BWW Interviews: Mega-Producer Nancy Nagel Gibbs on PETER AND THE STARCATCHER's National Launch, Denver Roots and More!

Nancy, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to speak with me and BroadwayWorld today. Now, you are from Colorado?

Yes, I grew up in Southeast Denver.

Wonderful. Is there a hidden gem that always brings you back when you come here?

Well, I still have family here and, so, basically, what happens is anytime I have a show that we general manage that comes to Denver, I come to Denver, I visit my family, I hang out at the Denver Center, and see how the show goes. And, all of them have worked wonderfully here. We've done Wicked many times, and Next to Normal, and Spelling Bee, and Bring it On, and Traces, and all kinds of things, so I've been here a lot. So that's really what brings me here. And, I'm going to start sending them some more shows.

Well, good. We hope so. We love them every time. What are your thoughts of this national tour?

Thrilled that we have a tour of Peter. So few plays tour these days, that we're delighted that we were able to put together, it's about a 36-week tour. We start here, we're go to Texas, we're doing the West Coast this year, then we move into the rest of the country next year so we're very, very thrilled that we can take this play in the way that our Tony Award-winning team did it all over the country. So we're thrilled.

I'm so glad that it's being shared with the nation, because it's such an exceptional experience. Can you talk to me a little bit about Peter and the StarCatcher, the story behind it?

Sure. The story is based on a book that Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, which they have daughters, one of the daughters when they were at Disney World said, "How did Peter Pan meet Captain Hook?" So, Ridley and Dave are old friends, and they starting emailing each other ideas. And, they began to write a book that's pitched to middle schoolers about how Peter Pan met Captain Hook. And, actually how both of them got their names. Neither of them have those names in the beginning of our play. And, so they worked on this, Disney's Hyperion published it, that's Disney's publication arm, and Tom Schumacher, who is the head of the Disney theatrical division said, "I'm going to commission this into a musical."

So, he talked to Roger Rees who was at running Williamstown at the time, and Roger had a young director there, Alex Timbers, who was working on another piece. They worked with some interns, they just threw around some ideas, they said, "We really need to get a book writer in who can really morph this book." So, Rick Elice came on board, Disney suggested they do a page to stage at La Jolla, and at La Jolla they decided it wasn't a musical, it was really a play. So, they went from a larger company to a smaller one. There are 12 actors, 2 musicians, feels like a musical, but it's really these 2 musicians. The percussion acts almost as a soundtrack for the show, and there's a lot of underscoring with three songs.

It's a play with music?

Correct. Exactly. So that means play people like it, and musical people like it.

Excellent! Best of both worlds. What do you hope audiences take from this award-winning production?

I think they get back in touch with why they love legitimate theatre. That's really why we fell in love with it. It's like, "Oh, yes. This is why I got into theatre." I was very involved with creative dramatics when I was in graduate school. And, this feels like this. It's totally structured. It's not improvised at all. This show is exactly the same every night. Except for that interaction between audience, and how the audience laughs, and where they laugh, and all of that. But, it feels like these actors have created it, and are creating it in front of you. That illusion of the first time is what we love about the theatre. When we go to the movies, we know that they're not doing it. We know that they've done it, it's in the can, and we're going to see it, and it's going to be exactly the same every time. It's quite wonderful. It's that "thing" about why we go to the theatre in the first place.

In this day and age of movie musicals and technical super effects works everywhere you look on Broadway, what sets Peter and the Star Catcher apart from the others?

Well, I think that's what it is, is that we don't have to have all of that. I don't think we ultimately in the theatre can compete with movies and TV, and I do think that a lot of the huge productions is they spend so much time in hug effects and production numbers and all of that, that we lose the core of the story. Not every one does, but sometimes they do, and it's easier to focus on that. The movies and TV can do special effects better than we can-it's legit. Everything's got to be well-reasoned about what is the best way to tell the story.

So, you've been behind so many shows including, Bring it On, All Shook Up, Sister Act, Bat Boy, Next to Normal, and Wicked. So, I have to ask what draws you to a production that you just exclaim, "I have to be a part of this!"

Frequently, I work as a manager and I don't necessarily get the choice, but it happens that all of these shows have a broad audience. They have a broad audience, they do not offend most people...occasionally you offend someone here and there...it's really the kind of theatre I grew up with. I saw Mary Martin and Robert Preston in I Do, I Do, at the Denver Auditorium. It had an incredible impact on me. Shows that a whole family can go to. Sometimes the Broadway shows don't fit that mold.

If you're not doing theatre in a parallel universe, what do you think you'd be doing? If theatre wasn't an option for you.

I've been in the theatre for a long, long time. I don't really know. Theatre is such an integral part of my life.

Is there a play or musical that you absolutely adore, and would love to see revived on Broadway?

I would love to see Bat Boy go to Broadway. Because, Bat Boy is now tame compared to what's on Broadway. It was pretty shocking in 2001, but is now tame.

I completely agree with that. I would love to see that. So, on the flip side of that, is there a show from our vast history on Broadway that you would like to see made into a movie? Since every musical is being made into a movie nowadays it seems like.

Not sure. You know, it's not my business. It's not what I do. I think the movie people do a better job of deciding what should be a film. Because, I think the films that morph the shows...is when you change it...going back to Cabaret...they changed it...you know, Chicago, they changed it. So they changed it into a movie, so they took the underlying part of it, and they change it.

Any new projects in the works you can give us the scoop on?

Yes, I'm going to be working on If/Then.

I just saw the new casting for that on our website! I'm so excited!

Yes, very exciting casting. If/Then has an amazing pedigree. It has the authors of Next to Normal, the star of Wicked, the star of The Color Purple, the star of Rent, so it's pretty exciting. So we're going to take that to The National Theatre in Washington in November. We are thrilled about that show.

I may have to come visit you for that! Thank you so much for speaking with me and Broadway World. I look forward to seeing PETER AND THE STARCATCHER here at the Denver Center!