2016 Interview - Corky Hale

The great musician Corky Hale needs no introduction. She and her husband composer Mike Stoller have worked with everyone in the music business including Sinatra and Steisand. She is currently producing a revue entitled I Only Have Eyes For You about the music of Al Dubin. It will open at the Ricardo Montalban Theatre Friday May 13. In our chat Hale talks about the show, Dubin and about her incomparable show business life.

Tell our readers about I Only Have Eyes For You. Is it a book musical?

Yes it is.

I’ve heard that the show has a terribly interesting background. Tell us about Al Dubin and how you became familiar with him.

I am married to songwriter Mike Stoller and am a musician and a singer – and I am always interested in songwriters. We were living in New York in the 1970s and 1980s, and there was a series at the 92nd Street Y called “Lyrics & Lyricists” produced by Maurice Levine. Maurice called me one day and said, “I am going to do an evening on Al Dubin and Harry Warren and I’d like you to play piano.” I knew about Harry Warren but nobody knew who Al      Dubin was, even though we always knew them as Dubin and Warren.   

 

Al Dubin (standing) with Harry Warren

They had written the songs for the groundbreaking Busby Berkeley musicals at Warner Bros. – and what songs!  “Shuffle Off to Buffalo,” “About a Quarter to Nine,” “42nd Street,” “We’re in the Money,” “You’re Getting to be a Habit With Me,” “September in the Rain,” “South American Way,” “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “I Only Have Eyes For You,” and “Lullaby of Broadway” which won the Academy Award for Best Song in 1935.  

The night of the event in the front row was a woman in a wheelchair, and she introduced herself as Al Dubin’s daughter, Patricia McGuire, who the producer had flown in from LA. We got to talking and she said, “I would love to get together with you when you are in LA.” When Mike and I moved to Los Angeles in 1989, I called her -- and we became close friends.  She gave me the book she wrote on her father Al Dubin.

I then saw a show about Oscar Levant and saw the possibilities of creating a show about an important musical figure – and thought that the life and times of Dubin would make a great show. 

Where did you first produce the show?

I originally produced the show at the Tiffany Theatre in Hollywood.  The show got great reviews – the Los Angeles Times said it was one of the best shows of the year – and we ran for three months.  After our success at The Tiffany, the Coconut Grove Playhouse wanted to do it, so I took it to Florida, where it ran for a month and received another set of great reviews.

What does Kay Cole bring to this new production of the show as director and choreographer?

When I was looking for a director and choreographer, I saw a show that Kay had directed and staged – I always knew she had a great reputation.  She and I met and she said she loved the material.  I think she’s an incredible director and choreographer.   She really understands the music from this era. Those great songs are just fantastic. And it is what brings the audience to us.

Talk a little about Jared Gertner who is playing the lead. What does he bring special to Al Dubin?

We had two weeks of auditions and our casting director and Kay Cole found Jared Gertner.  After seeing hundreds of people we said “He looks like Al!”  He is the embodiment of Al Dubin, so imagine my delight when Jared walked in, looking like Al, and then sang!  He is a terrific guy and easy to work with, and I can’t say enough good things about him. 

What makes this musical bio different from others that we have seen?

I have been thinking a long time about the challenges we have in the world today, and I began to think about how Al Dubin was an inspiration during the Depression and how his songs uplifted the nation.

Mike and I think and act on our beliefs in making the world a better place. We are involved in many important causes, such as the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery Alabama. Two years ago, they dedicated their Civil Rights Memorial Theatre in our honor – it’s in the same plaza where Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks spoke. 

And suddenly, I wanted to do this show again. I want to bring something happy into the world – and this is a showpiece of this joyous music with a cast of 12 dancers and singers and a 10-piece orchestra.  And it brings back tap dancing to the stage.

For me, it is the music that sets the show apart from others.  The greatest show I saw on Broadway this past year was An American in Paris.  Each composer is different and while not the same story as Gershwin, or the new Shuffle Along about Eubie Blake – every composer has a different life and a different story to tell.  So I want to bring this music, and Dubin’s life, to the stage.

Tell us more about your passion for the American songbook...and your association with Billie Holiday.

I have had the good fortune to live a life in the great American popular songbook.  I am the only woman who was ever Billie Holiday’s pianist.  When director Lonny Price was putting together Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill a few years ago on Broadway, he brought Audra McDonald out to meet me so I could share my memories of Billie Holliday with her. 

I understand for someone who appears to be a big city woman, you began life as a farm girl. Is that so?

Yes. I’m from a small farm town from the Midwest – I have had the most unusual life.  It’s the happiest life of anyone I have ever known.  My mother never set foot in the kitchen as she went to work everyday with my father – they owned a chain of woman’s clothing stores in small towns with my dad’s seven brothers.  They gave me the happiest start of what has become an incredible life.

Who are some of the all-time great singers you have worked with?

A book about my life is in the works, detailing my relationships with everyone I’ve had the great fortune to work or record with over the years: Sinatra, James Dean, Sammy Davis, Jr., Chet Baker, Nat King Cole, June Christy, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé, Yusef Lateef, Phoebe Snow, Judy Collins, George Michael, and Björk-- just to name a few. I met Sinatra and played on some of his records at Capitol.  Frank was always wonderful to me.  I also had a nice black dress with pearls and went to parties with him, so if he got bored he had someone to talk to, and he treated me like a daughter. I am in Kitty Kelley’s book about him!

Streisand is still my idol of any singer I have recorded and performed with.  She is a genius. Not only did I play with her when she became the first one to do a major concert in Central Park; she also brought me out in 1968 to play at the Hollywood Bowl with her. 

Any last words on I Only Have Eyes For You?

It has taken a long time to get I Only Have Eyes For You to the production that I have always imagined, and I am so thrilled to be doing this now! 

(production photos by Michael Lamont)

I ONLY HAVE EYES FOR YOU began previews Tuesday, May 10, and has its official press opening on Friday, May 13. Performances will continue through Sunday, June 12 at the Montalban Theatre, 1615 Vine St. in Hollywood. Following previews, performances are Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm; Sundays at 3pm. Tickets are available now at www.flavorus.com or by calling 1-323-461-6999.

2016 Interview with Phil Olson

Playwright Phil Olson, known for his popular, hilarious DON’T HUG ME musical plays written with brother Paul Olson and that are crowd favorites wherever they are performed, has re-imagined a new version of his first play A NICE FAMILY GATHERING. It is currently enjoying a run in the new UPSTAIRS at the Group Rep black box theatre on the second floor of the Lonny Chapman Theatre at the edge of the NoHo Arts District in North Hollywood.  Phil shares with us  a bit about his life as a writer and how A NICE FAMILY GATHERING came about.

by Steve Peterson

When did you first become interested in writing as a profession?

In 2010, I had four plays published by Samuel French and they were playing in theatres all around the country. I was also producing my own “Don’t Hug Me” musicals in the midwest.  I owned my own set, and I had a group of actors that toured for me. It was 2010 when I gave up my “day job” as a financial advisor and went into writing and producing plays full time.

What was your first paying writing job and what did you learn from that experience?

In the late 90s, I met a guy at The Groundings who had contacts in television. He got a job writing a treatment for an animated TV series. He asked me if I would help him. It was a two page treatment and it took us a couple days to do it. I was paid $800. I thought that was a ridiculously large amount of money for the amount of time it took us to do it. What I learned was, writing for television is like winning the lottery.  If anyone out there wants to give me crazy amounts of money writing for television, I’m available.

When did you start writing plays?  Do you have any favorites?

I wrote my first play “Crappie Talk” in 1997. I was 40 years old. I got a late start. I currently have 14 published plays, 8 of them are published by Samuel French. It’s hard to say which play is my favorite. They’re like children to me. With that, I have to say, “A Nice Family Gathering” is at the top of the list because it’s such a personal story. It’s about my family, and because it has played in 120 cities around the world, I’m thrilled that so many theatres have embraced it. It’s also been optioned to be made into a movie which is very flattering.

Did you have mentors and muses along the way, and if so who?

My inspiration to write plays came from Neil Simon. I performed in a bunch of Neil Simon plays in the early 90s in Tampa, Florida, and it was like taking a seminar in writing. I loved his comedy, his writing style, his characters. I came to Los Angeles, trained at The Groundlings, wrote and performed sketches with Maya Rudolph and other extremely talented people. I learned character development at The Groundlings.

Lonny Chapman gave me my first break as a playwright. He green lit my first play, “Crappie Talk,” to be produced at the Group Rep Theatre in 1997. He then approved “A Nice Family Gathering” for its world premiere in 2000. I can’t thank Lonny enough for giving me my start.

I also have to give thanks to Doug Haverty for being so generous with his notes on my plays. Doug is a great playwright and a wonderful dramaturg. He’s given me so many great notes on my plays and helped me keep focus in areas like story conflict and stakes, basically things that make a good story.

What generated the idea for A NICE FAMILY GATHERING?

“A Nice Family Gathering” is based on my Minnesota Norwegian-American family. My dad actually told us he was the Norwegian who loved his wife so much, he almost told her. I never heard him tell my mom he loved her, ever. In fact, I never heard him say ‘I love you’ to anyone, including myself. Part of the reason I wanted to write the play is because I wanted to see my dad say ‘I love you’ to my mom. When my mom came out from Minnesota to see the world premiere at the Group Rep Theatre, she saw herself on stage, with my dad, who had passed away a year earlier. It was a very emotional scene. I was playing the role of the son, ‘Carl,’ and I couldn’t help to look out and see my mom in the audience, tears running down her cheeks. My mom loved the play.

Many of your plays center around your family and the community of Minnesota Norwegians you grew up in.    How did the play come to be re-imagined with an African American cast?

I saw Robert McCollum and Cynthia Bryant perform in "Stories about the Old Days" and they were wonderful. I realized we had great talent but not as many opportunities for our African American members, so I asked Doug Engalla if he would direct a staged reading of "A Nice Family Gathering" with Robert and Cynthia as "Dad" and "Mom." They did the first act off book and it was very successful. As luck would have it, a slot opened up for a full production, and I'm very happy that we have such wonderful actors in the play and that my family comedy, originally set in a Minnesota Norwegian-American household, is so universally accessible.

You’ve penned numerous plays and musicals, both solo and with your brother Paul Olson, among others, that have been published by Samuel French.    Have you been working on anything new you’d like to share with us or have an event you might be attending in regards to your playwrighting you’d like us to know about?

Because of the success of “A Nice Family Gathering,” I wrote a new play, “A Nice Family Christmas.” It’s the same family as “A Nice Family Gathering,” but two years later at Christmas. I’ve been doing readings of “A Nice Family Christmas” all around the country, and it will open in five cities this year, including the Group Rep Theatre. “A Nice Family Christmas” will be my 9th play published by Samuel French. My next reading will be in Port Clinton, Ohio, on May 17, and I’ll do another reading in New York in June.

Is there anything you wished had been asked about you or the play?

I have to thank Doug Engalla for his tireless efforts in putting this production together. Doug has directed three of my world premiere “Don’t Hug Me” musicals and he’s terrific to work with. I’m usually a little more involved in rehearsals and the production, but with “A Nice Family Gathering” Doug has done everything from directing to cast photos to set design. I’m very fortunate to have someone like Doug Engalla at the helm. He’s a blessing.

www.thegrouprep.com

Interview with Playwright Willard Manus

Local Playwright Willard Manus’ Joe & Marilyn: A Love Story, a new play about the troubled relationship between baseball great Joe DiMaggio and Hollywood icon Marilyn Monroe, debuts this Saturday, April 23^rd at 8:00 pm, runs April 23 – May 22, produced by John Lant and Anne Mesa, directed by T.J. Castronovo and starring Rico Simonini and Emily Elicia Low,  produced by Write Act Rep@TheBrickhouse Theatre in North Hollywood.  The play was developed at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors Unit (West Coast), where Manus and Castronovo are fellow-members.  He shared with us a bit about the play and quite a bit about his life.

Written by Steve Peterson 

When did you first become interested in writing as a profession?

I started writing back in high school, writing a so-called humor column for the Columbus Explorers newspaper.  That was back in the horse and buggy days.  I have continued to write ever since. 

What was your first paying job and what did you learn from that experience?

My first paying job was as a reporter on the Yonkers Daily News. I should have known something was a bit fishy about the paper when the publisher said I could write whatever I wanted, including editorials. A few months later I learned why he was so cavalier about this. The paper was Mafia owned and owed its fairly large daily readership to the fact that it published the gambling line on all major sports. It also published the winning "numbers" every day (also known as "policy numbers"). Gamblers could also place a bet by calling the newspaper which in turn relayed the information to bookies in New Jersey. Right after that, the newspaper was investigated by the police and was then mentioned by the Kefauver Committee when it held hearings on organized crime in the USA.  The Yonkers Daily Times was punished by having all its telephones removed, making it the only newspaper in the world without a working telephone. 

When did start writing plays?  Do you have any favorites in the more than 40 plays you’ve penned?

I wrote a play or two in the 1950s, and a few more in the 60 & 70s, when I was living on a Greek island (see below). But I did not begin to write seriously for the theatre until I moved to Los Angeles in 1979.

Did you have mentors and muses along the way, and if so who?

My first mentor was Joseph J. Friedman, who headed a writers workshop in New York, of which I was a member for the next decade (we published a literary magazine called "Venture" by the way).  In Los Angeles in the early 80s, I joined the Los Angeles Playwrights Group, headed by Joseph Scott Kierland. A playwright and screenwriter himself (who now writes fiction), Kierland had a unique and remarkable grasp of playwriting structure and development. Most of what I know about playwriting I learned from him. I still go to Joe for third-eye advice and help. 

You’ve led what might be called an adventurous life - - I am referring to you and your wife Mavis  visiting Greece for a few weeks and ending up living there for 35 years.  What kept you there?  Were you able to write while you there?

My wife and I went to the island of Rhodes (village of Lindos) in 1961, on our honeymoon.  Our original intention was to stay three days.  Thirty-five years later we were still there.  Our love affair with Lindos and a description of our life there forms the basis of my book THIS WAY TO PARADISE--DANCING ON THE TABLES.  This memoir of Greek island life can be found on Amazon.com. It goes without saying that I was able to write there; several novels and a ton of journalism came out of those years. (I served as the Mediterranean Correspondent for the Financial Post of Canada for much of that time). 

You have more than one play about Marilyn Monroe.   What are the titles?  What fascinates you about the persona of Marilyn Monroe that has you writing multiple plays about her and about her life?

Aristotle's advice to fellow writers was "write about kings and queens." Since MM was one of the closest things we have to a queen, I decided she would make a good subject for a play.  I began with a 70-minute monologue which had this off-beat premise: what if MM came back to life when she was in her 50s. What would she make of this second chance, not only as an actress but as a woman?  "MM at 58" was performed at the Zephyr Theatre (was it the late 80s?) by Claire Sinnett, directed by Gary Guidinger.  Because MM was such a fascinating, vibrant, complicated and of course tragic figure, I have continued to explore her different sides in other plays about her,  which includes  "Marilyn--My Secret" (co-written with Odalys Nanin),  which ran at the Macha Theatre for more than a year.

Tell us a bit about JOE & MARILYN:  A Love Story.

This play focuses on Marilyn's relationship to Joe DiMaggio. Although these two opposites were married for only nine months, they remained in love with each other for the rest of their lives.  They had a tempestuous, passion-filled, ultimately heart-breaking relationship which makes for good drama.

What was the development process like with the play at the Actors Studio Playwrights/Directors unit and how did the process there lend itself to fleshing out the play (or concept of the play)?

 My director TJ Castronovo is a fellow-member of the unit. We read the first draft of the play--with actors, of course--in front of the unit.  That draft, by the way, was first written as a play that could be performed at the Hollywood Fringe Festival (one-hour length, simple set and production values).  In feedback from the unit we learned that the play did not work well at that length, and needed to be expanded and deepened. I then sat down and wrote a second draft, which with further refinements is the one people will see at Write Act Rep.

How did the play come to be produced by John Lant and Anne Mesa for Write Act Rep?

Thanks to the interest of John Lant (artistic director of Write Act Rep), I have found a home as playwright at his company. Many of my plays have been produced by John there and he has continued to encourage me to write for him. For that he has my undying gratitude. As for Anne Mesa, she has been a longtime member of Write Act and has helped produce many of my plays.  She also helped choreograph a musical of mine, BLUES FOR CENTRAL AVENUE, which was done at Write Act about ten years ago. 

You recently had the world premiere of PREZ running at the Chromolume Theatre.  What’s up next for you after JOE & MARILYN:  A Love Story?

John Lant is holding two or three new plays of mine which he says he'd like to produce in the near future.  I also have written some other new plays which are under consideration at other theaters in town.  More on those when and if the projects become realities.

Is there anything you wished had been asked about you or the play?

I'd like to mention my solo play about Charlie Parker, BIRD LIVES!, which was produced at the Attic Theatre in 2015.  Actor Montae  Russell will perform the play on May 1st at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center (in Leimert Park) as part of Jazz History Month, as well as in NYC in the next solo-play festival there.

JOE & MARILYN:  A Love Story runs April 23 – May 22, 2016.  To buy tickets or for more information please visit http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2533139
1-800-838-3006 (ext. 1). 

2016 Interview with Kevin Massey

Actor Kevin Massey is currently onstage through May 1 as Monty Navarro in A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder at the Ahmanson Theatre. He chats with us about the challenges of playing the role and other theatrical interests.

What is the biggest challenge in playing Monty 8 times a week?

Staying hydrated!  I have to make sure I drink enough water during the day. I hardly have a chance to drink any water during the course of the show, because I am onstage 99% of the time!  

How do you prepare regularly for a performance? Do you have a strict regimen of daily exercise? I ask this because the energy that you have to put out for each performance is quite amazing.  

I make sure I take time to stretch and warm up my body a bit.  This role is deceivingly physical, with share turns, leans, leaning and holding, falling, climbing…the list goes on.  I find that if I prepare my body enough, then I feel much better about giving that much energy every night.  It’s a fun role, so I try to think of the joy giving me the energy rather than conjuring up the energy to act joyful.  I try not to eat spicy food right before the show.  At the same time, I have to make sure I am eating enough calories throughout the day, because I burn through so many during the show!

Is this your favorite role thus far? Explain.

I would have to say it is a tie between playing Monty in GGLAM and Huey in MEMPHIS.  Both require an incredible amount of energy, but they are both extremely fun and rewarding at the end of the night.  With Huey, you feel you have changed every other character in the show.  You show how a quirky and broken man can still bring about good in the world.  With Monty, you get to transform from a timid young man to a confident gentleman killer all the while getting the audience to root for you and hopefully have an evening of pure fun and joy.  Both roles have an incredible journey for different reasons.  Thank you to the writers for creating such interesting characters!

What is your personal feeling about what this show has to say? Do you laugh when you think about it? Or do you just not think about it so much?

I think the show is one of the best nights an audience will have in a theater to date.  It’s not a show that makes you contemplate life for days afterwards.  It is, rather, pure joy and glee.  But they are not empty calorie laughs…these are hearty, give you better abs laughs!

Do you have a favorite victim in one of the characters that John (Rapson) plays? If so, why this choice?

I think Henry is one of my favorites.  I actually get to spend a lot of time getting to know him.  While he still looks down on peasants, he is actually a pretty likable guy in some ways.  Plus, John and I have fun with those scenes in particular.

 Talk a little about some of your other roles like Tarzan and the character in Memphis. Tarzan is another very physical role; these seem to attract you.

I was actually having that realization just recently.  I never had any previous training in movement before I got those roles, but I have come to love the process of getting into the physicality of the character.  We used to spend hours in front of the mirror in Tarzan rehearsals, figuring out how each figure or elbow articulates with certain moves.  In Little House on the Prairie, I had to create an entire horse race with my body and a set of reins.  My quads grew tens sizes!  It was great to apply this to GGLAM where the movement is so specific and timing is imperative to the comedy.  I also love how Monty’s movements change as he gains more confidence as a man, and lover….and a killer.

What about Little House on the Prairie? How was it to work on? Is there any chance they may bring that back?

Little House will forever be a highlight in my life, primarily because it brought my wife into my life.  It was really a magical time in a lot of ways, and we made many lifelong friends. I have no idea what the future holds for Little House.  I know the producers and writers have been working on it since the tour ended…so who knows!

Who is your all-time favorite composer? Why? Musical (not necessarily one that you did)?

I don’t have one favorite…I have many and the list continues to grow.  I love everything from more established composers like Bernstein, Sondheim, Lippa, to up and coming writers like  Jonathan Reid Gealt, Kooman & Diamond, and Matthew Lee Robinson.

Are musicals more difficult to carry off that straight plays? In what way?

I think every piece is unique and couldn’t offer a blanket answer.  Generally, the more pieces to a work (instruments, actors, sets moving, effects), the longer it takes to put together.  But sometimes a one hander in a black box can take just as much work to make it a good piece.

GGLAM plays at the Ahmanson until May 1. For tix and info: www.centertheatregroup.org

2016 Interview with Irish Actress Lisa Dwan

Irish actress Lisa Dwan, the premier interpreter of Samuel Beckett, is about to step down from the position this spring, but before she does, she will make  an appearance with the Beckett Trilogy at the The Broad Stage in Santa Monica in April.

Why is this the first time that all 3 plays have been performed together?

Well I guess one reason is that Not I is rarely performed and Footfalls has never been performed by one actress playing both roles of Mother (off stage) and May (on stage), and to my knowledge no other actress has tried to perform all three roles in one evening. Up until I tried it, I didn't even think it was possible. 

What do you feel is the single, most urgent theme that runs through Beckett's plays?

Gosh one single theme?!.. Well if I have to squeeze all the sentiment, the ideas, the layers and depth into one single theme, I think DEFIANCE is a good place to start.  Beckett celebrates the very human spirit of I can't go on, I must go on, I'll go on. 

Do you have a favorite of the 3 you're performing? If so, why?

All three are so different and require so much and each have different rewards. Not I is so physically and intellectually taxing but so exhilarating and liberating at the same time, I discover new and profound almost spiritual depths every time I perform Footfalls, and Rockaby's simple compelling poetry grabs me by the throat each time, examining loneliness and yet the honest sharing of this experience and the connection it has with the audience makes me feel less alone.

What do you think audiences are attracted to in Beckett's plays? Is it the harsh reality of the human condition? It is often said that Americans are hooked on violence. Do you think this element is universal?

For me the big attraction is the type of truth Beckett puts on the stage and the fact he isn't selling it to us. He isn't selling us anything, As Pinter puts it "he isn't standing over us with his hand over his heart", There's no polemic, pr or worthy preachiness and I'm so grateful to him for that. He simply puts his finger on his own wounds and in that gentle dark space he leaves us room to find our own. He pays his audience a great compliment. 

Do you feel that Beckett manages to entertain while getting out his message? How does he do that?

The great news about Beckett is that he's not out to entertain, there are no stories on sale here nor does he have an explicit message. As a result we observe the human condition and it’s that profound and real recognition that have us weeping and laughing at the desperate hilarity of our situation.

Talk in depth about Billie Whitelaw, as an actress and human being, and how she helped you.

When Billie Whitelaw spoke, she did so with the arresting gravitas that only someone of profound integrity can. She never minced her words, she was direct, never suffering fools, but she was also disarmingly open, extremely generous and often seemed so emotionally vulnerable as someone who seemed to live life without their skin on. This is precisely why Samuel Beckett loved her.

Despite being a child star Billie had no formal training as an actor. She was therefore a very instinctual artist with a fierce commitment that came direct from the gut. She fearlessly stretched her private landscape around Beckett’s creatures and Beckett drew as much from hers as his own. Their names will always be intertwined as one of the greatest theatre partnerships: a towering master of European theatre and his muse.

Billie Whitelaw

I know that I am only able to perform these late Beckett roles, especially the mouth-only piece Not I, because Billie Whitelaw did. Even before I got to know her, she made that possible. Like Roger Bannister who broke the four-minute mile, Billie’s performance also broke a psychological barrier by turning the famously “unlearnable” and “unplayable” into theatrical tours de force, thus granting those of us who dare to follow in her wake the confidence that it was possible.

But it was Billie alone who was the pioneer of the most innovative theatre of the 20th century. I first met her in 2006 a few months after my first performance of Not I in London. Edward Beckett attended one of those performances and over a Guinness with me afterwards suggested that it might be finally worthwhile to meet her, now that I’d “found my own way”. Up until that point neither of us had ever met anyone who had played Not I, and we greeted each other like two long-lost war veterans. We immediately swapped our trench stories of how we trained our mouths and diaphragms to speak at the speed of thought without moving a millimetre out of the meagre pinprick of light that allows just the lips alone to be seen.

Once she collapsed during rehearsals and Sam rushed over to her saying “Billie, Billie, what have I done to you? What have I done?” Coming to, she replied, “I really don’t know how to answer that Sam.” “Never mind,” he said, “back you go.”

“I would have walked on glass for that man,” Billie admitted. A year after our first meeting she called me out of the blue. “I want to give you his notes, I have to give you his notes ...” Now I had no idea that I would ever play this role again, so I wasn’t quite sure what had me standing in Billie’s kitchen later that afternoon. I thought she might take out and dust off an old rehearsal manuscript, but instead she told me to sit down at the table and “Begin!” As I started speaking she sat directly opposite and began waving her hand, conducting me. I later learned that was exactly what Beckett had done to her, across her kitchen table.Billie lifted the lid on all of his well-worn notes, especially his instruction Don’t Act: “No colour”. She was adamant not to let me emulate her performance or veer towards a surface “Beckett-style” reproduction, but wanted instead for the work to connect deep within the performer. She explained that Beckett dealt with such truths that he had no room for an actor’s craft. He did want emotion, only he wanted all of it – the real stuff, the guts – not some polished fool’s gold. Like a diviner carrying an ancient wisdom she tirelessly helped me and all of us who encountered her to search deep within. She taught me that truth has a sound, a timbre. I will always be in her debt for this. And, of course, for her parting northern wisdom: “Just get on with it.”

What do you hope audiences will take away with them from this newly organized evening?

The most I can hope for is that people will have a personal visceral experience and not an intellectual one. Beckett can be chewed to pieces in the mouths of academics, leaving us to absorb the leftovers, but in fact Beckett wanted his work to play on the nerves of his audience and not on their intellect. Ultimately I would love even just for a few people that when they close their eyes and think about theatre that they remember this show. If it can stay alive in the imagination of just a few long after its performance I would be very very happy. 

With such fantastic reviews, why are you leaving Beckett's work this spring? 

All good things must come to an end. I've been performing these works for over 11 years now and I really have to hang up the lips at least as its wreaking havoc on my neck and my body as well as the strain of putting myself into a nightly state of trauma for such a long and sustained time. I'd like to be able to walk away from this work in one piece. However I'm not done with Beckett and I don't suppose he's done with me and I'm preparing to work on two of his prose pieces one of which with open in the Old Vic Theatre in September and the other I hope to work on in America as I've just got a green card and am planning to make New York my home.

Has this been the greatest challenge of your acting career? How?

It has been the greatest challenge but also the greatest privilege. There is no other experience that has stretched me so much intellectually, physically, psychologically, emotionally and imaginatively.  There is no greater gift as a woman than having the issue of your body removed and being given the freedom to inhabit a role like this, where to be - is to be a slice of life, being paid the compliment  to be consciousness itself from womb to tomb. Wow.. It's very hard to go back to being a petty little bite size cardboard cutout character from the chambers of a frightened limited mind. Women's roles still haven't graduated that far from the three main sexist gears..The bitch, the psycho and the bimbo. We wait in hope..but godot, we've waited a long time.

Plays Thursday, April 7 at 7:30pm; Friday, April 8 at 7:30pm; Saturday, April 9 at 2:00pm and 7:30pm; and Sunday, April 10 at 2:00pm. The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage is at 1310 11th St. in Santa Monica. Parking is free

www.thebroadstage.com  or

Box Office at 310.434.3200

2016 Interview with Actress Amy Tolsky

by Steve Peterson

AMY TOLSKY is a popular character actress currently working in theatre, film and television. Her credits include Regional Theatre:South Coast Repertory. L.A.Theatre: Mud Blue Sky (The Road), The Importance of Being Earnest (Theatre Banshee);Table Manners, Nicholas Nickleby (Theatre 40);I Love Lucy Live Onstage (Greenway Court);City of Angels; Theatre@Boston Court;Antaeus; The Odyssey;PRT. Film:“Please Stand By”;“Fishes ‘n Loaves:Heaven Sent”; “The Tiger Hunter”,“Eat With Me”.  Television: “Crowded”;“Shameless”; “Code Black”;“Married”;“Castle”;“2 Broke Girls”;“Parks and Recreation”; “Big Bang Theory”;“Jeeves and Wooster”. Internet:“You’ve Probably Dated My Mom”.   

When did you first become interested in acting/performing?

I first encountered the acting bug in High School. I saw an audition notice for the student-run variety show, decided to audition with very low expectations and was shocked that I was chosen for the production. I went on to act, direct and crew in a dozen more productions during my high school years including lead roles in Pippin (Leading Player) and Mame (Agnes Gooch).

Who were your mentors along the way (who encouraged you)?

My high school drama teacher, Bob Johnson, was an excellent theatre director and a real taskmaster. He demanded a lot from us kids and we did everything we could to please him. He was pretty realistic about the business and warned me that it wouldn’t be an easy road. However, he sent me on my way with a copy of Michael Shurtleff’s   Audition books when I told him my plans to pursue theatre in college. After receiving my BFA from the University of Illinois, I went on to live in England for thirteen years where I was one of the founding members of Absolute Theatre Company.  Today, my incredibly supportive husband is my number one fan.  He was an actor and understands the trials of the actor’s journey.

Tell us a bit about the play BABY OH BABY. 

It’s a comedic look at two half-sisters whose biological clocks are ticking and are faced with the usual problems of wanting things in life that they don’t have and fretting how to get them. The action of the play takes place in one day, and there are farcical elements when the girls encounter a few interesting folks who come knocking on their door.

What was it about the character of Bella that called out to you?

Doing theatre usually offers more for an actor to chew on than some of the television roles and commercials we work on to pay the bills.  It was an exciting prospect to do a lead role with a lot of range and work on a naturalistic, contemporary piece playing a fully realized character that people could empathize with. She’s a good person who has given up when it comes to herself, but is a hopeless romantic and has found a way to help others.  I was also happy to play a British character as a way of reconnecting with my past. I have a great fondness for my time in England and miss my British mates dearly.

What do you think the audience might take away from having seen the play?

A fun time with lots of giggles! The characters are realistic and I think the audience will easily root for them and hope that they find their way and overcome their challenges in life.

What’s up next for you?

I’m guest starring on the new NBC show called “Crowded”
which premieres March 20^th. My episode is called “Daughter” and will air sometime in May. I also worked on a few feature films that should be coming out in the next year or so, “The Tiger Hunter” with Danny Pudi and Jon Heder, “Fishes ‘n Loaves: Heaven Sent” with Dina Meyer, Dominique Swain and Bruce Davison and “Please Stand By” with Dakota Fanning and Toni Collette.

Is there anything you’d like us to know about the play or you that we might not have asked?

It’s really interesting to work on a play from its inception--to be able to help shape the story and tweak the dialogue with the writer/director. It can be a challenge doing theatre in L.A. with scheduling issues and cast changes and we have had a few of those since we did the initial reading in September! We do have a great group of people, though, and I think it’ll be a fun ride. We have another interesting challenge in playing only Saturday nights for twelve weeks. It’s a long commitment and how will we maintain momentum? That is the question! I’m also curious to see what will happen with the documentary aspect of this production(“From Page to Stage”)!

BABY OH BABY runs Saturdays at 8:00 PM, March 19 – June 4.  Adult humor appropriate for ages 18+.  Mature audiences only. Running time: 80 minutes; no intermission. Advance purchase tickets: $20.  Tickets at the door: $25.  Discount Tickets Students/Seniors with ID; Groups of 10 or more: $15. Buy advance tickets at babyohbaby.brownpapertickets.com or  call 800-838-3006. For information please call 747-263-9858.  The Whitefire Theatre is located at 13500 Ventura Boulevard, Sherman Oaks.

www.babyohbaby.net

2016 Interview with Calvin Remsberg

Calvin Remsberg is well known as both actor and director on both coasts. Favorite stage credits: Sweeney Todd (First National, and Television productions), CATS, the acclaimed Los Angeles’ Phantom of the Opera, Man of La Mancha, and Oliver!  Favorite film credits: “Pretty Woman,” “Shrek,” “The X-Files,” “Twilight of the Golds,” “Silk Stalkings.” Favorite Directing credits: The Medium,  Educating Rita, Chapter Two, Dracula,  Triumph of Love, The Sound of Music, Urinetown, Sunday in the Park with George (Ovation Nomination), Into the Woods, Hello, Dolly!, The Last Five Years, Glory Days, F**king Men (American premiere), and Sweeney Todd (Ovation nomination), and ten musicals for The Musical Theatre Guild. This is his directing debut at The Group Rep.

by Steve Peterson

How did you first become interested or involved in theatre? 

It was in kindergarten, and I played the Gingerbread Boy and got lots of laughs. The laughs got me hooked. Then, in elementary school in Roanoke, Virginia, my teachers encouraged me to write and direct plays, which the school actually produced!  I am sure they were terrible.

The real big break came in high school with a program called S.T.A.G.E. Inc. in Fairfax County where eligible kids from 21 high schools in the area auditioned for and performed in summer musicals.  The creative staff was made up of all adults and they were quite gifted.  My first show with them was Brigadoon, and our choreographer had been in the original Broadway production. It was all very exciting!

What was you first professional job?

In 1974, an opera at Wolf Trap in Vienna, Virginia…  I was performing a role in the challenging opera War and Peace directed and conducted by Sarah Caldwell, who was particularly notable in that she was head of the Boston Opera, and was conducting at a time  when there weren’t many female conductors working professionally. Caldwell was also the first woman to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera House.

What was your most memorable performance as an actor?

The Beadle in Sweeney Todd; I was in the National Tour with Angela Lansbury which was filmed for PBS here in Los Angeles at the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion.  I reprised the role in the second National Tour.  It was a dream to work with Sondheim and director Harold Prince.

Did you have mentors along the way?

Oh yes, my acting teachers Mark Hammer and Richard Bauer , who I performed with in Wolf Trap’s production of Kismet.  They were teaching in the educational program at Arena Stage and I started studying acting with them.

My most recent mentor was actress June Havoc who played Mrs. Lovett in the second National Tour of Sweeney Todd in which I reprised the role of The Beadle.   Most people know June Havoc as an actress and as the sister of Gypsy Rose Lee.  However, she was a great director, playwright and coach. She taught me how to bring individuality and character to my work.

When did you start directing, what project drew your attention?

I studied directing at The College of William and Mary, and during that time I directed my friend Glenn Close in a production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in Menotti’s The Medium.  We’ve remained friends over the years.

I was hired for my first big professional directing job by Steven A. Glaudini who was then the executive director/producer of Performance Riverside to direct a production of Sweeney Todd.   I had already directed the 1999 Reprise! production which starred Kelsey Grammar and Christine Baranski.

You're also a vocal coach.  Is there one point you work at getting across with each of your students.

I was fortunate to have studied voice with Fredrick Wilkerson and he turned my whole vocal life around.  He was one of the top vocal coaches of his time.  "Your body is 89 percent water, something like that," he once told an interviewer, "and so are your bones, so you must think of your whole body as a sounding box. You must feel every syllable you say all the way down to your feet, all the way to your toes.”   Wilkie taught the absolute necessity of developing a rock solid technique. He taught a combination of the French “masque” method of placement as well as elements of bel canto.

How did directing this production of Bach at Leipzig come about?

Larry Eisenberg, one of The Group Rep’s co-artistic directors saw my well-received production of Shuffle Along which I directed for the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival.  We’ve kept in touch about plays I might choose to direct in the future and Bach at Leipzig this brilliant, madcap farce with sparkling dialogue written by Itamar  Moses was on my list.

The play takes place in the 18^th century, which I have a huge affinity for, having performed 18^th century plays under the direction and guidance of Howard Scammon, the head of my college theatre program, who was a notable scholar on the subject.  So, Bach at Leipzig was right up my alley.  I had seen a production of it at the Odyssey Theatre in 2009 and knew I wanted to direct it someday.

Tell us a bit about the play?

The play takes place in 1722, at the Thomaskirche, the most renowned church in Leipzig, Germany. To fulfill a vacancy in their music department, the church elders held a music competition, a sort of “Organist Idol” if you will, to which came all the greatest organists in Germany. That’s true historically, and is the  take- off point of the play.  From there, Itamar Moses invents a combination farce and treatise on form that is hysterical and informative at the same time! A real feat!

Is there something you want the audience to experience having seen the production?

You will learn something and laugh a lot.

Is there anything about you or the production that you want us to know or wish we had asked?

Without giving it away, pay special attention to the opening of Act 2.

Bach at Leipzig written by Itamar Moses, directed by veteran director Calvin Remsberg, produced by Suzy London for The Group Rep runs March 18 through May 1, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sunday matinees at 2:00 PM.  Q & A Talk-back Sundays are April 3 and April 17. General Admission: $25.  Students/Seniors with ID: $20.  Groups of 10+: $15. Buy tickets/information:  www.thegrouprep.com or (818) 763-5990.   Lonny Chapman Theatre is located at 10900 Burbank Blvd, North Hollywood.