Bringing SEX to the stage: An interview with the creators of The Opposite of Sex

Just before the cast and crew left New York city, I had a chance to sit down with Robert Jess Roth and Douglas Cohen who are responsible for bringing The Opposite of Sex to the stage. Many people will instantly recognize Rob's name as being the director for Disney's Beauty and the Beast (for which he received a Tony nomination.) Douglas Cohen received praise for his No Way To Treat A Lady (plus an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Revival) and currently has Children's Letters to God playing at the Lamb's Theatre for which he wrote the lyrics to.

Robert Jess Roth and Douglas Cohen first met in 1985 on October 28th - a significant day and one that Doug will never forget because of a significant victory with ASCAP and No Way To Treat A Lady. "It was the night that allowed me to get the rights to do it. Rob was the first one to come over to me."

"I heard his music and I just emotionally responded to his writing - his lyrics were funny too, but the music moved me. So I immediately rushed up to say hi.. that was 19 years ago" added Rob.

After that, the two worked together on No Way To Treat A Lady and also a one act called The Ever After: A Play with Diddies (which starred Mary Testa, Vicki Lewis and Veanne Cox)

Roth went off to work on Disney's Beauty and the Beast for ten years but the two always stayed in touch and knew that they wanted to a project together.

That day came when Rob saw the movie The Opposite of Sex in the fall of 1998 and "while I was in the actual movie theater, about halfway through I thought there could be songs here, so I thought about it and went home. Then the very next say I went back and saw it again and I just loved the characters, thought the story was so crazy and kind of wacky. It had both laughter, AND emotion, so I thought about it through the holidays and in January I wrote a letter to Don Roos who wrote the screenplay - explained who I was and what I wanted to do. He called me and we had a great conversation. I remember him saying 'I love musicals - I have no idea how you would adapt this into a musical - but could you go ahead and write a few songs and then we'll reconnect and go from there?"

At that point, Rob contacted Doug who also had already seen the movie. In fact, there was no one else Rob had thought of for this project. Rob always wanted to work again with Doug and because of the story's humor and emotion, he thought this was perfect for him.

Rob took Doug out to dinner ("a very nice dinner" he jokes) and pitched the idea of The Opposite of Sex. Immediately, Doug loved the idea. He admits that when he saw the film, he didn't immediately think to musicalize it like Rob did, but he simply loved the film. "I was also really flattered." The duo was back together...

Rob then broke down each scene in the movie on notecards so that he and Doug could look at the entire movie broken down in pieces. Then, they went through the cards together and thought which segments could be songs. This was followed by many long walks through Central Park talking about the characters, plot elements, and what type of musical they wanted to create followed.

Rob has always been fond and influenced by the William Finn and James Lapine musicals - "very simply produced where the actors move the scenery. It wasn't about stuff - it was about the story and the characters. I just felt like I wanted to go back to that structure. I also think the Bill Finn's song structures are interesting because they were atypical. Some songs are just songs, while others are 'seed' songs. I said to Doug that we had an opportunity to do that."

Doug confesses "When we started, I didn't think the show would be as musicalized as it is now - in fact we took it even further for the reading but after that, we realized that there's so much great dialogue in the movie that a lot of that could stand on its own - that we don't have to tell the whole story in song. But, it was important to go the distance and then bring it back. Rob just kept encouraging me when I thought I was done with a number (he laughs) with 'you could connect these, and what about moving this chunk here.'"

"So now we have a show that has a rather odd structure," continues Rob, "not like a typical musical. It has those stand alone songs along with these seed songs where people talk and sing."

"I feel like it's a very natural way for this show. Caroline or Change did some of that too but perhaps a little more so," says Doug. For their show, he believes that the flow helps create a lack of demarcation between the dialogue and songs. It's introduced early on that it's going to be this integrated form

So how close is the musical to the film? Both replied "very." Doug went onto explain that "if you actually break down the film, we're not as close as it seems because there are moments and scenes in the film that we either pared down or integrated into other sections and compressed. In some places, we've chosen to emphasize do to the emotional nature of the characters. The movie doesn't necessarily have the time to deal with that...in the film, things are a bit plotted because of various locations, etc. In theater, you can consolidate things - and since you don't have a camera - you can land on these characters a little longer and reveal their inner life a little bit."

Rob added, "but in terms of the actual plot, we didn't invent very much. The plot is the very much the same. We wanted to be true to the film - Don Roos's voice as a writer was very clear in the movie - the characters are all very specific and his dialogue was very witty. I encouraged Doug to take a lot of that dialogue and turn them into song titles and lyrics which we did, And in adapting the book, we realized that we could really use a lot of Don's language. Don's been really great and he's really pleased with it and very supportive."

Bringing the book, music and lyrics to life is a dynamic cast. I asked Rob and Doug if all the main characters in the film are intact and their thoughts on their cast.

"I've known Kerry Butler for a long time" said Rob. "First with creating the role of Belle in Beauty and the Beast in Toronto, and then performing on Broadway. And it's funny because even though its been so many years since I worked with (or even seen) Kerry NOT in the Belle wig (Doug laughs) It's true! After you rehearse it so much and every time I would go to the theater, she would be in the wig...and I would see her and talk to her (by the way, she was amazing as Belle) but it wasn't until I went to go see her in Hairspray that I went 'Oh my God! She has this whole other voice!' And you know, Belle isn't really the funny character in Beauty and the Beast, so when I saw Hairspray right away I was like 'Oh my God - she's going to be DeDe' and right away I just felt it. I talked about it with Doug. She's just so talented; a very talented woman - and funny. Plus, she's got a voice of death." Kerry did the original demos for the show and in Doug's words, "she was just always DeDe for us. She's also brought great ideas to us and the character."

Doug had worked with Karen Ziemba before with a few readings including No Way To Treat A Lady and "I've always just loved her work and this seemed like just the perfect fit for her. She doesn't even have to dance. She's an amazing dancer, but she's also a wonderful actress and this is a part where people can focus on her skills as an actress and a singer. She's very funny."

Moving onto Jeff McCarthy, who is no stranger to Rob having been involved with Beauty and the Beast. Rob and Doug had no worries about Jeff's comedic timing having received plenty of laughs in not only Beauty and the Beast (as the Beast) but also as Officer Lockstock in Urinetown.

David Burtka (also a Beauty and the Beast alum) was someone that Rob had seen, but never had spoken to. About two months before this interview, Rob was out with Jim Barbour after a performance of Assassins and David joined us at the table. This was about a week before Matthew Morrison (originally slated to be in the production) got final word on Once Upon A Mattress. While they are delighted for Matt and thrilled for his career, they are so excited that David was able to join the cast.

Both Rob and Doug praised the rest of the cast and feel fortunate to be working with such talent, noting that it almost has the feel of a family reunion since so many of the cast and creative have worked together in some capacity.

With cast then in place, the next task was to find a theater. "The Weisslers were helping us find a regional theater" said Rob, "because they wanted it to play regionally before it came to NY. So we talked to a lot of theaters and the Magic Theatre had a slot available. They just seemed like the right venue since the artistic director is Chris Smith who is originally from New York."

Doug added "They're also an edgy house that does a lot of world premieres but had never done a musical before and San Francisco seemed like the perfect city to launch the show."

"Doug and I met with Chris who liked the material and then we flew out to San Francisco to look at the theater and have some auditions. The theater and space is great. Very intimate - about 198 seats. I'm just really excited about the show opening up there."

So now that the show has begun playing, will Rob and Doug be reading the message boards to gain feedback on their production? Rob said most respectfully, "No. I'll be in the theater seeing and hearing how the audience is reacting to the material. For me it's a first hand experience - that's how I am able to judge how the show is going."

Doug added that there's a whole creative team that they will be consulting with and go over constructive criticisms. They both feel blessed to have that support and also report. "The basic problem with the Internet is that a majority of the people there are anonymous. They may know each other, but to the wider world, they haven't revealed who they are and because of that, when you are anonymous, you tend to say things that maybe less than constructive."

With no set theater slated for a NY run, Rob and Doug consider The Opposite of Sex a work in progress and by no means "set." Changes were made daily during the short rehearsal process in NY and continue now that the show has started previews in San Francisco. Both say quite candidly that they will probably make changes (as needed) right up until a week before the Broadway bow. Both are enjoying the process tremendously.

Just before wrapping up our conversation, I asked each of them what the show was really about.

Rob paraphrased Don Roos by saying, "People, most people are more worth your while than not. I think that's one of the themes of the show. People are worth investing in."

For Doug, "it's about people healing through intimacy."

"I think it's about that too" agreed Rob softly.

The Opposite of Sex runs September 25 – October 24 at the Magic Theatre. Click here for more information about tickets.