Daniel and Patrick Lazour Talk About How We Live in Cairo Became the Show It Is Today

Inspired by a New York Times photograph of young people around a laptop as the Arab Spring was taking place in Egypt in 2011, brothers Daniel and Patrick Lazour began work on a musical. After development at the Eugene O’Neill Musical Theater Conference in 2015, the National Alliance for Musical Theater Conference in 2016, and the American University in Cairo and New York Theatre Workshop in 2017, We Live in Cairo had a full production at American Repertory Theater in 2019 and an album Flap My Wings: Songs From We Live in Cairo released in 2021.

Now the musical is having its off-Broadway premiere at New York Theatre Workshop, where it officially opened on October 27, and the brothers are confident they have figured out their story. “What it had to be is a story of six very specific characters, very real people, going through an overwhelming moment in history,” says Patrick.

The idea of six student activists has remained the same from the beginning, but there have been structural changes over the years. “The show has moments that are sort of uncannily similar to the moments we’re experiencing now, but we were very careful never to graft the history of the United States onto Egypt,” says Patrick. “The more specific we could get about the situation in Egypt at that time in Cairo at that time, the better for us and the better for the story.”

TheaterMania talked to Daniel and Patrick about what they’ve learned about the show, musical theater writing, and themselves.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.

You had written six characters from the beginning, but they’ve gone through some changes. Can you talk about finding those characters?
Daniel: We were always intrigued by someone being a reluctant activist, someone who really has to break a wall of fear, which is a term that a lot of Egyptian activists used in 2011. The very first draft, we were really energized by this main character Layla being deathly afraid to be political, especially in an environment that represses political expression. That was an initial impulse and then we got pulled in by having to tell this swath of history and this massive protest, and in recent years we’ve returned to that character Layla being so afraid and going on this journey. I think it’s a testament to how you should never discard your first idea because often it is your best idea.

Patrick: But I will also say I think one of our first impulses for the show was to make it an ensemble piece, and I remember with the years of development we got notes, “Who is the protagonist? It’s easier to tell a story with a protagonist,” and those notes were well taken by us. I think if you put a gun to my head, Layla would be the protagonist, but we also really did come back to this idea that this is a show about six people and no one is more important than the next. It’s these characters with clear journeys through these four years of history.

At the O’Neill, the story went back and forth between 2011 and 2015 and now it’s linear. How did that decision come about?
Patrick: I think at the O’Neill we went back and forth, and we thought it would be a really cool format for the show. Ultimately, we’re happy we’re telling a linear story. Because each moment in time is just as important as the last. The revolution of 2011 should have its moment. It should not be in the context of another moment and then in Act 2, 2012 and 2013 should be their moments and we should really feel them.

What do you think has been the biggest constant in all the versions?
Patrick: Well, the revolution.

Daniel: I think also the idea of a songwriter, this troubadour at the center, Amir. He’s working on the song throughout the course of the show. And I remember at O’Neill we were doing something like that. And I think that there’s always been a lot of energy there for us in terms of songwriting and what that means as a metaphor to build something inspiring and structured and lasting.

Is there anything from any version of the show that you’ve lost that you really miss?
Patrick: There’s a song called “A Little Whiskey” that was in an early iteration that I don’t miss, but it was a fun song.

Daniel: And I miss a song called “Washed Away” that Karim sings that was lost in Boston. At A.R.T. I remember Diane Paulus said you can’t have three ballads in a row. That’s a structural problem. And she was so right. It didn’t and doesn’t fit in the show, but I think it’s a really nice song and it speaks to his character.

Patrick: “Washed Away” was a dirge, a moment of keening for Karim. But we wrote that song, we put it away, and then the song that Karim sings in the second act is sort of the opposite of that, which has a lot of sadness in it, but it’s a conditional love song about a country, and one of the more upbeat songs in the second act.

Did you draw from your own relationship at all for the brother relationship in the show?
Patrick: The collaborating, I think. Even though I’m not the guitarist here, I would like to say I’m a little bit more of the Amir. I see some more idealism.

Daniel: I don’t know. I’m the realist.

Patrick: Well, you did go to Columbia.

Daniel: And definitely with the language around songwriting. Not to say we struck it perfectly in the show, but it is a beef of ours when people are talking about writing music or writing songs and it doesn’t really feel like how it’s discussed. Whether or not the way we do it in the show resonates with other songwriters, the way we talk about songwriting is the way it is in the show.