Just Shows To Go You

Reviewed for Theatermania.

There’s much to admire in this Broadway revival of the Anne Sullivan-Helen Keller story – above all else a riveting performance by Abigail Breslin – but, as you’ve likely already heard, the staging is a serious problem. (It pains me to say it, as I thought director Kate Whoriskey’s staging of Ruined last year was flawless.) Presenting this story in the round has to rank as one of the worst ideas in recent Broadway seasons – you can’t very well have your deaf and blind central character crossing the room mid-scene so that the other half of the audience can see her, especially when so much of her stage business is sitting and writing letters into the palm of her teacher’s hand. With so much non-verbal business, it’s especially imperative that the audience be visually connected to the players. My view was so frustrating for the first act that I debated skipping the second, and I could spy seats that were far more problematic than mine. (I’m glad I stayed – no major obstructions to my view after intermission, and the play’s final scene is as touching and effective as one could possibly hope.) The ideal seats would appear to be numbered in the 100s and in the low to middle 200s on the even side of the theatre. Sit there.

photo: Carol Rosegg

Even by the vaunted standards of other Kander and Ebb musicals, The Scottsboro Boys is an especially potent mix of bitter social comment and rousing showbiz razzle-dazzle. The real-life story from the Deep South in the 30’s – of the infamously unjust arrest and prolonged imprisonment of 9 innocent black men for raping 2 white women – is told as if in vignettes in a minstrel show, a bold and excitingly dangerous theatrical conceit that adds exponential layers of subtext. Unlike the duo’s Chicago, also about a miscarriage of American justice and presented as a vaudeville entertainment, The Scottsboro Boys is palpably discomforting by design – it often aims to make you squirm in your seat as it implicates not only societal racism but the racism of the minstrelry it presents. Except for a rarely intrusive framing story that leads to an unneeded, softening coda (that critics have been kindly asked not to reveal), the musical sustains both a remarkable level of stinging anger and a consistent visceral musical-theatre excitement. There’s plenty of praise-worthy craft – director/choreographer Susan Stroman has brought her best game to the staging, the book is purposeful and dynamic, the score is accomplished and often sublime, and the performers (particularly John Cullum, Brandon Victor Dixon, Colman Domingo, and Forrest McClendon) are sensational. But you stagger out of the theatre as you should, somehow altered and thinking not about the parts but about the in-your-face sum. Jolting, serious, thrilling, and absolutely unmissable.

My Q&A with Melissa Errico is up at TDF Stages.

I was delighted to chat with up-and-comer Sam Underwood about his performance as Marchbanks in Candida at Irish Rep.

What makes a young actor from London decide to train in America?

I was in an acting program in London but took a leave to come over in a play by Willy Russell called Stags And Hens. While here, my director said I should check out schools and that I would appreciate the teaching style. In terms of musical theatre, the majority of the work and the vocal training is a little bit stronger here. I got offered a place and thought, well, I can always go back to London anytime. Why not take the opportunity to have different experiences and to live in a different culture? It was one of the best decisions I ever made.

How did you come to audition for your role in Candida?

I saw the audition breakdown online and called my agent, who’d already submitted me and knew that I was very interested in Shaw. I think my agent saw a lot of me in Marchbanks.

How do you see him?

Everything he does comes from a place of passion and a lust for life. Being a young person, he’s naive about the ways the world really works; he’s socially awkward and doesn’t really understand boundaries. He wants to fix the world, to make things right, and to win the woman he loves. Without his determination he would absolutely fail but he doesn’t, he gets right down to the wire.

What’s been challenging about the role?

Reading this play, and all the stage directions and descriptions from Shaw, it can seem ridiculous that Candida can see something in this youth that could move her away from her husband. His language is so flowery and above everyone else’s way of talking that he can come across as ridiculous unless you give him a strength and make him as believable as possible. The language is gorgeous to speak, but it definitely was the biggest challenge.

Do you, looking at the whole of the play, think he truly loves Candida?

Let me put it this way: from what he understands and what he thinks love should be for a woman, yes, he absolutely does. It’s a fascinating journey because he learns throughout the course of the play what love and marriage actually are. By the end he has a higher knowledge of the level of love he is striving for. Before then his goal is to rescue Candida from this marriage she’s in, this poor loveless marriage. He has higher goals for her because, in his mind, she’s a goddess.

What is it like to have a director (Tony Walton) who is also the designer?

It’s been fascinating to work with him. He sees a picture and tries to capture it. When Melissa (Errico) and I were working on what we call “the love scene”, we found this physicality where I am lying down with my head in her lap and she folds on top of me. It was the idea of the mother taking care of the child, an “in the womb” kind of thing. He saw it and told us to hold on to it; it works with the intention of the scene.

production photos: Carol Rosegg

How would you describe working with Melissa Errico?

From day one, Melissa was completely open. She made me feel welcome in the environment as she’s worked with the company and with the people before. Everyone has been great. Melissa took me under her wing, which is what Candida does in the play. She’s open as an actress as well; we would spend our lunch breaks building a back history. With a play like this, it’s not just about staging; there’s so much to discuss. We also talked about our personal experiences and what we bring from that to our roles. Melissa, being a mother of 3 beautiful children, talked about how that affected her performance and I talked about what I was bringing from personal experience.

What do you bring from personal experience?

His drive; there’s not much point of being in this industry if you’re not willing to go balls to the wall. Also, the whole idea of being able to have a relationship and to be as driven as I want to be – that’s a very interesting balance. Shaw had the same issue – he had a relationship with his wife but when he was working, it was all he focused on. Marchbanks is trying to be expressive as a poet but he’s also fallen in love and wants that. I totally click with that in a personal way.

What do you look for when you go to the theatre?

Economy and efficiency in acting, always, even in a stylized piece with heightened text. I went to see Time Stands Still the other week. All 4 actors did a brilliant job. I’m a huge fan of Laura Linney’s work – she plays fiery, passionate characters but she doesn’t need to show that, it just comes across – and Brian D’Arcy James is one of my heroes. His career is an inspiration. Otherwise, I even like to go to the theatre to see acting that isn’t economical and efficient, just from a learning standpoint.

Do you have a dream role or a dream goal?

Next month I’m launching my own theatre company, The Fundamental Theatre Project. I’m a huge Shakespeare connoisseur; I’d like to do a production of Henry V. Alan Strang in Equus has been a dream role ever since I was very young and I first read it. That incredible passion and that intense level of belief – where can I get to do that in my life except on the stage?

Rod Kinter’s athletic fight choreography for Last Life, one of the hits of The Brick’s recent Fight Festival now enjoying a short encore run at The Ohio, is viscerally exciting and technically impressive (and it’s far more convincingly executed than what I’m used to seeing on stage). There’s also plenty of it – the show hasn’t dubbed itself a “fightsical” for nothing. The rough, decidedly R-rated violent smackdowns are underscored with percussive bursts of music, the way they would be in a film: the sometimes edge-of-your-seat stage combat is the main reason for the play and sure to satisfy action-seekers. Tim Haskell’s direction adds great additional vitality thanks to a striking meta-theatrical presentation: for much of the play, the actors are seated facing the audience while delivering their lines to each other. Even cooler is a conceit that regularly has the actors freeze mid-fight while an effects guy applies stage blood. Eric Sanders’ script is not always entirely clear in laying out the backstory of the characters and the post-apocalyptic setting, but it does what it needs to do in setting up the combat scenes and it wisely does so with some mitigating humor. Special shout-out to lead actor Taimak Guarriello who, whether delivering deadly roundhouse kicks or spoofing an infomercial with tongue in cheek, capably handles his role’s varied demands.

I talked with Heidi Blickenstaff as she prepares to play Neely O’Hara in the star-packed Actors Fund benefit on March 15th of Valley of the Dolls.

When did you first see the movie of Valley of the Dolls?

Ready? 3 days ago. It’s not very gay of me, I know, I’m sort of ashamed of myself since I consider myself an honorary gay. I’m a disgrace. I watched it by myself…with a bottle of wine! I was laughing out loud and I kept looking at my dog for support, like “Are you seeing the movie I’m seeing?” I couldn’t believe that it was a movie made for real because it is such a classic example of delicious camp.

Now that you’ve seen it, why do you think they came to you to play Neely?

I have absolutely no idea! I was even talking to our Music Director Steve Marzullo about it, like “what were you thinking?” I’m a brassy gal, I share that with Neely O’Hara, and I have some of her dance moves. I certainly don’t take myself too seriously as an actress and hopefully I will be able to capture her essence. I don’t know how much I have in common with her because she’s clearly an animal, she’s this aggressive beast of a girl. We’re different that way, but I know on stage that I can plant my tongue firmly in cheek. I think I can handle her, although she’s quite the buckin’ bronco. Should I learn all the ins and outs of Patty Duke’s gifted performance, or should I do my own thing? That’s kind of a ridiculous thing to ponder. People love the movie so much because of those specific lines and those specific line readings. In a way, doing it on stage is like doing Rocky Horror. Everybody knows it so well and it’s such a wonderful gift to the gays. If I mess it up, I know there will be like a hundred guys in the audience who could do it better.

I think the mood will be so celebratory and really about having fun…

Because it is so familiar to everyone I do think there’s a spirit of ridiculousness that goes along with it. I can certainly tap into that even if I’m not doing a perfect impression. It’s the kind of thing where you have to be fearless. I’m thrilled that I get to do it.

I know you can’t be deep into rehearsals yet, but has anyone in the cast proved surprising to you so far?

No one has surprised me because these things are anything goes. I’m thrilled to be working with Martha Plimpton; I think that’s brilliant casting too and I love and respect her work. I know Chris Sieber very well and he and I are I’m sure going to get really stupid with each other.

How about those, um, songs?

Oh my God. I was going over them with Steve Marzullo and we were literally cracking up to the point where he couldn’t play and I couldn’t sing. The songs are – hmm, well, how do I say this in a politically correct way? – STUPID! That “It’s Impossible” song is so ridiculous! And then you add all her fancy dances on top of that, it’s pretty spectacular in a 70’s way. I think they were drunk when they wrote it because those lyrics and those melodies are pretty outrageous. But also “Come Live With Me” is so great and hokey and cheesy, that will be really fun.

I can’t wait for the insane asylum reprise of that one!

That’s what I said, and somebody said that originally it wasn’t in there. I said “You have to put the nut factory song in there!” It’s definitely in and I can’t wait either.

I was at the first Broadway preview of [title of show] when the audience stopped the show on account of several minutes of wild applause….

I will never ever forget that as long as I live. I feel like I could never have an experience like that again in theatre. The memory of that will recharge my heart and soul and spirit for this business for the rest of my career. We were all very overwhelmed. Susan Blackwell said, and I feel this is very accurate, that it was almost like standing behind a waterfall. The power of that, the noise of that, this natural thing that was happening; you could almost reach out and touch and get some of it on you, it was so palpable and so beautiful. I also feel like it was very symbiotic. People were surely rooting for us, but it wasn’t just about us. It was about all of us. I felt like people were screaming for themselves too. “I’m an actor!. “I’m a painter”, “I’m a runner”; whatever your dream was, it was a collective roar.

How do you feel about having a signature song of your own now in “A Way Back To Then”?

It’s totally a trip and an honor having a stamp on a song. I can’t tell you how many people have written me on Facebook that they are singing that song for drama school or in a cabaret or wherever. Everyone has sort of claimed that song. What’s crazy about that is that when we were developing it, it came out of a journal entry of mine and I was very reluctant to share it. Jeff Bowen sort of forced me. I gave it to him overnight, just thinking that it would inspire him, and what he came back with lyrically was pretty much verbatim from my journal entry. I felt very vulnerable and precious about letting that go in the world and didn’t want to do it at first. I felt like I wasn’t going to be able to be generous with it because it was so intimate. I would cry all the time when I sang it. Eventually Michael Berresse, our director, was like “That’s behind you now. You need to give this away to people because you’re not the only one with this story. You may feel like you are, but it’s actually all of ours.” That clicked with me. I would think of that every night before going on to sing it. And it turned out that the specificity of that song is what people connect with. It’s united all these people, all these gypsies, who come to New York with that dream.

If you could, what would you go back and tell your younger self who wrote that journal entry?

Oh boy. Well, I spent many years in the business when I first graduated from college, and frankly all through college too, really trying to stick. I don’t want to go as far as to say that I was trying to be someone I wasn’t, but I feel like I was trying to be a type, to fit in. What I would say to that younger self now is that the trick is actually embracing yourself. That doesn’t give you a license to be lazy, you still have to be the best you. There’s a lot that goes in to that, including taking care of yourself physically and mentally and having other interests, not just being obsessed with theatre. I have the best friends on the planet, I have a delicious dog and a wonderful boyfriend, and a great family. I like to do other things that have nothing to do with theatre, so when theatre lets me down – and it always will, bless it – I have other things that feed me. You have to find it and figure out how to market your own individuality, because a lot of times difference is not celebrated. If you can tap into what is weird and colorful and unique, you’ve got it!

Have you seen other productions of [title of show] with other women playing Heidi yet?

The only production I’ve seen so far was the very first college production at Baldwin-Wallace. It was double-cast and all of us went and saw both casts. It was so trippy. They did such a beautiful job. If it was me, I don’t think I’d have been able to do it because I’m a big chicken about things like that. On Monday night I am doing a gala for John Kander. Liza is performing too, and I’m singing “Maybe This Time”. What is that?! I’m just gonna have to put on my armor and be brave and know that I’m an individual. I’m honored, of course. I did an evening of Kander and Ebb music at Signature Theatre which was all shepherded by John Kander. Besides [title of show], it was the honor of my life. It was a 19 piece orchestra and 6 actors; Julia Murney and I did this amazing arrangement by David Loud where she sang “The Money Tree” and then I sang “Maybe This Time” and then they braid together. Julia and I both walk offstage and need oxygen. We lovingly refer to it as The Belt-Off. That’s what we’re doing at the gala. If that doesn’t get your gay juices flowing, I don’t know what would!