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

Meet the Cast of "Into the Woods" – Part II

Every few months, someone will step forward to complain that Barksdale and Theatre IV keep casting the same people over and over, and that new people may as well not audition, because Richmond’s theatres run closed shops.

It is completely true that Barksdale and Theatre IV benefit greatly from an informal company of national caliber/Richmond-based actors who, if we’re lucky, perform once or twice a year on our stages. We believe this practice serves both audiences and artists well.

However, it is completely untrue to say that newcomers don’t stand a chance. During the Signature Season that is now concluding at Willow Lawn, we cast 62 different roles in five productions. The great news is that 31 of the actors who performed those roles were performing at Barksdale Willow Lawn for the first time since we assumed leadership in 2001.

Three of these exceptional “newcomers” are playing leads in our hit summer musical, Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods. All three attended high school in Greater Richmond, and have since moved on to larger markets to pursue their careers. All three are performing with Barksdale for the first time.

Rita Markova is doing an absolutely magnificent job as Cinderella. She’s beautiful, as anyone can see in an earlier blog entry, and acts and moves with intelligence and assurance. But it’s her voice, an exceptional lyric soprano, that simply knocks me off my feet. Rita recently played Maria in West Side Story at the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and New Jersey Concert Opera. She also appeared in Cats at Northern Stage, Titanic at Media Theatre, and Godspell, A Chorus Line and Grease at Shawnee Playhouse. Coincidentally, Rita originated the title role in the world premiere workshop of Rumpelstiltskin’s Daughter at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Theatre IV will be presenting the official World Premiere of the finished script during our 07-08 Season.

Rita attended Godwin High School during several of her student years, and is a graduate of New York University with a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance.
Visit Rita's website

Zak Resnick cuts a dashing figure as Rapunzel’s Prince and a second Wolf. Again, I refer you to the photo that appears in a previous blog entry. A rising junior at Carnegie Mellon, Zak is truly someone to watch. Last summer, Zak vaulted to the big time when he was cast in Broadway and Beyond with the legendary Ann Reinking and Ben Vereen. Shortly thereafter, Zak made his NYC debut in Scott Alan’s prestigious Monday Night’s New Voices series.

But Richmond audiences are not unfamiliar with Zak’s many talents. At the Firehouse, he appeared in Bat Boy and starred in The Last Five Years. He also saved our necks once a couple of years back. Due to some difficulty I can no longer recall, we were forced to cancel a performance of one of our Willow Lawn productions—it may have been Anything Goes. As fate would have it, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts had booked a large number of seats for the cancelled performance on behalf of a group of supporters who were coming in from out-of-town. We couldn’t bring the group in to see our show, so, at the last minute, faithful friend Stephen Rudlin put together a full evening’s cabaret performance to take to the Museum, and Zak agreed to perform. Not only was he terrific, he helped us fulfill a major responsibility and defuse a potentially explosive situation.

The third “newcomer,” at least to us, is Drew Seigla, who is charming everyone’s socks off as Jack (of Fee Fi Fo Fum fame). Drew is studying classic voice as an undergrad at Juilliard in NYC (probably the most prestigious performance training program in the nation). He made his opera debut with Le Nooze di Figaro in Rome two summers ago. Last summer, he was an apprentice at Flat Rock Playhouse, the State Theatre of North Carolina. One earlier summer during his Richmond high school years, he appeared with SPARC in Footloose at Theatre IV’s Empire Theatre.

Referring back to Part I in this Meet the Cast series, if anyone can give Ford Flannagan a run for his money in the physically fit competition, Drew is probably the man to do it.

One of the best features of the Into the Woods cast is that the supporting roles are filled by new and veteran talents who are just as amazing as the leads. Amy Hruska (Cinderella’s Mother, Granny, Giantess, Sleeping Beauty) was our hard-working music director and pianist for Annie Get Your Gun, James Joyce’s The Dead, Olympus on my Mind, They’re Playing Our Song and Where’s Charley?, but she hasn’t acted on Barksdale’s stage since appearing as one of the sisters and the cousins and the aunts in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore at Barksdale Hanover Tavern way back in 1981.

Jackie Jones, on the other hand, is back as Jack’s Mother in Into the Woods, but she works so steadily in Richmond’s theatres that it’s hard to think of her as “back.” Jackie recently brought down the house as Letitia Peabody Primrose in Henrico Theatre Company’s On the Twentieth Century, somehow shoehorning that star turn in after two consecutive gigs at Barksdale Hanover Tavern in Over the River and Through the Woods and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, which immediately followed her critically acclaimed turn at Swift Creek in Steel Magnolias. As busy as she is beloved, Jackie is a true charmer.Visit Jackie's website

Katrinah Carol Lewis (Lucinda) is back after performing so beautifully in Intimate Apparel.




Kim Reuter (Rapunzel) lends her magnificent voice to Into the Woods after completing a year of touring with Theatre IV.





Craig Smith (Cinderella’s Father) is sharing his talents with us at Willow Lawn while simultaneously sharing his theatre with us at Steward School. All right, the state-of-the-art Kramer Center is not exactly his theatre, but it’s where he teaches Acting and English and heads the theatre program during the school year. And Steward School will be sharing the Kramer Center with us for the second incarnation of the Greater Richmond High School All Star Musical, which opens in July.

Harriet Traylor (Cinderella’s Stepmother) is truly a Barksdale favorite, having graced our stage as Regina in The Little Foxes and Miss Maudie in To Kill a Mockingbird.




Eric Williams (Steward) is being all aristocratic now, but a few months ago he brought tears to every eye as the brother recently released from prison in Smoke on the Mountain at Barksdale Hanover Tavern.



Completing our cast of 17 is Hannah Zold (Florinda), who is fast becoming a Barksdale and Theatre IV musical mainstay. She recently turned in wonderful performances in The Wizard of Oz, Mame and The Full Monty.



Richmond theatre is blessed to have so many talented artists working in its midst. I hope you’ll catch their inspired performances this summer in Into the Woods.

--Bruce Miller

"Into the Woods" for a Wonderful Summer

It was so much fun to attend the exhilarating Opening Night of our ’07 Summer Musical, Stephen Sondheim’s glorious Into the Woods. Joining in Friday evening’s celebration of Director/Choreographer Robin Arthur’s magnificent production were past and present Board leaders (and spouses) Rhona Arenstein, Roy Burgess, Kevin and Jeannie Kilgore, Charlotte and Andy McCutcheon, and Sara Belle and Neil November. Bifocals All-Stars Tom and Carlene Bass, John and Mary Jane Board, Vaughan Gary and Lyde Longacre lent enthusiastic support, as did Richmond theatre luminary Suzanne Pollard, who was beaming ear to ear throughout intermission.

The irresistible Essie Simms, who, legend has it, hasn’t missed a Barksdale production since the founding in 1953, brought Connie Sarvay, former Program Director at Westminster-Canterbury. Melinda Scott, Theatre Coordinator at Westminster, came as a special guest of the Novembers. Isabella Witt, who has been irreplaceable in the Barksdale family for decades, joined them for the evening’s festivities.

Also raising a glass to the new production were steadfast volunteer Jean Hartley, and dedicated staff members Sara Marsden, Andy Boothby, Joy Corbin, Judi Crenshaw, Catherine Dudley, Jackie Gann, Sarah Grady, Amy Sullivan, Wendy Vandergrift and Jennings Whiteway (who staged the tantalizing post-show reception).

Chase Kniffen, director of this summer’s Disney’s High School Musical, escorted his sister, Mary Carter Kniffen, in celebration of her high school graduation earlier this week. High School Musical cast members Gray Crenshaw, Hannah Miller and Andrea Ross eagerly soaked in the performances, anticipating their rehearsals that begin on Monday.

Several of Central Virginia’s most talented theatre artists were particularly enthused to realize that this was Barksdale’s first Sondheim since Sweeney Todd in 1982. Sandy Dacus, Paul Deiss, Tony Foley, Richard Koch, Dee Lynch, Jennifer Massey, Vickie McLeod, Joseph Papa, Melissa Johnston Price, Jim Smith-Parham, Linda Snyder, Jill Bari Steinberg, Erin Thomas, Robert Throckmorton, Lynn West, Donna Whiteway and Joy Williams enhanced the evening with their presence.

To whomever I’m leaving out, please forgive me. It was a busy night.

Director and Choreographer Robin Arthur, Musical Director Jimmy Hicks, Lighting Designer Lynne Hartmann, Costume Designer Terry Snyder, Props Master Jay Dempsey, Light Op Lynwood Guyton, and deck crewmates Virginia Varland and Jason Weinbarger all graciously accepted kudos as the audience waited for the actors to transform from witches, wolves etc. and join the party. Stage Manager Ginnie Willard, Assistant Stage Manager Rick Brandt, and Sound Op Wendy Vandergrift worked diligently to address various technical issues that needed their attention.

When at last they appeared, the 17 actors who make up our amazing cast were greeted with praise and admiration. The multi-talented ensemble includes Rachel Abrams, Ford Flannagan, Audra Honaker, Amy Hruska, Jackie Jones, Katrinah Lewis, Rita Markova, Robyn O’Neill, Steve Perigard, Zak Resnick, Kim Reuter, Russell Rowland, Drew Seigla, Craig Smith, Harriett Traylor, Eric Williams and Hannah Zold.

Appreciation was also showered upon our gifted orchestra, including musicians named above plus Claire Archer, Taylor Barnett, Jay Calabro, Bentley Cobb, Sarah Davis, Susan Davis, Doug Draucker, Rusty Farmer, Damian Muller, Roxanne O’Brien, Robert Quallich and Alex Samawicz.
As always, I will leave it to others to critique the show. But Phil Whiteway and I are thrilled with the production and proud of all the talented artists involved. We look forward to a long and glorious run of this enchanting American musical.

If you love great theatre, don’t miss this funny, soaring masterpiece from the foremost Broadway composer and lyricist of the last forty years.

Richmond Times-Dispatch review

Special thanks to the Title Sponsor of Into the Woods, Village Bank, who helped make this production possible.

--Bruce Miller

Funny Femmes Fatale Fan Flames at Firehouse

Jack Welsh and I had a rollicking good time this afternoon seeing our friends Melissa Johnston Price, Harriet Traylor, John Moon and Alice Schreiner acting up a (psychological) storm in The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife at the Firehouse.

About three seasons back, this raucous and ribald script from veteran Off-Broadway bard Charles Busch updated the Neil Simon style of comedy for 21st Century Broadway. Busch enlivened his comic urban phantasmagoria with contemporary situations and language that ran the risk of making the more traditional Mr. Simon blush. The play had a long and successful Broadway run.

Now Firehouse’s talented, attractive cast, under the direction of Dan Ruth, looks like they think it's a high hoot to bring this very-Manhattan tale to life in Richmond’s Fan.

Melissa Johnston Price proves once again that she can be gorgeous and funny at the same time. Harriet Traylor develops a character that is both irresistibly seductive and slightly scary--a femme fatale with a not quite fatal attraction. John Moon brings his years as a New Yorker back to the forefront as the titular allergist, proving an able match for both beautiful women. Alice Schreiner prompts one to recall the words “potty mouth.” Joey Chahine, new to me, is terrific as the fifth cog in Busch’s oh-so-modern take on one New Yorker’s search for inner truth.

Three cheers to the Firehouse for giving Richmonders a chance to catch this hip NYC comedy. Broadway laugh-leaders have changed a lot since the classic days of Neil Simon, Mary Kerr, Muriel Resnick, Bob Randall et al. It’s good for Richmonders to have a chance to feel the force of the most recent comic haymaker to knock Broadway off its feet.

If you hanker for contemporary comedy with an edgy twist, rush to the Firehouse to catch Allergist’s Wife before it closes on May 19. As always, the Firehouse is proving how indispensable it is in Metro Richmond’s theatrical mix.

Bruce Miller