CONVERSATIONS André Ward - Moulin Rouge! The Musical - Broadway in Chicago

ANDRÉ WARD – FEELS LIKE HOME!
by Ed Tracy

Moulin Rouge! The Musical, winner of 10 Tony Awards including Best Musical, opens the inaugural 2022 North American tour at Broadway in Chicago’s James M. Nederlander Theatre on April 6. With book by John Logan and musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Justin Levine, Moulin Rouge is directed by Alex Timbers, choreographed by Somya Tayehis and features an all-star cast including Courtney Reed as Satine, Conor Ryan as Christian, Austin Durant as Harold Zidler and André Ward as Henri Toulouse-Lautrec.

André Ward, who has played at the Nederlander in multiple touring productions dating back to 1998’s Ragtime, joined the CONVERSATION by telephone before a two-show preview on Wednesday to talk about playing Toulouse-Lautrec and the exhilarating reception from preview audiences for the highly anticipated show set in 1899 that infuses a tender love story with original and pop songs, all within the spectacle of the iconic Paris nightclub.

View fullsize

Ed Tracy: How long have you been in Chicago?

André Ward: We got to Chicago on February 27th. This is our second week of previews.

ET: And this is the launch of the first national tour, which has been put off for several years due to the pandemic. Have you been on board for awhile?

AW: I have. Since April 2020. We were delayed and I'm so lucky and blessed to be launching the show here in Chicago. This is my fifth time playing this theater in Chicago and I'm so excited to be here with Moulin Rouge! The Musical. It's like a full circle moment for me. I was in the cast of Ragtime that reopened the Nederlander (formerly The Ford Center) in 1998. Then I came back with Cinderella starring Eartha Kitt, The Producers and then I was here in 2018 with Escape to Margaritaville Jimmy Buffett Musical. So it feels like being home again.

ET: Ragtime is a show that has played a lot here in Chicago recently. All terrific productions, every single one of them. I imagine the 1998 tour was a highlight.

AW: It was absolutely a highlight! For me, Ragtime was one of those shows I watched on Broadway and then got the opportunity to be in it. Just thrilling. And I can say that Moulin Rouge! The Musical is the same for me. When I saw the show, I was immersed in this amazing theatrical experience. I was thrilled. It has comedy, operatic tragedy… and when we started rehearsals and performances, I was like, this is the same.

ET: So, you had seen the show before you were cast?

AW: I saw Moulin Rouge back in 2019 before I was even auditioning for it. I had some friends in it and I fell in love with it, never thinking that I would ever be in it.

ET: So take us through how that all happened back in April 2020.

AW: I started auditioning after my agent got a call saying that they are auditioning for all of the productions of Moulin Rouge. This could be for the tour. It could be for Broadway. It could be for the UK. It could be for Australia. Auditioning for all of the roles. And they wanted me to come in for Toulouse-Lautrec. And I thought, how wonderful. I went through several rounds of auditions and then got the call that I was being offered the role and it went from there.

ET: The show was pushed back a bit and twisted around in the schedule somewhat. But it seems like things are back on track for everybody right now.

AW: And isn't that fantastic! Yes. I was not prepared for how overwhelmed I'd be with the energy coming from the audiences in Chicago. As a company, we are absolutely cohesive. It's one of the most beautiful companies I've had the pleasure to be a part of. Audiences are ready to be entertained… to be enveloped in theater again. And we certainly felt that from the downbeat of the show. It's been marvelous here in Chicago, just marvelous.

ET: So let's turn to the show. The through line of Moulin Rouge incorporates original songs and a lot of pop songs and medleys in the dynamic atmosphere of the club. Give us an idea of how your character Toulouse-Lautrec fits into the musical story.

AW: The pop tunes are absolutely amazing. They are brilliant. The audience is not prepared for when they come and that's the beautiful surprise. It's set in 1899 in this indulgent, beautiful, extravagant world that is Paris at that time. Toulouse-Lautrec is a starving artist who brings together Satine, the muse of the Moulin Rouge, and Christian, an artist and songwriter from America… their love story. Toulouse-Lautrec has unrequited love for the Satine that he's never really told her about.

ET: You have, in my mind, one of the most beautiful songs in the show. Talk about “Nature Boy.”

AW: I first heard the song years ago, a version by Nat King Cole. It is absolutely one of the most beautiful songs. When I got the chance to sing it, I felt it was like a gift to me. In the context of the show, Toulouse-Lautrec sings it to Christian. It’s a bit about Satine. A bit about himself. A bit about Christian. It's sort of a memory... a little pause in the show… all the pop tunes have come at you and then there's this lovely little nugget of a song to say this is where Toulouse-Lautrec’s heart lies.

ET: Tell us something about the Toulouse-Lautrec, the person himself, that we might not know.

AW: He was a starving artist but had come from an aristocratic family. Toulouse-Lautrec broke one of his legs at 13 and one of his legs at 14 and they stopped growing. He was five-foot, five-foot one, maybe. A short man. He wasn't a little person. That's a common misconception. He fits into the show as this Bohemian artist that travels to Paris as a boy. He finds Santiago his best pal—the greatest tango dancer in all of Paris—and they need the last piece to their puzzle in writing the show. That is where Christian comes in. Christian is this wide-eyed, lovely American man who believes love can conquer all. He helps them write the show, Bohemian Rapsody.

ET: So, they've taken this multiple Tony award-winning production, which transformed the entire theater in New York, and are moving it to venues across the country with Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre as the launch of the national tour.

AW: The Nederlander is a theater that fits a lot of people, but it's so intimate. You still feel when you're sitting in the audience like you're involved in the production. Especially our production. The set is absolutely gorgeous! And you feel like you are in it and it's so perfectly well-suited for this huge spectacle, the extravaganza that is Moulin Rouge: The Musical.

ET: In terms of entertainment set at the turn of the century and recreating that for a new audience, it must feel very fulfilling to be in the middle of that excitement, enthusiasm and music that is blending the original concept of Moulin Rouge with this hip, upbeat pop culture.

AW: Most definitely. The costumes and the sets are so colorful and so of that time, but you fill in with pop music and the language and it's for a modern audience. It is the perfect blend.

 ET: Do you think that the story is driving the music, or the music is driving the story?

AW: What an amazing question. I have done a lot of catalog shows and it's really unbelievable and uncanny how the script of Moulin Rouge fits with the music. Even when I was learning the show, I would start to sing a song that came out of a scene and I couldn't believe how well-crafted it is.

ET: Hopefully sometime during the run of the show, or very soon, all of this business will be behind us and you will be able to see faces and hear laughter out loud as the audience enjoys Moulin Rouge! The Musical Rouge.

AW: Thank you so much. The audiences have been so fantastic! To hear the laughter from the house has been so fulfilling. I will say that we need theater! We need the live theater and I'm so grateful to be back in Chicago.

Comments have been edited for length and clarity.

Moulin Rouge! The Musical plays at the James M. Nederlander Theatre through May 14, 2022.
2 hours 35 minutes with an intermission
For a complete tour schedule visit: Moulin Rouge Tour

Broadway in Chicago
presents
2022 National Tour
MOULIN ROUGE! The Musical
James M. Nederlander Theatre

WEBSITE

TICKETS

MOULIN ROUGE! The Musical
James M. Nederlander Theatre
24 W. Randolph

2022 National Tour Creative Team
John Logan|Book
Alex Timbers|Director
Justin Levine|Musical Supervision|Orchestrations|Arrangements
Somya Tayehis|Choreography
Derek McLane|Set Design
Catherine Zuber|Costume Design
Justin Townsend|Lighting Design
Peter Hylenski|Sound Design
David Brian Brown|Wig and Hair Design
Sarah Cimino|Makeup Design

2022 National Tour Cast
Courtney Reed (Satine)
Conor Ryan (Christian)
Austin Durant (Harold Zidler)
André Ward (Toulouse-Lautrec)
David Harris (The Duke of Monroth)
Gabe Martínez (Santiago)
Libby Lloyd (Nini) 
Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer (Satine Alternate)
with Nicci Claspell, Harper Miles, Andres Quintero, Adrienne Balducci, Andrew Brewer, Jack Cahill-Lemme, Sam J. Cahn, Darius Crenshaw, Alexander Cruz, Alexa De Barr, Tamrin Goldberg, Alexis Hasbrouck, Jordan Fife Hunt, Justin Keats, Tyler Logan, Tanisha Moore, Brayden Newby, Kent Overshown, Amy Quanbeck, Adéa Michelle Sessoms, Jenn Stafford, Denzel Tsopnang, Travis Ward-Osborne, Sharrod Williams, Jennifer Wolfe and Ricardo Zayas.
Special Thanks Damara Anderson|Broadway in Chicago

PODCASTS available on Audacy, Apple Podcasts, Libsyn and Stitcher
ARCHIVE  DE USURIS BLOG  EMAIL  WEBSITE SUBSCRIBE

CONVERSATIONS Kelly O'Sullivan - The Play That Goes Wrong

Kelly O’Sullivan — Maintaining A Sense of Optimism
The Play That Goes Wrong

Take a look at the cast list for “The Play That Goes Wrong,” opening this week at the Broadway Playhouse, and you will see many familiar names including Matt Mueller, Colton Adams, Jonah D. Winston and Kelly O’Sullivan who are among the Chicago-based company.

You may have seen O’Sullivan at productions on the Goodman and Steppenwolf stages in recent years, however, before and during the shutdown, she had turned attention to writing and performing in film, most recently “St. Francis,” an award-winning production whose truth emanates from her own experiences. It’s all part of a career path that has led the talented actor to broaden her skill set into writing, directing and producing her own work.

O’Sullivan’s first love remains ensemble theater and being cast in “The Play That Goes Wrong” is a dream come true. As we discovered in our conversation, the show includes an unlikely additional “character”: the Tony Award winning set, designed by Nigel Hook, that is so essential to the show the cast rehearsed in New York on the Off-Broadway version.

The show itself is a tightly choreographed farce about an amateur theater troupe’s opening night performance that starts off well enough, but then rapidly disintegrates into chaos, mayhem and uproarious physical comedy. According to O’Sullivan, in order to play it all for laughs requires the cast to maintain a sense of optimism while performing the play within the play. That sounded to me like good advice for our time, to be sure.

There’s much more from Kelly O’Sullivan, who learned at an early age growing up in North Little Rock, Arkansas that theater would play a significant role in her life.

View fullsize

Kelly O’Sullivan: My kindergarten teacher told my mom she thought I would really enjoy doing theater. I was a very energetic playful kid. And so she and my mom took me to audition at a local children's theater called the Arkansas Children's Theater and I loved it. I took to it from the time that I was six years old. I continued doing theater until I was ready to graduate from high school and then went to Northwestern University and majored in theater. There is actually a very thriving group scene in Arkansas and I was very lucky to grow up inside of it.

Ed Tracy: And getting accepted into the theater program at Northwestern is no small accomplishment.

KO: I loved it there and was lucky to have gotten to train with the people that I did there.

ET: When did you attend Northwestern?

KO: Well, I would be revealing my age, so I'll just say it was about a million years ago. Okay?

ET: That's fine. I'll go with that. Were you in the WAMU show?

KO: No, no, no. That's a musical and I am very much a non-musical actor.

ET: So you are an actor. Do you dance?

KO: I do. I was part of a dance group at Northwestern called “Boomshaka” which was hip hop and drumming. So I can dance to a certain level, but not musical level dancing.

ET: I get it. I was an “upper body” dancer growing up. That was the most important half. This show—“The Play That Goes Wrong”—would you call it a farce?

KO: It definitely feels like a farce. There are all of the telltale signs of a farce, lots of people coming in and out of doors and mishaps. From the inside it definitely feels like a farce.

ET: And yet, in this kind of show, I imagine you have to learn it all the right way first in order to make the comedy work.

KO: That's right. For our very first rehearsal, we read a version of the play that goes right so that we would always be able to refer back to it and say: “Okay, if things were not going devastatingly wrong at this moment, how would we be playing this scene?” So even though it is ridiculous, we all have that foundation of truth underneath it. And then everything still starts to fall apart.

ET: The writers are Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. Have they been involved?

KO: Not in our production, although there is the clear lineage of our director, Matt DeCarlo, who worked very, very closely with them and was the original production stage manager. We feel like we're doing a very faithful production of it.

ET: So tell us, about “The Play That Goes Wrong.” It's a play within a play—“The Murder at Haversham Manor”—and it's presented by the Cornley University Drama Society.

KO: It's opening night of the latest show and they are all very proud of it. They're all very nervous. I would say they are an amateur troupe. When lights come on and the play starts, they are all incredibly optimistic and then slowly but surely some really common mistakes that happen in any theater start to happen. Their mistakes are more extreme than you might find in other theaters.

ET: The set plays a key role in this show.

KO: Yes. It's Nigel Hook’s Tony award-winning set design and when people see the play they will see why. The set acts as a part of the ensemble; it really is a character in the piece. Sometimes the set really helps out the players and sometimes the set sort of sabotages the players. So it's really fun to walk in when you sit in the audience. You just take in how gorgeous this set is. And then over the course of the show, it becomes less gorgeous and more treacherous.

ET: So when you were in New York for a month you did a lot of rehearsing on the set?

KO: The entire time we rehearsed on the set, except for a couple of hours here and there or when the actual show needed to be performed and then we would go to a rehearsal space, but that's the reason they brought all of us out to New York because it's really impossible to rehearse this play in a room without any set pieces. We needed to be on a physical set, rehearsing with all the mechanics of what happens because it is such a crucial part of the plot.

ET: How long were those rehearsals each day? How did they work with respect to the other show?

KO: They were from 9 am to 4:30 pm and then the Off Broadway company would come in and the crew would set up and do the show at night. It was really fun. It felt like a timeshare in a way that we would have it during the day and they would have it at night.

ET: That's a fascinating way to develop the show. I can't think of another show offhand that would have all rehearsals on a set already in production.

KO: Very few shows require that kind of rehearsal with the set, but ours really does.

ET:  And then you arrived last week into the Broadway Playhouse and there's your set.

KO: That's right. With tiny little differences. The window may be a couple of inches higher or we have slightly more space in the Off Broadway house, but it was like showing up and seeing an old friend because we had just been with it for a whole month.

ET: And you can make those adjustments rather quickly and then amp the show up to production speed.

KO: Yes. It's not a typical show where we could come in and just do tech on the set. It would have been a total nightmare, so I'm really glad they did it this way.

ET: You play the part of Sandra. Tell us about her role in the show.

KO:  Sandra likes things a certain way. She wants to be a star in this ensemble piece. And so she uses every opportunity to take focus and take up space. I think if she had her way she would be the director of the piece, a trait many of the characters actually have in common. And so she's playing the role of Florence Colleymoore in the show who is a real sophisticated lady. She is awesome to play because Florence Colleymoore is the character, but Sandra has such ambition and drive and a sort of greediness underneath her that’s fun.

ET: It's a physical role. How do you balance that acting requirement with the physicality that you need to have?

KO: It's a lot of multitasking. I will say this play is the most multitasking I have ever, ever done as an actor, because you are playing Sandra who plays Florence Colleymoore and you are doing a play within a play, you are having to remember all of this very intense physical choreography that is incredibly technical, and you are trying to be responsive to your fellow ensemble members and the audience. And so it's like trying to keep 25 plates in the air all at once. I think that's the challenge of it and that's the joy of it as an actor—trying to do it all at once.

ET: Is there an element of improv in all of this? Things going wrong even if they are planned to go wrong?

KO: You know the show is so tightly choreographed, we have had certain moments already of there being something spontaneously that goes wrong, that we weren't expecting. For safety reasons, the show is incredibly precise. Something that the audience feels is spontaneous to them takes a lot of skill on the writer, the director and the actor’s part to make it feel that way while all of us should hopefully know exactly what we're doing. So there's less improv than you might think.

ET: Well, the challenge is always not to play the end, right? So, you know the bit is coming and you want to keep it going.

KO: Yes and we talk about it as maintaining a sense of optimism the entire time after the first thing goes wrong and they think everything else is going to go right. And so it's maintaining that sense of optimism rather than giving into the feeling of defeatism.

ET: This is a long sit down here. Seven weeks. It is going to be a great opportunity at the Broadway Playhouse to spread your wings. What does it feel like to be in the middle of this right now?

KO: It feels really exciting. I have worked at the Goodman and Steppenwolf, but the Broadway Playhouse feels different. It is really exciting to be downtown during the holidays and to be working in a new venue.

ET: And it isn't necessarily a holiday show, although it's perfect for the holidays. Perfect for the whole family.

KO: That's right, yes. We say from age eight to 98 there's something for everybody. It is sort of that old world British murder mystery that always makes me think of the holidays. Family fun and a lot of joy.

ET: When I saw the show in New York there was audience interaction. I won't say a lot, but it was certainly important to the play. How is that aspect being handled at this point? 

KO: We are still figuring it out. We are about to go into previews and we keep saying in rehearsals that the audience will tell us. And so it's almost like we are waiting now for our other scene partner to show up. And I think that first preview is going to be incredibly informative for some actors more than others. Matt Mueller has a prolonged section where he's talking to the audience. And so I know that we're all very eager to see what that's actually going be like.

ET: You have a lot of interests. You are a writer, a producer and you have done some film acting work. Where does the fire really lie?

KO: Everywhere. The older I get the more I want to play a larger role in the kinds of stories that I'm telling. When you are a young actor you just sort of take the jobs that are given to you. I think the fire for me lies in: Do I believe in the work? Do I believe in the story? and so that takes a lot of different roads for me. I love writing and I love directing and it certainly gives me more agency. I also love being part of the ensemble. There are more and more people who are not sort of sectioning themselves off to just one path anymore. There are more multi-hyphenate people who are acting, writing and directing and doing all of it. And so I want to be really active in doing whatever excites me most at the moment.

ET: You have a new film project underway. Anything you can let us know about that.

KO: The goal is for us to shoot it this summer, it's called “Mouse” and hopefully the next step in my evolution as a filmmaker. I wrote and starred in “St. Francis.” I wrote “Mouse,” and will co-direct. It will be shot in Arkansas which will be really exciting to go back to my home and tell a story from there.

ET: “St. Francis” was somewhat autobiographical, is that true?

KO: There were components of it there that were taken from real life. It is one of those things that you start from your seeds of truth in your own life and then fictionalize from there. So components of it.

ET: So is “Mouse” in the same vein?

KO: Not as much, it's more using real with settings that I know from Arkansas. It's definitely more fictionalized than “St. Francis”.

ET: Well, I have to admit, I don't talk to a lot of actors who have such a broad understanding of the film and television aspect of their lives and are making their art themselves. That does seem to be a trend that you are in the forefront. It is important that actors across the board have multiple projects working all at the same time. I hear it from a lot of very successful actors that they have a kit bag of all of these projects and pivot when necessary.

KO: That's right. I think it is a way to stay engaged. A way to not get rusty or to feel bored. And you want to exercise different muscles because after awhile, at least for me being an actor, people want to pigeonhole you, or they think: “Well, they've done this before, so let's just have them do it again.” It's really up to the individual to say: “Well, I'm tired of that. And I want to do something else. Something that I have more say in.”

ET: We are about four days away from the opening of “The Play That Goes Wrong”. Any final thoughts about coming back home to Chicago?

KO: As we were rehearsing in New York, we kept saying that we can't wait to get home and show this to our friends and families and have people who come visit Chicago see it. It's such a blast. It's so wild. It's so funny and we are excited to bring it to our hometown.

ET: I really hope—and this comes from my heart, Kelly—that everything goes wrong. I hope it goes wrong every single night.

KO: I think it will.

Comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

PHOTO: Jeremy Daniel

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
presents
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
The Broadway Playhouse
Water Tower Place

December 14, 2021 through January 30, 2022

WEBSITE

TICKETS

Reviews at PicksInSix®
For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago

PicksInSix® is a registered trademark of Roxbury Road Creative, LLC

PODCASTS available on Apple Podcasts, Audacy and Libsyn
ARCHIVE PICKSINSIX REVIEWS  DE USURIS BLOG  EMAIL  WEBSITE SUBSCRIBE

PicksInSix Q & A - BRENDA DIDIER - PARAMOUNT THEATRE presents "CINDERELLA"

PicksInSix® Q & A - Brenda Didier – Paramount Theatre presents “CINDERELLA”

The rags to riches story of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s CINDERELLA is timeless. For many of us of a certain age, it evokes memories of Julie Andrews and Lesley Ann Warren in the title role, which, thanks to broadcast television, expanded the audience to upwards of 60 million viewers at the time—one report had Andrews live viewership at nearly 110 million in 1957!—connecting the new medium of television with live performance. Warren’s 1965 version was rebroadcast annually for eight consecutive years.

Fast forward to the 1997 revival co-produced by Whitney Houston, that had equally staggering numbers of viewers. That production, with a teleplay by Robert L. Freedman with Whoopi Goldberg, was adapted for the stage by Tom Briggs in 1999 and toured with the likes of Brandy, Houston, Bernadette Peters and Eartha Kitt. It is a vastly different story line than the original and decades ahead of its time.

On the eve of the official opening of Paramount Theatre’s production of CINDERELLA, as Mikayla Renfrow makes her Paramount Theatre debut in the title role, we asked director Brenda Didier six questions about the process of putting the show together for Paramount Theatre’s holiday season. The multi-Jeff Award-winning Didier—who has received over thirty Jeff nominations and counting—has a long and distinguished career as a director, choreographer, actor and dancer. She is also the founder and principal of the Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, teaching the next generation of dance students and theatre artists.

View fullsize

Ed Tracy: The Paramount revival of CINDERELLA feels both inspired and daunting, given the unique times in which we live.

What is it about this particular adaptation that drew you to it?

Brenda Didier: I was drawn to this particular adaptation after seeing the Brandy/Whitney Houston version on TV starring Whoopi Goldberg- who also produced this version. I like the humor, heart and honesty. It also has a more contemporary feel to the script. It feels fresh and full of heart. I like the 2013 revival, but the script did not speak to me. The political subplot in that production took me away from the Cinderella story a bit. This is Paramount's big holiday slot. Families make a holiday outing and with that in mind, this version felt appropriate for their holiday audiences. It also moves along nicely.

ET: Paramount productions attract top national and regional talent and “CINDERELLA” has a superstar company.

Talk about the casting process, what you were initially looking for and what you found. Any surprises along the way?

BD: Trent Stork, Paramount's amazing casting director, started the casting process in March of 2020. When Covid shut down theatres, we canceled in-person auditions and Trent sent us many self-tapes. This entire show was cast between May-July 2020 via video submissions. Tiffany Krause, our co-choreographer, Kory Danielson, our music director, and I viewed the submissions, wrote notes and met via zoom meetings to do the best we could with this cast. The challenges were not being able to read actors with each other during callbacks to answer questions like: Do they have the right chemistry? What is their energy like in the room, etc? Tiffany also recorded herself teaching two dance combinations for the ensemble dancers to learn via video. They would then film themselves in various locations—apartments, rooftops, garages, parks—anywhere they could dance safely and have space and then submit their videos to Trent. We could not teach any partnering in this scenario, but we did the best we could. The cast was put on hold until we knew when CINDERELLA would actually happen. We did lose about 8-9 cast members, including principals, when we were back up and running. Some actors changed careers during the pandemic, moved out of town, started families, or had conflicts. We recast their roles via more video submissions. On our first day of rehearsal—October 12—we finally met everyone in person after nineteen months off. Remarkably, the cast bonded and the chemistry started. It has been quite a process and I cannot express my gratitude enough to Trent and the entire Paramount team!

ET: Do you have a sense that you are directing the show differently than you would have before the shutdown? If you can, speak to some of the specific challenges you and the creative team had to overcome to maintain the momentum.

BD:I definitely directed this show differently than I would have before the shutdown. The creative team only met one time in person. Zoom meetings were helpful, but we did lose momentum and connection during the long shutdown. It took me a while to get my director footing again. This is also my first show directing at the Paramount and a musical of this scale. I have directed at larger venues, but they were either live events or commercial/concert projects. I was feeling the isolation we were all feeling. We talked about it during our table work. Within every fairytale, there is a world with real people, real situations and real conflict and wants. The cast also came back from the shutdown with many emotions. I was extra sensitive to their process, especially to the actors I had just met.

ET: This is a creative industry that thrives on collaboration. What are the essential qualities you look for in establishing a creative team? 

BD: Establishing a creative team that is on the same page and trusts one another is so important. I had choreographed The Producers with the amazing Jim Corti directing, so I had collaborated as a choreographer with the brilliant Paramount designers before—Jesse Gaffney (Props), Katie Cordts (Wigs and Make-up) and Adam Rosenthal (Sound Design), so there was already a familiarity with them. I have collaborated with both Angie Weber Miller (Set Design) and Theresa Ham (Costume Design). They are also brilliant and special collaborators. Vicki Bain, our lighting designer, was new to me. She had designed Newsies for Paramount, so she was very familiar with the space. We hit it off immediately. This is a huge show with many moving parts technically and full of magic. During our tech process, many adjustments were made over and over again when the team realized what did not work. We quickly brainstormed about plans B, C, D. This is live theatre and things come up unexpectedly. Amber Mak and Paul Jordan Jansen, our artistic leads on the show, have been so valuable as they have experience on and off the Paramount stage. I learned so much from them and throughout this process. 

ET: You have had an enormously successful career as a performer, choreographer and then as director/choreographer at theaters of all sizes across Chicagoland in addition to teaching the next generation of dancers.

What advice would you give to help others find balance of their personal and professional lives?

BD: Finding work/life balance is challenging in any career, but particularly in the performing arts. The hours can be very long. I was often at the theatre from 11am-12am. We work six days a week for six weeks and do not have much time for family or friends. I am very lucky to have such a supportive family and friends. I have a wonderful executive director at my dance academy, Lincolnshire Academy of Dance, to handle things while I am away. It is important to take time to connect with your loved ones, take time for yourself, so you don't burn out. The emails come fast and can be overwhelming at times, but you learn to breathe, remember the "Why" we are in this line of work and practice daily gratitude. I am more grateful to create again after experiencing theater and the world shut down for so long. 

ET: Can you share a Fairy Godmother moment in your life?

BD:I feel like I have many Fairy Godmother moments in my life. Throughout my life, many important women had such an influence on me and believed in me. One moment that stands out to me is when one of my dearest childhood friends, Gabrielle Smillie, flew in with her husband in 2009. I was a week away from starting my chemotherapy treatments for Grade 3 breast cancer. They flew in and stayed at the hotel where our competition dancers were performing/competing that weekend. I will never forget it. It was the push I needed to begin the treatment process and, I am happy to say, get on with my life.

PARAMOUNT THEATRE
presents
RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S
CINDERELLA
through January 9, 2022

23 East Galena Boulevard
Aurora, Illinois

WEBSITE

TICKETS

(630) 896–6666

HEALTH & SAFETY

READ THE “CINDERELLA” PicksInSix® Review

ARCHIVE - 2017 CONVERSATION with BRENDA DIDIER

PODCASTS available on Audacy, Apple Podcasts, Libsyn and Stitcher
ARCHIVE  DE USURIS BLOG  EMAIL  WEBSITE SUBSCRIBE

RENT - LYNDIE MOE MAKING THE MOST OF EVERY MOMENT

Jonathan Larson’s groundbreaking musical RENT returns to Broadway in Chicago’s CIBC Theatre for eight performances October 5 through 10 for the 25th Anniversary “Farewell Season of Love” Tour. The 2021 touring cast includes a few familiar faces from the pandemic abbreviated tour that was put on ice by COVID-19.

Returning to the role of Maureen that she played in the 2018-19 tour will be Lyndie Moe, an actor who has a personal backstory as fascinating and inspiring as the complex character she portrays. Growing up on a farm in Emporia, Kansas, Moe attended a year at Rider University and then landed a role in RENT in 2017 at her first open call audition. The two-year tour experience that followed was both a series of formative and life-changing events for the actor.

I spoke with Moe during a rehearsal break in New York recently. Early on in our phone conversation, I asked how she has been preparing for the relaunch during lockdown since receiving the casting call.

Lyndie Moe: I've been drinking a ton of water and spending time with my family, because I'm not going to be seeing them once I hit the road. Throughout COVID, I wasn't really thinking at all that I was going to be returning to the tour. I received a call from the casting director last December and she asked how I would feel about getting back on the road with RENT. I was ecstatic.

Ed Tracy: A 50-city tour that runs through mid-2022 is a big commitment. What preparation led up to rehearsals beginning September 1?

LM: We had one zoom meeting with our hair and makeup and our wardrobe supervisor. It was the whole cast. That was actually the first time we saw everyone who was going to be on the road.

ET: And you're returning to this cast with three other cast members who were in the previous tour.

LM: Jayvon King (Angel), Cody Jenkins(Mark) and James Shoppe (Ensemble/Steve) all return. It's nice to be in the same room with all of them, to remember what we went through and also being able to do the tour with this new lens that we all have. It's interesting to see how everyone's character has progressed.

ET: Talk a minute about that lens. Your initial run began in 2017. You are an actor of a different generation than this show and it has its own set of challenges. The word “virus” now pops out of this musical with even more meaning and you're coming back into it with a whole new experience of your own with that term. From a life standpoint, you perhaps haven't, to this point, had to deal with the finality of losing a friend, but this pandemic has affected all of us. How has this experience changed what you're bringing to the role now?

LM: When I first went on tour, I was fresh out of high school, went to one year of college and then auditioned and got the role. So I hadn't had much life experience. I was sort of in my own bubble, as some say, growing up in my hometown with no idea what was about to happen. Then I did two years on tour and it was sort of like my own college experience. I feel like I learned a lot about how to stay healthy, how to keep my voice ready for eight shows a week and the things that I would have learned in college, I was able to learn on the road. I'm thankful for that.

After COVID hit, I lost my grandma, which was the first heavy loss that I've ever had. And that sort of shook up how I looked at everything in the world. I am able to view RENT as more than this amazing musical that means so much to so many people . I look at it more as an outlet for artistic expression and all of us being in a community together. Feeling these intense emotions. It's easier to go through with people and not alone. I'm very thankful that I get to do this again with this new perspective.

ET: It is a show that speaks to a time of loss, love and friendship and made a mark in the theatrical community. Tony Award. Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Jonathan Larson story. Can you talk a little about what makes this production unique?

LM: Our creative team and the people helping us put this show together and ready for the public includes almost everyone who was working with Jonathan Larson, were great friends or knew him or talked to him so that they constantly share stories about him or show us videos of him which is really beautiful. We do feel like we have a very close connection with his story. And I know his dad has come to see the tour a few times, and it's always very emotional when he comes. He always mentions that he would give it all back if he could see his son again, which is a crucial aspect of the show as well. You never know when your last year or your last month will be. So it's important to make the most of every moment for sure. His legacy follows the show. We can feel it whenever we sing his songs, like “Seasons of Love. We feel the energy in the cast and throughout the crew. There is also a sign in our backstage that says: “Thank you, Jonathan Larson.” We see it whenever we are in a theater.

ET: “Seasons of Love” comes at an interesting point at the top of Act 2 and is one of the most identifiable songs from the show. How does that particular moment feel to you following the first act where you've built momentum and created a series of interconnecting relationships between each other and then everyone breaks out in this jubilant anthem?

LM: I love that number. You really see everybody (in the audience) and you see that RENT is a cultural touchstone for a lot of people because they're all singing the words. Some people are crying. Some people are laughing. It means a lot to everyone. And being able to see people's reactions is one of the only times in the show that we're able to do that. It just makes the whole theater feel more like a family that is in it together which is really important for the show.

ET: Everyone on stage talks about Maureen for 20 minutes before you enter so we're really looking forward to seeing her for the first time. Talk about the protest appearance and “Over the Moon”.

LM: There's no other song out there in musical theater that I would rather be doing. It's just so wacky, but it's also so real. It's like this one woman show that Maureen has been planning over and over again. A giant metaphor to sort of protest what the character Benny has been doing. I love it every night. It just feels very real and I can't wait to be doing that again.

ET: Jonathan Larson had a marvelous mind. I'm not the first person to say without RENT, there is no HAMILTON. It was a groundbreaking deliverance of a sung-through rock musical of a time and topic with all these characters from different backgrounds. Maureen has a very interesting development throughout this story.

LM: She definitely starts out very confident in whatever state that she's in. She's confident about who she is, what she wants as the show progresses. However, she does learn to be a little bit selfless, which is necessary. At Angel's funeral she gives a eulogy. You can see that she cares deeply about other people. And she is able to take that spotlight away from herself, which I don't think she would have been able to do in the beginning.

And Maureen and Joanne are off and on, off and on. There's definitely a relationship that is like a ping pong game. You never really know what's going to happen. I wouldn't say she evolves into really anything besides just being her herself unapologetically. She is always herself. She is so confident. I really admire that about her.

ET: What is a favorite moment for you?

LM: “Seasons of Love” or the finale when we're all at the table and we're all together and we're singing and the lights are coming up in the audience a little and you can see people are starting to get emotional. It just feels very whole. I feel very complete with all of these people around me singing this beautiful music.

ET: I wish you well for the upcoming run. It's a massive undertaking. The 50-city tour of RENT starts September 30th and arrives in Chicago at the CIBC Theater on October 5th for eight performances through October 10. I hope you find Chicago as enjoyable as you did the first time around.

LM: I really appreciate that. I've had a wonderful time talking with you. I am very excited for Chicago.

ET: What's the first thing you're going to do?

LM: Oh my gosh. Probably just walk. Just walk and see where my feet take me.

This transcript has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

PRODUCTION PHOTOS:
Lyndie Moe-Carol Rosegg
Cody Jenkins-Amy Boyle

BROADWAY IN CHICAGO
Presents
RENT
The 25th Anniversary
“Farewell Season of Love” Tour

October 5-10, 2021

CIBC Theatre
18 West Monroe

TICKETS

RENT - TOUR WEBSITE

PODCASTS available on Apple Podcasts, Audacy and Libsyn
ARCHIVE  DE USURIS BLOG  EMAIL  WEBSITE SUBSCRIBE

ALL HAIL THE CAESAR! TEATRO ZINZANNI RETURNS!

All Hail The Caesar! Teatro ZinZanni Returns! 

The house band is back together on the 14th floor of the Cambria Hotel where on July 8th Teatro ZinZanni will mark its return to nightly performances in the 100 year-old Speigeltent ZaZou. The return of live theatre is courtesy of co-producers Broadway in Chicago and Randolph Entertainment, LLC, a giant leap forward for the performing arts in Chicago, offering the perfect combination of cocktails, a four-course menu conceived by Debbie Sharpe’s The Goddess and The Grocer and an international cast of featured performers and vocalists served up with a special brand of comic mayhem from impresario and host Frank Ferrante in the character of The Caesar.

It was Ferrante as The Caesar who led the charge in his chariot the first time around in August 2019. The show, created and directed by Norman Langill, is a glistening, non-stop, immersive entertainment extravaganza including the trapeze act, Duo 19, singers Cunio and Storm Marrero, aerialist Lea Hinz, hula-hoop contortionist Vita Radinova, and dancer Mickael Bajazet. And the comic mayhem includes Ferrante and the comic mastermind Joe De Paul who returns to the show and to share directing credit with Dreya Weber and Langill.

I caught up with Ferrante (and his alter-ego The Caesar) in a phone interview during a break in rehearsals to talk about the new show, how The Caesar character came to be and what the moment was like when he heard that Teatro ZinZanni was returning to Chicago this summer.

Frank Ferrante: It's been a process to accept it and to fully embrace the possibility… I think I will really believe it when I walk on the stage on July 8th… There were certainly moments of feeling despondent over how things were going. There were also great, wonderful, beautiful moments that occurred during the last year and a half. … I really was excited about working again with my colleagues, my peers, being around creative people, funny people, performers who are literally risking their lives and that kind of passion that I'd missed… It has been a heck of ride and this past week of rehearsal has been just thrilling.

View fullsize

ET: From the outside looking in during the pandemic, we saw you being cavalier. A lot of online stuff. Your Groucho show at a drive-in. You were pumping people with energy, enthusiasm and optimism. I can't think of anything better than to have The Caesar and Teatro ZinZanni opening the Chicago season.

FF: You default to what you know and I don't believe in quitting. When someone asks me “What's your motto?” it's really: Never say die. … I was weaned on the laughmakers. I love the great comics of the past. I love the great comics of today. I grew up watching Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Martin and Lewis and Laurel and Hardy and made a study out of it from the time I was a kid. So it's really in me. It's in my blood. I love the tradition and Teatro ZinZanni is very much of that tradition. It has a vaudeville vibe to it. An elegant variety. And it's got that same kind of rhythm and pulse of this American form of entertainment. Chicago is a great town for it because there was so much of this going on in Chicago in terms of comedy and touring shows, shows that originated in Chicago and so many great comedians come from Chicago. So it seems like the perfect place to come out of this pandemic. I always feel welcomed here—from audiences, to friends in the media, to the friends I made while I was here. My brother lives here so there is very much a feeling of home here. And I'm a theatre guy first and foremost and this is a theatre town. That's not lost on me.

ET: And you've created this over-the-top character “The Caesar.” How did The Caesar and Teatro ZinZanni get together?

FF: There's nothing quite like Teatro ZinZanni.  I had never seen anything like it. It started in 1998 by Norman Langill who is here in Chicago directing the show along with two other directors. There is a team that work on it. There are so many different components. He saw a tent in Spain during one of the Olympics in the early 90s, I believe—(as ‘The Caesar’) It could have been midnight, maybe ‘96 or ‘92. Someone can correct me—but he saw this incredible Belgian Spiegeltent which is really a character in the show. It has beautiful burgundy fabric, hand-carved wood and stained glass. (The stage area) is in the round and was used for parties, Octoberfest and dances. Norman Langill brought one to Seattle and came up with his own version of the show thinking it would last a matter of weeks. It played for 20 years in Seattle (and later) in San Francisco. Chicago is (currently) the only one representing the Teatro ZinZanni name. It's immersive theatre in that you don't know who the maître d is or if the waitstaff are really performers.

There is a wonderful actor by the name of Kevin Kent, who was the first comic host. He did drag and he's a brilliant interactive improvisational performer and played three different characters. They flew me out to watch him in action and I was blown away. Kevin was here in Chicago right before the pandemic and will be back in January. I was just completely transfixed by this gentleman. I thought: “Why do they want me to do drag? What do they want me to do?” The answer was they wanted me to come up with my own stuff. I had never really done that. I've directed. And I acted. I have a one-man show about Groucho Marx, but I’d never really done sketch interactive comedy within a variety show that features acts from all over the world, contortionists, jugglers, foot jugglers, singers Joan Baez, and Liliane Montevecchi and acts from a variety of countries and different disciplines.

Stuart Gordon saw me do my one-man Groucho Marx show in California. (as ‘The Caesar’) And I was particularly hot that night. I was on fire! There were four hundred people in the audience! It was sold out. And I remember being angry before the performance, having to move the piano around and feeling like: “Come on! Someone help me out here!” Anger is sometimes good for a comic, particularly for playing Groucho Marx. I just started going wild with the improv and making fun of everything and everyone. I got huge laughs and a standing ovation. It was very satisfying. I was able to vent and, in a way, that was healthy and paid off for the audience.

Stuart called his friend Norman Langill and said: “You should see this guy. You should use him. He would be a great host for your show.” And so I was approached, they flew me out to see Kevin Kent in San Francisco, and Teatro ZinZanni with all these great performers and said: “No, we don't want you to do his material. We don't want you to play his role. We want you to come up with your own material.”

And so I met with the director, Stefan Haves, and we started brainstorming. Initially I was doing a little Groucho on the show, which really didn't work that well, in my opinion, because it was circus within a circus. Groucho needs to be in a more formal setting. He needs to break the fourth wall. He needs to tear down the walls in a circus that is already wild. So there was no contrast. I have always fantasized about making fun of show business characters, egocentric people, macho types… those kinds of characters. It's been done – the so-called ‘Latin Lover’–but I thought I might be able to put my own spin on it. I drew him. I sketched him out. I gave him the big pompadour and a beauty mark, a little mustache, a little thin pen, pencil, mustache, sideburns, rosy cheeks and lounge suit. I showed it to the great costume designer Beaver Bauer and she put together these beautiful costumes for me. And that was the beginning.

The question was then how far can I go? Do I wear a crazy outfit and underplay it? Or do I go over the top with him, as you mentioned. Once I saw the costume, there was only one way to play him – over the top and unfiltered. And the fun thing about him is that he says what he wants to say and he does what he wants to do. He has huge appetites and, in a way, he's me exploded. What is within me. It's what I try to keep from being seen.

ET: It seems to me that there are a lot of those comedians you mentioned within the framework of ‘The Caesar,’ you find them in what you're doing and how you're communicating with people. One of the highlights of your performance is how you relate to the people in the audience. You look at someone and you immediately sense how they are going to react to you and what you have to say to get them to laugh. Where does that particular skill come from?

 FF: I think it has to do with at-bats. I have had a lot of opportunity from the time I was a kid to working in the theatre professionally since I was 22. I'm 58 now so a lot of it is due to the work I spent doing the Groucho role, a great deal of interaction and judging an audience, feeling the energy of an audience, knowing how far I can go figuring out when I should pull back, because ultimately, I don't want to hurt anyone. You want to uplift someone. I like brash humor and teasing humor. Not everyone does. I love it. I love that type of humor. I love Groucho. I love David Letterman. There's a lot of comedians of that ilk that I admire, but I think that has to do with just being around people.

I think I am a fairly sensitive person and that is in play. I want people to get their money's worth. I want people to have fun, but you learn and you make mistakes, too. Early on it wasn't perfect and it took months and years to get to a point where I can do this and feel comfortable with it. It's been hundreds and hundreds of performances within this role—probably over 1500—and all kinds of different people and children are in the audience, seniors, people from different backgrounds. You name it. It has to do with the privilege of having so many opportunities and not everyone gets that. I have been one of the really fortunate performers on the planet. I've worked consistently up until the pandemic, month after month in different areas and different countries. Your instincts take over. I learned to rely on my instincts. And there is a lot to be said for practice. I've had a lot of practice.

ET: It's a glorious set up. The magnificent Speigeltent ZaZou within the building, the band elevated behind the stage and the show occurs throughout the space. A lot goes on in there.

FF: You would never know that this remarkable tent sits like a jewel in this building. You're on Randolph. At the Cambria Hotel. You go up to the 14th floor and would never know once you get off that elevator the world that is awaiting you. It's beautiful art decor, chandelier's, mirrors and brick. It looks like it's been hidden there for a hundred years.

ET: Any final thoughts from ‘The Caesar?’

FF: (as ‘The Caesar’) Hello Everybody! I love you all. You cannot go wrong with Teatro ZinZanni and The Caesar. We hope to see you. You will have the best time of your life!

Teatro ZinZanni kicks off the summer season in Chicago’s Loop on July 8th. The show runs Wednesdays through Saturdays at 7:00 PM. with a Sunday brunch option as well. For more information about individual, group sales and booking special events, visit the website.

Comments have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Teatro ZinZanni
Performances begin July 8, 2021
Open Run
Spiegeltent ZaZou
Cambria Hotel
32 W Randolph St. Chicago

WEBSITE

TICKETS

(312) 488-0900

PODCASTS available on Audacy, Apple Podcasts, Libsyn and Stitcher
ARCHIVE  DE USURIS BLOG  EMAIL  WEBSITE SUBSCRIBE