Our Journey to "South Pacific"

Posted by Bruce Miller
As I mentioned earlier, Terrie, Hannah, Curt and I ventured to NYC for Columbus Day Weekend. I love New York, and not just cause the slogan tells me so. My mother is an NYC native, and I’ve spent my entire life visiting the homeland at least once or twice a year, often more. I’ve always felt comfortable there, and it’s important to Terrie and me that Hannah and Curt feel comfortable there too.

So we don’t really need a reason to visit the Big Apple. New York is New York, with all that that entails. For us, that’s reason enough. But if we had needed additional motivation, seeing the smash hit revival of South Pacific would have been it.

The Tony Award-winning, Lincoln Center production stars the luminous Kelli O’Hara and features Richmond’s own super-talent, Jerold Solomon. Ever since seeing Light in the Piazza, Kelli O’Hara has been Hannah’s favorite leading lady under 40. I greatly admire her as well. (I have to include the “under 40” caveat out of respect for Kristin Chenoweth, Victoria Clark and Bernadette Peters, who also head Hannah’s short list of beloved musical theatre actresses.)

When we saw Piazza (also at Lincoln Center), Hannah LOVED the show, and wanted to meet the cast at the stage door following curtain call. (I loved being able to use Hannah as my excuse for wanting to do the same thing.) For reasons I don’t know, there’s usually a much smaller crowd at the stage door at Lincoln Center than at the stage doors of other Broadway musicals. So, when Victoria Clark and Kelli O’Hara exited, there was no mob, and both of them were very gracious in talking with Hannah and me. They made a terrific impression.

When Hannah saw Kelli O’Hara in South Pacific on the Tony Awards, that Rodgers and Hammerstein classic immediately became her #1 choice of shows to see. (She’s never quite forgiven me for seeing Pajama Game, which also starred Ms O’Hara, on a business trip without her.)

And then there’s Jerold. Hannah was very fortunate to have played the Oomiak in King Island Christmas years ago at Theatre IV, under Steve Perigard’s wonderful direction. Hannah won the role fair and square, and did a terrific job. Among her costars in that production was Jerold Solomon, who played Ooloranna, the Inuit leader who conceives of the plan to carry the oomiak (a walrus-skin boat) over the mountain that divides one half of King Island from the other, rescuing the island’s priest who had been stranded in an ice-bound ship offshore.

Every week, show after show, Jerold, Jake Mosser and the other men of King Island hoisted Hannah up high and carried her all around the stage. When you’re a little girl, and it’s your first starring role in a show, and a handsome and able 22-year old man is carrying you around stage for 90 minutes, it’s got to make an impression. Suffice it to say that Jerold will always hold a special place in Hannah’s heart.

Our only problem was this. We decided to take this trip sometime in August, and by the time the decision had been made, South Pacific was already sold out for the entire month of October. You can always go through a broker to buy tickets in advance to sold-out shows, but it winds up costing an extra $35 to $150 or more per ticket. And that's money we don't have. So I decided to take a chance, and try to buy a last minute ticket from a broker on the street. This is a risky venture, to be sure, but the two times I’ve tried it, it’s worked.

Coming tomorrow – Buying Last Minute Tickets from the Stranger on the Sidewalk … and LOVING South Pacific!

--Bruce Miller

Word of the Week - SQUALL

Posted by Hannah Miller
This week’s theatre artist is the internationally renowned, Academy Award-winning film actress MERYL STREEP. This past Sunday, June 22, she celebrated her 59th birthday. Prior to her success in Hollywood, she was a highly acclaimed 26-year-old newcomer on Broadway. She thrilled her first NYC audience at Lincoln Center in the 1975 revival of the classic backstage comedy, Trelawny of the ‘Wells’.

Her Word of the Week is SQUALL, a verb she uttered and ably demonstrated during the 47 performances of her auspicious stage debut on the Great White Way.

Born with the given name Mary Louise, Streep’s first love was music. She made her vocal debut as a child singing O Holy Night in flawless French, perhaps foretelling her acclaimed ability to master any dialect. At an early age, she made plans to become an opera star and started vocal training at age 12.

As a student, she excelled academically but lacked confidence in social settings. This changed when she received a standing ovation as Marian the Librarian in her high school production of The Music Man. It was then that she “stopped feeling dorky” and was able to think of herself as a genuine performer. With new found self-assurance, she continued to act in many high school productions and ended up being named Homecoming Queen her senior year.

She studied theatre and English at Vassar, graduating in 1971. Wanting to continue her education, she enrolled in the Yale School of Drama and appeared in over 30 productions at Yale Repertory Theatre. She graduated with an MFA in theatre in 1975.

Her first big break came when she joined Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival. Here, she had the opportunity to appear on Broadway not only in Trelawny of the ‘Wells’, but also, two months after Trelawny closed, in a double-bill of Tennessee Williams’ 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (pictured to the right) and Arthur Miller’s A Memory of Two Mondays. Her roles in these two plays couldn’t have been more different. Critics commended her versatility, and she was nominated for the 1976 Tony Award as Best Featured Actress.

She made her television debut in 1977 in Secret Service, a filming of her next Broadway production, launching her extremely successful career in Hollywood. (Secret Service is a Civil War era spy story set in Richmond. Theatre IV produced the stage version of Secret Service in the Empire in the early 90s.) In 1978, Streep won an Emmy Award for her performance in Holocaust, a miniseries.

Moving on to the big screen, Streep played small but memorable parts in Julia (appearing with Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave) and The Deer Hunter (appearing with Robert DeNiro). For The Deer Hunter, she earned her first of 14 Oscar nominations. She’s won twice. Subsequent film and television projects have included Woody Allen’s Manhattan (1979), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Sophie’s Choice (1982), Out of Africa (1985), The Hours (2002), Angels in America (2003 - and yes, that's Meryl in one of her Angels roles pictured above and to the left), The Devil Wears Prada (2006), Mamma Mia! (now playing), Doubt (opening later this year), and 47 other productions.

First produced in 1898, Trelawny of the ‘Wells’ is a comedy about how English theatre changed during the 1860s, leaving behind over-the-top melodramas and farces in favor of more realistic “cup and saucer” dramas, paving the path for Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. During the final three decades of the 19th Century and the first three decades of the 20th, Sir Arthur Wing Pinero, author of Trelawny and many other hit plays, was among London’s five most successful and popular playwrights. He was a leader in bringing realism to popularity in England, and is best known today for his two masterworks, Trelawny and The Second Mrs. Tanqueray.

Near the end of Trelawny, Streep’s character Imogen (an actress and aspiring producer) speaks this line in the play within the play: “Miss Harrington, bring your work indoors and hear me SQUALL,” an allusion to the melodramatic acting style being lovingly satirized.

Until scanning through Trelawny, I had always thought of a SQUALL as a storm. When appearing as a noun, that’s exactly what it is—“a sudden strong wind or short violent storm.” However, when used as a verb, SQUALL refers to a human action or trait that is storm-like. Its definition is “to scream or cry loudly and harshly.”

Whether squalling, whispering or murmuring gently in a newly mastered accent, Meryl Streep is believed by many to be the finest film actress of her generation. It would be wonderful to see her return once again to her Broadway roots. Until then, we can seek out the NYC performances of her look-alike daughter, actress Mamie Gummer (pictured to the right), who recently made her Broadway debut in the Roundabout’s revival of Les Liaisons Dangereuses.

--Hannah Miller

The Solomon Islands

Posted by Bruce Miller
So did you see Jerold Solomon on the Tony Awards last Sunday? He was there, singing and dancing his heart out as one of the Navy SeaBees in South Pacific, which won a whopping seven Tony Awards including Best Revival. Jerold has been in South Pacific since it began previews on March 1 and opened to rave reviews on April 3. South Pacific is playing on Broadway at Lincoln Center. Jerold plays the role of Seaman James Hayes.

In the last few years, Barksdale and Theatre IV were privileged to feature Jerold’s talents in several casts. At Barksdale he appeared in Gross Indecency and starred in Olympus on My Mind (pictured below and to the right with Richard Travis). With Theatre IV, he starred in King Island Christmas and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (pictured above and to the left with his cousin-in-law Susan Sanford).

Best of all, God bless him, Jerold lists all of his Richmond credits in his Broadway bio.

Since moving to NYC, Jerold’s credits have included the national tours of Big River, Ragtime and Annie. South Pacific is his Broadway debut.

Jerold’s a good man and a very talented actor, singer and dancer. If you’re planning a trip to NYC this summer or next fall, why not order your tickets for South Pacific NOW. The show is a mega-hit, selling out every performance. And if you go, after curtain call, hurry down to the stage door and give Jerold Richmond’s fondest regards.

--Bruce Miller