‘Tropical kabuki’? Listening to The White Lotus score and considering its production process

HBO’s The White Lotus, is a six-part series written and directed by Mike White set amongst the guests and staff of an upmarket tourist resort in Hawaii. At the beginning of the series the hotel’s manager tells his Native Hawaiian trainee to blend into the background and not be a distraction – to perform “tropical kabuki”. This chapter considers how Cristobal Tapia de Veer’s score refuses to perform that kind of disappearing act. I detail how a distinctive aspect of the show's music originated in a very different project, and explore the implications in the show and what it might reveal about contemporary screen music approaches.