Last night was one of the most surreal nights I’ve had in the theatre in a long time.

The show was The Sound of Music.

The performers included Christiane Noll (currently playing in Frankenstein off-Broadway) as Maria; Jonathan Groff (currently waiting for Spring to Awaken again) as Rolf; William Youmans (currently biding his time in the Farnsworth Invention) as Max; and Michael McCarty (currently waiting for Mary to “Poppin” again) as the bad Nazi guys. Other Broadway alums were Jeanne Lehman, Crista Moore, and the list goes on.

The performances were all rather wooden, but that is exactly as it should have been. The aforementioned Broadway mega talents were providing the voices for The Salzburg Marionette Theater’s presentation of Rogers and Hammerstein’s classic musical.

The sound was, as you my have deduced, recorded, but the performances were as live as tiny wooden people attached to fishing line being manipulated by larger people you couldn’t see could be. The whole experience was odd for several reasons:

First of all, being a lifelong theatre geek, I accept certain quirks about live performance that might otherwise seem jarring, or at least odd to the first time theatregoer. People burst into song spontaneously, dining room tables are always set a little askance so that no one is facing upstage, the whole “beating your hands together to make noise after each musical number” might seem an odd tradition if witnessed by someone not familiar with the practice.

So, this being my first marionette show, there were some moments on the more “fantastic” side that kept jarring me out of the performance. For instance, the rules of gravity did not apply in this show. At any moment, Liesl can jump from the ground to the top of the roof because she is excited to be with Rolf, or when the very alive hills in the first number disappear, Maria is left to float gently back down to earth.

I guess if you’re a marionette and your stringholder says it’s ok, why not float around occasionally? It just took some getting used to.

Secondly, the Mother Abbess was played by a live actress. The voice was still recorded, so her mouth didn’t move, but she gestured with the appropriate pseudo sign language to get the point across. The thing was, compared to the puppets, she looked like she was right out of Amazon Women on the Moon. She tenderly let Maria stand in her outstretched palm occasionally, which in that scale, might have been the hands of Michelangelo’s David.

The third universally accepted truth about marionetting seems to be “Mmmm…close enough.” When a puppet is sitting at a piano, he merely waves a hand in the general direction it, and the notes are plunked out. At one point Gretl is fleeing from the Nazi’s on her father’s shoulders (placed there by the giant nun), but she was pretty much just holding on by one Achilles tendon.

The best part was the curtain call, where the marionettes performed “Lonely Goatherd” with marionettes of their own, and the upper curtain was pulled back so that we could see the puppeteers bent at the waist working their magic. I hope they all have good chiropracters

So needless to say, I wasn’t swept away into the world of the marionettes. There remains too much of a learning curve into the world of puppet reality. The singing was lovely, though Mr. Groff had a pop scoop that he couldn’t seem to shake, which placed him in a different musical than the rest. Tomorrow they are doing The Engelbert Humperdinck penned opera of Hansel and Gretel. I will be on a plane to NYC where I know the rules of theatre going, and am looking forward to seeing Christanne Noll live, and possible passing Jonathan Groff on the street.

It seems that Dolly Parton has followed through on her intimations a few months ago that the musical version of 9 to 5 is in the works.

According the theatremania.com: “Stephanie J. Block, Megan Hilty, Marc Kudisch, and Allison Janney will star in the world premiere of the Broadway-bound musical 9 to 5 at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre, September 3-October 19 2008. The production will be directed by Joe Mantello, with choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler.”

The particulars are thus:

® Stephanie J. Block, Wicked’s current Elphaba, will play Judy—the naive newcomer—originally played by Jane Fonda.
® Megan Hilty, one of Wicked’s recent Glinda’s, will play Doralee—object of the boss’ sexual harassment—originally played by Dolly Parton.
® Allison Janney, best know for The West Wing, but also from Broadway’s Present Laughter, will play Violet—the veteran employee who keeps getting passed over for promotions—originally played by Lily Tomlin.
® Mark Kudish, currently treading the boards in The Glorious Ones, will play Franklin Hart—their sexist and egotistical boss—originally played by Dabney Coleman.

In the film, each woman shares a fantasy with her co-workers about various ways they think about doing their boss in, and then they each act them out in one way or another. From imdb: “Judy imagines a scenario where she hunts down Hart in the office with a shotgun, while Doralee turns the tables on Hart and sexually harasses him before roasting him alive on a spit. Violet envisions a fairy tale where she is a Snow White type character who poisons Harts coffee and sends him falling to his death outside his office window.”

Parton’s original radio interview also mentioned Bebe Neuwirth (Chicago) as office snitch Roz; and Andy Karl (Legally Blonde), among others, including an ensemble. The show will feature a book by Patricia Resnick, co-author of the film’s screenplay, and a score by Grammy Award winner Dolly Parton, who penned the film’s hit title song. The creative team will also include Scott Pask (sets) and Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer (lighting).

I wrote a post once about musical theatre composers who are not household names, but should be. After being swept into Jill Santoriello’s pre-Broadway production of A Tale Two Cities Tuesday night, I am certain she will skip inclusion in that post, and head directly to “household name.”

Ms. Santoriello wrote the book, music and lyrics for the show and that single authorship is apparent in the seamlessness between spoken word and song throughout the piece.

With the exception of a few comic and/or beer-swilling bar tunes, the characters in this musical move from spoken word to song—like Shakespearean characters leaping from prose to iambic pentameter—when the emotions they must convey require a heightened form of expression. The result is a crystal clear depiction of a storyline spanning thirty-six years, two continents, and more than a dozen principal and secondary characters. The nearly three-hour evening flew by because the story is told clearly and always with a forward-moving energy.

The theme of the book’s most famous line, “It was the best of times; it was the worst of times,” surfaces throughout the musical without banging anyone over the head. At one point, Sydney Carton remarks to Lucie Manette that she always sees the best in people, and she responds that he always sees the worst. It is subtleties like this one that sets this musical apart from other more heavy handed adaptations of famous source material, like the clunkier musical adaptation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein currently playing off-Broadway.

As Sydney Carton, Broadway veteran James Barbour spends a good three quarters of the show portraying a character who is three (or more) sheets to the wind. He never plays “at” being drunk, and though his characters’ vision may be a little blurry, Barbour allows us to see clearly Carton’s pain, longing, and conflicting desires even through the fog of inebriation. By the end of the play, as Barbour utters the book’s second most famous lines “’Tis a far, far better thing I do…,” I felt as though I could see through his skin into the character’s soul, so emotionally raw was his performance. His powerful baritone voice reminded me at times of Terrence Mann at the top of his game and the audience was audibly moved more than once by his singing.

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I am fully aware that I have been completely remiss in my blog postings. Life’s little surprises (visiting relatives, memorial services, two cars in and out of the shop) have eaten up my blogging time, but I have missed it and I am now back on track….

I’ve just returned from an overnight trip to Sarasota to see Jill Santoriello’s pre-Broadway musical, A Tale of Two Cities at the Asolo Theatre. I will publish a giant post as soon as I can about the show (which was fantastic) and my warm welcome by the producers, Ms. Santoriello, and several of the cast members. Suffice it to say for now, it was among my top theatrical experiences. Much thanks to Ron Sharpe, Barbra Russell and James Barbour for the VIP treatment!

In the meantime, may this video preview tide you over. It doesn’t do justice to the show musically (the current cast has not been recorded), but you’ll get an idea of how visually stunning the show is.

Video preview of A Tale of Two Cities from Broadwayworld.com

In Jill Santoriello’s new musical version of A Tale of Two Cities, one of the characters sings “Buried alive, buried alive, and I must dig him out.” That is akin to how this blogger has felt in trying to dig up reviews of the Broadway-bound musical’s premiere at the Asolo Theatre in Sarasota, Florida. Judging from the activity at the search engines, people are clamoring for info on this show, and I aim to please the clamoring public.

Thanks to David for pointing out this one from Sarasota Magazine. “[Santoriello] has managed to successfully streamline this famous book without damaging its core, and, aided by director Michael Donald Edwards and the musical staging of Warren Carlyle, to smoothly handle its swiftly swirling changes of scene and tone while still engaging our hearts, ears and eyes.”

“First praise here must go to [James] Barbour, who perfectly embodies the jaded, world-weary Carton, whose love for Lucie ultimately lifts him to redemption through self-sacrifice; both his acting and his singing are superb….”

From Broadway.com’s Stagenotes: “…this Broadway-bound musical is on the right path, thanks especially to a handful of stirring Jill Santoriello songs, Michael Donald Edward’s brisk staging, Tony Walton’s ingenious scenic design and a strong company led by James Barbour, pouring his soul into a towering performance as Carton.”

son_of_a_gun_25 at the broadway.com bulletin boards says this: “Natalie Toro (Mme. Defarge)- I would go see this show again and again just to see her performance. She is a phenomenal talent and really embodies the rage and revenge that has taken over her characters life.”

And erdrag had this to say in the comment section of Man In Chair: “The first act is long — a complicated story has to be set up, characters need to be established. Midway through the first act and through the entire second act, the story is emotionally engaging. I wish I could see it 10 more times.”

More reviews after the jump…

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Thanks to Gunn for pointing Man in Chair to the Sarasota Herald Tribune’s review of the Ansolo Theatre’s Broadway-bound musical, A Tale of Two Cities. A cursory internet search this morning seemed to indicate that this is the first (and only) review out there at the moment.

Jay Handelman’s overall take on the show is that it still needs some work before it will be a success on Broadway. But other than a need to be “more dramatically and emotionally compelling, mostly in the first act,” his review is pretty glowing:

“[Composer, Jill ] Santoriello has crafted some pretty melodies and a couple of comic patter songs, which are moving or fun and sometimes superfluous (like a tune about grave robbers, which doesn’t aid the story).”

“[James Barbour’s] rich baritone infuses every bit of whimsy, despair, hope and desire in the bitter “Reflection” and the tender “I Can’t Recall.” He captures your heart with his voice and his acting skills.”

“Natalie Toro, as the vengeful Madame Defarge…brings brute force and power to “Out of Sight, Out of Mind,” and “The Tale,” which explains the bitterness she has been waiting years to unleash. Jessica Rush is the picture of a young ingenue with a sweet voice to match as Lucie, and Derek Keeling is dashing as Charles.”

“Nick Wyman as the dastardly John Barsad brings a touch of comic relief, as does Katherine McGrath as the heart-warming and sarcastic Miss Pross, Lucie’s caretaker.”

Look for more reviews (including mine) as they surface in the upcoming weeks.

Man In Chair recently had the pleasure of speaking with Melissa Rain Anderson and Jim Poulos, an uber-talented couple who have in common both their love for each other and for the theatre.

Last week, we heard Melissa’s story, and this week we hear Jim’s tale of working in the Broadway productions of Rent and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, as well as secrets for maintaining a successful marriage while touring with The Graduate and Little Shop of Horrors.

Man In Chair: How did you end up in New York from California, Jim?

Jim Poulos: Melissa and I were moving to Los Angeles, and we saw an open call in Backstage for Rent. I had gone to an open call about six months before that, and they had given me a “call back packet” with all the material, but I had never actually gotten called back. So I brought that with me and I said, “You know, I have this packet of music that you gave me last time I came,” and they were all confused, like “Hmmmmm, I wonder how he got that.”

So that kind of became my ticket through the callback process at the second open call. A week later, they called and said “We need you to come to New York and be a temporary swing—a two month contract. We’re pretty certain it’ll turn into something more, we’re just not sure where or when.” So we went crazy. Actually, I said I had to think about it, and then I called back a minute later and said, “OK, yeah, I’ll do it.”

So Melissa and I moved ourselves out to New York with this opportunity.

After one week of just watching the show, I came in on a Tuesday, and they said I was on for “Gordon and others.” Gordon plays the drug dealer and he has “Excuse me Paul, I’m having a problem with this” in the Life Support Group—it’s a great track.

Norbert Leo Butz, who was playing the squeegee guy at the time and going on for Mark and Roger, was going to be bumped up to replace Adam Pascal as Roger. They bumped him up and offered me the part of the squeegee guy. And then it wasn’t until February when Anthony Rapp left, I took over for him.

MIC: You were the first person to replace the original Mark, Anthony Rapp.

JP: I was. There was a little time where Anthony went to Chicago, and the guy who was playing Mark in Chicago came to New York and played it for a month before I took over. So Christian Anderson came in and played it for a month before I got to “officially” take over the role.

MIC: As an understudy, were you trained to “emulate” Anthony’s original performance, or did you have a little wiggle room to make it your own?

JP: You definitely have the wiggle room. The main thing is you have to maintain what the dynamic of a show is. But, yeah, after a couple of months I found the role suiting me and my body a little more. At first there was a little “Anthony’ish” stuff coming out because he was the only one I had seen do it, really. And there were definitely moments that Anthony does that are very similar to the type of things that I do, so I didn’t want to erase that “just because.”

And there were other choices that were coming in from the tour and other productions that the director was interested in having show up in the Broadway cast too. When you’re replacing, you get a little bit of yourself, but it’s also a product that’s been put up onstage and you have to meet some of those requirements as well.

MIC: You did the show for two years?

JP: As Mark, for two years and four months. Including the three or four months leading up to that, almost three years.

MIC: In that time, you were definitely in the public spotlight more than you had ever been before. There are websites documenting your career, and a blog that chronicles your every move. Did you find the sudden public exposure to be overwhelming at times?

JP: It was a little bit sometimes. Not necessarily in a negative way. When I got bumped up into playing Mark, that two and half years, after every show, there was a group of people waiting outside wanting to get an autograph. And a lot of the fans were younger teenage girls, who had seen the show several times, and start to form a little bit of an emotional bond with you as the character.

Now, it never got out of hand. For the most part, it was just getting used to the idea that these guys were going to want a piece of you after the show.

MIC: Are you involved in your “official” site, jimpoulos.com, or is it purely fan-driven?

JP: I am involved. But there is a girl named Ari who maintains it. I have considered on several occasions shutting it down because I really thought it was just a thing to do during the Rent time, but a lot of people like going there, checking in, seeing how things are going. Sometimes it feels a little strange. You know, that was a long time ago, and now I’m just plugging away like every other actor.

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