Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
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48 bostoncommon-magazine.com photography by Jeff gale (ImagIne Dragons); astrID stawIarz/getty Images (seDgwIck) "it's thrilling to have actresses of their caliber be so brave to originate an inge role." —mandy greenfield The band's name may be a mystery, but the reasons for Imagine Dragons' success certainly aren't. "It's been one surprise after another," says Sermon. So when the bless-tressed musician notes that their "Smoke + Mirrors" summer tour (also the name of their chart-topping new album) will boast "things that have never been done before," it's a safe bet they'll deliver. Sermon can't go into detail—trade secrets and all—but says there will be more lights ("hundreds"), speakers, visual effects, and overall phantasmic shenanigans July 1 at Boston's TD Garden than ever. "It may seem glamorous—and it is, sometimes—but we sure didn't start out that way," Sermon says. He cofounded the band just six years ago after meeting McKee at Boston's Berklee College of Music in an ear-training class. "He was the guy in the front row asking all the questions," he says. "I was the one in the back row being quiet." Before long, they took to practicing together with fellow classmate Platzman. "I loved Boston—Faneuil Hall and the Freedom Trail were my favorite places," Sermon says, "but the truth is, most of the time we were playing eight to 10 hours a day in school rehearsal rooms." What came out of that was a groove and a spiritual core. "It's a given that everyone can play at Berklee," Sermon adds, "but we got along." When he joined forces with Reynolds to form the band, Sermon picked up the phone and called McKee and Platzman. "It cannot be underestimated how much you need to like your bandmates," he says. "They have to be your family." The quartet named themselves Imagine Dragons—an anagram based on a top-secret group of words unknown even to family members—and started performing at tiny joints around Las Vegas. "We'd play four- or five-hour gigs and split the $400 pay between us. It was grueling, but we earned our chops." They also picked up lots of fans and a record deal, thanks to their anthemic pop sound, powerful hooks, and haunting lyrics. Each track is laced with Reynolds's moods, both bright and dark, his voice roaring lyrics of apocalypse, dreams, demons, and fame. "Dan writes lyrics like journal entries," Sermon says. "They're deep thoughts and extremely honest. He documents the hard stuff—sudden fame, the loneliness of touring. It's therapy for him. It's raw, and it's real.... We had no idea we would blow up to this extent. Our music is true to us. We write music that we would be okay with playing hundreds of times, over and over." This summer the band will perform in 39 cities in 58 days, with barely one day off per week. "We're upping our game," Sermon explains. "We owe it to our fans. Their energy is palpable. They've booked babysitters and paid for parking. It's our responsibility to bring the best stage presence we can." July 1, 7:30 pm. T D Garden, 100 Legends Way, 800-745-3000; ticketmaster.com BC Buried Treasure a lost work by william inge, Off The Main ROad, gets its world premiere at the williamstown theatre Festival in a production starring kyra sedgwick. by jared bowen History can be awfully cruel. When it remembers the greatest American playwrights of the mid-20th century, Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams get the standing ovations, while William Inge—author of Bus Stop and Picnic and one of the most successful dramatists of the 1950s—is often left stand- ing in t he w ings. But just a s M iller a nd Willia ms had t heir t ime in t he Williamstown Theatre Festival spotlight, Inge is about to get his. The festi- val's new artistic director, Mandy Greenfield, will open her debut season at the Berkshires summer hot spot with an Inge play never before produced. Off the Main Road stars Kyra Sedg wick as Faye Garrit, a frag ile woman who checks into a run-down Missouri resort to hide from her abusive hus- band, a onetime professional basketball player. Estelle Parsons plays Faye's mot her, w it h Ma r y Wisema n as her daughter. "They're each ext remely complicated and nuanced characters," says Greenfield. "It's thrilling to have actresses of their caliber be so brave to originate an Inge role." Greenf ield f irst lea r ned of t he play when, as a r t ist ic producer of t he Manhattan Theater Club, she presented a critically lauded 2008 produc- tion of Inge's Come Back, Little Sheba starring S. Epatha Merkerson. The Inge estate brought the recently rediscovered work to her attention, and Greenfield was immediately t ransfixed. "The characters are fresh and alive and complex," she says. "And they're engaged in big questions not only about themselves, but about themselves in the universe." In the close confines of the resort, Faye must deal with pressure from her mother, who urges her to end the marriage, and from her daughter, who is worried about her emotional state. "Inge is interested in the interior lives of human beings," Greenfield says. And that's bound to rekindle the interest of audiences in him. June 30–July 19. Main Stage, '62 Center for Theatre and Dance, 1000 Main St., Williamstown, 413-597-3400; wtfestival.org BC Kyra Sedgwick lends her considerable star power to William Inge's little-known play Off the Main Road. Culture Hottest ticket