, who was played by Mikael Åkerfeldt on the original album.
- Greek Chorus: The Epic Rock Choir provides backing vocals mostly, but there are a few moments when they play this.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Passion. She often sides with Pride, who urges Me to keep fighting for his life and prioritize himself, but in "Trauma" she and Rage duet about Me being "better off dead." Justified since she's the representation of that part of Me that screams Just do it!
- Rage himself, too, but his position is vague because of his limited appearances.
- "I Am" Song: "Day Three: Pain" and its reprises for Agony.
- Large Ham: Inevitable given that this is Ayreon we're talking about, but onstage Devon Graves and Mike Mills take the cake.
- Missing Mom: Though she's already dead in the opera's time frame, kinda averted in this adaptation where she is given her own actor well apart from Fear, and in "Trauma" we even see her final moments.
- No Name Given: As with the rock opera, only Me's emotions have names.
- Not What It Looks Like: Between the Wife and Best Friend. Me saw both of them together and got distracted that he crashed his car. Turns out there wasn't much between them.
- Soprano and Gravel: In "Day Twelve: Trauma", Anneke!Fear (soprano) sings alongside the recorded vocals of Mikael!Fear (gravel).
- Mills!Rage has his own backing Harsh Vocals, provided by the Epic Rock Choir.
- Sound-to-Screen Adaptation: Sound to stage to screen, as this musical doubles as a live concert DVD released later on.
