Interview: MSMT Artists Discuss a Season of Firsts

"Sometimes in this business, it can seem you work and work and you aren't seeing results right away. Then all at once, everything comes to fruition at once, and that is a major boost to our company morale. That's exactly what has happened this season for MSMT," says Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. "Of our main stage productions, we have three that will be firsts!" Clark, who is joined by director Marc Robin, actors Liz Shivener and Mike Backes, is speaking to a Brunswick audience at Curtis Memorial Library on June 15, 2016, at the first of the season's Peek Behind the Curtain series, which is moderated by Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold. He elaborates. "This summer we will present the New England regional premiere of Mama Mia; we have extended our twelve-week season for the first time by co-producing with Portland Stage, The Irish and How They Got That Way, and together with the Fulton Theatre, we have created the East Coast Regional premiere of the new chamber music version of Ghost The Musical. It's been an extraordinary adventure!"

Clark continues by discussing why these co-productions make both economic and artistic sense for both theatres. "We save thousands of dollars by splitting the costs, and while some people may prefer every show to be "made in Maine," the benefits to our bottom line are too positive to ignore. Then besides the fiscal advantage, there is the camaraderie that has grown between the Fulton and MSMT staffs that has just gotten better and better over the years we have been collaborating. And the more synergy there is, the more money we save and the better our artistic product. It's a beautiful thing."

The Fulton's Artistic Director Marc Robin chimes in. "By co-producing we are also able to secure actors of the stature of these guys," he says, gesturing at Backes and Shivener. "A longer employment gig at two theatres is more of an incentive for them to leave their homes and lives to come here or to turn down a national tour or Broadway show." Robin goes on to say that "the association with a company of the caliber of MSMT benefits the Fulton as well. MSMT has always had a major stature and reputation as a regional theatre, but now under Curt [Dale Clark]'s and Stephanie [Dupal]'s leadership, it has risen to a new level, where artists are fighting to be part of their shows. We see thousands annually at auditions, so that gives us a bigger talent pool." Robin also cites another advantage that has been pivotal in MSMT's opening Ghost production. "Our co-production of this new Ghost helped attract the rights house, who chose us to be the theatres to develop this new version."

And while the Fulton and MSMT have been collaborated for a number of years now, the collaboration between MSMT and Portland Stage to present Frank McCourt's The Irish and How They Got That Way in August and September is a first in many years for both these companies. Both Clark and Robin who have been associated with the show in Chicago and Pennsylvania are enthusiastic about sharing their production with Maine audiences.

Clark describes Irish as "a mostly joyous - often poignant - romp through Irish history." But he hastens to add, "It never feels like a history lesson. That's one of McCourt's great gifts. Just as he does in Angela's Ashes, he knows how to talk about something depressing and make it light-hearted. The show deals with some of the really hard times in Irish history like the potato famine, but it also captures all the hilarity that ensues when an Irishman has had one too many."

"We've set it in a bar with a bartender and a working tap on stage, so that it feels like Cheers. You can almost imagine that the bar is closed but Norm and a few of his friends stay on to talk about their lives and sing this beautiful music," Robin, who will make his Portland debut with this production, adds. Describing the wide range of unforgettable Celtic music in the show, he cites the moment that is inevitably for the audience and for him personally the highlight: Clark's moving rendition of "Danny Boy."

Returning to the subject of the current collaboration, Robin and the panel discuss their journeys during the two-year process that has finally brought this chamber Ghost to the stage. Robin describes being contacted by Sean Cercone of Theatrical Rights Worldwide to help pare the original mammoth Broadway production down to something more essential and more producible. Robin says the appeal to him was that "Personally, I like to take things that are broken and try to fix them. Sean asked me if I were given permission to fix the Broadway version of Ghost, what would I do? When I had seen the Broadway production, I remember thinking there is a diamond underneath all this. I immediately replied that I would get rid of the large chorus and the choreography - which is a blasphemous thing for me to say -(Robin is highly acclaimed as a choreographer). I felt the story lay with four central characters and the six others who were important to them." By reducing a cast of ten, instead of the thirty plus ensemble on Broadway, and to an orchestra of six instead of seventeen, Robin also simplified the visual production, got rid of all the overblown and costly technical effects, and focused on the actors' telling the story."

About a year ago, MSMT and the Fulton mounted a workshop in Lancaster, and it was at that point that Ghost's original creators, Bruce Joel Rubin, Glen Ballard, and Dave Stewart decided they wanted to be closely involved with any new version that went forward. "At first, they were willing to approve only a small part of the changes we had made, so the whole process became a seven-month journey to win them (especially writer Rubin) over," Robin recalls. "This project has been one of the most challenging experiences I have ever had. It filled two years of my life, and there were times I wanted to go home and cry, but then I would show up at rehearsal, and people would say to me, 'what you are doing is right, so fight for it.' I am glad I did, because I couldn't be more proud that it has turned out to be what it is."

Slowly, the new creative elements came together. Shivener talks about the thrill of actually having composer Glen Ballard in the room. "I listened to his music when I was a chubby, angry fourteen-year-old, so to work with him in person was amazing." She and Backes go on to recount how the score evolved throughout the rehearsal process, changing the openings of Acts I and II shortly before the opening night. "We held the curtain for fifteen minutes and quickly rehearsed and then went on and did it."

"Nailed it, actually," Robin interjects, telling how another day he had received a phone call from Ballard at 8:00 a.m. saying he was going to add a new song for Carl.

Clark continues the narrative: "When it came time for Mike to sing, in his script it just said 'new song goes here' and I saw him look around for direction. Then all of a sudden from the back of the room, Ballard began to sing the new song himself, and even more amazing, because I looked at what he was reading from, he was making up a good part of it in his head at that very moment."

"We all rushed for our phones to capture the moment," Robin says, "and good thing we did because they were able to lift the lyrics he was improvising from the video to write them down afterwards."

"Having all these major artists in the rehearsal room," Backes says was "sometimes nerve-wracking but an actor doesn't get this luxury very often."

"We had to have our game faces on all the time," Shivener adds, "because every week we performed for the men who had written it. It was mildly horrifying, yet somehow thrilling."

Shivener describes the rehearsal process. "One of the most beneficial things was that Marc directed Ghost as if it were a play with songs. We did real scene work; we had a meaty book to work with, and we could use Bruce Joel Rubin's wealth of knowledge as a resource."

"You don't often get the guy who wrote the story in the room," Mike Backes, who portrays Carl Bruner, interjects. "We could ask them any question we had. Bruce told us his thoughts on the back story about how Sam and Molly had met, for example."

Shivener also feels the close-knit company helped the process. "I had already worked with Gregg [Goodbrod] before, so there was a level of comfort and intimacy which is important. I could trust him and Mike to do anything. It's as Marc says," he continues quoting Robin, " 'You can fail loud, fail long, fail brilliantly,' and that is a remarkably freeing thought. It enabled us to make it personal and realistic. "

Clark recounts how, after the Saturday Pickard talkback, being puzzled by a question from a woman, who asked how we had 'made Molly cry.' I told her 'nobody does that; she does it herself. She is actually crying.' The lady seemed incredulous. 'I assure you with every fiber of my being that he is truly crying,' I told her again. It's what actors do when they identify with the material."

Backes says that finding that identification with Carl, who is the story's "bad guy," took a great deal of searching. "Getting inside the character's head mean going to a very dark place that was sometimes difficult to shake off. I didn't want to make him the villain of the piece. He is in love with Molly and always has been; then he gets in over his head. I personally believe he only wanted to steal the wallet, not to have Willie murder Sam, but Willie messes up. Then when Sam is out of the picture, he thinks why not go for the girl I've always loved. He's someone who just keeps making all these terrible choices and can't get out of them."

But Backes adds that for all the intensity of the rehearsals the cast also had a great deal of fun. " I just love working with Liz," he compliments his fellow panelist. "We have a blast, laughing and giggling when we are offstage."

Clark points out that most of the onstage levity can be credited to E. Faye Butler's performance as Oda Mae Brown, and he asks Shivener and Backes to describe what it was like to work with the multi-talent, award-winning Chicago actress. Shivener replies with a colorful analogy. " It is as if a tornado is coming. You have a lamppost to hang onto. You are losing your fingernails, and your knuckles are bleeding, but it is so worth holding onto the lamppost. And if you can hang onto that lamppost, she gives you back every bit of energy she has. She listens when you speak; she's fun to partner with. Just as she does the comedy beautifully, in the closing scenes she is equally effective in the emotional ones.

Clark completes Shivener's thought by saying that E. Faye Butler, whom he and Robin have known for decades from their Illinois days, is " a force of nature. My fingers just typed that in a Facebook comment one night, and the internet exploded with similar comments."

The volcano analogy is arguably most apt, not only for Butler, but for the unique creation the entire artistic team has brought to life in this new Ghost. Brimming with intensity and explosive feelings, huge laughs and well streams of tears, it erupts each night on stage, sweeping up the audience and players in the grip of an emotional journey. But like all volcanoes, eventually the eruption is stilled.

Clearly, having invested so much of their creative energies into this remarkable production, all the panelists have thought about what it will feel like when the MSMT run comes to a close on June 25. "There won't be a dry eye among us," Shivener affirms. "It's going to be hard to let this one go, but I am so grateful to Marc for the experience."

"We've been like a big family, " Backes concurs.

So what then, an audience member asks, might be the future for this new chamber version Ghost? Robin explains that as artists their "involvement is finite. We have been given permission to do what we have now done and get it to the point it is today. Now it is in the hands of the creators and people who own the rights. Naturally, we would love to see it have a life beyond this. But I have learned that if you start thinking where something can go, you sometimes stop paying attention to where it is now. I have done my job as a director with the best cast and team I know to tell the story for you. That's all I can do right now. But no matter what does transpire, one thing we can all take pride in is that from this point onward, when this production of Ghost is licensed, every title page in every program will credit 'The Fulton Theatre - Marc Robin, Artistic Director and Aaron Young, Managing Director and Maine State Music Theatre, Curt Dale Clark, Artistic Director and Stephanie Dupal, Managing Director.' From now to always, we will have our names on a nationally recognized product which we license."

Smiling at the round of applause which greets Robin's statement and speaking to the earlier question, Clark, articulates the aspirations he knows they all cherish. "It is our collective hope that this show goes back to New York to play off-Broadway with this cast and this team. And if that happened," he and Robin say together, "we would all be the happiest people on the planet!"

Photo Courtesy MSMT, Olivia Wenner, photographer

Ghost The Musical continues its run at MSMT's Pickard Theatre until June 25, 2016. www.msmt.org 207-725-8769