THIS IS THE TWELFTH AND LAST OF OUR BEST OF 23 REVIEW OF INTERVIEWS: There aren’t too many actors who have appeared in productions of West Side Story, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Follies and A Little Night Music. Not many can also hold the distinction of originating a role in Company. One person who has done all five shows is Tony Award-winner Donna McKechnie.

She was the original Kathy in Company – one of the trio of women who sing “You Could Drive a Person Crazy.” As for her Tony Award, she originated the role of Cassie in A Chorus Line.

Company was, of course, written by Stephen Sondheim. As were Forum, Follies and A Little Night Music. Leonard Bernstein wrote the music for West Side Story and the lyrics were Sondheim’s.

After earning rave reviews for her show Take Me to the World: The Songs of Stephen Sondheim at 54 Below in New York, McKechnie is bringing the show to Los Angeles for two performances this week at Catalina Jazz Club. She will also perform at the Purple Room in Palm Springs on January 13th and January 14th. Next week she’ll bring the show to Feinsteins At The Nikko in San Francisco.

Last week I spoke with McKechnie who was in her apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City. We spoke about her career, her relationship with Sondheim, the joy in singing his music and, of course, A Chorus Line. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity.

For those who know you were in the original Broadway cast of Company, they might think that was your first introduction to Stephen Sondheim. But if my research is correct, you were actually in a touring production of West Side Story.

Oh my God. Yes, you’re right. Wow.

But when you auditioned for the the touring production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum that was the first time you sang… 

It was my first singing audition and Stephen – that’s the first time I ever met him. Of course, I barely remember anything because I was so nervous. I was so nervous that I could not control my hand from shaking when I read for George Abbott, the director. I couldn’t find my timing. I kept losing my way and inadvertently it made him laugh so much. He actually fell off the chair.

Can you imagine my first time out in a role, coming from the chorus of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, to be in that? First of all, it took me a whole year on the road practically to find those laughs again because I didn’t know what I was doing. But what a great way to learn from the best people; a great cast. And a great way, when you’re 19, 20 years old, to see the country. 

Do you remember the moment where an awareness clicked in with you that what Stephen Sondheim did was different?

It was so sophisticated – as much as I could be sophisticated in those days. It was clever, witty, funny. It was very edgy. I appreciated all of that. I mean, the show was fantastic and this was his first Broadway show, of course, where he wrote both lyrics and music. It was great. They cast it very well and including me, I think. I did learn on the job. I had a great time. 

When you do a Sondheim show does it give you a skill set that is different than it might have been had you done other shows? 

I was lucky to work with so many great composers. But, any time I do a Sondheim show, it always makes me feel I’m a better singer and I’m a better actor because of really digging in to that material. Because that’s how he writes. He writes from a character-driven point-of-view and there’s so much finesse in it. I always improve. 

I heard him say over the years that he was always looking for actors who could sing versus singers who could act. If you are approaching your career as a singer/dancer does a vote of confidence from someone like Sondheim make you think there is more to me as an actor than perhaps I imagined?

I’ve always acted. It’s always been my basis for anything. Many years ago it pushed me into a place of resenting being labeled as a dancer/singer because everything I did had that acting. I studied. I was a professional student. My first chorus job, my only one, really, How to Succeed... I had never seen anything like a roomful of people telling a story with music and movement. I thought I have a job now. If I go to acting class and voice lessons I can learn how to sing and act. Then I can have a career perhaps longer than a dancer’s life. That was the whole plan.

Naturally I had to really work. But there was always an affinity for connecting with the character. That’s why I love Sondheim so much and and so many people. Michael Bennett was all character-driven. As was Jerome Robbins. We’re telling stories in a very specific way.

You’re someone who has sung the music and lyrics of Marvin Hamlisch, Edward Kleban, Cy Coleman, Dorothy Fields, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter. The list goes on and on. But when you sing Stephen Sondheim what resonates most with you as a person when you’re singing his songs? 

I just relate to it so much because he is so clear and decisive. There’s so much clarity in his work. He doesn’t want it to be a cookie cutter of any idealized performance, some imagined performance. He wants you to bring yourself to it completely and fully and bring it alive. He wrote it for actors to do that. There’s not just one way to do it. The new revival of Company had his blessing and it was totally changed. Very different but quite fantastic to hear that score again.

Did you like the production if you saw it? 

I did. I went opening night. It was thrilling and it was very different. I decided to just give myself over to that world and let them take me. And they did. And it was just fantastic. The ghosts of the past would come on stage and I would have to kind of live dually with them.

Another project you did put you on the stage of the Shubert Theater in March of 1973, which was Sondheim: A Musical Tribute. Basically anybody who was anyone who had been in a Sondheim show was involved. You were also the choreographer of that event. So you’re working with all these people who have performed his work. What do you remember most about that March evening? 

The last number of the show. We’re at the dress rehearsal and Bert Shevelove (librettist of A Funny Thing…) is the director. He’s asking all the stars on stage to gather around the piano. It’s like they’re in Steve’s living room. There’s Angela Lansbury and there’s Chita Rivera and Jack Cassidy, Dorothy Collins, Alexis Smith, and Larry Kert. That time is one of the most exciting times of my life because of all of these people; the collaborative effort that went into it and and working with Angela. With Chita who said, “Well, what do you got for me?” And I went, “Oh, God, what are we going to do?” And I showed it to her in a very timid way. And she went, “Oh, yeah. Don’t you know that actors ask why, but dancers just do it.” She’s adorable. Love her.

Working with Angela was intimidating, and I learned a lot from her. I had this incredible very busy dance going on while she sang her big number. I was out of breath when I showed it to her. I finished and I looked at her and she looked at me and said, “I think I’ll just stand here and sing, if you don’t mind.” I didn’t mind. What a mistake I made giving her so much to do. She was so generous and kind. I learned a great lesson that sometimes the power is to just stand there and sing.

Two years later the Shubert Theater became a very important home for you because that’s where A Chorus Line played when it opened on Broadway. In your Tony Award acceptance speech you called A Chorus Line “a personal experience that taught me so much about performing and about people and humanity.” What has doing the work of Stephen Sondheim and his various collaborators taught you? 

I worked on all of this material at a very difficult time when we were going through COVID. He found the most beautiful and poetic expression of every experience and the human condition. There’s so much and it’s rich. When I do Losing My Mind, as much as I did it in [Follies], I’m still finding deeper ways to go. I’m unearthing different things and different feelings. You hope that is communicated to the audience, but the response has been really great. It’s a very wonderful thing to be able to do especially since losing him.

I feel his presence so much because of the material that I’m doing and I’m associated with. But it’s just to keep him alive in that way. He worked and loved his work so much and was so generous. He was also a great teacher and a friend. He cared so much about, not just his work, but everyone’s work and making it better. It’s all there; the human frailty. He doesn’t skip over things very easily. Sometimes when I’m working on the material, I go, How did he know that?

As for Follies, you played Sally at Paper Mill Playhouse in 1998. You then played Carlotta in 2005 at Barrington Stage Company. I looked up then New York Times critic Ben Brantley‘s review of the 2005 production. He said, “In superb voice, McKechnie endows her solo with a warm and even elation, as well as a truthfulness that suggests her Carlotta has not just survived, but enjoyed the bumpy road that is her life.”

Have you enjoyed the bumpy road that is your life? 

Yes. Mostly, yes. Because I appreciated that that’s what it was going to be. I loved being given the chance to do what I love. I’m able to pass it on to younger students of theater. I say, “You’re going to get rejected a lot.” You’re set up for it. So you have to really love what you’re doing. And the humor you have to have. Sometimes I get it after the fact. I’m going through something and it’s kind of it feels traumatic and chaotic. Then after you think about what happened it’s hilarious. So I’m more easy with things now.

Sammy Williams (the original Paul in A Chorus Line) told me that actress Celeste Holm said to him after he won his Tony Award for A Chorus Line to understand that this was not the peak of your career, this was just a moment in your career. And to expect those bumps and to expect highs and lows. I’m assuming you agree with her advice. 

Especially after you get an award! You go, “Okay, where are they?” The work doesn’t always happen that way. You always have to keep creating the demand. It’s really hard not to worry about it when you don’t have a set future. Now I have more work than I ever expected. 

Send in the Clowns is in your setlist for Take Me to the World. How does that song resonate with you now 22 years after you performed it in the context of the show? 

It seems actually perfect. I’m that much older and living a completely different kind of life. I’m not really that different, actually, but different in my head. It just fits perfectly because I find the personal connections in it that I relate to. If you think of it you could do that song so many different ways about so many different situations. But it is a woman dealing with the irony of what she was expecting, what she experienced. When you look at yourself and have an honest moment with yourself. It’s tough and it goes through all of these different changes. It’s touching. It’s funny. It’s sad. It can be anything as long as your truth is there.

That’s such an important word. That was very true with any company of A Chorus Line, too. Baayork Lee (the original Connie in A Chorus Line) who’s taken it all over the place, if she had a chance to give one note it would be just play the truth of your character.

Has your relationship with A Chorus Line changed? 

Oh, yes. It makes me appreciate it even more – if that’s possible. Having the great opportunity to go back in the show ten years later at 45. Not just getting back into shape and doing the show, but also emotionally and with a different perception. It was very gratifying. I had a better time.

The first time around it was Chorus Line fever. It was so hard and we were tired. We were very happy for the success, but we were just spinning. To be able to take a break and come back to it and really experience it and what everybody did, what everybody contributed, it was great.

I think a lot of people who are fans of A Chorus Line know that it took actress Marsha Mason to say Cassie needs to be cast in the show just before the finale. Do you think the show would have been successful had Michael Bennett not taken that advice?

It would not have been successful. He was smart enough to see that immediately. Don’t forget, we were locked in this little black box of a theater. He and Bob Avian, they’re there every day and you lose objectivity. You would invite your friends, your savvy friends. He invited Neil Simon and Marsha and a lot of people. Sondheim, Hal Prince, they would all come and give their feedback. Only people that he really respected and could trust. As soon as it was brought up he immediately went, “Oh yeah.”

He couldn’t see that if you don’t give any anyone any hope…In other words, if Zach doesn’t give her the job, he didn’t see it yet that she was the symbol for second chances. He was trying to be true to what would really happen, I think. He did the same thing with Promises, Promises, to try to make it to realistic. He had to raise the the heightened reality a little bit.

We’re now just a little bit over two years away from the 50th anniversary of A Chorus Line. What are your hopes, not just for this 50th anniversary, but how the show will be considered in another 50 years?

It’s bigger than any one of us. It’s bigger than the theater. It’s human beings connecting in such an artful, positive way and over generations. The lives it saved. The people it’s inspired. It’s even inspired some people not to get into the business. It looks so rough there. It has given so much. It’s the gift that keeps giving and I love it.

You told Playbill in 2010, on the occasion of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday, that the highest compliment he ever gave to you was when he said, “Tonight I saw the actress and the character come together.” If Steve were able to have been at 54 Below last year or was able to be in Los Angeles to see Take Me to the World, what do you think his response would be and why do you think he’d have that response to the way you’re celebrating his work?

You just made me cry. I would hope that he would approve and like the way I was doing it. I have a feeling he would and I think he would appreciate the fact that there’s so much love and really good arrangements servicing his music and his intent. And doing a different interpretation, perhaps. I feel proud that he might really approve. I would love it if he would give me notes because his notes are so great. 

Photo: Donna McKechnie (Courtesy Chris Isaacson Presents)

The post Bo23: Donna McKechnie: The Music and No Mirror appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

For musical theater fans, the big news came out today that four cast albums from Stephen Sondheim’s musicals have been remixed an remastered in Sony’s 360 Reality Audio and Dolby Atmos. Here are more details in our Top Pick of what’s New In Music This Week: August 11^th

TOP PICK:

BROADWAY:  COMPANY, SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET; INTO THE WOODS and ASSASSINS – Sony Masterworks Broadway

The 1970 production of Company, the 1979 production of Sweeney Todd; the 1987 production of Into the Woods and the 1990 original production of Assassins are the remastered recordings which are available from all streaming platforms that offer either Sony 360 or Dolby Atmos (which means you won’t be able to get them on Spotify.)

Sondheim was consulted on these projects and involved with them prior to his death in 2021. Wouldn’t it be great if vinyl reissues of these would be next?

Here are my other choices of what’s New In Music This Week: August 11^th that you should heck out:

CLASSICAL/CONTEMPORARY CLASSICAL:  DEPENDENT ARISING – Rachel Barton Pine – Cedille Records

Sometimes the most fascinating pairings are the most unlikely. Take, for example, violinist Pine’s latest album in which Dmitri Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 in A minor is paired with Dependent Arising: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra written by Earl Maneein.

If you don’t know Maneein, let me use words from his own website to tell you about him: “I’m a violinist/violist/composer/arranger whose personal work stands at the somewhat unlikely crossroads of Western Classical music, Heavy Metal and Hardcore Punk.”

I personally am not a fan of heavy metal nor hardcore punk, but I really like this album. Pine plays incredibly on these two very different works and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, led by Tito Muñoz, is equally adept at both works.

This won’t be for everyone, but everyone should give it a try.

BROADWAY (adjacent): HERE LIES LOVE – David Byrne & Fatboy Slim – Nonesuch Records

Some musicals begin as concept albums (Evita) and sometimes the albums serve as inspiration for a musical (Tommy). In 2010 David Byrne and Fatboy Slim recruited  and all-star line-up of talent to sing their song cycle about Imelda Marcos:  Tori Amos; Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper,  St. Vincent, Florence Welch and more. 

Three years later the album become a hit musical for the Public Theater in New York. That production finally made it to Broadway just recently and that serves as the inspiration for the first-ever release of the original recording on vinyl.

I saw the musical back in 2013 and loved it. This album is just as enjoyable as the show and definitely something new and old fans of the musical will want to hear. (To say nothing of fans of Byrne and Fatboy Slim.)

JAZZ: JUSTIN KAUFLIN TRIO: LIVE AT SAM FIRST – Sam First Records

Sam First is a great jazz club near Los Angeles International Airport. It’s an intimate space in which jazz music is the venue’s top priority. This album by pianist Justin Kauflin is the first in a series recordings the club is issuing on their own label. These are 180-gram vinyl releases and are limited to 200 copies. You can also purchase a download on their website.

Joining Kauflin for this live recording at bassist David Robaire and drummer Mark Ferber. This is a talent musician you’ll want to hear.

For more information on this album, please go here.

JAZZ:  LA STORIES: LIVE AT SAM FIRST – Josh Nelson – Sam First Records

Pianist/bandleader Josh Nelson performed with bassist Luca Alemanno, guitarist Larry Koonse, drummer Dan Schnelle and saxophonist Walter Smith III in two shows that were recorded from February 18^th and 19^thof 2022.  Nelson was also joined by vocalist Gaby Moreno for a brief appearance.

The music on this album was written with little-known stories of Los Angeles as its inspiration. Nelson also wrote the music with these specific musicians in mind.

For more information on this album, please go here.

JAZZ:  WORLD TRAVELERS – Joe La Barbera Quintet – Sam First Records

Fans of pianist Bill Evans should immediately recognize drummer La Barbera’s name as he recorded multiple albums with Evans late in his career.

For this album, also recorded at Sam First, La Barbera is joined by pianist Bill Cunliffe, trumpeter Clay Jenkins, bassist Jonathan Richards and tenor saxophonist Bob Sheppard.

For more information on this album, please go here.

Late summer is traditionally a bit slow for new releases, but in the weeks ahead there will be more new music than you’ll know what to do with.

In the meantime, enjoy these selections that make up New In Music This Week: August 11^th.

Have a great weekend.

The post New In Music This Week: August 11th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Life is a roller-coaster of a ride. Just ask Bobby Conte. The actor/singer has appeared on Broadway in A Bronx Tale where his mentor and friend was Nick Cordero, the actor who passed away due to COVID in 2020. He recently appeared in the revival of the musical Company as P.J. That musical was written by Stephen Sondheim who passed away a week after the first preview once the show was able to return after Broadway started to re-emerge from the pandemic.

Conte is not one to sit around waiting for something to do. In 2020 he released a solo album entitled Along the Way. It’s a mix of Broadway, pop and standards that was born out of a cabaret act he started writing in 2015 and had started performing.

On August 15th, Conte will be performing a revised version of his original cabaret show at Birdland in New York. Those revisions reflecting the incredibles highs and lows he’s been experiencing. But through it all he’s taken everything in stride and maintained a tremendous sense of gratitude. As you’ll see in this interview.

What follows are excerpts from our conversation earlier this week that have been edited for length and clarity. To watch the interview, please go to our YouTube channel.

The album came out two years ago. How has your personal journey mirrored or diverged from the one you sing about on the record in the two years since its release? 

It’s a great question. The more time that goes on I’m able to look at it more with a bit more perspective. The context of the show and of the album is that it’s charting three specific relationships in my life. The dynamic of one of those relationships has significantly changed since the pandemic. So in re-writing the show a bit for Birdland, I had to do some editing to see how that relationship has evolved.

One of the songs has changed: in the place of Love to Me [from The Light in the Piazza] I’m now putting in What Can You Lose? from Dick Tracy that Stephen Sondheim wrote. For a very practical reason, it’s important when I tour this show to have a song from A Bronx Tale and I have a song from Company. 

Really, the big thing is that Nick had died. Nick left before I was ready to say goodbye to him. It’s all very odd. It’s a little overwhelming to think about every now and then when the reality hits. So that’s how the show is a bit evolved and changed over the past two years.

Do you feel like you’ve been confronted with a lot of this a lot sooner than you thought you would be?

I start this show by singing Blame It on My Youth to try to acknowledge to the audience right away that I’m aware that I know nothing in the grand scheme of things. It doesn’t make my feelings and my experiences insignificant, but there’s a lot more life to live. You can move on to the next chapter with that sort of sigh of relief in your breath to say there’s so much more awaiting you. 

Within this album there’s a song from Pasek and Paul’s song cycle Edges. There are also songs from Anyone Can Whistle, The Light in the Piazza, the aborted Honeymooners musical and also She Loves Me. Does the selection of those songs not only give us an idea of your perspective of relationships, but also the kind of shows or perhaps the specific shows you would like to do in the future? 

The list I have of dream roles is endless. So yes, those are some. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Because I’m such a nerd with this there would be an endless number of them that I’ve read and I fall in love with over the years that I would love to do. It’s more that the lyrics of those songs served a specific function in a story I wanted to tell.

I also love digging into these composers now that we know so well and really have hit the zeitgeist. They’re really figuring out who they were when they were trying to figure themselves out in a way. The show very much is about a young person trying to figure out who he is as he’s entering a more adult world. So it seemed to have just fit better in that context. But yes, you’re not wrong and, digging deeper into it, maybe this show is a bit of the musical interests that I have.

What have you learned yourself about yourself as a performer during the multi-year journey of Company? 

I’ve learned that I have totally given over to the Marianne Elliott mindset of what theater is supposed to do. When you are dealing with entities that are so beloved and have been held on a pedestal by many people for so long, your way to honor that legacy, and that the annals of history that you’re now entering, is to do an unapologetic, unabashed take that’s in service of the writer and in service of the original intention of those people, but make it palatable and accessible for an audience who has never seen the show before or perhaps have never been to the theater before.

If we don’t engage that kind of audience, then our art form is going to die on the vine. So I’ve stepped more away from my sort of purist mindset in the musical theater and that’s what I learned.

Your answer reminds me of the lyric from Move On in Sunday in the Park with George. “Anything you do, let it come from you. Then it will be new.” That’s a lesson we can all learn. I think that whole song is a masterclass in lessons we can learn. 

I think there was some interview years ago [with] James Lapine [bookwriter and director of Sunday in the Park with George original production] and it was when the revival had come back that used all that computer digital animation [2008]. They were looking back at the lyrics and I think James said, “It’s like we wrote ourselves a message in a bottle.” It’s this thing that we can always come back to when you’re in the pits of despair or in writer’s block or just not figuring out what’s the point of doing anything in the first place. Do I have anything of value to even put out in the world? Especially when you could think it doesn’t matter what we put out into the world because we’re so insignificant.

Have you have you seen these amazing pictures that NASA came out with a couple of weeks ago? If that doesn’t give you perspective or make you feel so meaningless, I don’t know what does. But yet it’s our job to find meaning in whatever our actions are, even if in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter or as I would say in A Bronx Tale all the time, “like nobody cares.” But just because nobody cares, it doesn’t mean that you don’t have to find meaning and purpose in what you do in your daily life or else you’re just wandering aimlessly.

Earlier this year I had the privilege of having a conversation with Matt Doyle about his experiences in Company and he told me that Sondheim was around a lot for rehearsals. Can you tell me about your experiences with him? 

So the first time he came in we were running You Could Drive a Person Crazy. We were figuring out what those ad libs were before Manu [Narayan – “Theo”] starts singing “When a person’s personality is personable.” They used to be very explicit. They used to be very biting and it was a little intense and overwhelming. So we didn’t pick them up, but we made it more palatable language.

I remember just in the moment going, “What are you so afraid of” and then going back and doing the fun choreography. That made him burst into laughter, which I will always remember.

He came to the first preview and then held court at the back of the theater for a couple hours. More times than not I’m a pretty private person. When I’m around people that I respect so much and intimidate me, in some ways your job, I’ve learned, is to shut your mouth and open your ears. I was just listening as intently as I could. There were definitely questions I wanted to ask. But I thought I’ll see him at opening or I’ll see him in other contexts, it’ll be fine. Then sadly he passed a week later. So it’s not too dissimilar to Nick. It’s continuous examples of when you are fortunate enough to have the people you love around you, you should make as full a memory and as full an experience as you can with these individuals while they’re still here. 

So what would you have asked him? 

Well the rumor, I think even Matt had told me back during the pre-pandemic, was that PJ and Theo were names of ex-boyfriends of Steve’s and that’s where they got the names for these boyfriends. So I wanted to go up to him and say, “Can you tell me who P.J. was?” 

You were on quite an emotional whirlwind with this show: not being able to open on Sondheim’s 90 birthday, having the pandemic happen, re-opening, Sondheim passing. I guess the bright spot was that you got to perform the show and then the acknowledgment Company received at the Tony Awards. Given how emotional this whole experience had to have been for you, to use one of the songs from from your album, does time heal everything?

Absolutely it does. I’ve always viewed that song in the context of relationships, but I have no doubt it can relate to the context of being in a workplace. But I don’t know, man. There are undeniably some sorry and grateful aspects to the whole experience. That was many of our favorite songs backstage that we would hear every night. But I’m a person that, just to find some sort of sanity in a world that has no control; when you and I have to exist in the art, entertainment, artistic world, where if wanted control of our lives, we’d go be accountants elsewhere, I know I need to choose gratitude when the pendulum swings at the end of the day – even in these hard situations. 

We were one of the shows that got to come back after this pandemic. We had many colleagues for whom that was not the case. Even though Steve died, he got to see our show as the last piece that he had written on Broadway in this new context. He adored it and was lauding it and wanted his work to be seen in an ephemeral, malleable context, because that’s what theater is in many ways. What a blessing that is that then I got to work with the dream team of theater monsters and the American musical theater for even for these nine months, even if it was over the span of three years. I choose to look at it in that way.

In a 2017 Stephen Sondheim interview that Lin-Manuel Miranda did, Sondheim said, “It stimulates you to do things you haven’t done before. The whole thing is if you know where you’re going, you’ve gone, as the poet says, and that’s death.” Once this Birdland show is over and behind you and with Company behind you, what would you like to do that you haven’t done before? 

There’s an endless number of things. But what I’ve learned a bit more – and I’ve been now in the city for up to eight years soon – is to give in to the unknown. To give in to the silence or the quiet space or the hesitancy is a good thing because Company, A Bronx Tale, funnily enough, came from that space. I was leading a full creative daily life. That’s what I try to do every day – find things within my control to service that and the instinct within me.

The easiest way to do that is to make material of your own, to build a show like I’m doing at Birdland. Then I’ll tour across the country. That’s the easiest way to fulfill that because I’m not reliant on other people giving me that opportunity. But when these opportunities like A Bronx Tale and Company fall in your lap, it’s because I have wonderful people that work for me to get me in those doors. But it’s serendipity, it’s luck, it’s total happenstance or law of attraction or whatever you want to say. My job is just to meet that with diligence, non-complacent hard work. So all I do is continue putting in that hard work and then seeing what serendipitous things happen to land in my lap. 

Bobby Conte will be taking his show around the country. We will update you when dates are announced.

To see our interview with Bobby Conte, please go here.

Main Photo: Bobby Conte (Courtesy of the Artist)

The post Along the Way Bobby Conte Is Living A Lot appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The show, which is now playing at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, has made significant changes starting with the usually-male role of Bobby being played as Bobbie by Tony Award-winner Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit). This evening, Doyle received a Tony Award for his performance. The show also received Tony Awards for Best Revival of a Musical, Best Director and Best Featured Actress (Patti LuPone)

As you might imagine that has ripple effects on the show. In Marianne Elliott’s production the characters of Amy and Paul are now a gay couple, Jamie and Paul. Doyle (Spring Awakening, War Horse) plays Jamie, the man absolutely convinced he’s unable to go through with his wedding to Paul (Etai Benson). This leads to one of Sondheim’s monster tongue-twisters of a song: Getting Married Today.

In this production of Company Doyle stops the show cold with his pitch-perfect patter, his brilliant comedic timing and his ability to infuse it all with the pathos the number requires. (If you’ve never seen or heard the song, check out these versions by Julie Andrews, Madeline Kahn and how difficult a song it is by watching this clip from the recording sessions for the original cast album with Beth Howland.)

All of which gave me plenty to talk to Doyle about last week when we met via Zoom. His comments have been edited for lengthy and for clarity.

In his book Finishing the Hat: Collected Lyrics (1954-1981) Sondheim said of Getting Married Today that the faster you do the song the easier it gets. Really?

I think there’s a lot of truth in that and I agree with that in some ways because it’s freeing to focus on the speed. I think a lot of that just comes from the more you work on speed we’re working on muscle memory and it stops you from overthinking the lyrics and getting caught up in it, getting overwhelmed by them and overwhelmed by the task of the lyrics. So I can understand where that’s coming from. That being said, one of the things that really made it easier for me in this version, and I think one one of the reasons that it’s so successful in this version, is also Marianne’s kind of diligence of making sure that every single thought and every single line was broken down. We worked really, really slowly on that song at first because as long as the intention of each line is always there, it’s very hard to trip up on the words. 

This is a very traumatic moment for Jamie. Yet the audience is doubled over because they’re laughing so hard. You’ve got to really stay focused to not let the audience response impact the journey the character is having in the song.

This was a really hard character to rehearse because the other scene partner in this scene is the audience. With comedy you throw something out to the audience and you feel the energy from them and it bounces back to you. That’s the thrill of theater in general. So it was a hard thing to do because the comedy is not necessarily punchlines in this scene. We’re laughing at someone who is very, very human. We were laughing at something that we relate to, that we recognize. I didn’t know where the laughs were going to land. In a lot of ways the frenzy that I get from the audience actually helps feed the frenzy within the song. The most kind of explosive nights that I’ve had with the song are also the most successful in terms of audience response because it just helps to to feed that kind of hysteria that it builds to at the end.

Without giving anything away you have to be intensely surprised at several moments in the song. So that’s three times a show, eight times a week.

I have a lot of experience in being incredibly anxious over general anxiety disorder and panic disorder. And I know the feeling very well of the surprise and the fear that Jamie experiences during that song. Also the staging is so smart and so brilliant. I think half of what you’re seeing on stage is me turning that kind of delight and excitement and thrill of what I get to do and what the audience gets to see every night into something that is coming off as surprise.

Sondheim was always intensely involved with productions of his musicals, particularly on Broadway. What did he have to say about your work or this production?

He was there several times a week giving us notes. I think he always appreciated the amount of brilliant comedians in the room on this piece. Marianne really has put together a ridiculous ensemble. I just was happy to soak it all in and be around it. It’s definitely a broad comedy and it’s, I think, the funniest version of Company that I’ve seen. He was just delighted by that. He said over and over again – and right before he passed – it was the most entertaining production of any musical he’d ever seen.

After I saw this production it occurred to me that what Sondheim had done with several of the songs in Company is created three-act plays as songs. Whether that’s Marry Me a Little and Being Alive for Bobbie or The Ladies Who Lunch for Joanne (Patti LuPone) or Getting Married Today for you.

That’s such a really incredible observation. It’s a full story in these songs. We talk about this a lot backstage that it’s one of the scariest things that we’ve ever done as actors. Every single night that I’m backstage I’m just going over the points that I want to hit in the scene: protecting Paul, making sure that I’m heard and and making sure that I allow myself to reach the level of hysteria needed for the emotional comedown at the end of the scene as well. It’s a really daunting task.

Your first preview was on November 15th and Sondheim showed up. We’ve seen how the audience responded to his attendance. What did it mean to you and the cast?

It was the most overwhelming and profound night of my life. I think it always will be; honoring Stephen Sondheim who we knew was in his last years. I don’t think we expected to lose him as quickly as we did. That whole night was so unbelievably emotional. I knew I would be overwhelmed and I knew that it would be a momentous moment. But you can’t really understand it until until you’re in that moment. I remember looking at him as he stood up and waved to the audience. I don’t think I’m ever going to really process how truly profound all of this is. I don’t think anything will ever top that. How could it possibly?

Equally emotional must have been the first performance after his death.

That was really, really tough. We’ve been through so much and there’s been a lot of obstacles in the way. We were finally finding our footing and that joy again of being together. Marianne had just been with him. He had just given us notes a couple of nights before and we were so thrilled that he got to be a part of this chapter as well. 

I think we take a lot of immense pride in how much he enjoyed the production and how much he celebrated this production. He celebrated new visions and new artists and new artistry until the day he died. He never became a museum piece. He wanted his work to grow and he wanted his work to continue to reach new generations constantly. That was up until his very last breath. 

You appeared in the 2017 off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theatre. What has performing Sondheim’s work meant to you personally and professionally?

He was very involved in Sweeney Todd and a huge champion of that production. That was my first time working with him. Ultimately he gave me the go ahead on Company. The main reason I’m in the company is because of my experience with him and him saying “yes” to me. So he’s changed my life multiple times. The first time being Sweeney and working on that incredible production and getting to really dive deep into his his material and understand it from his perspective, which was something I never anticipated. Gifting me this role and giving me permission to take it on – it’s completely reshaped who I am.

For tickets to Company please go here.

Photo: Matt Doyle as Jamie in Company (Photo by Matthew Murphy)

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Our personal favorite nominations are those going to the shows Caroline, Or Change, Company and A Strange Loop in the musicals category. In the plays we’re thrilled to see Dana H., For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf and The Lehman Trilogy amongst the nominees.

We’ve had conversations with many of this year’s nominees and you might want to take another look at what they shared with us. They include:

Simon Russell Beale who is nominated for his performance in The Lehman Trilogy.

“I’m a slightly stocky, middle-aged Englishman with a beard and I’m now pretending to be all sorts of different things just because I say so, rather than with any other help. And that’s quite fun. It’s not about emotional expression or effort. It’s about just keeping the mind focused. If you make a mistake, and I don’t think we’ve ever done a perfect performance actually, but if you make a mistake, you just have to forget it and move very quickly on.”

A side note: Beale is nominated as are his on-stage colleagues Adam Godley and Adrian Lester. Separating one performance from another is a fool’s game. They should have been nominated as a trio in the same way in which the three boys who originated the role of “Billy Elliot” in the musical of the same name were.

Shoshana Bean who is nominated for her performance in the Jason Robert Brown musical Mr. Saturday Night.

“I think that I’m a culmination of all the things I’ve soaked up in my life. I’m very Streisand, there’s Frank Sinatra, Chrissie Hyde, John Mayer, Aretha Franklin…while it may seem original, we’re all using the same ingredients. What matters are your proportions. I go left when people think I’m going right. I don’t look at it as strategic decisions, it’s what I’m lead to do. It’s literally been what felt like it needed to happen.”

Dale Franzen who is a co-producer of nominees Caroline, Or Change and For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf.

“I would say I am much more leaning into stories like that that I feel have such a harder time of being told. Let’s be honest, men aren’t telling those stories. They keep telling the stories that they want to see and I think that women have been shortchanged. I want to be part of changing that. That is not to say that if I’m sent something that I feel is really extraordinary and it happens to be written by a man or it’s a male story that doesn’t mean I won’t get involved. But I would say right now what I feel drawn to moving our stories forward.”

Matt Doyle who is nominated for his brilliantly comedic performance in the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company.

“I have a lot of experience in being incredibly anxious over general anxiety disorder and panic disorder. And I know the feeling very well of the surprise and the fear that Jamie experiences during that song. Also the staging is so smart and so brilliant. I think half of what you’re seeing on stage is me turning that kind of delight and excitement and thrill of what I get to do and what the audience gets to see every night into something that is coming off as surprise.”

Deirdre O’Connell who is nominated for her breath-taking performance in Dana H.

“It does feel like there is an infinite number of discoveries to be found. As a ride it’s pretty endless. I feel like it would be interesting to try to do a long run of it. It think you’d have to build breaks into it. the way the fatigue manifests itself is more like it sounds echo-y to me or I’m having a hard time hearing it right now. I could be wrong. It could be easier in terms of the doing it.”

Jayne Houdyshell who is nominated for her performance in the revival of The Music Man.

“I really am a creature of theatre. I came up in the theatre. I chose the life of an actress because of my love of the theatre. It’s always been foremost home for me. I’ve had a few small opportunities to do television and film work. While I appreciate it very much, I don’t feel like the real trajectory of my career is about that or will probably ever be about that. I just am most a home in the theatre.“

To read the full interviews with each artist, please click on the link built into their name.

Once again, congratulations to all 2022 Tony nominees!

Main Photo: Opening Night of “Company” (Photo by Rebecca J. Michelson)

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Last night we saw Eleri Ward at Joe’s Pub in New York City. It will sound like hyperbole, but a star was indeed born last night. During her 70-minute set she held the audience fully captive in her hands with beautiful performances of songs from this album and also her first-ever performance of Another Hundred People from Company. Plus she was joined by Eden Espinosa and Donna Murphy. So when she returns to Joe’s Pub or anywhere else grab a ticket as soon as you can!

No one is more surprised at the success of her recordings of the songs of Stephen Sondheim than Eleri Ward. Born out of posting online videos, what started out as a lark become a full-fledged album on Ghostlight Records called A Perfect Little Death.

On her record Ward sings songs you might expect like Being Alive (from Company), Losing My Mind (from Follies) and Send in the Clowns (from A Little Night Music). She also chooses some less commonly recorded songs like Loving You (from Passion), Sunday (from Sunday in the Park with George) and Every Day a Little Death (from A Little Night Music.) The last song includes a lyric that gave Ward her album’s title.

The style of Ward’s performances mixes Sondheim’s songs with the alternative-indie style of Sufjan Stevens. The end result has prompted multiple people to comment on how this is just the right music for our troubled times. As Ward told me when we spoke via Zoom last week.

What follows are excerpts from my conversation with Eleri Ward that have been edited for length and clarity.

Does the reaction you’ve received to your recordings of these songs surprise you? And that people say this was the music they didn’t know they needed but are glad they have?

It is surprising because I guess this is just how my brain works and this is just kind of how I have heard things. And so it feels natural to me. I suppose it does make sense because when have we ever heard these songs and in just a way where it’s acoustic guitar and vocal? It’s so crazy to me that that is something that multiple people have said to me. I’m like, that’s awesome, because this is how I want to make them. 

Do you think part of the response you’ve gotten is because of how complicated the last 18 months have been?

Given the past year and a half, it does make sense. It’s like everyone obviously loves Sondheim and like these songs are iconic and amazing, but when you’re in the middle of a pandemic do you really want to hear the Sweeney whistle blowing in your ear like problems?

When you started posted videos online of these songs was the goal to make an album?

I didn’t even really realize that this is what it was until I set out to record the album. But to take these songs that obviously are universal and strip them back and kind of make them raw and even more naked was something that I was like, what is that like? What can these songs say when they are truly just like bare bones? When it comes to the original orchestrations of all of these songs they are quite complicated and full and huge. What can those stories also illuminate when they are simple? And so that’s kind of like what my my take on them has been.

The recordings seem so effortless. Do you believe in the idea of the artist as a vessel? That the work came through you?

Creativity grows in a garden more lushly when there’s a fence around it. If you take that fence away it can just spread out and it is not as dense. And I feel like within this situation, I had a very clear fence around my creativity. It’s like these are not my songs. So I automatically have very little ego about certain parts of it. So it was very selfless in that way. And then when it came to arrangement, it’s like, OK, the melody is the melody, like that’s what I’m sticking with. And now the arrangement can just like flourish off of that confine. And so I feel like having those boundaries around my creative process is what allowed me to be the vessel and not have really any part of me be glued to it. It’s it was a very freeing situation. 

Have you seen Sondheim’s shows?

I have definitely seen Company. I’ve been in Company. I’ve seen Sweeney Todd multiple times. Company and Sweeney Todd are my favorites shows. I’ve been in Merrily We Roll Along. I’ve seen Merrily multiple times. Follies I’ve seen. I don’t think I’ve ever thought about this. I think that might be it. Oh, and I’ve seen Sunday in the Park with George.

The reason for asking is that you’re too young to have seen some of his shows. I’m wondering what your thoughts are about audiences embracing them years after their original run more than they did when they were first produced?

I think his honesty can manifest itself in a very raw, dark human way that prior to him, I don’t know if I can name that many writers or shows that offer that darkness just as it is. It’s dark, but it’s human and like I know you’re thinking it, so why not just accept it? Anyone who is a pioneer in their path is always going to be met with skepticism and distance at first because it’s new. And on top of that his orchestrations are not something that you just turn on and like have a pleasant little cup of tea, too. He’s spot on. He’s totally right. And I feel seen and I feel heard.

What has A Perfect Little Death and its success revealed to you about who you are as an artist and as a person?

It’s emotional to me how much it has kind of enlightened my life. I don’t make folk music or acoustic music and yet now I do. I didn’t know that my sound would be kind of identified by this, like breathy yodel-y thing that I do. And now I think all the things that I’ve done with this album are very true to who I really am, but I have never given the spotlight to or given the chance to fully embrace all of them. I think it’s allowing me to be surprised by myself and allow all of those surprises to be valid and embraced. I don’t have to question any of them or, you know, denounce any of them or distance myself from any of them or try to be humble about any of them. It’s like this is all who I am. I might not have known that all of these things were who I was meant to be X amount of time ago. But they are now and I can’t deny it. And I’m not going to deny myself the things that I’ve surprised myself with. I think that’s the biggest thing is it’s been full of surprises in terms of learning about myself, not only as a person, but as an artist.

Photo: Eleri Ward (Courtesy Ghostlight Records)

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Those seemingly disparate tracks collided when Tepper chose to launch a series of books on the history of the theaters that are still open and those who have found themselves in the dustbin of history. That series, The Untold Stories of Broadway, started when the first book was released in 2013.

Eight years later, Volume 4 has been published. Each book is an oral history (with everyone from stagehands and doormen to creators and performers) on a selection of theaters that are still running and, until this most recent edition, one that no longer existed. Volume 4 has a significant section on what are referred to as The Big Five* theaters that were demolished in 1982 to make way for what is now the Marriot Marquis Hotel and the Marquis Theatre.

Tepper herself is more than just a historian. She has been handling the programming at Feinstein’s/54 Below for a number of years and was one of the producers of the musical Be More Chill.

Recently I spoke by phone with Tepper about Broadway theaters and their history, the naming of theaters and what Broadway might look like on the other side of the pandemic. What follows has been edited for length and clarity.

Before musicals became juggernauts like The Phantom of the Opera and the revival of Chicago, theaters, particularly as described in your book, would experience a far higher rate of turnover than they do now. Do massively long-running shows post as much a problem as they do a financial windfall?

That’s a good question. Broadway is like an eco-system. The long-running shows that have come along, while they do take up theaters, it has allowed Broadway to thrive. People who come to see Hamilton then see five other shows. If you look at the 80s and the early 90s, half the Broadway houses were empty – even with long-running shows. While at the same time, there is a sense that it might be better in some ways if some shows would not run forever and ever.

The Ambassador was a theater that was really long-struggling and hadn’t had a life for years. Chicago changed that. The Gershwin was the same until Wicked. They do have better lives afterwards.

Have you seen a show in each of the theaters you have or will be writing about?

Other than the lost Broadway theaters, yes. I never got to see a show in those. It was fascinating to do interviews about those lost theaters. To do what are called The Big Five that were demolished at all one time. That really changed Broadway history by making it so other theaters were landmarked and couldn’t be torn down.

You make an effort to go as far back as possible when providing the oral history of these theaters. Is there an urgency to get interviews with people like Stephen Sondheim (who turned 91 on Monday) and others who are frankly getting quite old?

That’s been such a thing from the beginning. We’ve had thirteen interviewees pass away since the last book was published. This is a legacy project and I want each history to go back as far as possible. In this book writing about the Morosco and the Gaiety, there’s no one around. It’s always been a level of urgency.

Doug Katsaros (Orchestrator who did dance arrangements for Rockabye Hamlet) drops a little unknown bomb in this book stating that director/choreographerGower Champion died of AIDS in 1980. Was this common knowledge amongst the theater community? I couldn’t find anything publicly announcing that as his cause of death.

My editor and I do a lot of soul-searching about so many things people say in these books. We haven’t seen it anywhere, but that person was there and he said it. In the introduction we say this is these people’s stories and their perspectives. Sometimes three people will talk about the same performance and have three different stories. It’s hard to say. I don’t want to censor someone’s memory since they were there.

Deadline Hollywood has started their own oral history of the postponed revival of Company. One of the comments from Patti LuPone was, “I said goodbye to the Jacobs and then I thought, no, goodbye to the Royal, because the Royale had been a much more elegant theater name than the Jacobs.” What’s your opinion of the renaming of theaters? Do executives deserve the same status as playwrights or composers?

It’s not like we have 41 theaters and they are named for the 41 most esteemed people in theater history. I understand saying The Royale is a more elegant name, but Bernard B. Jacobs and Gerald Schoenfeld changed the industry through the Shubert organization. We don’t have a Hal Prince theater, so it’s not as sensical in the way that maybe some people wish it was.

If you were to write a separate update to this entire series about what the last year during the pandemic has been like for these theaters, what do you think it would have to say?

What was interesting about writing this volume during the pandemic is there are so many times in history that have parallels. Not exactly the same, but other times when there have been strikes or theaters were shut down for a tragedy or natural disaster. That was something interesting to think about. I saw someone working on the marquee at the Imperial. That guy has a story and he’s the only one who’s been in that house for months. I’m sure there will be stories to tell.

What role with theater play when we are all finally able to go back with Playbills in hand and enjoy a show?

There will be shows that will be more uplifting and people will want to be cheered up. Some people will want to go and see something political and reflect the time we are living through. Others will explore other times that are parallel. I’m excited about making theatre. The next step will be to get in a room and work on something.

*The Big Five Theaters were The Astor, The Bijou, The Gaiety, The Helen Hayes and The Morosco

Photo: Jennifer Ashley Tepper (Photo by Stephanie Wessels/Courtesy Dress Circle Publishing)

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“I love it! Someone in the cast started it and it just went like a snowball,” he said by phone last week. “They were doing it for their own amusement and it just caught on. I was so proud of them.”

The popularity of the video only mirrors the passion people have for A Chorus Line. The timing for Avian couldn’t be better as his memoir, Dancing Man: A Broadway Choreographer’s Journey, was recently published.

It was while dancing in a production of West Side Story that Avian met the man who would become his best friend and collaborator, Michael Bennett. Together they would work on such landmark shows as Company, Follies, Promises, Promises, A Chorus Line, Ballroom and Dreamgirls. After Bennett passed away in 1987, Avian would continue working on musicals including Miss Saigon, Putting It Together, Sunset Boulevard and ultimately directing that revival of A Chorus Line.

We began our conversation by talking about that iconic choreography that opens A Chorus Line. Here are edited excerpts from the interview. Comments have been edited for clarity and length.

“I Hope I Get It” has such a distinctive style. What inspired that choreography and why do you think that opening remains as vital today as it was in 1975?

What makes it special is Marvin’s [Hamlisch] music because it’s in 6 not 8. Most dance combos you count in 8. Being in six gives it a curve that’s subliminal. The attack is different and you feel it in your gut. I think that’s the root of what makes it so special. Michael did that.

You say in the book that at the age of 10 or 11, even without training, you knew you could dance. Was there one moment that made you come to that realization? Your own “I Can Do That?”

Being home alone and putting on a record player of the things I liked best and I would start dancing around and see where it took me. Being alone you have that freedom. You didn’t know what you were going to do and you let it pour out of your soul. Luckily we had a big living room. My life was concealed because I was gay and my parents were ethnic and it was a big no no. When I put on the music and closed the door and was my myself, I could be who I was and not have any censors around me.

Follies at one point had two men in drag during “Buddy’s Blues.” In 1971 that must have been played as a stereotype. What is the process where ideas like that find their way into a show and as a gay man how did you feel about it?

When we went into the show a lot of the score hadn’t been written yet. Stephen Sondheim needs to see things first. He writes his best showstoppers when he’s out of town. Whether “I’m Still Here” or “Send in the Clowns” or “Being Alive,” it’s because he sees the show. That’s part of his process. I don’t know. It just comes and you roll with it and you do the best you can.

When you and Michael accepted the Tony Award for Best Choreography for A Chorus Line, you said, “This is the professional high point of my life.” Michael said, “Michael Bennett is Bob Avian.” What meant more to you in that moment, winning the award or Michael’s acknowledgement of the importance of your contributions?

Michael and I were so close. We were brothers, never lovers. Everything we did we did together almost 24 hours a day. We were on the phone when we weren’t in the rehearsal studio. It was his ultimate compliment to say, “I love you Bobby.” It’s so much easier and nicer to share success and failure with someone.

Both Sammy Williams (who originated the role of Paul in A Chorus Line) and Baayork Lee (who originated the role of Connie in the same show) told me stories about how cruel Michael could be.

If you are successful and you are working on a multimillion dollar musical the pressure is enormous. You have to have strong shoulders to handle this. The one fear you have is are they going to fire me.

In many cases it’s about their anger in themselves. I find myself getting so angry at a dancer or a group of dancers when I’m unhappy with myself. It’s aimed at me, but it comes out of my mouth and at them. It’s like using the wrong color on a canvas.

Miss Saigon, Sunset Boulevard, the London revival of Follies and many more are part of your post-Michael Bennett career. Some artists say they don’t choose the work, the work chooses them. Is that your point of view?

Well it happens to me. I had no idea what was going to happen when Michael died. He talked me into doing Follies in London on his deathbed. I didn’t want to do it again. I kept saying it’ll never be the original production. What it gave me was Cameron Mackintosh. He just took to me and globbed onto me and dictated the rest of my career.

Michael was clearly so important to you. What do you think he’d say if he could see what you’ve done with your life and career since his passing?

Our respect for each other was so honest and so real. We exposed all our inner souls to each other. I was lucky to have that relationship. I think he would say, “Well done, Bobby.”

Photo of Bob Avian and Julie Andrews courtesy of Bob Avian

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“I mean it couldn’t be more opposite,” he said by phone last week. “I literally finished on a Sunday and started this on the Monday. I had to wipe the slate completely clean. Whizzer is strong and knows who he is, but Gideon is working class. He can’t control his emotions or doesn’t know how to function with emotions.”

In Sting’s musical, currently finishing its run at The Ahmanson Theatre, Gideon Fletcher leaves town and his girlfriend, Meg (Frances McNamee), behind. Years and years go by before he returns to Wallsend where he hopes to rekindle his relationship with Meg.

“He was a young lad,” he says of Gideon, “growing up on a shipyard and not wanting to do what generations have done before him and having this absolute urge to leave and then leaving. Then asking what do I do now? What brought him back was his dad’s funeral. He realized he was doing the wrong thing.”

Even as a last-minute addition to the show (when the actor who had done the UK tour was not available), Savile has had a front-row seat to seeing how Sting works as both a co-star and as someone constantly working to get The Last Ship just right.

“Tomorrow we’re taking a song out and in a couple weeks it might go back in. It’s trying to tell the right story. Sting is generous and his music is the heart and soul of this show. I get to sing  5-6 songs of his. And he’s watching from the wings. People say you shouldn’t meet  your heroes, but he’s absolutely an exception. You forget who you are working with.”

There comes a point in most shows when they are frozen – meaning that no new changes will be made. That clearly hasn’t been the case here.

“I think of it as a bit of a gift really,” he says. “When do you ever get to be on a show when it’s constantly changing and people are trying to make it better? We’ve done four weeks in Los Angeles and we’ve got a few cuts and a whole tech rehearsal in the afternoon. Sting says art is an ever-evolving entity. Why should it stay the same?”

Being in America as England figures out Brexit and America tries to figure itself out has proven to be interesting timing for Savile and the show.

“It’s a great time for the show to be over here. It’s really relevant now and for both our countries. There’s a lot to learn from the show about sticking together and community and whoever is in charge at the top. It’s terrifying really. We don’t have much say, but what we do have is each other.”

In addition to The Last Ship and Falsettos, Savile has appeared in Wicked, Cats, Les Miserables and Company. But he’s hard-pressed to figure out which show is most like him.

“I never been asked that before. To be fair, none of them really. Fiyero was a bit of a cocky prince. Enjolras decided to lead a revolution.”

At that moment I could hear a suggestion from someone else in the room.

“My fiancé suggested Rum Tum Tugger. A bit of a showoff I bet.” He then let out a very big laugh.

As I did with his co-star McNamee, I asked Savile about Sting’s quote, “Success always necessitates a degree of ruthlessness. Given the choice of friendship or success, I’d probably choose success.”

“I’d have to disagree slightly. Friendship has been a sort of springboard, not to my success, but to my well-being, which has lead to my success. My friends are very important to me and that includes my fiancé and my dad and my friendship group. I understand what he’s saying, but I’ve never felt that. I’d like to think I surround myself with people who want me to be the best I can be.”

The Last Ship continues at the Ahmanson Theatre through February 16th. The show then moves to the Golden Gate Theatre  in San Francisco from February 20th to March 22nd. Additional stops are scheduled in Washington, D.C., St. Paul and Detroit.

Photo: Frances McNamee and Oliver Savile in The Last Ship. (Photo by Matthew Murphy/Courtesy of Center Theatre Group)

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Which makes her the perfect actress to play the role of the Dowager Empress in Anastasia. The character has to be convinced that a young woman may actually be her long-lost granddaughter, the only survivor of the brutal murders of the Romanov family. This is a woman who has been through a lot and has seen a lot. As has Franz.

Recently I spoke with Franz by phone about Anastasia and about her experiences working with artists who need no first names:  Sondheim, Fosse and Prince. But first, Flaherty and Ahrens (composer/lyricist of Anastasia.)

What inspires you most about the songs they have written for Anastasia?

What inspires me most, besides the gorgeous melodies, are the lyrics. They are very poignant and very current with the messages that Lynn has written. It is very inspiring for anyone: girls, boys, adults. It’s very inspiring and empowering. And, of course, Terrance McNally’s book! I just love him.

You said in an interview with the Kare Reviews podcast that Anastasia was the most perfect show you’ve ever been involved with. What makes the show more perfect than some of the legendary musicals in which you’ve appeared?

Oh dear, did I say “the most?” (She then laughs very broadly.) Actually Into the Woods is the most perfect and this is right up there with it. Not only does it talk about love and hope and family, it’s also saying never give up on your dreams. Perseverance, strength, courage, that’s what I feel is the very important message this show provides. 

Let’s talk about some of those shows. The first show you saw was also your first show: Sweet Charity. What do you remember most about your first night?

Oh my gosh. Am I going to be able to swing my leg over that? I wasn’t a dancer. Am I really going to get my leg over that dance barre? I didn’t know how to move my hips back then. I was so naïve. People apologized for swearing in front of me and now I cuss up a storm.

Fosse/Verdon depicted a not very charismatic Fosse. With your experiences in Sweet Charity and Pippin, what do yo think is most misunderstood about who Fosse was as a man?

He went through all the things he went through, with drugs and stuff. I think there’s always something that one wants to escape from their own reality. Maybe he totally didn’t accept himself as the great master that he was. I don’t know.  

He was a charmer. He was electrifying to watch and be around. Kind of like Lenny Bernstein (with whom she worked on Mass,) everyone fell in love with him. Bob was such a genius.

From Company through to Assassins, you had a front row seat and a perspective on how Sondheim evolved through his career. Why do you think revivals of some of the shows you’ve been in are being far more warmly received than the original productions?

I think the audiences have been educated and have become more aware with the sensibilities and insights that Steve has. He’s just so progressive and was just way ahead of his time in writing. I mean no one else really wrote like him with shows that depict or went into the psychology of the people that he wrote about – which was all part of him, I believe. And what he was going through in looking for love and acceptance.

Producer/director Hal Prince passed away recently. What set Prince apart and what do you think current producers can learn from him?

He could paint that stage and the way he directed he was visionary. He could paint like Picasso and coming from being a stage manager, he was one of the greats, if not the greatest.

Apart from musicals you played the role of the mother in Marsha Norman’s ‘Night Mother. That couldn’t be further from what most audiences know of you. How did that experience challenge you?

I loved doing that play. That was a really wonderful experience and challenge. The depth and the desperation to try to save her daughter. I could relate to the desperateness of wanting to save someone or one’s self from going deeper. 

Julie Andrews talked about doing tours of musicals as being “lonely, but it does give you some kind of spine, I think it does give you some kind of grit.” At this point in your life and career, what does touring give you?

She’s quite right because sometimes it really is lonely. But to know that I can do this, that I can take care of myself. Although our company manager, Denny, he takes care of all of us, but I can make do with almost any situation. I can survive on my own.

Did you know you had those skills?

I would think so. Coming from Kansas City, Missouri and going to New York City with only 500 dollars. But I knew that was where I was supposed to be.

Anastasia is currently playing at Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa through November 17th.

Main Photo: Victoria Bingham and Joy Franz in Anastasia (Photo by Evan Zimmerman – MurphyMade)

Archive Broadway photos by Martha Swope/Courtesy of the New York Public Library Archives

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