Thursday, November 05, 2009

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).

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

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Someday: Your New Broadway Idol


Someday: Your New Broadway Idol

Sure, there's a lot of fuss over who will win "American Idol" this evening, but it's not too early to start considering who may someday vie for the crown.

I'm here to tell you that someday, you'll hear the name Cole Winston and you'll remember that you read about him -- and saw and heard him -- here first. His rendition of Nat "King" Cole's "L-O-V-E," performed when he was just nine years old, begins close to the one-minute mark.

Originally hailing from Chicago and now residing in Milwaukee (my childhood home), Cole happens to be the son of one of my college classmates. Her son Cole apparently has aspirations of one day being declared an "American Idol" and a Tony winner.

He certainly possesses quite the presence. Perhaps that's why the Milwaukee Brewers have invited him to sing the National Anthem before an upcoming game.

Cole, I proudly salute you!

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

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posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Wednesday, May 20, 2009 2 comments

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

The Nerd (The SOB Review)

The Nerd (The SOB Review) - Stiemke Theater, The Rep, Milwaukee, WI

**1/2 (out of ****)

When I learned that playwright Larry Shue’s The Nerd was once again being produced by the Milwaukee Rep where it first appeared back in the 1980s, I was instantly attracted and made tracks to my old hometown. It seemed as though the comedy, billed by The Rep as “one of the funniest plays ever written” would mark a harmonic convergence of sorts for me.

First, I had taken in the terrific 2004 Roundabout Theatre Company mounting of Shue’s hysterical The Foreigner with Matthew Broderick in the title role. I can honestly tell you I don’t remember laughing any harder than I did for that performance.

Second, The Nerd was essentially coming home to its Milwaukee roots complete with direction from James Pickering. His participation is particularly intriguing given he had played the original Nerd when the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre first staged The Nerd back in 1981, and he did so opposite the late Shue, who was killed just four years later in a tragic plane crash.

Third, the 1987 Broadway production of The Nerd that enjoyed 441 performances was directed by the late Charles Nelson Reilly, who -– as I noted just last week when he passed away -- helmed one of my own seminal theatre experiences: Julie Harris in The Belle Of Amherst at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theatre, which now adjoins The Rep’s current home.

I thought, “How could this miss?”

For starters, The Nerd simply has not aged well. Yes, there are some very funny bits, but it’s far from the uproarious comedy that’s promised. The humor now seems old and creaky. Too many of the lines intended to elicit guffaws instead fall flat -- often because they are too time specific. With many similarities to The Foreigner, including one key plot point on mistaken identity, it seemed as though I had seen much of this before.

Set in November of 1979, The Nerd focuses on architect Willem Cubbert (an able Brian Vaughn) whose career and love life is going nowhere, literally -– even though he’s feverishly working on a design for hardnosed client Warnock Waldgrave (understudy Donte Fitzgerald) and his girlfriend Tansy McGinnis (a solid Melinda Pfundstein) has designs on him moving with her to Alexandria, Virginia.

Willem is also forever indebted to his hero Rick Steadman for saving his life in Vietnam. While the two have never actually met -– Rick had scooped up the wounded and unconscious Willem and posited him with medics before he came to -- they had maintained contact since the war.

With an outstanding offer from Willem that he would do anything he possibly could for Rick to repay his debt, Rick (Gerard Neugent) comes calling for payback time in the midst of a party that includes Waldgrave and his family, Tansy and friend/resident wiseacre Axel Hammond (Torrey Hanson). While Rick is welcomed with open arms by Willem, he’s quickly revealed as the consummate nerd, complete with requisite clunky black glasses, slicked-back hair, pocket protector and wader pants, along with bad B.O. and odd behavior that would terrify Miss Manners.

Not only does the nerd repulse each of Willem’s guests, but he settles in for the long haul, becoming the guest who would not leave. After the nerd practically ruins Willem’s last best hope for success with his client, the second half of the farce moves into even sillier territory as Willem, Tansy and Axel conspire to rid themselves of the nerd. They hatch a scheme pretending to have bizarre local customs and rituals intended to scare the nerd away. As you might expect, their plot backfires.

Unfortunately, what also backfires is the delivery of key lines. Most disappointing is Hanson as the wisecracking Axel, whose every deadpan should be delivered like a scorching zinger for maximum comic effect. By my count, only about a third of them actually followed their intended trajectories to reach the intended laugh target. It results in Axel coming across as that obnoxious guy at the party who thinks he’s funny, but really isn’t. Too bad.

Fortunately, the very buoyant Neugent plays the titular nerd to perfection and is by far the most hilarious thing about this show. He single-handedly keeps this comedy afloat. Think of him as the white tape that keeps a quintessential nerd’s glasses together. While he’s worth the price of admission, the production sags every time he’s off stage.

This is Steve On Broadway (SOB).

Click here for tickets.

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posted by Steve On Broadway (SOB) @ Tuesday, June 05, 2007 0 comments

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