Interview: Nothing Short of Miraculous: A Conversation with E. Faye Butler

"What they did is nothing short of miraculous! I know because I was there as a friend, a colleague, an artist. I was there in that room as the magic was happening!" Award-winning actress E. Faye Butler is speaking of the Fulton Theatre and Maine State Music Theatre, of her old friends from their Rockford, Illinois days, Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark, and of the entire creative team and cast of the new chamber music version of the musical Ghost in which she now stars. The Bruce Joel Rubin-Glen Ballard-Dave Stewart show which opens at Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick on Thursday, June 9, is a reprise (and New England premiere) of the newly minted chamber adaptation presented at Lancaster's Fulton Theatre on April 21, 2016, after a year-long development process.

One can feel the excitement and electricity in Butler's presence and her comments about this play with music which, she believes has given new life to both the original 1990 Jerry Zucker movie starring Demi Moore, Patrick Swayze, and Whoopi Goldberg and the 2011 stage version. "E. Faye is a force of nature!" MSMT Managing Director Stephanie Dupal proclaimed when she saw her in the premiere.

"A lot of people don't realize that I am an actress who sings rather than [just] a singer. What struck me most when Marc and Curt asked me to do the role of Oda Mae Brown was that they told me this version would be a play with music; it would be truncated from the large-scale Broadway production, and Marc would take it back to where it should be as a story. That was what made me want to be involved."

She goes on to explain the transformation of Ghost and her part in this exciting journey. "This show is a major deal!" She explains that when Robin and Clark and their managing partners Aaron Young and Stephanie Dupal decided to refashion the mega Broadway version of the musical into a more intimate, more stripped down, more intense and deeply moving play, they had to convince the original creators to give them the rights to do this in Lancaster and Brunswick and to join them on a new journey of recreation. "The original creative team surely must have had their doubts when they entrusted Robin to develop and direct this version of Ghost. What Marc was able to achieve in three and-a-half weeks was astonishing to me as an artist. I got to see him - through his work and his passion for what he does - step by step win over everyone from the original team. He deserves so much credit for taking the chance on this work, and so does Curt and MSMT for investing in it as well. The journey we have all taken has been absolutely wonderful, and this Ghost deserves a great success long after these productions."

Asked to describe what makes this Ghost unique, Butler replies: "It is really a simple love story that doesn't need pyrotechnics and hi-tech effects, and there is this dimension of music throughout, but not music which stops the show. Rather, it is the kind which plays in your head - the music that lives within us as we go through our lives." She also talks about the collaborative involvement of the cast in building this new version. "We sat around the table for almost a week and found our characters and the depth of the story." Butler, herself, suggested cutting some of Oda Mae's original numbers because she felt they interrupted the emotional flow of the drama. She laughs, adding, "What actress asks for less time on stage? But it's not about time; it's about truth."

And what is the truth of her character, the colorful spiritual medium, Oda Mae Brown? "She is a total con artist. She comes from a family where her mother and grandmother had been spiritual readers, so it is the 'family business.' She feels she needs to take care of her sisters, and she becomes adept at asking leading questions. Then in the midst of a reading, she actually hears a voice for the first time, and it is a WHITE voice! And that frightens and confuses her. She thinks, 'Of all the spirits to visit! Why do this to me?' She is reluctant to get involved, but she is a woman in need. And so from tragedy comes her comedy. She is not initially a funny person, but the humor occurs as she tries to find her way through the tragic events."

Playing a role that for many was made iconic by screen star Whoopi Goldberg also posed its own challenge - yet one Butler was rapidly able to meet. "When Bruce Joel [Rubin] told me he did not write the role for Whoopi, but rather that Oda Mae was a character created in his head, I found an instant freedom. I knew I did not have to reference Whoopi, that I could just follow the text, and that would take me where I needed to go."

That "destination" has proved to be a remarkably stirring, poignant, uplifting place. "Bruce Joel said it best," she continues. Just before the final dress rehearsal at the Fulton, he told Marc, 'Listen don't be upset if I don't get emotional. It's just that I have seen this play all over the world.' When we finished, Bruce had tears in his eyes, and he said to us, 'I thank you for one thing. Today I finally got to see my play. You got it. Someone finally got it!'

Gratifying words for an actress whose three decades in the theatre have been filled with highs. "I am very blessed to have never had to work at anything else," Butler says. Based in Chicago, she loves the opportunities that city affords her to work in a wide range of theatres and repertoire and to enjoy a "normal family life" offstage as Faye Johnson. "My life experiences help me to grow as an artist."

Raised in Rockford, IL, she credits her parents for introducing her in childhood to theatre, music, ballet, opera, cinema. "Every weekend we went to something cultural," she says with a mock groan, "and I took dance class and manners class and all those things that would turn me into a 'lady.'" Her first brush with the stage came in eighth grade in Rockford. "I was a busybody, so my teacher said to me, 'I am directing a play, and I will give you an A if you can play the role of the deaf mute and keep your mouth shut for two hours.' It was the Red Shoes, and from that moment I was hooked." Butler went on to take a degree at Illinois State University and then study at the Goodman School of Drama.

It was in Rockford, where she also became friends with the young Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark. "I like to say we're from the same land, and I am very proud to say I was the very first person Marc ever directed in his career. The play was Nunsense. He always says I am his lucky charm because whenever he is making a big transition, we seem to connect at moments like that, and it is always special."

From these Chicago roots, Butler has gone on to shape a career of great diversity that has taken her to Broadway, on national tour, and across the country at all the leading regional companies. She is equally at home in straight drama as well as musicals. In just the past year she has played in Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, King Hedley II, and An Issue of Blood before returning now to the musical stage. She enjoys the alternation. "If I can show my acting chops, I'm in heaven!" she exclaims. "If I come off a play run into musical theatre, as I am doing now, I find myself concentrating more on the character work."

Yet, Butler is much in demand for her powerful voice and the kind of emotional intensity she can bring to a musical role. Among her impressive credits in this genre are her portrayals in Caroline or Change, Ella, Dinah Was, Hairspray, Ain't Misbehavin', and The Wiz. In the coming season she will undertake Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd and the speaking role of Mrs. Mullins -"just to throw everyone off guard" - in Carousel. Doing the Sondheim musical will be yet another of those steps which Butler has taken that have won her acclaim as a trailblazer in her profession.

Butler talks about her portrayal of Dolly Levi in Hello Dolly at the Drury Lane Theatre Dinner Theatre South under the direction of Marc Robin [and David Dillon] in 1990. "I was the first African-American to do a non-traditional role like this in Chicago. Marc and I went to the producer and convinced him we could make it work. It was a big milestone for both of our careers [for which they each won Jeff Awards]; it put the theatre on the map, and it helped open up more options for other actors."

It has been for this kind of landmark work that E. Faye Butler was recently awarded the 2016 Rosetta LeNoire prize, given in honor of the great African-American producer, director, actress, and activist. The citation recognized Butler's "passion and dedication to diversity and opportunity that has made her a stand out to colleagues and peers."

"I am passionate about diversity, women's rights, and allowing every artist to have a voice in the theatre," says Butler who is also Vice-Chair of the Equal Employment Committee and a Board member of Actors Equity Association. "I think t is only fair that everyone has his voice heard. There is no greater feeling than coming to the theatre and seeing yourself on stage - no matter your color or gender, or age or relationship status - of being able to identify with the characters and issues. I love seeing all people well represented on stage. Rosetta Le Noire wanted the theatre to be inclusive, especially for women and people of color."

Asked how she has seen this inclusiveness progress over the years, Butler replies: "We are still seeing change. It is sad to say that after thirty years we are still having some discussions like how the breakdown of characters/roles went out for Hamilton. Or it is regrettable to attend a [Chicago-area] production of Evita and see only one Latin American cast member in the whole show. But you have to keep fighting the good fight. There was a time when stories about these issues never even made it into the press. In the 1980s, for example, some people would say to me, 'You are in the chorus, but at least you are on stage.' At least now when we speak up, people do listen and try to engage in more discussion and dialogue."

She goes on to cite some examples of positive change in the theatre community and the world in recent years. "We have finally taken the major step of honoring gay marriage. In theatre there are five or six shows on Broadway now that have very diverse casts. Ten years ago you would never have seen that. It is working, and I am proud of what we have accomplished. But we have to continue. We have to take hold ourselves, to write, direct, produce, get our works on stage and our voices heard."

So given her energy, her commitment, and her great reservoir of talent, what might be the actress' next giant step forward toward these dreams? I want to tackle Mama Rose in Gypsy," she answers without hesitation. Another force of nature for which E. Faye Butler would surely be stunningly suited!

Her infectious energy and enthusiasm bring me back to the adjectives with which we began this conversation - magical - miraculous. While she was graciously using these words to describe her colleagues, there are a great many in the theatre community who would use those very terms -- to describe E. Faye Butler herself.

Photos courtesy Maine State Music Theatre & the Fulton Theatre, Kinectiv, photographer; Purlie courtesy Goodman Theatre

Ghost runs from June 8-June 25, 2016 at MSMT's Pickard Theatre, 1 Bath Road, Brunswick, ME 207-725-8769 www.msmt.org