Steve On Broadway (SOB)

The Play That Changed My Life

The Play That Changed My Life

Over the past week, the theatre blogosphere has been buzzing as members of the Independent Theatre Bloggers Association (to which I belong) have been sharing fascinating stories from an array of theatre world luminaries on the plays that forever changed their lives.

Today, I'm proud to add to the ongoing discussion in sharing stories from two of this year's Tony-nominated actors, Gregory Jbara (who went on to win a Tony) and Gavin Creel. I've had the good fortune to meet both of these extraordinary actors, so it's a thrill for me to provide their anecdotes exclusively on Steve On Broadway (SOB). Additionally, I'll also tell you a little bit about the inspiration behind these stories and an associated contest, along with the play that indeed changed my life.

First, about that inspiration. Proving yet again that it is so much more to the international theatrical community than simply "the Tony Award organization," The American Theatre Wing is celebrating the December 1 launch of its new book, The Play That Changed My Life. In it, 19 of the foremost American playwrights talk about the works that first captured their imaginations and inspired them in their careers and thus transformed their lives.

So what were the impetuses that propelled Jbara and Creel to Broadway's boards? Here are their stories.

Gregory Jbara

As one of Broadway's most beloved contemporary actors, Gregory Jbara has seven Main Stem shows among his stage and screen credits, including Serious Money, Born Yesterday, Damn Yankees, Victor/Victoria, Chicago and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Jbara can still be seen in his first Tony-winning role as Dad in Billy Elliot - The Musical.

This Michigan native first came to my attention as Mr. Bernstein in Victor/Victoria, and he's even graciously provided yours truly with a backstage tour of his current show.

When asked to name the play that changed his life, Jbara said:

I don’t know that there was any one specific play that I had that experience.

I’d have to say it was being an altar boy in church. It was High Mass, which is, you know, a lot of theatre. In third grade, that was my experience in front of people that I really think gave me the bug for speaking in front of large groups.

Crazy, crazy as it is, I have to attribute the Catholic Church for me being an actor. It was either that or a nun. So I’m glad it was being an actor.

Gavin Creel

As one of today's fastest-rising stars, Gavin Creel not only has three Broadway shows among his credits, including Thoroughly Modern Millie, La Cage aux Folles and the current revival of Hair, but he's already been nominated for two Tony Awards.

I've had the pleasure of seeing this Ohio native in all three Rialto productions, as well as in the Chicago incarnation of the Stephen Sondheim musical known as Bounce. I had the pleasure of catching up with Creel at this year's Drama League Awards and was surprised a couple days later at a performance of Hair when this gifted actor tried something new out on me in my second row seat.

When asked to name the play that changed his life, Creel said:

Mine was The Most Happy Fella.

I saw a musical production of it at the University of Michigan that the university put on there and I thought I was watching a movie on stage. I thought it was the most beautiful thing, the music was stunning, the performances were incredible.

Totally The Most Happy Fella.

Edited by Ben Hodges, The American Theatre Wing's new book features an introduction from Paula Vogel. The Play That Changed My Life features distinguished contributors, who have a combined total of some 40 Tony Awards, Pulitzer Prizes and Obies. They include Edward Albee, David Auburn, Jon Robin Baitz, Nilo Cruz, Christopher Durang, Charles Fuller, A.R. Gurney, Beth Henley, David Henry Hwang, Tina Howe, David Ives, Donald Margulies, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, John Patrick Shanley, Diana Son, Regina Taylor and Doug Wright.

In further celebrating the launch of the original book, The American Theatre Wing has also kicked-off an online essay contest. Here is your official invitation to participate:

[W]hether you work in theatre, hope to make your life in the theatre or just enjoy being in the audience, surely you’ve had that same experience: a single play (or musical) that you saw at some point in your life that had a profound effect on you, be it a childhood production of Cinderella in a school auditorium featuring an older sibling, a parent’s appearance at the local community theatre, a Broadway spectacle like Les Misérables or The Phantom of the Opera, a journey to a small out-of-the-way theatre that told its story with a minimum of technical tools.

Frankly, it could be any production, and that’s what ATW wants to hear about: what show had the greatest impact upon you, when you saw it in the course of your life, and most importantly why it meant so much to you. Entries (limited to 350 words) will be judged based on their creativity, their clarity and perhaps most importantly, for how they convey your passion for the theatre.

So tell ATW about the play that changed your life – those few hours in the theatre, at any age, in any theatre, that had the greatest impact on your life and your perception of theatre — and have the opportunity to share your story with the thousands of visitors to americantheatrewing.org while getting the chance to win an autographed copy of The Play That Changed My Life and other theatrical books from Applause Publishing. Enter by clicking here.

The contest entry period runs through Sunday, November 29. The final expert panel judging the contest includes ATW Board of Directors Chairman and President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Ted Chapin; Applause Books’ Editorial Director Carol Flannery; award-winning playwright David Henry Hwang; and former Time Magazine arts editor and Broadway & Me blogger (as well as dear SOB friend) Janice Simpson. Additional prizes will be given based on voting by the general public, which will continue through December 11.

As for the play that changed my life? Regular readers will recall that earlier this year, I waxed nostalgic regarding the thirty years that have passed since I first took in a Broadway show, albeit on the London stage. That show was the British mounting of Annie.

In that post, I mused:

[M]y view of the world and all its possibilities was forever and inalterably changed.

Little did I know upon entering London's Victoria Palace Theatre (current home to Billy Elliot - The Musical) how swept away I could become by just one show. From my front row center mezzanine seat, I witnessed nothing short of pure magic.

I was absolutely riveted by the legendary Stratford Johns as Daddy Warbucks and the glorious Sheila Hancock as Miss Hannigan -- she simply blew me away with a sublime performance I can still vividly recall even today.

I marveled at Charnin's ingenious direction, Peter Gennaro's breathtaking choreography and Theoni V. Aldredge's dazzling costume design. But it was David Mitchell's sliding set designs that completely floored me as they transported Annie's array of characters across the stage without them even having to take a step.

To say it transported me as well would be a major understatement. I was wowed. Big time. [T]he exhilaration I felt in seeing Annie was a life-changer of a different order.

With a strange new tingling sensation down my spine, I was replete with goosebumps from head to toe. This live performance would forever change my expectations of entertainment. I now saw just how brilliant stagecraft could be. Entertainment became art. And I was forever hooked on live theatre.

For those of you who may quibble that a musical doesn't count as a play, you may be interested in knowing that later in 1979 when I was a freshman in college -- with memories of Annie still dancing in my head -- I decided to take in a Broadway tour during its Milwaukee swing at the Pabst Theatre.

That play was The Belle of Amherst starring none other than the legendary, 5-time Tony winner Julie Harris, who also was honored with a Tony for this show.

Seeing Harris was like striking theatrical gold. Directed by Charles Nelson Reilly, Harris completely mesmerized in this solo performance with her brilliant portrayals of poet Emily Dickinson and her contemporaries, including Charles Wadsworth. I had no idea that an actor could take on so many diverse roles and make each and every one of them seem so believable and immensely credible.

In learning how potent the power of the spoken word could be when delivered so passionately by Harris that one evening 30 years ago, I was spellbound. Thus, The Belle Of Amherst truly was the play that changed my life.

What play changed yours?

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Annie, Billy Elliot The Musical, Broadway, Charles Nelson Reilly, Gavin Creel, Gregory Jbara, Hair, Julie Harris, Milwaukee, Musical, Play, The Belle Of Amherst

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Thursday, November 05, 2009 9 comments

The SOB Five "Worst" Of 2008-09

The SOB Five "Worst" Of 2008-09

Over the past year, I've had opportunities to take in over 70 performances of a wide range of musicals, plays and "special theatrical events" both on Broadway and off, as well as productions from Melbourne and Sydney to London with plenty of stops in between.

Thankfully, I've enjoyed so many more shows than the ones that left me groaning. Yet, it takes seeing those bad productions to make me truly appreciate the good ones. And on the whole, I would much rather see a terrible show live on stage than take in virtually any other form of entertainment. It's that in-the-moment communal experience with other theatre lovers that makes every stage performance worth seeing. Or almost.

As a completely independent theatre blogger beholden to no one -- I pay for every ticket and I still take no advertising -- I'm exercising my freedom of speech by presenting my fourth annual list of the "5 Worst" shows I've seen during the 2008-09 Theatrical Season.

Drumroll, please:

5 - To Be Or Not To Be (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, New York)

Daring to ask Shakespeare's famous question To Be Or Not To Be right up front in the title of a play is a risky proposition, to be sure. But since there's no shying away from responding, the answer is a simple, "No." Why playwright Nick Whitby and director Casey Nicholaw ever decided this was Broadway ready? Well, that my dear reader is the real question.


4 - The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (Bailiwick Repertory Theatre, Chicago, Illinois)

While I have no doubt that The Hunchback Of Notre Dame has been a labor of love for Dennis DeYoung of Styx fame, it’s almost as if he has spent a little too much time studying the musical techniques offered by Andrew Lloyd Webber or the team that gave the world Les Misérables. The world of musical theatre has long since moved on. Could this Hunchback someday prove to be the bell ringer DeYoung envisioned? The answer is a qualified "yes." But this incarnation took its toll.


3 - Annie (Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, Rhode Island)

Leapin' lizards, what a dog! The current touring production of Annie is a pale imitation of the original show I loved so much. Bet your bottom dollar, because it looks as cheap as it is bad. There's absolutely no magic. With its heavy use of scrims, no wonder this revival falls so flat. This warmed-over Annie marks the worst, most disappointing musical revival I’ve seen over the past year. It’s a hard knock, but someday, if not tomorrow, a dazzling revival worthy of the exceptional core show will come along.


2 - You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush (Cort Theatre, New York, New York)

Rather than too little, too late, this occasionally funny retread of the last eight years feels like far too much so soon after the eponymous president left office. So much for mission accomplished. While You're Welcome America. A Final Night With George W Bush has some genuine laughs and moments of inspiration, this Will Farrell vehicle tries to shock with purported images of the Commander-in-Chief's chief of staff. It's ironic that a show about a president often accused of intellectual laziness suffers from too much of the same. While that may work on television, it wasn't really ready for a prime Broadway berth.


1 - Eddie Izzard: Stripped (State Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Stripped seemed like an apt metaphor for this threadbare show that was bereft of articulate, cogent thought I had come to expect from comedian/actor Eddie Izzard. Also largely missing was the humor. But Stripped instead unintentionally came off as a pseudo-intellectual's desire to have his rambling and often incoherent thoughts -- which he's constantly interrupting himself, only to ask the audience, "Where was I?" -- taken seriously. Feeling truly trapped during an appallingly unpolished performance, the only thing I felt stripped of was the money I paid to sit through this tedious slog.


So, there you have them: SOB's choices for the "5 Worst" shows I endured, I mean enjoyed, during the 2008-09 Theatrical Season. As I've stated in previous years:

Of course, this is all in the eyes of the beholder. You may vehemently disagree or wonder whether I even have a clue as to what is artistic and what is not. But since my goal in life is to enjoy it rather than simply being a dilettante, I’m going to tell it like I see it by naming the five productions that I enjoyed less than any others.

If you saw any of these shows, let me know what you thought. And please feel free to share the worst shows you sat through (or walked out of) during that past year!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Annie, Eddie Izzard, Musical, Play, SOB Five Worst of 2008-09, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, To Be Or Not To Be, You're Welcome America. One Final Night With George W Bush

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Monday, June 01, 2009 4 comments

Getting Into Tony Mood: Ovation TV's Music Of The Night

Getting Into Tony Mood: Ovation TV's Music Of The Night

If you're looking to continue your Broadway fix, even from the comfort of your living room, you're in luck.

Aside from this coming Sunday's televised Tony Awards on CBS (the Tiffany network is also airing the hour-long 2009 Visa Signature Concert at various times across the country), cable's Ovation TV network deserves a hearty round of applause for its programming over the next couple weeks.

Kicking off its salute to Broadway musicals, Ovation TV will present "Mr. Prince" at 8:00 p.m. EDT on Saturday, June 6. "Mr. Prince" is an original Ovation TV special honoring the Great White Way's greatest living impresario, Harold Prince. The special not only features the legendary director and producer himself, but also a starry line-up, including Carol Burnett, Michael Cerveris, Joel Grey, Dean Jones, Angela Lansbury, Arthur Laurents, Mandy Patinkin, Chita Rivera and Stephen Sondheim. Incredibly enough, this is billed as Hal Prince's "first-ever television profile."

As part of its Broadway musical salute, Ovation TV will also feature productions of many of the shows Prince helped create along with other Broadway classics as part of "The Music Of The Night," celebrating the Great White Way's darker side "where phantoms, murders and con men rule."

Programs include:
• "Cabaret"(1972)
Bob Fosse’s film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical centers on a Berlin cabaret in 1931, during the rise of Nazism. Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey won Oscars for their performances. This also ranks as one of my favorite movies of all time.

• "A Chorus Line" (1985)
Auditionees for a Broadway chorus line reveal their innermost thoughts and emotions in song and dance before a hard-boiled director. Based on the Tony Award-winning play, which also won the Pulitzer Prize. Starring Michael Douglas.

• "New York, New York" (1977)
Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese teams with Academy Award winners Liza Minnelli and Robert De Niro in this splashy, flashy musical spectacle celebrating the glorious days of the Big Band Era in the Big Apple.

• "Victor/Victoria" (1995)
Filmed on the Broadway stage, this musical tells the story of out-of work singer Victoria who transforms into “Victor,” an overnight singing sensation in Paris. While I prefer the original Academy Award-nominated film from 1982, seeing Victor/Victoria on Broadway provided my only chance to see Julie Andrews perform live, along with my first opportunity to see current Tony nominee Gregory Jbara.

• "Music Man" (2002)
A fresh update on the classic story of a con man who tries to take advantage of a conservative Midwestern town. Starring Matthew Broderick and Kristin Chenoweth.

• "Annie: Life After Tomorrow" (2006)
A documentary about several of the woman who have played the acclaimed part of Annie and what became of their lives after such an important role. Featuring Sarah Jessica Parker, one star I'm still hoping to see live on stage someday, if not tomorrow.

To learn how to access Ovation TV in your area, click here. For Ovation TV's schedule, click here. Happy viewing!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: A Chorus Line, Annie, Broadway, Cabaret, Film, Hal Prince, Mr. Prince, Music Man, New York New York, Ovation TV, Television, Tony Awards, Victor/Victoria

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Monday, June 01, 2009 2 comments

Annie (The SOB Review)

Annie (The SOB Review) – Providence Performing Arts Center, Providence, Rhode Island

* (out of ****)

Leapin' lizards, what a dog.

Regular readers will know that in my appreciation for live theatre, I cut my teeth on the original Broadway production of Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse’s Annie when I saw the London mounting way back in 1979.

I was charmed by virtually every aspect of the show, beginning with Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse's winning score and Thomas Meehan's lighthearted, whimsical books (with auspicious beginnings for Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal) right through the nuanced, winning performances by Stratford Johns and Sheila Hancock, and ultimately to all the magical design elements, particularly David Mitchell's intricate set.

Flash forward to the current touring production of Annie, and it’s a pale imitation of that original show. Bet your bottom dollar, because it looks that cheap.

Sure, the story and score still hold up -- in fact, given the current state of the economy, they resonate brilliantly -- but strip away practically every last nuance from the lackluster performances and the glorious design elements that wowed me thirty years ago, and it all comes down to what this Annie amounts to.

To put it simply, it’s a scrim. No, not a scream, but one scrim after another after another, nearly devoid of most actual scenic design. It looks as cheap as it is bad. There's absolutely no magic. No wonder this revival falls so flat.

I’m truly grateful to Gratuitous Violins for taking me as her guest, but at the risk of sounding like an ingrate, I’d like to scratch what I had to say about Guys And Dolls. This warmed-over Annie marks the worst, most disappointing musical revival I’ve seen over the past year.

It’s a hard knock, but someday, if not tomorrow, a dazzling revival worthy of the exceptional core show will come knocking.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Annie, Charles Strouse, David Mitchell, Gratuitous Violins, Martin Charnin, Musical, Sheila Hancock, Stratford Johns, The SOB Review, Thomas Meehan, Touring Production

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Saturday, May 16, 2009 2 comments

Annie: Thirty Years Later

Annie: Thirty Years Later

Thirty years ago this month, my view of the world and all its possibilities was forever and inalterably changed.

Nearly two years before I ever set foot in New York City and six before I would see my first show in a Broadway theatre, I was truly fortunate to be among thirty Homestead High School juniors and seniors from Mequon-Thiensville (Wisconsin) to travel with history teacher Brook Brown and his wife Liz for an extraordinary action packed ten-day journey, first to London and then to Paris.

Prior to this experience, my family had traveled only infrequently. While we took a month-long drive to California back in the summer of 1976, most of our other road trips were limited to visiting relatives in northern Wisconsin or in Minnesota.

So when I boarded my TWA flight from Chicago to London, my excitement was surely palpable. Everything from being on a wide-bodied plane to traveling without my parents made everything fresh and new. I was so thrilled that I couldn't even sleep on that long plane ride across the Atlantic. Once there, I soaked up London like a sponge.

Part of the experience of traveling to London, I was to learn, would include two evenings of live theatre. Prior to this trip, I could probably count the number of times I had seen stage performances on both hands, and with one exception, they were all high school productions (Bye Bye Birdie, Don't Drink The Water, Fiddler On The Roof, Gypsy, Harvey, Oklahoma!, Romeo And Juliet, South Pacific and You Can't Take It With You). Mind you, I really enjoyed seeing each show, especially those under the expert direction of Homestead's musical director Sonia Simonsen, but they only hinted at the overall experience that professional theatre would afford.

In London, for our first night of theatre, we were provided an option of seeing one of two West End mountings of two Broadway hits: Annie or A Chorus Line. Since I was already familiar with the former's cast album -- Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse's score was a favorite of our family's during our long six hour drives to Minnesota -- I opted to see Annie.

Little did I know upon entering London's Victoria Palace Theatre (current home to Billy Elliot - The Musical) how swept away I could become by just one show. From my front row center mezzanine seat, I witnessed nothing short of pure magic.

I was absolutely riveted by the legendary Stratford Johns as Daddy Warbucks and the glorious Sheila Hancock as Miss Hannigan -- she simply blew me away with a sublime performance I can still vividly recall even today.

I marveled at Charnin's ingenious direction, Peter Gennaro's breathtaking choreography and Theoni V. Aldredge's dazzling costume design.

But it was David Mitchell's sliding set designs that completely floored me as they transported Annie's array of characters across the stage without them even having to take a step.

To say it transported me as well would be a major understatement. I was wowed. Big time.

As noted above, we also had a second night at the theatre.

Our entire group went to see a production of Agatha Christie's Murder At The Vicarage at the West End's Fortune Theatre (current home to long-running hit The Woman In Black). With a run of 1758 performances, this show was no slouch, either. But this production was much more old school English theatre than the captivating American import I had seen the night before.

Going to London, in and of itself, had already been a life-changing cultural experience in which I truly began to see the world in a different way, and the subsequent visit to Paris only enhanced this wonderful new perspective on life itself.

But the exhilaration I felt in seeing Annie was a life-changer of a different order. With a strange new tingling sensation down my spine, I was replete with goosebumps from head to toe. This live performance would forever change my expectations of entertainment. I now saw just how brilliant stagecraft could be. Entertainment became art. And I was forever hooked on live theatre.

Coming full circle, I'm about to revisit Annie for my third time.

This coming weekend, I'm traveling to Providence to visit my beloved friend Esther (Gratuitous Violins). One of the things I love about Esther is how genuinely interested she is in sharing experiences. She knew that my visit would coincide nearly thirty years to the day since I first enjoyed Annie and all it had to offer.

In addition to celebrating her birthday, I have a feeling we'll also be toasting my life-changing experience as we look forward to yet another thirty years of seeing theatrical magic unfold before our eyes. So here's to two vitally important females in my life - Annie and Esther.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Labels: Annie, Anniversary, Broadway, London, Murder At The Vicarage, Musical, Sheila Hancock, Special Messages, Stratford Johns

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Wednesday, April 29, 2009 4 comments

That's Andy-Tainment?

Labels: Annie, Beth Leavel, Blogs, Broadway, First Word On New Show, Lauren Kennedy, Musical, Reading, That's Andy, The Bullroar Report

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Tuesday, April 03, 2007 7 comments

Annie's New Deal for Christmas at Madison Square Garden

Annie's New Deal for Christmas at Madison Square Garden

With the 30th anniversary of the Broadway premiere of Annie coming up in early 2007, there was some speculation that the current touring production would land back on the Great White Way. Instead, when the revival finally hits New York later this year, it will be mounted at Madison Square Garden just in time for the Holidays (December 6-30, 2006).

The beloved Charles Strouse/Martin Charnin tuner originally played the Alvin Theatre (now the Neil Simon Theatre) back in April, 1977 and was nominated for a whopping ten Tony Awards, winning six. Not only did the American Theatre Wing declare it the Best Musical, Annie also won for Best Original Score (Strouse and Charnin), Best Book (Thomas Meehan, who would not strike gold on Broadway again until The Producers 24 years later), Best Actress (Dorothy Loudon), Best Choreography (Peter Gennaro), Best Scenic Design (David Mitchell) and Best Costume Design (Theoni V. Aldredge). The production would last for 2,377 performances in four different Broadway venues.

As my Steve On Broadway (SOB) profile notes, Annie was the very first Broadway production I ever saw, albeit in London during the spring of 1979; I credit Annie with spurring my lasting love for live theatre. That production was breathtakingly wonderful, particularly with the stellar Sheila Hancock as Miss Hannigan and inspirational Stratford Johns as Daddy Warbucks -- both actors, along with the musical itself, were nominated for Olivier Awards. But alas, the Evita juggernaut precluded Annie from receiving that year's top musical award.

So, having said all that, I have to confess that when I saw the current touring production of Annie earlier this year, I was severely disappointed. Maybe it's because I remember the outstanding performances, the spot-on American accents from the British stage, the incredibly intricate and moving set design and amazing choreography. While I truly admired the gumption displayed by young Marissa O'Donnell in the title role and Alene Robertson's deliciously inspired, wicked take on Miss Hannigan, the overall show felt flat and stale right down to the dancing and scenery.

While the children in my audience were none the wiser -- luxuriating and loving the story -- it's not nearly as much fun for the grown-ups. Not even Conrad John Schuck as Daddy Warbucks or Mackenzie Phillips as Lily St. Regis could infuse vitality in this show ostensibly about optimism and the American dream. If you're going to see Annie simply for a nostalgic trip down a musical memory lane, be forewarned.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets for the Annie touring production.

Labels: Annie, Musical, Off-Broadway, Revival

posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Friday, June 30, 2006 0 comments