Interview: Joe Slabe and ATG's New Musical CROSSING SWORDS at UCPAC 4/20 TO 5/1

American Theater Group (ATG), New Jersey's newest professional theater company will present an exciting new musical, Crossing Swords in its U.S. premiere from April 20 to May 1 at Hamilton Stage Theater in Rahway.

Director Igor Goldin brings to life Crossing Swords, a passionate, funny and uplifting new musical by Joe Slabe about three high school students who attempt to put on a production of the classic play Cyrano de Bergerac. When rehearsals get underway, life begins to imitate art as jealousies simmer, tempers fly, and passions ignite as life begins to imitate art. Crossing Swords features Broadway veterans Sarah Dacey Charles and Steven Hauck, and introduces exciting newcomers Chase Crandell, Ali Gordon, Jeremy Greenbaum.

Broadwayworld had the opportunity to interview Joe Slabe about his fascinating career and ATG's Crossing Swords.

Slabe is a Calgary-based writer, composer and musical director who obtained his Masters Degree in musical theatre composition from Goldsmiths College at the University of London. In 2013, Joe presented his play Crossing Swords at the New York Musical Theatre Festival where it won five NYMF awards including Excellence in Book Writing and the Theatre for the American Musical Prize. Joe also co-wrote the 2007 NYMF hit, Austentatious, which was recently published by Playscripts Inc. and has played London, New York, Philadelphia and Calgary. Other musicals Joe has written include, Maria Rasputin Presents (produced by Forte Musical Theatre Guild and nominated for three 2013 Betty Mitchell Awards including Outstanding New Play) If I Weren't With You, (presented by Lunchbox Theatre and nominated for a 2013 Calgary Critics' Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical), Jeremy de Bergerac (re-titled Crossing Swords and nominated for five 2012 Betty Mitchell Awards including Outstanding New Play, Outstanding Composition and Outstanding Production of a Musical) and Twisted (nominated for three 2011 Betty Mitchell Awards including Outstanding Production of a Musical). Joe is also an award-winning musical director having musically directed fourteen shows in Western Canada over the past four years. In that time, he has been recognized with three Betty Mitchell Awards for his work. Joe is the founding artistic director of Forte Musical Theatre Guild and received the 2004 Greg Bond Award for outstanding contributions to musical theatre in Calgary.

What was your earliest interest in music and theatre?

I played in the pit for a production of "West Side Story" my very first year of high school. I loved Bernstein's amazing score and he's a musical hero of mine to this day. At the end of the show, I watched as the cellist and flautist accompanied Maria's plaintive rendition of "Somewhere" with tears streaming down their faces and I thought, "this is powerful stuff!" I've been hooked ever since.

Who have been some outstanding mentors in your career?

My high school drama teacher, Marilyn Potts, was the first person to encourage me to compose. I was the music kid hanging out with the drama crowd and, although I acted too, she really steered me in the direction of writing and composing. I taught high school for several years and she actually got me my first teaching job! And then she told me I needed to write an original musical for the kids to do at the local drama festival. That was my first "commission"!

Since musical theatre collaborators were tough to come by where I grew up, I also had a wonderful playwright named Eugene Stickland who took me under his wing and championed a lot of my early work. Pretty much everything I know about character and dialogue I learned from him.

Do you have any favorite performer, musical pieces or performances.

I was in New York for a conference and, on the suggestion of a friend, I went to see "Avenue Q" knowing absolutely nothing about it. (This was before it won the TONY.) I loved how funny it was but was also struck by how those felt and foam rubber puppets had so much heart! I was particularly taken with Stephanie D'Abruzzo and if someone had told me walking out of the theatre that, three years later, she'd in a show I wrote, I would have said they were crazy. But she played the lead in the NYMF production of "Austentatious" in 2007!

What was the inspiration for Crossing Swords?

"Crossing Swords" is a modern re-telling of "Cyrano de Bergerac". I've always loved Rostand's play and the way it balances comedy, romance and tragedy, and I wanted to try to capture that spirit. Having done a student production of "Cyrano" while I was a teacher, I thought a high school setting was a great fit and set to work. "Crossing Swords" originally had a tragic ending like "Cyrano", but I was inspired by Dan Savage's "It Gets Better" campaign to re-think the show. I decided the world didn't need another coming out tragedy and needed the story of a coming out hero instead.

Why do you think it is a distinctive piece of musical theatre?

"Crossing Swords" is a musical that also happens to be a really great play. The characters are relatable, real people that audiences can identify with and you really care about all of them by the end of the show. Although the music is contemporary, I like to think it embodies the spirit of those great Golden Age musicals that integrated book and score so seamlessly. Plus, they sing while doing fight choreography with swords so that's pretty cool!

Tell us about working with ATG.

Jim Vagias at ATG has been a champion for this piece from the start. He was only able to catch the second act at NYMF and was so smitten with the show that he cancelled his weekend plans so he could come back and see the whole thing! I'm really excited to be working on the show with him.

What would you like NJ Audiences to know?

You're going to see a really top-notch production of this show! Our director, Igor Goldin, won an award at NYMF for "Crossing Swords", as did Steve Hauck, who plays the Math teacher at the boys' school. Jeremy Greenbaum plays the lead and he made his Broadway debut as Davey in "Newsies"! All of our cast is fantastic, the design is beautiful, and the Hamilton Stage is a warm and intimate theatre that puts you really close to the action.

Any special plans the future?

Of course, I think every regional theater in the country should do "Crossing Swords" and I'd love to see it get a New York production, but I'm also working on other shows with a production company in Canada called Forte Musical Theatre. I just finished a really successful run of a TYA show and have been commissioned to write another. Plus I have two more shows in various stages of development so I think I'll be at this musical theatre thing for a while!

Anything else, absolutely anything!

"Crossing Swords" is a really personal piece for me about how engaging with great art changes us all for the better. I feel like it's a tribute to the colleagues who worked alongside me when I was a teacher and to all of the students who taught me so much. Oh, and my last name rhymes with "The Bay".

About American Theater Group

ATG is an ambitious new performing arts company launched in 2012 that offers musicals and spoken plays, a new musical reading series and theater education at the newly built state-of-the-art Hamilton Stage in Rahway. Its focus is on producing new and classical works, primarily by American playwrights, with an emphasis on the development of new works and the rediscovery of undeservedly neglected older ones. American Theater Group aims to make theater's glorious possibilities accessible to the diverse surrounding community of Rahway and the region, and to maintain a nurturing environment for playwrights, actors and theatrical designers and technicians to develop and hone their works.

American Theater Group's home is the intimate 199-seat Hamilton Stage at 360 Hamilton Street in Rahway, governed and operated by the Union County Performing Arts Center. Hamilton Stage has ample parking and is just a five-minute walk from New Jersey Transit's Rahway station serving Northeast Corridor and North Jersey Coast lines. Rahway is a quick 30-minute ride from New York City's Penn Station and the heart of Manhattan.?

Performances of Crossing Swords are April 20 through May 1 (Wednesday through Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 3pm). Tickets are $38 each. Student and senior discounts available. For tickets, call (732) 499-8226; visit online www.americantheatergroup.org; or in person at the Union County Performing Arts Center Box Office at 1601 Irving Street, Rahway, NJ.

Photo Credit: Courtesy of Joe Slabe