CenterStage Hires Theatre Pro as New Executive Director

Posted by Bruce Miller
Richmond CenterStage announced the hiring of Richard M. Parison Jr. as its new Executive Director in yesterday morning's Times-Dispatch. I don't know Richard yet, but I look forward to meeting him. He comes to Richmond with an extensive theatre background, having provided able leadership to some very impressive regional theatres.

For the last two years, Richard has been working as Producing Director of Barrington Stage Company, a highly acclaimed AEA theatre in Pittsfield, MA, nestled in the Berkshire Mountains. Pittsfield is minutes away from the western border of Massachusetts—actually closer to Albany New York than Boston.

Barrington was co-founded in 1995 by Artistic Director Julie Boyd. In 2004, Barrington developed, workshopped and premiered The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, which Barksdale produced to great critical and audience acclaim last December. After its world premiere run at Barrington, Spelling Bee moved to Off Broadway for a run at Second Stage, and eventually transferred to Broadway, winning two Tony Awards (for Best Book and Best Featured Actor).

Stars who have recently performed at Barrington include Marin Mazzie, Jeff McCarthy and Harriet Harris. The 2009-10 Barrington Season included Carousel, Sleuth, A Streetcar Named Desire, and The Fantasticks on the Mainstage, and Freud’s Last Session and Underneath the Lintel on Stage 2.

Prior to his work at Barrington, Richard served for four years as the Associate Producing Director of the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia. Before that Richard worked for eight seasons as Associate to legendary Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard at Philly’s Walnut Street Theatre.

Walnut Street Theatre (the building) is the oldest theatre in America, having opened its doors on February 2, 1809. Walnut Street Theatre (the nonprofit regional stage company) was founded by Havard in 1982. With over 56,000 subscribers annually, the Walnut Street Theatre is the “most subscribed theatre company in the world.”

The 2010 summer musical at Walnut Street, Fiddler on the Roof, starred Theatre IV alum Mary Martello as Golde (Mary played Sally Bowles in our Cabaret and the senior military wife in our World Premiere of Four Part Harmony) and Barksdale favorite Rita Markova as Tzeitel (Rita played Cinderella in our Into the Woods and Sarah Brown in Guys and Dolls). The upcoming holiday musical at Walnut Street will be Irving Berlin's White Christmas, just like here at Barksdale.

During his dozen years in Philadelphia, Richard was nominated twice for the Barrymore Award in the category recognizing Outstanding Direction of a Musical: Dreamgirls at the Prince and The Big Bang at Act II Playhouse.

A native of northeast Ohio, Richard began his professional career working for six years with Gerald Freedman (Artistic Director), Victoria Bussert (Associate Artistic Director) and Anne DesRosiers (Managing Director) at the Great Lakes Theatre Festival. Another Richmond connection--Phil Crosby, Managing Director of the Richmond Triangle Players, served as the Marketing Director of the Great Lakes Theatre Festival at about the same time.

We join all of Richmond’s theatre community in welcoming Richard to town. I know his expertise and energy will add greatly to our performing arts community.

--Bruce Miller

Bradley Belongs on Broadway

Posted by Bruce Miller
Corey Bradley made his Broadway debut in the recent revival of Ragtime. But he made his stage debut 18 years earlier playing a Munchkin in The Wizard of Oz at Theatre IV. I think I'm right about that. Corey was in a lot of Theatre IV shows during his formative years in Richmond. I'm not completely sure which one came first. I'll have to do some checking.

Hannah and I had the chance to visit Corey at the stage door of Ragtime last weekend, after enjoying his terrific performance at the Neil Simon Theatre. Ragtime was on our list of shows to see because:
* it was scheduled to close on Sunday, our final day in town,
* neither Hannah nor I had ever seen Ragtime on Broadway before, and
* Chase had let us know, after his earlier trip north to catch this revival, that Corey was in the cast.

After curtain call, we went to the stage door as soon as we could clear the crowds. We figured Corey would probably be leaving early, as ensemble members often do. I didn't want to miss him.

The stage door was jammed, so I almost didn't see Corey as he made his exit onto the sidewalk and then turned right, slipping past the crowd-control barricades into the open air rather than turning left to run the gauntlet of autograph hounds.

As soon as I saw him break away from the pack, I grabbed Hannah and we dashed out onto 52nd Street to avoid the crowds, chasing Corey as he walked down the sidewalk. When we were close enough, I hollered out his name, and he turned and saw us.

It's been a few years, and I have the extra pounds and gray hair to prove it. Also the last time Corey saw Hannah, she was probably in first grade. So as we walked up, I held out my hand and said, "Bruce Miller, Theatre IV."

Corey's face lit up, he knocked my hand out of the way and gave me a big hug. "I'm so proud of you," I said. "You cast me in my first show," he beamed. "It's so good to see you. How's everything at Theatre IV?"

I know this is the exact conversation that takes place somewhere on Broadway every night, as proud teachers and directors unexpectedly visit former students and actors who've now made it to the big time. No matter how many times I have this conversation, it always tears me up (feel free to pronounce the word "tears" whichever way you choose). I'm a sentimental slob, I know, but there's something endlessly affirming about seeing kids you've enjoyed working with turn out so well.

I think Corey's last role with us was playing Tommy Djilas in The Music Man during one of our summer seasons at Collegiate. After graduating from high school, Corey earned his BFA in Musical Theatre / Dance at Elon University in North Carolina. Since then, he's achieved non-stop success, appearing in the national tours of Mamma Mia!, Fosse, Chicago, and West Side Story. In Las Vegas, he appeared in We Will Rock You and with Hugh Jackman in Hugh Jackman: In Time, directed by George C. Wolfe and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall.

In addition to The Music Man (Theatre IV), Corey's regional credits include Hot Mikado (Westchester Broadway Theatre), Showboat (North Show Music Theatre), La Cage aux Folles (North Carolina Theatre), Joseph... (Downtown Cabaret Theatre), and Ragtime (Kennedy Center).

Film and television credits include being a principal dancer in Disney's Enchanted, Sex and the City, and Spike Lee's He Got Game.

Corey asked me to send greetings to all his friends in Richmond, which I'm more than happy to do. I assured him that all of us at Barksdale and Theatre IV send all best wishes right back to him.

So many talented actors make their way through Richmond each year, and a great many of them (I'm thinking now of Matts Polson and Shofner, who close in Putnam County Spelling Bee this afternoon) return to appear in subsequent shows even as they build careers in major markets. Few theatre communities can claim this degree of success. With all the talk on other blogs of what's professional and what isn't, we should all be very proud to be exactly what we are.

I hope to see you soon at a Richmond theatre, as we all catch the current performance, perhaps, of one of Broadway's future stars!

--Bruce Miller

Come to the Cabaret, Old Chum!

Posted by Bruce Miller
Tonight’s the big night! Broadway Today, a cabaret benefiting the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund, opens in Barksdale’s living room tonight at 8. Tickets are still available, so by all means, COME!

When I say "living room," I mean the loft-like lobby of our intimate Willow Lawn theatre. Audience members will sit in comfortable chairs pulled up to our vintage tavern tables, enjoying some of Richmond’s finest musical theatre voices. The bar will be open throughout the evening, and a fun time will be had by all.

The program is a benefit for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund. All of the performers are volunteering their time to raise funds for the endowment, which is administered by the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres and managed by the Community Foundation. Barksdale is contributing the space, cabaret license, etc., and the goal of the cabaret is to raise around $2,000, which will take the Theatre Artists Fund from its current corpus of approximately $22,000 much closer to the benchmark of $25,000, which we hope to reach prior to Christmas.

Broadway Today is masterminded by that most energized of impresarios—Billy Christopher Maupin. The guiding theme is this: from July through December 2009, Barksdale is running three (count ‘em) new American musicals, all of which originated in the 21st century. The three new shows are Thoroughly Modern Millie at the Empire, Souvenir at Hanover Tavern, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee at Willow Lawn.

Mr. Maupin has assembled stars from the casts of these three new musicals to sing other songs written in the last few years for today's Broadway. Nancy Crawley (actor photos appear in the order listed), Timothy Ford, Zak Resnick and Ali Thibodeau from the cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Audra Honaker from the cast of Spelling Bee, and special guest star Debra Wagoner from the cast of Souvenir will lead the audience on a whirlwind tour of these other 21st Century Broadway hits: Avenue Q, Curtains, Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Spring Awakening, Urinetown, Wicked and more!

Maggie Marlin, Millie herself, was to have appeared in the cabaret, but due to last minute vocal strain, she has been replaced by Robin Harris Jones.

The program is conceived and directed by Mr. Maupin, with musical direction by Sandy Dacus and Paul Deiss.

The Richmond Theatre Artists Fund provides emergency relief to local actors, directors, designers and theatre artists and administrators in all disciplines when, through no fault of their own, accident or ill health places one of them in an untenable financial situation. Recent recipients have included Liz Marks, who was able to pay her mortgage during the final months of her life because of support from the Fund, and one of our leading directors who recently was able to avoid having his electricity turned off when the Fund covered his electric bills in the two months following his stroke.

There will be two performances: Sunday (tonight) at 8 and Monday (tomorrow) at 8. Only overflow seating remains for Monday evening’s performance, so why not come tonight. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $15. Barksdale subscribers, students and RAPT Card holders can purchase tickets for only $10.

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Broadway Shut Down by Labor Dispute

Posted by Bruce Miller

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Well, it’s happened. Broadway is on strike.

This past Saturday, IATSE (the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees) stunned just about everyone by directing their NYC chapter (Local One) to call a strike for 11 a.m., shutting down most of Broadway. IATSE is the same union whose members handle stagehand responsibilities for the largest venues right here in River City, including the Landmark Theatre and the Carpenter Center. None of Richmond’s independent theatres, including Barksdale and Theatre IV, work under IATSE contracts.

This strike affects Broadway only, and not even all of Broadway. Disney theatres have their own contract with IATSE, as do all of Broadway’s nonprofit venues (Circle in the Square, Manhattan Theatre Club, Roundabout). Consequently a few Broadway shows are still up and running: Young Frankenstein (which just opened at the Hilton), Mary Poppins, Xanadu, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Mauritius, Pygmalion, The Ritz and Cymbeline. And Off Broadway is also still going strong.

The strike shut down approximately two dozen Broadway theatres that are owned and operated by the members of The League of American Theatres and Producers. The strike began with Saturday’s matinee and will continue until … no one knows when. It was called for 11 a.m. to shut down an early family matinee of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Apparently no one saw the irony.

Local One has never called a strike before. And in late October, they promised to give advance warning before calling a strike now. On Saturday morning they broke that promise. This meant that thousands of tourists who had made their plans weeks in advance showed up in New York on Saturday, checked into their hotels, and then learned at the last moment that the shows they had come to see would not be taking place.

Refunds will be given for previously purchased show tickets, but the considerable transportation and accommodation expenses will have to be eaten by the audience members. And the ability to get last minute tickets to those few Broadway shows that are still running, or to Off Broadway shows, is extremely limited. On Saturday, internet tickets for Young Frankenstein were selling for $1,500—each!

Depending on which side you listen to, the strike is a self-serving folly or a defensible stand for fairness.

The heart of the labor dispute is not the amount of the wages paid to the individual worker, but the number of workers that the union requires the producers to hire. The last contract between The League of American Theatres and Producers (they’re the ones who own the majority of Broadway’s theatres and the strike is targeted at them) and Local One (representing the stagehands) expired in the summer. Since then, the League and Local One have not been able to agree on the number of workers required for load-ins, load-outs, and daily operations of a running show.

The expired contract required the League to hire, in many cases, more union workers than were actually needed to get the job done. The producers call this “featherbedding,” and they refuse to allow any future contract to include provisions that require the hiring of unneeded workers.

Before you agree 100% with this reasonable position, consider the stagehands’ point of view. When Broadway is running at capacity, the producers require approximately 2,500 stagehands to get the jobs done. The union has limited its membership to approximately 3,000 highly skilled workers. It’s a TOUGH union to join, and those who are members have years of experience at what they do.
The problem is that, due to the vagaries of show business, at any average point in time, only 500 or so of the union’s members are employed full time. And that was under the old contract. Shows open and shows close—and those decisions are all made by the producers in their own best financial interests. The “featherbedding” that was written into the previous contract (or, as the union would prefer me to say, the “job security provisions” that were written into the previous contract) simply take one small step toward ensuring that hardworking stagehands have the opportunity to earn a living wage even after the producers have decided to close a show.

I can understand and respect both points of view. Broadway requires the infrastructure provided by the 3,000 stagehands and their union. And it's foolhardy to require something and then refuse to pay for it, one way or another.

Hopefully, this labor dispute will be resolved soon. The ones suffering the most are all the theatre artists who won’t be paid while the strike continues, and all the audience members who will be disappointed by the cancellation of their holiday plans.

Perhaps now is the time for both sides to enter into the arbitration that NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg has offered, but, thus far, the warring parties have refused. And while that arbitration is going on, why not let the Broadway shows keep running? Let the Grinch who steals Christmas be a fantasy with a happy ending, not an ongoing reality with no end in sight.

--Bruce Miller

When Off Broadway Began, Barksdale Was There

The strapping young man in the photo to the left is Stu Falconer, pictured with Nancy Adams in Barkdale's 1957 production of The Little Hut. When I was researching old newspaper articles for my five part Happy Birthday Barksdale! series, I discovered that not only was Falconer here for the founding of Barksdale, he also was there for the founding of Off Broadway. In all my years in Richmond theatre, I've never heard anyone make note of this before. So I've decided to make note of it now.

Two of the newspapers that wrote about the founding of Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern in 1953 mention that one of our six co-founders, Stu Falconer, worked as a stage manager at Circle in the Square in New York prior to moving south to help begin Barksdale. One of these papers identifies the show that Falconer managed as Tennessee Williams’ Summer and Smoke. Checking out the dates, it appears that he left the production in mid-run. Although Falconer may not have comprehended this at the time--the newspaper reporters certainly didn't--that particular production of Summer and Smoke is now credited as being the beginning of Off Broadway.

The Lortel Archive, named in honor of Off-Broadway legend Lucille Lortel (pictured to the left), is the semi-official internet database for Off-Broadway. When you look up the particulars of this production of Summer and Smoke, you’ll find the following quote: “Off-Broadway, for historical purposes, may be said to have begun in Sheridan Square on the evening of April 24, 1952 when Summer and Smoke with Geraldine Page opened at Circle in the Square and became the first major theatrical success below 42nd Street in thirty years.”

It seems that Stu Falconer left one legendary experience to start another.

Summer and Smoke was written by Tennessee Williams in 1948, shortly after the phenomenal success of The Glass Menagerie in 44 and A Streetcar Named Desire in 47. In the late 40s, Tennessee Williams was America's most famous playwright, even making it onto the cover of Time. With Smoke, Williams again wrote a play with a strong female lead, Alma Winemiller, a proper, unmarried minister’s daughter who is courted by her childhood sweetheart, the sexually-charged rake, Dr. John Buchanan.

Summer and Smoke opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre on October 6, 1948, directed by Margo Jones and designed by Jo Mielziner. The play received decidedly mixed reviews, with the conventional wisdom being that Alma Winemiller was a pale facsimile of Amanda Wingfield and/or Blanche DuBois. It ran for a disappointing 102 performances.

In 1952, the brilliant director and Eugene O’Neill champion, Jose Quintero (pictured to the left), decided that Summer and Smoke was a much better play than its Broadway production had indicated. He revived Williams’ script at his relatively new Off Broadway theatre, Circle in the Square, located at 159 Bleecker Street in the heart of Greenwich Village. In the leading role of Alma Winemiller, Quintero cast a relatively unknown Southern actress named Geraldine Page.

The rest, as they say, is history. This Off Broadway production of Summer and Smoke was a smash hit with both critics and audiences. It ran for 356 performances, putting Off Broadway on the map for the very first time. The production catapulted Circle in the Square to the front of the Off Broadway movement. It also made Geraldine Page a star. She went from obscurity to being universally recognized as one of the finest actresses on the American stage. Her reputation was so great that, when Paramount made a film of Summer and Smoke in 1961, they insisted that Ms. Page play Alma. Her performance was nominated for an Oscar. The photo to the right is a publicity still from the film.

After her performance, Tennessee Williams himself began telling everyone that when he considered all the characters he had ever created, he considered Alma Winemiller to be his personal favorite.

Stu Falconer is not the only Richmond theatre connection to this story of the birth of Off Broadway. Due in no small part to the success of Summer and Smoke, the Circle in the Square became an Off Broadway icon, achieving so much success in the 50s and 60s that it chose to make the big move to Broadway proper in 1972. The Circle in the Square theatre we know today on W. 50th—home of Putnam County Spelling Bee—was build as the Broadway home for the Circle in the Square company. It is one of only two “thrust” theatres on Broadway, with audiences surrounding the stage on three sides, similar to our Barksdale spaces in Richmond and Hanover.

Over the next 20 years, the Circle in the Square company, with its Off Broadway sensibilities, found it increasingly impossible to succeed on Broadway. In 1994, the leadership of the company was passed from its co-founders, Jose Quintero and Theodore Mann, to former Richmonder Josie Abady (pictured to the left). Josie was the daughter of the late Theatre IV Board member Nina Abady. Josie had a tough time at Circle in the Square, and after only two years the reins were passed again to Gregory Mosher. More recently, Josie returned to Richmond to direct Wit at TheatreVirginia. It was to be her last production. She soon thereafter succombed to brain cancer, a disease she had been battling for years. It was a tremendous loss to American theatre.

In 1997, the Circle in the Square theater company closed its doors forever. However, the theatre facility that carries its name is still in operation today as a commercial Broadway theatre. In addition to housing smaller Broadway productions like Spelling Bee, the facility houses the Circle in the Square Theatre School, the only accredited training conservatory associated with a Broadway theatre. Our own Chase Kniffen is an alumnus of the Circle in the Square School.

As for Summer and Smoke, Williams revised the script in 1964, re-titling it Eccentricities of a Nightingale. Nightingale was produced on Swift Creek Mill’s Sunday Series in the late 70s, starring Janie Bushway and our own Phil Whiteway.

--Bruce Miller