Sister Theatre Has a Hit!

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

It looks like Theatre IV has a huge hit on it's hands with the reunion of the original 1988 cast (Gordon Bass, Larry Cook, Jenny Hundley, Jacqueline Jones, and Debra Wagoner) of Jack and the Beanstalk (Book and Lyrics by Douglas Jones; Music by Ron Barnett). The production began student matinee performances on Tuesday of last week and had it's official opening Friday night to an incredibly responsive house. Here are a few of the quotes we'll be pulling from Susan Haubenstock's review in Sunday's Richmond Times-Dispatch:

"...playwright Douglas Jones rings an ingenious change on
the much-loved fairy tale"




"wild version of the familiar yarn,
more fun and fanciful than the original"

"While the kids in the audience giggle at the silliness, adults can enjoy razor-sharp performances by the actors"

"light and funny" "cheerful" "playful and snappy"

And also Kate Hall with RichmondMom.com rang in with a thrilling review last night. A few quotes:

"both adults and kiddos were swept into Jack’s playful, imaginary world"

"a fabulous way to spend an afternoon"

"a must-see for Richmond families who want a great laugh
and to create a memory together"

Tickets really are selling fast! So fast, that a performance was added to the final day, even before the show opened! Get yours today!

See you at the theatre!

(Photos on the left side of the page are from the 1988 production [Photos by Eric Dobbs]; photos on the right side are from the currently running 2010 production [Photos by Aaron Sutten].)

Ignoring Curse, B'dale Partners on "Darwin"

Posted by Bruce Miller
Among Greater Richmond's major nonprofit arts organizations, Barksdale and Theatre IV lead the pack when it comes to successful partnerships with colleague organizations. For decades we have been proud of our record as the partnership kings. We were doing partnerships long before partnerships were cool.

Barksdale’s current partnership with the Carpenter Science Theatre Company of the Science Museum of Virginia is running full speed ahead. Terrie Powers, resident designer with Barksdale and Theatre IV, designed the set for Endless Forms Most Wonderful, a new play about Charles Darwin written by Douglas Jones (author of numerous touring shows for Theatre IV, as well as Songs from Bedlam, Bojangles and The Turn of the Screw, all of which had their world premieres at Barksdale).

Billy Christopher Maupin, publications manager and marketing associate at Barksdale, is stage manager of the educational science production. Lynne Hartman, who seemingly designs lights for four out of every five shows we do, has created the light design. And most important, Barksdale’s technical team constructed and installed the set; the Carpenter Science Theatre Company has no set construction shop or crew of its own.

We hope this will be the start of a long and beautiful relationship.

Every aspect of Barksdale’s work on the show has come off without a hitch. At least so far…knock on wood. Several other aspects of the production have been the apparent victims of Darwin’s Curse.

Darwin’s Curse is explained on the Internet as follows: “In most games, an enemy has one set of ‘physical’ and ‘behavioural’ characteristics and follows them. In Darwin’s Curse, the powers-that-be randomly assign the enemy with certain characteristics, and then check to see if the design is successful or not. If it was successful, the design is kept; if not, the design goes back to the drawing board. This is what is called Artificial Evolution.”

Well, the “enemy”of Endless Forms Most Wonderful must have been successful all right, because his evil machinations repeated themselves week after week during the rehearsal process, coming close to shutting down the show for good!

In week one, Larry Gard, artistic director of the Carpenter Science Theatre Company and the actor playing Darwin himself in the two-actor show, cut his hand seriously with hedge trimmers, requiring a trip to the emergency room and more stitches than anyone would want. Rehearsals and opening were postponed for a week.

In week two, the original stage manager had to be let go after it was determined by security at the Science Museum that he once had been arrested for skinny dipping in his youth. That was when Billy Christopher Maupin stepped in to take over for his fallen comrade. We were all pleasantly surprised to discover that, as of now, Billy Christopher has no arrest record—at least none that anyone has found out about.

In week three, the director, Tim Ireland, wrenched his back and temporarily lost his ability to walk. That was when Douglas Jones, playwright, stepped in to assume the directorial reins. Tim Ireland, we are pleased to report, is now beginning to feel much better.

The day before opening, Kimberly Jones Clark, the female lead in this two-person show (playing Darwin's wife), ripped a leg muscle while doing the splits in a rehearsal for The Great American Trailer Park Musical at the Firehouse. She missed the final rehearsal of Darwin, but made it, barely able to move, to the first performance the following morning.

Partnerships are a valuable component of nonprofit operations during this tough economy. We are pleased to partner with the Carpenter Science Theatre Company on this brave new play, running Wednesdays through Sundays through May 10. We’re mightily glad, thus far, to have seemingly escaped the dreaded D. C.

Now, as long as no one’s security department finds out that I was sent to detention once in the third grade for chewing gum. Sshhh. Mum’s the word.

--Bruce Miller

Happy Birthday to Linda and Harry!

Posted by Bruce Miller
Please join me in wishing a very Happy Birthday to two of Richmond’s greatest theatre scribes: Linda Escalera Baggs and Harry Kollatz, Jr. I’m privileged to call each of them my friend. Unlike their fellow birthday celebrant, J. R. R. Tolkien, Linda and Harry tend to base their writing on personal experience and history rather than fanciful acts of the imagination.

I first encountered Linda Baggs on a flight back from London in 2003. Phil and I had just led our first theatre trip abroad, and I was seated next to one of the maiden voyagers who had accompanied us, the wonderful Gerri Escalera. As we talked, she began telling me about her daughter Linda, who had recently left a successful advertising career to become a fulltime playwright. I remember being amazed that here was a mom talking about an adult child leaving a lucrative career to pursue a theatrical dream, and she sounded excited about it. “What a great mom!”, I thought.

And what a great daughter! One year later Barksdale produced Silent Heroes, a new play written by that daughter based on the “Marine wife” experiences of that mom.

Linda Escalera Baggs is one of Virginia’s foremost playwrights. Apparently theatre has been in her genes since her conception, but it took a while to bubble to the surface. Her grandmother was an actress born in Hollywood, but when push came to love Grandma gave up an opportunity to appear on Broadway and chose instead to marry Linda’s grandfather.

Linda’s father was a Marine, and so she spent her childhood moving frequently up and down the East Coast from one base to another. Linda wrote her first short story in the 4th grade as a present for her theatrically inclined granny, and immediately discovered that she loved to write. As she matured, Linda’s practical side convinced her artistic side that she should pursue a career in advertising, and so she did. For 18 years she earned a living, great acclaim, and a couple of ANDY’s and Clio’s writing commercials and assorted ad copy.

In 2000, she heard a funny story and her creative juices transformed it into a one-act play called Who’s Margaret?. When the Richmond Playwrights Forum selected the play for a public reading, and actors breathed life into her characters for the first time, the audience roared with laughter. Linda was hooked. She gave up advertising to pursue playwriting fulltime.

Now, three full-length plays, two short plays and three one-acts later, Linda has earned 18 nominations and awards, and 13 productions (including stagings in NYC, at Barksdale and at the Firehouse). Along with Paul Deiss, Doug Jones, Randy Strawderman, Bo Wilson and Irene Ziegler, Linda is one of the Virginia playwrights to whom Barksdale offers an on-going commitment. Hopefully we’ll see more of Linda’s work on one of Barksdale’s stages soon.

Until then, you can catch her show Silent Heroes opening next week on Jan 8 in New York City produced by the Round Table Ensemble. How cool a birthday present is that!?

Harry Kollatz Jr., I’ve decided, is my mirror image, only he looks good in hats and I don’t. And then there’s that little matter of him being more than a decade younger than me, but who’s counting?

Harry Kollatz and I are both Richmond natives. He graduated from VCU in 1986; I graduated from U of R in 1974. Harry co-founded the Firehouse in 1993; I co-founded Theatre IV in 1975. Harry married Richmond artist Amie Oliver in 1994; I married Richmond artist Terrie Powers in 1985. (Amie and Terrie are colleagues, friends, and alumnae of 1708.)

Harry earns his living writing for Richmond Magazine and publishing books; I earn my keep at Theatre IV writing plays for young audiences and grants. Harry’s most successful writing is inspired by local history (his regular column “Flashback” at Richmond Mag, his new book Richmond in Ragtime, his first book True Richmond Stories). Many of my most successful plays also are based on local history (Buffalo Soldier, The Maggie Walker Story, Arthur Ashe – Champion of Honor). Harry brought local history to life as an interpreter at the Valentine Museum; I did the same directing Do Lord Remember Me at the Valentine.

Harry was in the first acting company of the Playbooth Theatre on Palace Green in historic Williamsburg; my daughter Hannah was just accepted to William & Mary.

Harry keeps the blogosphere abuzz with The Blue Raccoon; I make my regular contributions to the b’o’sphere at the B’dale Buzz. Harry co-created the Theresa Pollak Awards for Excellence in the Arts in 1998. I won one in 2006.

All coincidence, or some twisted trick of the parallel universes? You decide.

Anyway, if you haven’t read one of Harry’s amazing books, you should. I’ve been a longtime fan of True Richmond Stories. Phil just bought his copy of Richmond in Ragtime: Socialists, Suffragists, Sex & Murder at a local book signing. I ordered mine today on Amazon.com.

Linda and Harry are invaluable assets to our Richmond theatre community. As they blow out their candles, we all wish them a wonderful 2009!

--Bruce Miller

On the Road Again - TIV Actors Launch Tour

Posted by Bruce Miller

Barksdale is sister theatres with Theatre IV, the Children’s Theatre of Virginia. Our two independent nonprofit companies share a common staff.

Theatre IV on Tour is employing 28 fulltime company actors this fall, and 25 of the 28 gathered this evening for our annual Tourmite Party in the Empire Theatre lobby. Next week, the first of September’s six touring troupes will begin performing in schools and other theatrical facilities throughout Virginia and 32 additional states. It’s challenging and exciting work, and our talented and intrepid actors seem more than up to the task.

Between now and Thanksgiving, Theatre IV will be touring Hugs and Kisses by Terry Bliss, Bruce Craig Miller and Richard Giersch, Jack and the Beanstalk by Douglas Jones and Ron Barnett, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and The Song of Mulan by Paul Deiss, Tales as Tall as the Sky by Cliff Todd, and The True Story of Pocahontas by Peter Howard and Ron Barnett. You can check our weekly calendar to keep up with performance locations.

Ford Flannagan, Company Manager, supervises the professional touring companies and hosted this evening’s festivities. After setting a pirate / Western / Hawaiian theme (don't ask), he distributed his annual door prizes consisting of everything from emergency ponchos to waving mechanical hands to tropical lip balm. In the photo to the right he and his assistant for the evening, Wendy Vandergrift – Assistant Technical Director in charge of our touring production needs, are about to deliver a Vibrating Soap Bar to actress Nicole Wakefield. All I can say is, every September, Spencer’s Gifts is very happy to see Ford Flannagan.

The annual touring actor party (along with our annual Fairy Tale Ball and other events) is planned by Jennings Whiteway, wearing the straw hat in the photo to the left, standing beside our Annual Fund Manager, Emily Cole Bitz. Jennings is Events, Access and Food Services Manager for Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV. She is a trained events planner and manages Barksdale Events. Whatever your needs are for upcoming meetings, parties, weddings or other activities, Jennings and her Barksdale co-workers would be happy to discuss them with you. Just give our Artistic Director, Bruce Miller, a call at 783-1688 ext 17.

The actors in this year’s professional company come from throughout the United States, and contribute greatly to Central Virginia's arts scene. Immediately after this evening's pizza party, a van full of our touring actors rushed down the street to catch a performance of Mr. Marmalade at the Firehouse. Please join us in welcoming their talents and energies to the Richmond theatre community.

--Bruce Miller

"Birdie's" Strouse Has Roots in Richmond

Posted by Bruce Miller
While writing the Bye Bye Birdie blog, I promised that I'd soon write about Richmond's connections to legendary composer Charles Strouse. Here goes.

In 1961, Charles Strouse made American musical theatre history when he composed the first Broadway score to be written in the rock and roll vernacular. Seven years before Hair, Bye Bye Birdie became Broadway’s first "rock musical." Of course the rock 'n' roll of Birdie is of the Elvis Presley / Bobby Rydell / Connie Francis variety, with several pop numbers and a bit of salsa thrown in for good measure.

Nonetheless, the songs in Bye Bye Birdie (including the title tune, One Last Kiss, Honestly Sincere, Lotta Livin’ to Do and One Boy) sounded a lot more like what we were listening to on our transistor radios in 1961 than had the songs from Broadway’s biggest hits of the preceding five years (My Fair Lady [56], West Side Story [57], The Music Man [57], and Gypsy [59]).

If Charles Strouse had stopped with Bye Bye Birdie, he would have earned his place as a significant Broadway composer. But he didn’t stop. He went on to write ten more Broadway musicals since Birdie, and several musicals that never made it to Broadway. Best of all, he’s still going strong.

All of this is important to Richmond because, to a degree that can be applied to no other major Broadway composer, Richmond has some strong connections to Charles Strouse. To a certain extent, we can honor him as one of our own.

Since Birdie, Charles has written diverse and amazing musicals, collaborating with impressive co-creators:

1962 – All American, starring Ray Bolger, with a book by Mel Brooks. It was Brook’s second Broadway musical, preceding by nearly four decades Brooks’ masterwork, The Producers, which won more Tony Awards (12) than any musical in Broadway history.

1964-66 – Golden Boy, starring Sammy Davis Jr. in Broadway’s first musical to feature an inter-racial marriage. The book was written by none other than the great American agitprop playwright from the 1930s, Clifford Odets, who died during the Detroit tryout, prompting the engagement of “co-writer” William Gibson.

1966 – It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman, starring Jack Cassidy and Linda Lavin, produced and directed by Hal Prince. Considered by many to be ahead of its time, the campy, pop-art sensibility of It’s a Bird was obviously copied in the hit ABC-TV series Batman, which began to air only months after It’s a Bird closed. Moreover, Robert Benton and David Newman, co-authors of the It’s a Bird book, went on to co-author the Superman movie with Christopher Reeve.

1970-72 – Applause, starring Lauren Bacall, with a book by Betty Comden and Adolph Green

1975 – The Member of the Wedding, featuring incidental music by Strouse, with Virginia’s own Glenn Close understudying Mary Beth Hurt in the role of Frankie Addams!!

1977-83 – A little something called Annie. ‘Nuff said.

1980 – Charlie and Algernon

1981 – Bring Back Birdie, featuring Richmond’s own Porter Hudson, who, as John Hudson, choreographed Theatre IV’s production of Cabaret at the Empire Theatre only months after Bring Back closed

1983 – Dance a Little Closer, featuring Richmond’s own Diane Pennington in the role of Shirley, with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

1986 – Rags, starring Teresa Stratas and Larry Kert, with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

1991 – Nick & Nora, starring Barry Bostwick, Joanna Gleason and Christine Baranski, with book by Arthur Laurents and lyrics by Richard Maltby, Jr.

2005-06 – Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life, featuring songs by many composers including Strouse

In addition to the two Richmonders who performed in Strouse musicals on Broadway, one of Richmond’s powerhouse talents, Katherine Tracy (pictured to the left in the title role of the Mill's 1980ish production of Mame), served as Charles Strouse’s personal assistant in NYC for a couple years later in the 80s. After her tenure with Strouse, Katherine returned to Richmond to work as Marketing Director of Theatre IV, and then Managing Director of Barksdale. At least partially through Katherine’s contacts, Barksdale produced in 1993 the Strouse revue, By Strouse, and the world premiere of the new Strouse musical, Bojangles, based on the life of Richmonder Bill Bojangles Robinson, with a book by Richmond playwright Douglas Jones.

On the Theatre IV side, I asked Charles if I could adapt his musical teleplay of Lyle Lyle Crocodile for live touring, and he graciously agreed. For several years, Theatre IV produced the national tour of Lyle Lyle Crocodile, with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse and book by yours truly. During one of the first trips I made to New York to work with Charles on my tour adaptation, he invited me to a backers’ preview of Nick & Nora. It was so cool to sit in the studio with all these Broadway types, listening to Barry Bostwick, Joanna Gleason, Christine Baranski and Debra Monk stand around Charles at the piano, singing his Nick & Nora songs for the first time.

Sometime in the mid-90s, Charles and Bernard Waber, author of the Lyle books, had a parting of the ways. Thereafter Theatre IV had to negotiate with Waber’s agents directly. The version of Lyle that we perform today no longer benefits from the Charles Strouse music and lyrics. Now I’m the sole author of all three – book, music and lyrics. Which is cool. But I certainly enjoyed my years in the sun as a partner of Charles Strouse.

There’s one reason why working with Charles, albeit on a limited basis, was so much fun. Despite being the composer of two of the “Top Ten Most Frequently Produced Musicals in America” (Bye Bye Birdie and Annie), Charles Strouse is about as nice, genuine and generous a guy as you’ll find. I’ll always treasure our too brief association.

So, the next time anyone does a Charles Strouse musical in Richmond, all Richmond theatre aficionados should take some pride in knowing that on several occasions, Charles has been down here and Richmond artists have been up there to collaborate on new musicals. In some significant ways, Richmonders can claim Charles Strouse as an honorary member of River City.

--Bruce Miller

The Start of Something New

Posted by Bruce Miller

Something new and wonderful started tonight—Disney’s High School Musical. It is our second effort at bringing the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical back to life, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with Opening Night. If I appear to be a little blog happy, please forgive me.

Among my favorite things about blogs are the labels that appear at the bottom of each post. If you become interested in someone or some event mentioned in a blog, and you want to read more about that person or production, you can click on the label at the bottom, and all other blog entries in which that person or play is mentioned will line up beneath the entry that first caught your eye. If you want to take the system for a test drive, just click Disney’s H in the labels below, and all blog entries about Disney’s High School Musical will instantly appear directly beneath this post.

The only problem is this—following each post, the system will allow you to enter only 20 labels consisting of no more than 200 characters. So, in order to give everyone the label they deserve, I have to divide my kudos sometimes so that only 20 names appear in any one entry. And I have to abbreviate longer labels so that I don’t exceed 200 characters.

So here’s Part II of my Opening Night coverage. And you're likely to find Parts III and IV close on this post’s heals.

To be honest, it’s been a rough tech week for Disney’s H. There are so many moving parts. Up to and including last night, major things seemed to go wrong at every rehearsal. But tonight the miracle happened, and everything magically came together. Three Wildcat Cheers and more for our magnificent Stage Manager, Ariel Osborne, and her stalwart Deck Chief, Jody Strickler. They kept their cool and kept the trains running, ably assisted by our outstanding high school running crew: Will Sowers, Collin Shelton, Jacob Brown, Margaret Gupton, Caitlyn Ofte, Karole Johnston, Michael Thibodeau, and Wendy Amadee.

Our pit band sounded amazing tonight, under Sherri Mathews inspired direction. Mike Williams, our drummer extraordinaire, is a student at Virginia Tech, and is returning to the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical band after playing for Grease last summer. Michael couldn’t have a more impressive theatrical pedigree, being the son of father Eric Williams and stepmother Joy Williams, and mother Harriet Traylor and stepfather Doug Jones.

A 2004 grad of James Madison University, Kirk Jackson is new to our band, and we couldn’t be happier that he found us and agreed to play bass. Kirk teaches some lucky students at Thompson Middle School. He's certainly a talent we hope to hang on to.

Greg DeBruyn is our masterful guitarist, returning this summer after playing Beehive with us last summer at Steward School.

Lisa Pennington is our fifth and final musician. Manning our second keyboard, she helps Music Director Sherri Matthews cover all the string and wind instruments that don’t actually appear in our downsized band.

If you’re still looking for a reason to attend Disney’s High School Musical, hearing these first-rate musicians bring the memorable rock/pop score to life is in itself worth the $15 admission.

--Bruce Miller