Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 7

"My favorite line in musical theatre history is the one where Irene says, 'Dolly, the world is full of wonderful things!' When I said it in rehearsal the first time to Charis [Leos], I broke down in tears. It's a thought I repeat to myself if I am down. Irene is saying, 'Take risks, go enjoy this wonderful world!'" Actress Lauren Blackman is talking enthusiastically about her upcoming portrayal of Irene Malloy in Maine State Music Theatre's new production of HELLO, DOLLY!, which runs July 17 - August 3, 2019, at the Pickard Theater in Brunswick. Blackman returns not only to a beloved role, but also to friends and a theatre company and community she calls "home." Last season, she appeared briefly in the gala 60th Anniversary Concert, but it has been almost four years since she graced the stage in a major role - last in 2015 as Marion in THE MUSIC MAN and before that in 2013 in MARY POPPINS. Those intervening years have, indeed, been fruitful ones for Blackman - filled with all kinds of wonderful things!

Judging by the squeals of delight from the youngsters attending MSMT's second Theatre for Young Audiences production of THREE LITTLE PIGS, the familiar nursery rhyme made into a musical by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe proved to be a great hit! The fifty-five minute retelling of the tale of the three piglets who leave home to make their way in the world and must outsmart the Big Bad Wolf to survive is told with charm, wit and a touch of contemporaneity and gentle messaging.

"The main purpose of NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre) is preservation of the art form. We are committed to keeping musical theatre moving forward and changing with the times. MSMT is a founding member of NAMT, and our decision to produce TREASURE ISLAND A MUSICAL ADVENTURE is our way of participating with new work." The speaker is Curt Dale Clark, MSMT's Artistic Director, who is part of a panel of cast members from the theatre's East Coast premiere of the new musical version of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel, which is currently wowing audiences at the Pickard Theater in Brunswick. Clark, together with actors Aaron Ramey, James Patterson, Michael Iannucci, and Gabriel Rosario spoke with BROADWAY WORLD's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold on July 3rd in the second of MSMT's PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN program at Curtis Memorial Library.

In the opening number of their revue, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, E. Faye Butler and Felicia P. Fields sing "You only live once, so let the good times roll!" And for the next one hundred minutes,these two legendary divas unleash a torrent of song, story, and soul that rocks the Pickard Theater with unchained energy, joy, and inspiration.

There is magic afoot at MSMT's Pickard Theater - and miracles! Not supernatural ones, but rather those that happen when a fresh new work of musical theatre dazzles the public with its excitement and beauty. And that is exactly what Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's TREASURE ISLAND A MUSICAL ADVENTURE does as its charts an epic and extraordinary course that gives MSMT audiences a production that is grand, genuinely thrilling, and emotionally satisfying in a timeless way. Robert Louis Stevenson's novel has been adapted for stage and screen numerous times, but none has been as compelling, as simultaneously classic and contemporary as this new musical version, which had its world premiere at the Fulton Theatre in 2018. This East Coast premiere of TREASURE ISLAND offers audiences an opulent production, a brilliant team of creatives, cast, and crew, who pour all their energies into crafting an adventure for the ages. Known for bringing 'Broadway to Brunswick,' with TREASURE ISLAND MSMT has produced a show that is worthy to inhabit any Broadway stage and to find a lasting place in the American musical repertoire.

"I would love to play an iconic adventure hero role, and this is a herculean moment for me that is incredibly gratifying. It is a beautiful story." Michael William Nigro is talking about playing the young hero of TREASURE ISLAND, Jim Hawkins, in the new musical version by Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark, which begins a run of its East Coast premiere at Maine State Music Theatre on June 26th. The twenty-year-old Nigro, who returns to the show after having made his debut in the Fulton Theatre's world premiere in September 2018, says that not only is TREASURE ISLAND a coming of age story for Jim Hawkins, but that he, himself, has "experienced moments of huge personal growth. The experience of the show has informed me so much in this last year. And now [returning to reprise the role], I get an opportunity to connect my own coming of age experience to the character - to bring what is so real to me into the role." Nigro's journey from the New Jersey suburb of Cranford to New York and regional stages as well as to television and film began, he recalls, at age three. "My Mom took me to see LES MISERABLES at the local high school. An actor named Jonathan Schwartz caught me attention. I was enamored of his work, and I followed his career as I grew up. He was the first person in the theatre whom I looked up to; I wanted to be like him. Fast forward to when I was fourteen and about to perform in THE SOUND OF MUSIC LIVE, I received a message from him as he was rehearsing ALADDIN on Broadway," he smiles, noting the serendipitous way lives intertwine in the theatre.

"I had been looking for a reason to come back, and do another show here, so I was pleased when my managers sent me to audition for TREASURE ISLAND [A MUSICAL ADVENTURE]. Doing new work is always great; I love that process where I get to be more involved in the actual creation." Broadway star Aaron Ramey is explaining how he has come to find himself back in Maine to play the plum role of Long John Silver in MSMT's East Coast premiere of Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's new epic musical which plays at the Pickard Theater from June 26 - July 13, 2019. Ramey had been an intern in 1997 while he was still a student at Otterbein University. "Ironically," he notes, "that was the summer of renovatios and MSMT performed at Crooker Auditorium, so this production will actually be my first time on the Pickard stage." He recalls the shows from that season: "I was in SWEENEY TODD, CAROUSEL, and TOMMY. I wasn't a good enough dancer to be in THE MUSIC MAN, but I did get to carry the pool table across stage, and in A CHORUS LINE, I played trombone in the pit," he laughs. "And then, too, I knew Michael Nigro [who plays Jim Hawkins] from a workshop we had both been in in New York, and he had urged me to audition."

Just as the youthful cast sings their exuberant anthem, 'We Go Together,' at the close of GREASE, so, too, might the theatre-loving communities of Midcoast Maine find new reason to celebrate in the first-ever co-production of Maine State Music Theatre and The Public Theatre. From June 18-30, 2019, the two Equity companies have joined forces to present Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey's beloved classic, in Lewiston in a fresh, new, vibrant production that recaptures all the joy, travails, libido and angst of adolescence.

Maine State Music Theatre kicked off its Monday Concert Series with three sold-out performances (June 15-17) of Scott Moreau's original Johnny Cash tribute concert, WALKIN' THELINE. Moreau's identification with Cash is deep and unerring, and he brings to his portrayal of the iconic singer not only a mellifluous bass-baritone, but also the skills of a fine actor combining them into a truly remarkable theatrical experience.

"I did this show two decades ago with these amazing ladies, and when I asked them if they would be willing to reprise their performances. When they said 'yes,' I was thrilled to be able to bring this new production here to MSMT." Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark is speaking about Maine State Music Theatre's 2019 season opener, the dazzling Duke Ellington revue, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, and its co-stars E. Faye Butler and Felicia P. Fields, who are now playing at Brunswick's Pickard Theater. Butler, Fields, and Jessica A. Lawyer, one of the astounding dancers in the show, have joined Clark and BROADWAY WORLD'S Maine Editor, Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, on June 12 at Curtis Memorial Library to discuss the production at the opening panel discussion of the theatre's annual PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN series.

"It's like a first date, " says Christopher Schario, Executive/artistic Director of Lewiston's Public Theatre. "It's a total cross population between our institutions and our audiences," he adds. Maine State Music Director Curt Dale Clark concurs: "This co-production is helping the arts in both our communities. It's upping the ante and providing more opportunities for people to enjoy live theatre," The two artistic heads , together with the leads of the production Tanner Callicutt and Katie Brnjac are chatting with Broadway World about the first-ever collaboration between the two theatres, a new staging of the musical GREASE, performed at The Public Theatre June 18-30, 2019.

"It's the kind of music that makes you feel regal," actress Felicia P. Fields says, describing the genius of Duke Ellington. "The word 'sophistication' isn't used as much today as it was back then. There was an elegance in the period." Fields, who is one of the stars of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of SOPHISTICATED LADIES, which runs at the Pickard Theater from June 5-22, 2019, believes that the production, directed by Marc Robin with three individual choreographers and an eleven piece orchestra perfectly captures the 1920s and 1930s and the big-band era.

Portland's Dramatic Repertory Company chose the intimate black box environment of Portland Stage's Studio Theatre to present the Maine premiere of Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize winning play, THE FLICK, in a production that is filled with dark humor, poignant moments, and almost excruciating intensity. THE FLICK, clocking in at three hours, ten minutes, is a work that requires patience and commitment to mine its many riveting theatrical moments, but if the audience invests itself in the conceit of real time and unvarnished dialogue, there are many rewards.

So what does a theatre company do to keep its momentum and even up the ante after a 60th anniversary season that broke all records? Why not hire three choreographers, fourteen virtuoso singer-dancers, and an eleven-piece big band orchestra, to mount the largest dance show in its history that celebrates the music of one of America's immortal musical geniuses, Duke Ellington? That is precisely what Maine State Music Theatre has done in its 2019 season opener with its sensational all-singing, all-dancing, visually opulent extravaganza, SOPHISTICATED LADIES, that is currently blowing the roof off the Pickard with its high-octane visceral energy, heady joy, and pure lyrical magic.

"Felicia and I have a song in our concert, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL, that we wrote. It's called 'That Wasn't Me,' laughs actress E. Faye Butler. It talks about how people will walk up to me and say, 'Felicia, I'm so glad to see you.' And then they do the same thing to Felicia, calling her E. Faye. It makes us laugh!" Butler is speaking of her close friend and co-star at MSMT this summer, actress Felicia P. Fields, with whom she shares the stage in SOPHISTICATED LADIES and in their joint revue, LETTIN' THE GOOD TIMES ROLL. "We have known each other for thirty-one years on and off stage. We both began our journeys growing up on Chicago's South Side. I am godmother to her daughter; our husbands are good friends. We have gone on vacation and spent holidays together. She is like a sister to me. We can laugh, argue, say I'm sorry, and hug it out. We can finish each other's sentences. Working with Felicia is easy, so it is always a treat to do a show together."

'I love the way Snow White is a strong female character in this version. She doesn't go away with the Prince in the end, and she doesn't feel she owes him anything just because he rescued her. She is written to be a self-aware and smart character,' says Ayanna Stover, who plays the princess in MSMT's Theatre for Young Audiences musical SNOW WHITE.

Maine State Music Theatre launches its 2019 Theatre for Young Audiences series with a fresh, vivid, polished production of Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's highly original musical version of SNOW WHITE. The familiar fairytale gets a 'politically correct' overhaul in this iteration - one which despite the fact that it was written more than twenty-five years ago - remains astoundingly innovative and relevantly modern.

Jason Robert Brown's THE LAST FIVE YEARS is a touching, edgy, through-composed gem of a work which handles the huge subject of a failed marriage and all its psychological fallout in minimalist terms. The two-character, completely sung book uses a lovely string trio to underscore the introspective monologues of the husband and wife, as they travel in non-linear time through the memories of their marriage.

'He said he had this power in his hand, fire in his being that he called animal magnetism,' says Al D'Andrea, director and book author of Snowlion Repertory's new musical, MESMERIZED, which will run from May 3 - May 12, 2019, at the Portland Ballet Studio Theater. D' Andrea, who, together with Snowlion's Producing Director, Margit Ahlin, are the co-founders of this adventurous Maine theatre company, sat down to talk to Broadway World about their new work and about the history of their theatre.

'It's always hard to follow an anniversary season, where you've pulled out all the stops for that special celebration,' confides Maine State Music Theatre's Artistic Director, Curt Dale Clark, as he sits down with Broadway World Maine to preview the company's upcoming 61st season. 'It's a bit scary because after the anniversary, then, what next? But the beautiful thing about what we do for a living [in the theatre] is that every year seems like an anniversary. MSMT has carved out a niche here in Brunswick where we pull out all the stops year after year. Our public expects it, and it is pour job to do it!'