If They Can Make It There

Posted by Bruce Miller
Hannah and I had the chance to visit with four actor friends--three old and one new--on our recent trip to New York. We caught up with the first two, Zak Resnick and Mark Ludden (below and to the right), at lunchtime on a frigid Saturday morning.

As many of you will remember, Zak recently starred at Barksdale in Into the Woods (Rapunzel's Prince, Second Wolf--above and to the left) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Jimmy--below and to the left). Mark is a veteran of one of Barksdale's several productions of Joseph/Dreamcoat, which preceded my tenure as artistic director. Both Zak and Mark are doing Richmond proud as they put their amazing talents to good work in the Big Apple.

If you've been keeping an eye on Zak's career, you know he's very quickly becoming someone to watch on the Great White Way. There's definitely no moss growing on this boy.

Just before beginning Millie rehearsals last spring, Zak graduated from the professional theatre program at Carnegie Mellon University. In August, he took his final bows in Millie and moved to New York almost before the applause had stopped. Just a few weeks later, he made his Off Off Broadway debut with the New York Musical Theatre Festival playing a leading role in The Cure, a new vampire musical that generated a significant buzz (see my earlier blog post, Zak Zooms in on Vampire Zeitgeist, Friday, Sept 25, 2009).

Then on October 1, Zak and his amazing tenor made it into the studio to record the new CD from the Broadway Boys, a vocal group comprised of 26 of the most accomplished male voices in New York. He was in illustrious company. Also singing on the Boys CD were Jesse Nager from the Broadway cast of Mary Poppins, Danny Calvert and Landon Beard (Altar Boyz), Telly Leung (Rent), Michael James Scott (Hair), Maurice Murphy (Putnam County Spelling Bee), Daniel Torres (Wicked), Gabe Violett (Spring Awakening), Marty Thomas (Xanadu), and Peter Matthew Smith (Hairspray).

Later in October, Zak made his debut at Joe's Pub, one of the hottest vocal venues in town. He shared his talents with the Public Theater's Music Theater Initiative Songwriters Showcase, singing songs from Dogfight, a new musical by rising composer / lyricist stars Pasek and Paul. Dogfight has just been commissioned by Lincoln Center, and Zak was among those vocalists recruited to showcase the amazing new score in its first public performance.

As a sure sign of his expanding New York profile, Zak was photographed by BroadwayWorld.com in November simply for attending the 6th Annual Broadway Unplugged concert at Town Hall. Bedecked in a golden scarf (see above), Zak stood with one of the evening's star performers, Daniel Reichard (Jersey Boys). Coincidentally, also performing that night at Town Hall was another of Richmond's vocal wunderkinds, Emily Skinner (below and to the left).

This past Monday, Zak joined an All-Star cast at the Canal Room for a one-night-only event celebrating the talents of one of Broadway's most exciting young composers/actors/ vocalists, Jonathan Reid-Gealt. Joining Zak at the mic--or perhaps protocol requires that I say that Zak was joining them--were several of Broadway's most amazing voices, including Jeremy Jordan (currently standing by as Tony in West Side Story--and formerly starring at Firehouse Theatre in Austin's Bridge), Tituss Burgess (recent star of The Little Mermaid and Guys and Dolls), Lauren Kennedy (knocking 'em dead in Vanities and Les Mis--also a former Ashland resident who graciously met with our 2007 Barksdale NYC tour group three years ago when we went to see her in Broadway's Spamalot), plus Quentin Earl Darrington and Bobby Steggert (a personal favorite of mine), both from the cast of the just-closed Ragtime revival.

Zak's career could not hold more promise.

Also making his Mark on American theatre is our other friend, Mr. Ludden. For the last few seasons he has alternated national tours of Les Mis (to the left) and Evita with summer gigs at the Merry-Go-Round Playhouse in Auburn, New York. Last year at about this time, Mark was one of the Barksdale alum who graciously agreed to talk with our 2009 NYC tour group during brunch in The Rainbow Room.

Hannah and I caught up with Zak and Mark in their current day jobs as singing waiters at Ellen's Stardust Diner--one of the coolest (and hardest to land) gigs going for up-and-coming Broadway singers. If you've never been to Ellen's, you really should give it a try. The great performances come with the price of lunch--and the singers are phenomenal.

Zak sang a couple songs during our time in the diner, easily outdoing Michael Bublé with his cover of the Leonard Cohen classic I'm Your Man. Mark's power baritone shook Ellen's rafters, providing beautiful counterpoint to Zak's pop tenor.

I suppose all the great theatre singers in New York don't come from Richmond, but what we heard on Saturday was proof positive that at least two of them do.

It was great to catch up with both Zak and Mark last weekend, even if the visits were all too short. All we Richmonders owe them our support as they chart their careers in New York New York. I'll try my best to keep all of you apprised of their successes as they achieve them.

And very soon, I'll write about the other two actor friends who graciously greeted us in the Big Apple.

--Bruce Miller

Best of Broadway / Benefits of Barksdale

Posted by Bruce Miller
Rehearsals for Thoroughly Modern Millie began this evening. An eager cast of 22 assembled under the knowing eyes of director / choreographer Patti D’Beck, musical director Paul Deiss, and stage manager Ginnie Willard. I welcomed everyone. Off the top of my head, I'm thinking that nine of the Millie cast members are new to the Barksdale family, including two of the leads. Other than seeing them at auditions, I met these nine for the first time tonight.

One of the leads who is NOT new to Barksdale is Zak Resnick (pictured above and to the right). Zak arrived at rehearsal tonight directly from his drive down from Carnegie Mellon School of Drama in Pittsburgh, the prestigious university theatre program from which he just graduated. His car was still packed to the roof with everything he owns.

There must be something special about Richmond’s relationship with C M. Other Richmond theatre notables who went to Carnegie Mellon and then vaulted almost immediately into their professional careers include Tony nominee Emily Skinner and Hollywood superstar Blair Underwood. Like Zak, both Emily and Blair shared their talents with Theatre IV, Barksdale and other Richmond theatres before making it big on the national scene.

Like Emily and Blair, Zak seems destined for great things. Many Richmonders remember Zak for his memorable portrayal of Rapunzel’s Prince in our 2007 summer musical Into the Woods. But in New York, Zak is known by his growing fan base as one of the Broadway Boys, a six-man super group comprised of Broadway’s hottest tenors. (Six sing at any one time. There are actually 25 or so talented young men who have been selected for the ensemble.) “A fusion of funk, soul and gospel, the Broadway Boys create an out-of-control energy that makes you want to just get up and dance,” states Amy Birnbaum of the Jujamcyn Theatre organization. “Their arrangements of Broadway and pop tunes give way to a myriad of sound, color and grit. An experience you can’t afford to miss!”

You can hear and see Zak and the Boys singing "Defying Gravity" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJfIYzhLnt8. Zak is the guy to the far left of the screen (stage right). The camera-work is a little shaky, but you'll get the gist.

Taking time off this summer from his develop-ing NYC career as a Broadway Boy, Zak will be playing the male lead of Jimmy in our production of Thoroughly Modern Millie at the historic Empire Theatre. Last Monday, just before leaving New York for Pittsburgh, Zak took Broadway by storm one more time before heading south. After being selected as one of the 16 rising stars to be featured in this year’s Leading Men benefit concert for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS, Zak performed onstage last Monday side by side with fellow “leading men” including Jonathan Groff (Tony nominee for Spring Awakening), Nick Adams (currently achieving major celebrity buzz in the Broadway cast of Guys and Dolls), and Michael Kadin Craig (now starring Off Broadway in Altar Boyz). Lest you miss the import of being included in this august group, let me remind you that previous Leading Men concerts have featured the talents of current stars including Matt Cavenaugh, Cheyenne Jackson, Aaron Lazar, Matthew Morrison, Hugh Panaro and Christopher Sieber.

You can catch Zak’s star-to-be turn on YouTube, singing "The Streets of Dublin" from A Man of No Importance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBomyh5cAg. The last time I heard Zak sing this song was in the cabaret that the cast of Into the Woods performed on Barksdale’s Willow Lawn lobby stage to benefit the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund. This time he sounded just as great, but he was introduced by Tony nominee John Tartaglia (Avenue Q, Shrek The Musical). I loved hearing John announce to the packed Broadway audience that Zak would be appearing this summer at Barksdale Theatre in Richmond, VA.

Those of you who listen to the Broadway channel on SIRIUS satellite radio will be interested to know that Zak was accompanied by none other than Seth Rudetsky.

As the Broadway in Richmond series reopens this fall with David Copperfield’s magic show at the new CenterStage, it’s good to remember that more Richmonders get their Broadway at Barksdale than anywhere else. If you really want to catch Broadway stars past, present and future, head on downtown this summer for Thoroughly Modern Millie, and catch the Best of Broadway with the Benefits of Barksdale.

See you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

"Sanders" Creators Wish Sweethearts Well

Posted by Bruce Miller
It was fun to log on this afternoon and find a comment to my last post about David and Aly's onstage proposal. The comment congratulates the happy couple and wishes them well. It's written and posted by none other than Alan Bailey and Connie Ray, conceiver and writer, respectively, of Smoke on the Mountain and Sanders Family Christmas.

I love it when nationally successful theatre artists, who may well have never even heard of Barksdale Theatre, take the time to establish contact. Douglas Carter Beane and Lewis Flinn, playwright and composer, respectively, of The Little Dog Laughed, made it down to Richmond to see the show. Playwright Israel Horovitz came to Richmond last week to catch performances of his play The Widow's Blind Date at the Firehouse.

One of my favorite "contact with the big time" stories happened in the early 80s during Theatre IV's run of To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday. Emily Skinner, who is now a Broadway leading lady and Tony nominee herself, was playing the teenage daughter in our production. On opening night a letter arrived at the theatre addressed to Emily. It was a friendly and considerate "break a leg" note, warmly written and sent from NYC by the teenage actress who had originated the role Off Broadway the year before. That actress, who didn't know Emily from Eve, was relatively unknown herself at the time. But she wanted to wish Emily well and tell her how much she had enjoyed playing the same role. Today, that actress is "unknown" no longer. You all know her today as Sarah Jessica Parker.

When you get right down to it, the theatre community is a relatively small and close knit group. It means a lot to artists working in regional theatres to hear from our brethren who have made it to the big show.

Unless my Googling has led me down some wrong paths, it appears that Alan Bailey and Connie Ray (pictured in the two photos) both currently reside in L. A. In addition to their phenominal success with the three Sanders Family musicals, Bailey enjoys an active career as a stage director, and Ray pursues a busy career as an actress on television and film.

All of us at Barksdale wish the two of them well, and thank them for keeping track of our production of their wonderful musical. Alan and Connie, if you ever make it to Richmond VA, we have tickets waiting with your name on 'em. Sanders Family Christmas is going really well. It's a beautiful show, with five rave reviews, sold out houses and standing ovations at every performance. I think you'd be pleased and proud.

Thanks for dropping us a line.

--Bruce Miller

Where Are They Now - Steve Richardson

Posted by Bruce Miller

Steve Richardson is perhaps the only Barksdale/Theatre IV alum to step on stage to collect a Tony Award. I can think of at least three other Tony nominees (Pat Carroll, Emily Skinner and Elisabeth Welsh), but at 6:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning, he's the only one I can recall actually joining the "winners" circle. Please help me remember if I'm forgetting someone.

Steve's Tony encounter occurred when Theatre de la Jeune Lune of Minneapolis won the coveted 2005 Outstanding Regional Theatre Tony. Steve was Producing Director of Jeune Lune at the time, and a lot of his friends in Richmond watched the Tony broadcast closely that year to see Steve standing on the stage of Radio City Music Hall with his artistic coworkers to accept the award. The Regional Theatre Tony, regrettably, is one of the ones awarded before the TV broadcast begins, and so you see it only in those recaps that they flash across the screen.

But, if you didn't blink, there Steve was standing alongside Jeune Lune's designated speaker, winning a Tony for the theatre he had managed for the previous ten years. All of us in Richmond couldn't have been more proud. Jeune Lune is an artistically innovative, highly respected theatre that has earned international acclaim. Their current production of The Deception is pictured to the left.

Steve graduated with a BA in Philosophy from Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota in 1986, and came to Richmond after graduation to intern for a year at TheatreVirginia. For three years beginning in '87, Steve worked as Marketing Associate and then Marketing Director at Theatre IV. In 1990, he won his dream job when he was hired as Marketing Director of Theatre de la Jeune Lune, taking him back home to the frozen north. In 1995, he was promoted to the top management position of Producing Director.

This week, Steve left Jeune Lune after 17 years to accept his new position as Director of the Arts at his alma mater. He is charged with developing the arts at Carleton, promoting arts outreach to local schools, the Northfield arts community, and the Twin Cities area arts community and beyond. He is responsible for management of the new interdisciplinary arts center, coordinating major art events, and performance and exhibition series, along with managing curricular and co-curricular arts activities. He’s also in charge of arts publicity and work with Carleton’s career center to connect students with internship opportunities.

As if that weren't enough, Steve will serve as the liaison between the College’s faculty and building design team for the new arts center that will be located in the former Northfield Middle School. He will work with faculty and students to develop innovative collaborations in the arts, seeking ways to integrate the arts across the College’s curriculum.

Throughout his distinguished career, Steve has always included his Theatre IV affiliation in his resume--something we've greatly appreciated. The one aspect of his work here that he never claims is his brief foray into acting. During our Summer Lights Festival in the late 80s, Steve played the dashing young man opposite Jan Guarino and Tye Heckman in George Bernard Shaw's How He Lied to Her Husband.

We wish Steve the greatest success in his new position, and continue to be proud of his outstanding accomplishments.

--Bruce Miller

Catching Up with Caroline

Posted by Bruce Miller

In a previous blog entry (When Off Broadway Began, Barksdale Was There [Aug 5]), I wrote about the late, great Josie Abady, mentioning her as one of the Richmond connections to the legendary Off Broadway company, Circle in the Square. A thoughtful anonymous commenter subsequently wrote: “I am so sorry to learn of Josie Abady’s death. I knew her in her youth, and had no idea that she had died. What a wonderful and inspirational family. Such strong women. What’s happening with her sister Caroline, do you know? I appeared with her years ago in a Dogwood Dell production of Winnie the Pooh.”

I’m going to try to get in touch with Caroline, pictured above and to the left with co-stars Kevin Spacey and William Ullrich at the NYC premiere of Beyond the Sea, to see if she’ll write a blog entry to bring her Richmond fans up to date. I'm afraid I don't know or remember anything about this particular production of Winnie the Pooh, but if it's true, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, then here's a GREAT example of a Dell alum moving onward and upward to become a NYC and Hollywood success.

Until I'm able to contact Caroline (if I'm able), here’s what I know (sorta).

Caroline Abady was born and spent her entire youth in Richmond. If memory serves, she went to Douglas Freeman High School. I think I met her maybe once or twice; she's a couple of years younger than me, but we were teen theatre enthusiasts in Richmond at the same time. Kind of like Chase Kniffen and Gray Crenshaw about five years ago. As I've mentioned earlier, I knew her mother Nina very well.

Caroline has had the kind of long term career success that most actors only dream of. She may not be a household name, but she works constantly in high profile projects with our nation's top tier of theatre artists. Her professional name is Caroline Aaron. If you go to http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000715/ , you can access a complete list of her film and TV credits. Or if you go to http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?id=74908 , you can access a complete list of her Broadway credits.

The great news is that Caroline is scheduled to be back on Broadway this fall for the first time in 16 or so years, opening in October at Studio 54 in Roundabout’s upcoming revival of The Ritz, written by Terrance McNally and directed by Joe Mantello (pictured to the right). You gotta be impressed by the company she keeps.

Here’s more information that I pulled from Caroline’s bio on the IMDb site:

Caroline Aaron “performed a one-woman, two-character play, Call Waiting, in 1994 and again in 2001. She later filmed it in 2004. The 87-minute film won the Best Comedy Jury Prize at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.”

Ms. Aaron is an “earthy, plump-figured stage actress of Broadway (Come Back to the 5 & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean; Social Security; I Hate Hamlet) who appeared as a character actress on film and TV. She was a main ensemble player in several of Woody Allen's films during the late 80s and 90s, essaying many of his typical Jewish relatives, neighbors and/or friends in traditional New York settings.

Her late mother, Nina Friedman Abady, was a Selma, Alabama civil rights activist who walked with Martin Luther King in the 60s. She had to endure cross-burnings on her Virginia front lawn. More tragically, the family suffered the loss of their husband and father when he was 38.

Her older sister was Josephine R. Abady, a prominent artistic director of the Cleveland Playhouse (1988-1994) and Circle in the Square Theater (1994-1996). A noted stage producer, director and theater owner, Abady resisted employing her younger sister because they were related. This caused resentment and sibling friction for a period of time until Abady was diagnosed with breast cancer. Abady battled the disease for several years and died on May 25, 2002, at age 52. The Los Angeles-based Caroline returned to New York frequently to aid in her sister's illness.

Aaron did appear under her sister's stage direction in The Boys Next Door, co-starring David Strathairn and John Amos. Abady also cast Aaron in To Catch a Tiger, a 1994 AFI film which told the story of their mother's civil rights work. Caroline played their mother in the film and Abady's husband, Michael Krawitz, wrote the screenplay.”

For those who share my penchant for exploring connections, it's fun to note that not too long ago Caroline starred at George Street Playhouse in a reading of Spine, one of the new plays by Bill C. Davis (pictured to the right), playwright of Austin's Bridge.

I hope this helps inform Caroline’s childhood friends of her current success. As I mentioned, I’ll try to contact Caroline and see if she’ll give us more information. Along with Emily Skinner and Blair Underwood, she’s one of the Richmond theatre alum who has earned a lifetime of national success.

Thanks to our anonymous commenter for prompting this post.

--Bruce Miller

Shining as Alexandra in Arlington

The Whiteways and the Millers made it up to Signature Theatre yesterday, and had a grand time seeing Emily Skinner’s terrific performance in The Witches of Eastwick. We were dazzled by (and envious of) Signature’s beautiful new home, which opened in Arlington in January.

Within a great cast, Emily stood out as Alexandra Spofford, the earth mother among the three “witches.” Her acclaimed singing, her accomplished dancing—I’d forgotten how good a dancer Emily is, and especially her engaging acting abilities provided a warm heart and open arms at the center of what is, for the most part, a musical burlesque.
In the original 1980s Witches novel, John Updike kept the three women at its center, and had satiric fun imagining what witchcraft would look and feel like in the 20th Century. It's been a long time since I read the book, but if memory serves, the attractive man (Darryl Van Horne) who moves to Eastwick in the book seduces readers with his charms just as he seduces the three women, and it's not until we're well into the story that we knew for sure that he's not just a devilish rake, but the Devil himself.

In the musical, as in the Jack Nicholson movie from the 1990s, it’s Darryl Van Horne who takes center stage. Particularly in this production, we’re completely aware of his satanic identity from his first entrance, with all that such an identity implies. And as directed by Eric Schaeffer and performed by the very talented Marc Kudisch, Van Horne is one hell of a Devil. A full evening of snakelike tongue flicking, Elvis-like pelvic thrusting, genital grabbing and profane proclamations ensues.

There is fun to be had, to be sure, with a large number of crowd-pleasing songs and dances. The Devil is one funny dude. Eric Schaeffer is a great director—I still fondly remember his Passion, one of the highlights of the Kennedy Center’s Sondheim Celebration. In my opinion, it was a much better Passion than the original version that James Lapine directed on Broadway. And Marc Kudisch is a dazzling and magnetic actor. Maybe it was because I saw Kudisch play the Snake in The Apple Tree on Broadway only a few months ago, but I tired of all the satanic shtick before show’s end. And I kept wishing for the three women to be returned to the center of the story.

A show about the three women would be much more interesting to me than a show about how devilishly cute Satan can be. I had read a couple of reviews comparing Witches to The Music Man. To me, the much more apt comparison would be Damn Yankees.

Three cheers and countless more to Signature for their continued commitment to producing new work. What an amazing asset they are to Virginia and the nation. When we spoke with Emily after the show, she said that there was considerable interest from New York regarding a 2008-09 Broadway production. We wish all involved the greatest success.

Most of all, it was GREAT to see Emily. Having watched her grow up in Theatre IV’s productions of To Gillian on her 37th Birthday, Quilters, Biloxi Blues and several more, we’re incredibly proud of her and all that she has achieved. Watching her greet her many fans after the show, people she’d never met before, and seeing how exceptionally gracious she was with everyone, we realized why she’s one of the ones who’s made it so far. She’s not only a world-class talent; she’s a genuinely good person.

--Bruce Miller

Photos: Emily's headshot, Signature's new exterior, Signature's lobby, and the "sculpture" Emily's character creates in Act II of The Witches of Eastwick. The "sculpture" is on display in the lobby as the audience leaves the theatre.

We're Off to See the Witches

In April, someone commented on the Where Are They Now blog entry I wrote about Clay Jackson, a former Theatre IV touring actor who was named the new Maytag Repairman. “If you're going to do a Where Are They Now column, why not do one on Emily Skinner?” the anonymous commenter asked. “I LOVED her when she used to act in Richmond with you guys, and I haven't heard much from her since her Tony nomination for Side Show.”

Well, it may have taken me three months, but I’m proud to offer a little on Emily’s latest project, and state with considerable excitement that Phil and Donna Whiteway, my wife Terrie and I will all be going up a week from Saturday to see Emily on stage.

Emily is currently starring in the American Premiere of The Witches of Eastwick at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia. Signature is a terrific regional theatre led by Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer. In addition to being a nationally acclaimed Sondheim specialist, Schaeffer is a stage director with a considerable international reputation. He was Artistic Director for the Sondheim Festival at the Kennedy Center a few seasons back, and directed the World Premiere of The Witches of Eastwick on London’s West End in 2000.

Based on the novel by John Updike and the Warner Bros. motion picture that starred Jack Nicholson, Cher, Susan Sarandon and Michelle Pfeiffer, The Witches of Eastwick features book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana Rowe. Dempsey describes the plot as follows: “In the tiny New England town of Eastwick, Rhode Island, three modern day witches innocently plot and conjure over a heady brew of weak martinis and peanut butter brownies. But when their longings are made flesh in the arrival of one Darryl Van Horne, all hell breaks lose. Quite literally.”

Emily’s co-stars at Signature are Christiane Noll and Jacquelyn Piro Donovan as the other titular witches, and acclaimed Broadway leading man Marc Kudisch as Darryl Van Horne.

The reviews have been very favorable. “Witches of Eastwick spells wicked fun … carnally enjoyable,” states The Washington Post. “A funny and enjoyable show with obvious audience appeal and a laudable ability to laugh at itself,” adds Variety. “It definitely gets an A for attitude.”

“The Witches of Eastwick is a bewitching musical,” continues the Baltimore Sun. “An exuberant production” was the descriptive phrase used by the Arlington Sun Gazette.

Emily herself has received unanimous praise.

Among those few Richmond actors who have gone on to national success, Emily and Blair Underwood are certainly the two who have gone the farthest. In Richmond, she appeared in numerous shows at Theatre IV, Swift Creek Mill and, to a lesser extent, TheatreVirginia, throughout her teens and twenties. She spent her college years in Carnegie Mellon’s prestigious theatre program (as did Underwood, by the way, and as does Zak Resnick, now appearing in Into the Woods), and she achieved almost immediate success in New York, culminating in her Tony- nominated leading performance in Side Show.

I’ve enjoyed Emily in every show I’ve ever seen her in, from her earliest work as a high schooler through her recent performance as Gooch in Mame at the Kennedy Center. She is one of America’s treasures, and I can hardly wait to see her in Witches.

Best of all, Emily continues to be as gracious and down to earth as she’s always been. We hope you'll continue to keep your eye on Emily. We certainly will. She’s truly one of our nation’s great musical theatre stars, and every Richmond theatregoer should be enormously proud of this exceptionally talented home town girl made good.

--Bruce Miller