Review: J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Co. Lights Up the Stage With Musicals & Events at AMT Theater

What does a publicist (aka press agent) do and put up with to get potential audiences interested in buying tickets for a show? What is the perspective of a critic/author/historian who has seen over 13,000 shows and is still standing (and standing in line to see the next production)? What are the thoughts of the cast members and production staff near the end of a seven-performance run? And how much do you know in the category of “Broadway Trivia”? These are just some of the questions being addressed when theatre fans and the curious come to an event at the AMT Theater on West 45th Street in Manhattan. This particular column covers an afternoon event on April 23 where Josh Ellis, a press agent for Broadway shows with frequent flyer miles in show biz was interviewed.  But first, an overview of what’s happening these days at that venue where J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company has made its home.

While it’s true that there’s no business like show business, it’s also true that it’s about much more than the show. And while J2’s spring season is busy with revivals of three book musicals in a row — Milk and Honey’s run sold out before its opening night, a splendid production of Carnival! is playing through Sunday, May 10, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood  will follow from May 14 through May 24 — they have other related events going on, too. With a collection of singing actors, including J2 alumni, a sampling of each musical’s composer/lyricist’s oeuvre (representing other projects they wrote) is presented in a one-night-only cabaret program. The Jerry Herman night was a delight, covering one reprise of a Milk and Honey number, with material written by Bob Merrill (Carnival!) taking the stage on May 5. Material by Drood’s songwriter, Rupert Holmes, will be the focus on May 19.

Now we get down to business about commenting on the event concerning the business of being a publicist. I’d heard Josh Ellis relate some of the experiences in his career and admired the wry humor that we can assume helped him survive and thrive in that field, perhaps most notably for working with the notorious and imposingly powerful producer David Merrick. That man, known as “The Abominable Showman” could be ruthless, but made some brilliant moves and choices. The Ellis one-man show telling tales and recalling the times of his toil and tribulations from the mid-1970s to the ‘90s and beyond, when he opened his own agency. Some of his juicy stories and pointed observations shared during the afternoon presented by J2 have been told in interviews, such as one on the much-missed program “Theater Talk” on public television, discussing his one-man show Call My Publicist! The Starry Education of a Broadway Press Agent (which won awards back in 2017 from the United Solo Theatre Festival – one for his script and one for the director, Gretchen Cryer). And the chronicles and comments are fun to hear again. I heard a few in person recently when I, arriving early, happened to be seated at the same table with him at a musical theatre-centric evening at the nightclub 54 Below.   

Randie Levine Miller was the interviewer for a conversation with the veteran  PR man. She was prepared, familiar with his history, ready with questions that would set up the detailed, entertaining answers. It often took only a few words, such as “Josh, you’ve worked with some notably difficult people in the theatre….” and he’d launch into his recollections of interacting with Yul Brynner of the The King and I, talking about the actor’s long run — or should I say “long reign” in the titular role. He has a reservoir of remembrances – fond or otherwise – but acknowledging the charisma and importance of major stars he worked with and squired around town to events and promotional interviews: Lena Horne, Carol Channing, Richard Rodgers, and dozens of others.

But his long tenure with mercurial Merrick (producer of the 1961 original production of the aforementioned Carnival!, Hello, Dolly!, etc.) is the most fruitful and fascinating. Incidents included  being around on opening night of the musical 42nd Street, and at the curtain call, Merrick revealing the secret that shocked and made major headlines: that its director had died earlier that day. And, related to that, what about the “extra” meaning of the choice of a critic’s pull quote for the poster: “A musical made in Heaven!” And then there was the attention-grabbing ploy, the brainstorm of Mr. Ellis himself: Josh insisting he wasn’t joshing when he set up auditions for a replacement cast that would take over in the cast ten years later — inviting 300 adolescents to the theatre to audition for reporters. (And guess what —the show did run for years and. Much later, two of those kids were hired!)

The interviewer was respectful and deferred to the interviewee, who was wry and relaxed and in his element, but both needed to project their voices more at times or should have had microphones. Those seated in the back half of the AMT Theater called out requests for them to speak up, but maybe they needed to speak up more, because these pleas didn’t appear to be heard or acknowledged. Some replies were laidback/lower energy while others were animated. All in all, it was a dishy but not mean-spirited stroll down memory lane and the best kind of name-dropping and feeling of eavesdropping to make attendees glad they dropped in on that April day.

Other Thursday programs will bring the co-founder/executive producer of the company (and the source of the “J2” name): Jim Jimirro (May 7), and theatre maven/author/reviewer Peter Filichia with his “Personal History of the American Theater” (May 21). He’ll also do a lecture on Broadway shows of 1961 after the May 7 performance of Carnival! (a show that opened that year), while post-show events after the bows on May 8 and 9 will be, respectively, a talkback with the company and “Broadway Trivia.”

Now that’s a lot of theatre in and behind the Spotlight!

See all the details and get seats (when available) at j2spotlightnyc.com