When Hugh Jackman made his Broadway debut in 2003 playing songwriter Peter Allen in The Boy From Oz, he was at the center of a big, splashy musical with over 25 performers and a full band in the pit. After more than 365 performances in New Yorkâs 1,417-seat Imperial Theatre, Jackman won a Tony Award. This Friday night, April 29, director Michael A. Shepperd will open Celebration Theatreâs new production of The Boy From Oz at the Lex in Hollywoodâonly slightly smaller than the Imperial with 55 seats.
âIt is not the Broadway production,â Shepperd says. âThereâs no way in hell I can replicate what they did on Broadway. I saw it and thought it was great, but I thought a lot of the story was missed. When I picked up the script I went, âI donât remember that. I didnât remember this.ââ
Shepperd says this script is just as important as Allenâs songs (which include âWhen Everything Old Is New Again,â âI Honestly Love You,â and â(Arthurâs Theme) Best That You Can Do.â) âLetâs face it, itâs a great jukebox musical with a great story about a man who lead this amazing life,â he says. âBut when you break it down, itâs all about the love of his mother, the love of his first wife [Liza Minnelli], the love of his last partner [Gregory Connell], and his love of music. If you use those and tell that story, it can fit in any size space.â
Chuck Rowland, a gay-rights pioneer and co-founder of the Mattachine Society, founded Celebration Theatre in 1982. The company has since put on countless LGBTQ-themed productions. According to Shepperd, The Boy From Oz fits right in. âWhat other musical tackles the subject of AIDS and seeing [the main characterâs] lover die?â he asks. âItâs a story about loss and a story of not being able to express your true feelings and emotions because you were raised by someone who said, âDonât cry out loud, just hold it inside.ââ
The ambition to tackle such a big show in a small space began as a conversation between Shepperd and Celebration Theatre co-director Michael Matthews. âWe order our drinks and we sit down and have our drinking meeting,â Shepperd says. âAt the end we have come up with this lavish season and all the stars that are going to do our shows. Wouldnât it be funny if we got The Boy From Oz and Hugh Jackman came and did this in our theatre? Of course, I send over the letter with everything and I got the phone call four days later.â Alas, Jackman is not part of the deal. Actor Andrew Bongiorno will be playing Peter Allen in this production.
Over the past two years, Celebration Theatre has lost its space on Santa Monica Boulevard, tried a few other venues as their home, and have, at least for now, settled in at the Lex Theatre. When asked, Shepperd admits there are parallels between Peter Allenâs story and Celebrationâs recent history.
âLook at the trajectory of Peter Allenâs career: heâs a lounge singer who, by happenstance, is discovered by Judy Garland,â he explains. âShe takes him to New York, and he falls in love with this woman. His career is not dead, but itâs not really moving forward. It took this break-up for him to go, âWait, Iâm in the worst crisis in my life, and Iâm just now finding my artistic soul, and Iâm able to create some of the best music ever.â Do I think thatâs synonymous with Celebration and where weâre going? Yes. We were cruising along nicely, and then we hit a horrible speed bump. We were broken. We had to search frantically to pick up all the pieces, and there are still a few pieces missing. But we are able to superglue most of it back together. And now we are going to start producing and creating the best work weâve ever done.â