A digital resource for dramaturgical material related to productions at Olney Theatre Center in Olney, MD. For individual shows, look through the menu above. For general dramaturgy goodness, scroll down!
Before we sum up the past two weeks, I want to give you a quick lowdown of the way the blog is going to run this summer!
Manhattan Monday - Our On the Town posts continue, but moved to a new time slot! I’m shifting from Town Tuesday to Manhattan Monday!
Touring Tuesday - National Players are prepping for their three shows - Twelfth Night, Around the World in 80 Days, and The Crucible - so I want to highlight some of the fun dramaturgy relating to those shows!
Water Wednesday - Since Wet Wednesday has some interesting connotations, we’re going with Water Wednesday in honor of H.M.S. Pinafore and The Pirates of Penzance, as performed by the Hypocrites in our Lab!
Throwback Thursday - This hasn’t changed at all - I’m sorry I’m not more creative.
Fun Fact Friday - This also hasn’t changed. I know, so original.
Spotlight Saturday - Yep, this is the same.
Summation Sunday - And another thing isn’t changing.
(So basically three days are changing, so this post may have been a bit dramatic)
And now, the Summation!
Town Tuesday - We chatted about the diversity and importance of On the Town!
Wise Words Wednesday (#1) - A quote from Misty Copeland, who played Ivy Smith in 2015.
Throwback Thursday - We threw it back to the 2015 Tony performance for the On the Town revival!
Fun Fact Friday - Did you know there are fourteen instrumentalists in the On the Town orchestra?
Spotlight Saturday (#1) - We highlighted Donna Migliaccio, who plays Madame Dilly, Diana Dream, Dolores Dolores, and others!
Wise Words Wednesday (#2) - A quote from one of our National Players shows (Twelfth Night)
Spotlight Saturday (#2) - We highlighted Sam Ludwig, who plays Ozzie!
It’s such a big week at Olney (I feel like I say that every week)! This year’s National Players have arrived (and they are spectacular!), On the Town opened and has been running for a solid week, and the Hypocrites arrive for their rep this weekend!
So I don’t have a ton of time for flourish, so let’s get to our spotlight!
(I lied, I always have time for flourish)
Today’s spotlight is on Sam Ludwig, who plays Ozzie!
Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green were all in their twenties when On the Town opened on Broadway. What was the highlight event of your twenties?
I guess getting engaged? Though that happened juuuust before I turned 30...theatrically it was being in How to Succeed at Olney! Honestly!
This is a dance heavy show. What was the first time you danced onstage?
Hmm high school? As the Cat in the musical Honk! I never said I did it WELL...
On the Town is part of the Golden Age of musicals, which, according to some, stretches from Oklahoma (1943) to Gypsy (1959). What is your favorite musical, Golden Age or otherwise?
Time was, I would say Sweeney was the beat but Sunday in the Park was my personal favorite. Now, Hamilton occupies both slots.
Madame Dilly is a mentor to Ivy (albeit a rather bad one). Who were your mentors growing up?
My high school drama teacher Natalie Safley and voice teacher Jim Van Slyke were both tremendously influential for me.
For today’s Spotlight Saturday, we’re going to feature Artistic Associate Donna Migliaccio, who plays Madame Dilly, Diana Dream, Dolores Dolores, and others.
Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green were all in their twenties when On the Town opened on Broadway. What was the highlight event of your twenties?
Graduating from college.
This is a dance heavy show. What was the first time you danced onstage?
I whooped it up in the tavern scenes in a community theatre production of Oliver! when I was 14.
On the Town is part of the Golden Age of musicals, which, according to some, stretches from Oklahoma (1943) to Gypsy (1959). What is your favorite musical, Golden Age or otherwise?
Sweeney Todd
Madame Dilly is a mentor to Ivy (albeit a rather bad one). Who were your mentors growing up?
My parents, my high school history, English and drama teachers (Mrs. Hicks, Mrs. Cooper and Ms. Lyon) and my eldest sister Julie.
There are fourteen instrumentalists in the On the Town orchestra, spearheaded by Christopher Youstra, Music Director. Here’s a clip of them playing part of the Overture!
Today’s Wise Words Wednesday is featuring Misty Copeland, the first African-American woman to be named a principal dancer in the American Balllet Theatre, who played Ivy Smith in 2015. Copeland did an interview with Backstage.com, which can be found in full here.
“I did it because I knew I was going to get so much out of it that I could apply to my career and my life. Every time I think I put myself in a situation where I’m just, like, ‘There’s no way I can accomplish that,’ or I think, I’m so uncomfortable stepping into this…. That’s when you grow.”
Perhaps in part because of Comden’s involvement, the focus of the show (compared to Fancy Free) changed significantly toward the female characters. Sono Osato (Ivy Smith) and Nancy Walker (Hildy Esterhazy) were the two biggest names in the cast, and the ones who were advertised. Remember, women’s roles were changing because of the war, and here they were also made surprisingly sexually adventuresome.
About race
Sono Osato recently recalled to Carol J. Oja, author of Bernstein Meets Broadway: Collaborative Art in A Time of War, that it was “very strange, very strange...It was amazing to me that, at the height of a world war fought over the most vital political, moral, and racial issues, a Broadway musical should feature, and have audiences unquestionably accept, a half-Japanese as an All-American Girl. This is probably the most indelible impression I have had of the magic of the theatre. I could never have been accepted as Ivy Smith in films or, later, on television. Only the power of illusion created between performers and audiences across the footlights can transcend political preference, moral attitudes, and racial prejudice.”
Another way that On the Town was groundbreaking was its complete integration of people of color, specifically black actors, into the commercial Broadway theatre. Once before in the WPA’s Sing For Your Supper,’ there was complete integration but until the current George Abbott opus came along the policy has been to studiously separated the races despite the fact people live, work, and fight wars together.
To top that off, there are these clippings from September 1945, “Everett Lee, 25-year-old concert violinist, made musical history...as conductor and musical director of the Broadway hit, ‘On the Town,’ and set a precedent as the first Negro to essay that role in the annals of the American theatre.” “The assignment gives Mr. Lee the distinction of being the first Negro to wave the baton over a white orchestra in a Broadway production.”
In honor of last week’s Tony Awards, here are some of the highlight quotes from the night!
“When I moved to New York, I was told to change my last name from Mendez to Matthews, or I wouldn’t work. I’m so proud to be part of a community that celebrates diversity and individuality … Be your true self and the world will take note.” - Lindsay Mendez, accepting the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel
“Both my parents are here tonight. I have avoided so many events with them because for so many years of my life I pretended I was not a Middle Eastern person... I am part of a cast of actors who never believed that they'd be able to portray their own races and we are doing that... I want any kid that's watching to know that your biggest obstacle may turn into your purpose.” - Ari’el Stachel, accepting the Tony for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for The Band’s Visit.
“At a moment in time where maybe the most important thing that we remember right now is the sanctity of the human spirit, it is the profound privilege of my life to play Prior Walter in Angels in America because he represents the purest spirit of humanity, and especially that of the LGBTQ community. It is a spirit that says no to oppression. It is a spirit that says no to bigotry, no to shame, no to exclusion. It is a spirit that says we are all made perfectly. And we all belong.” - Andrew Garfield, accepting the Tony for Best Leading Actor in a Play for Angels in America.
And, perhaps the wisest (and most powerful) words came from Jonathan Larson, composer of “Seasons of Love” from Rent, as sung by the theatre department of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School:
This is a long post, so bear with me! Here’s a really full recap of Bernstein and Robbins’ collaboration and how it created On the Town:
They met in October of 1943, the beginning of what Bernstein would call “the year of miracles.” Bernstein was living in New York City, marking time as the assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and Robbins was in the classical company Ballet Theatre. Both were hungry for the Big Break, but it was hard to see anything on the horizon. Bernstein’s would come a month later, when on November 14 he took the podium at Carnegie Hall—without rehearsal!—and conducted for the ailing Bruno Walter. This kiss of fate allowed him, in one afternoon, to loosen forever Europe’s grip on the conductor’s baton. His debut made the front page of The New York Times, and the skinny kid, soon dubbed the Sinatra of the concert hall, soared to stardom. Two months later his Symphony No. 1, Jeremiah, was premiered.
Robbins had to make his own luck. Though a dazzling mimic and scene-stealer in character roles, he was tired of dancing courtiers and exotics in the corps. He wanted to choreograph ballets that were immediately American. After inundating company management with over-ambitious ideas for ballets, Robbins finally offered up a timely, simple scenario—three wartime sailors on shore leave in Manhattan. Management bit. All he needed was a score, which took him to Bernstein’s studio in Carnegie Hall.
On that October day in ‘43, Robbins described his ballet—not yet titled Fancy Free—and in answer Lenny hummed the tune he’d written on a napkin that afternoon at the Russian Tea Room. Jerry flipped. The sound was spontaneous and streetwise. “We went crazy,” Lenny recalled. “I began developing the theme right there in his presence.”
“The one thing about Lenny’s music which was so tremendously important,” Robbins said later, “was that there always was a kinetic motor—there was a power in the rhythms of his work, or the change of rhythms in his work and the orchestration—which had a need for it to be demonstrated by dance.”
‘I remember all my collaborations with Jerry in terms of one tactile bodily feeling,” Bernstein said in 1985, “which is his hands on my shoulders, composing with his hands on my shoulders. This may be metaphorical but it’s the way I remember it. I can feel him standing behind me saying, yes, now just about four more beats there . . . yes, that’s it.”
This was the kind of hands-on collaboration that Bernstein—who never liked being alone in a room—would always love. And it wasn’t metaphorical. Carol Lawrence, the original Maria in West Side Story, has said that “Lenny would bring in new music and he would play it for us. And Jerry would be standing over him and he’d clutch Lenny’s shoulders as if he were a musical instrument. He was always capable of coming up with a new melody, whatever Jerry needed.”
Key words: “standing over him.” In their relationship, Jerry was the leader, dominant, the overlord—everyone says this—and Lenny was flexible, with quick response time and an inexhaustible archive of musical forms from which to pull. Bernstein was steeped in the classical repertory, and he was a savant when it came to rhythm. “We were always embarrassed by his dancing,” says his older daughter, Jamie Bernstein. “But when it was put into the context of conducting or composing, suddenly his sense of rhythm was spectacular—it’s what gives his
music a thumbprint. There’s no explaining why he had this incredible aptitude for rhythm, but it is true that he synthesized what he got out of Hebrew cantillation, and the music and dancing in that world, combined with his getting really obsessed with what were called race records, in his college years—Billie Holiday and Lead Belly—to say nothing of Stravinsky and Gershwin. Add the Latin-American thread, which came in around 1941, when he was in Key West, and he just went bananas.”
Because Robbins was touring with Ballet Theatre, much of the collaboration on Fancy Free’s score took place through the mail. Exuberance shoots through Lenny’s updates, letters of magical rapport and full of cocky confidence, just like the sailors in the ballet. A letter of late 1943: “I have written a musical double-take when the sailor sees Girl #2—has that ever been done before? And the rhythm of your pas de deux is something startling—hard at first, but oh so danceable with the pelvis!” Some friends who knew them then have said that
Bernstein and Robbins had a brief affair. Others say not. But this was one more thing that Lenny and Jerry had in common—bisexuality. At the very least, the letters are full of excitement.
And the excitement was realized. Fancy Free was one of the greatest hits in ballet history—22 curtain calls on opening night, April 18, 1944. With a set by Oliver Smith, evoking the city at dusk, the ballet was a perfect little playlet, a New Yorker short story out of Jerome Robbins, so clearly articulated in movement slang and classical momentum that words would have been overkill.
Shortly after Fancy Free’s premiere, Robbins was already pushing the envelope, thinking about a “ballet dance play in one scene, combining the forms of dance, music, & spoken word into one theater form.” It didn’t come to anything at Ballet Theatre, but when Oliver Smith suggested that the situation of Fancy Free might be retooled into a Broadway show, spontaneity and content merged and the result was On the Town. That a whole show could bounce out of a short ballet attests not only to the emotional richness of Fancy Free but to the ready invention of Robbins and Bernstein, now joined by the madcap writing team Betty Comden and Adolph Green. As Adam Green, Adolph’s son, wrote, the four agreed that “all the elements of the show would work as an integrated unit, with story, songs, and dancing all growing out of one another.”
It was musical theater cracked open, the plot morphologically cascading, evolving itself scene to scene. Bernstein revealed a gift for lyric simplicity, and his shake-a-leg symphonism, which shot between highbrow dissonance and brash Big Band, had the glitter of mica in Big Apple sidewalks. “The harmonies, the way that Bernstein wrote the city,” says Paul Gemignani, musical director of Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, in 1989, “it sounded like New York in 1944, as opposed to New York in Gershwin’s time.” Bernstein was blown away by Robbins’s acute theatrical instincts—”incredible, musically.” Yes, Jerry’s instincts were already impressive.
A mere eight months later, on December 28, 1944, On the Town opened on Broadway, directed by that granddaddy of the stage George Abbott. It was a show, the critic Louis Biancolli wrote, “planned, worked out, and delivered in a ballet key.”
Now that that’s out of the way, it was a big weekend at OTC too. The Invisible Hand closed yesterday. It was a truly breathtaking and powerful production and I am thrilled beyond belief to have worked on it.
I’ll be restructuring the blog later this week, so look out for that!
Now, a fun fact about the Tony Awards (courtesy of the American Theatre Wing):
“On the eve of America’s entry into World War I, seven suffragettes—all women of the theatre—came together to form an organization called The Stage Women’s War Relief dedicated to supporting the troops. The Stage Women went on to raise more than seven million dollars for American soldiers and became one of the most significant active relief organizations in the world. This moment in 1917 sealed the fate of the American theatre community, uniting it with a new vision of patriotism, born out of the performing arts.
In 1940, amidst another World War gaining traction, Antoinette Perry picked up where the Stage Women’s War Relief left off, renaming the effort the American Theatre Wing.The Wing went on to establish the Stage Door CanteenTM which served soldiers through theatric entertainment. The Wing donated $75,000 dollars to the USO to inaugurate drama as legitimate entertainment for troops overseas while sparking excitement for theatre back home.When the war ended, American Theatre Wing began to focus on education and the advancement of theatre in service of community. The American Theatre Wing Professional School, founded by Antoinette Perry, was formed. The Professional School went on to teach the likes of Bob Fosse, Angela Lansbury, James Earl Jones, and many other theatre legends.
In 1946 Antoinette “Tony” Perry passed away. One year later, an award was eponymously named in honor of her heroic work for the American theatre community, and the first Tony was granted. Today, the Tony Awards remain the highest honor in American theatre, commanding theatre’s recognition as a timelessly relevant art form for advancing national culture and personal human experience.”
Did you know On the Town was a movie? It premiered in 1949, shot in Technicolor, and starred Gene Kelly as Gabey, Frank Sinatra as Chip, Betty Garrett as Hildy, Ann Miller as Claire, Jules Munshin as Ozzie, and Vera-Ellen as Ivy. Here’s arguably the most famous version of “New York, New York,” from the film!
“It’s lonely up here.” - Betty Comden, at the celebration of Adolph Green’s life in October 2002.
(Don’t worry, dear readers! I’m totally alright, I just found the quote poignant and felt like sharing because it plucked my heartstrings. Now here’s a puppy to wave the sadness away)
Today, I’m sharing the second On the Town interview. In this conversation with Tara Jeanne Vallee, our choreographer, we discussed the legacy of Jerome Robbins and the challenges of tackling a classic.
TH: This was also Jerome Robbins’ first Broadway musical, followed by many more. Why do you think Robbins was so influential in the choreography world?
Tara Jeanne Vallee: He brought a style that was more relatable. It’s a bit more pedestrian, a heightened reality, which he uses here and again in West Side Story. He was one of the first people who really came from the ballet world and brought that into his choreography.
TH: At our first rehearsal, you mentioned that you’ve been inspired by the city, by what you see on the subway. Can you elaborate on how the city inspires your work on this piece?
TJV: This show is a Valentine to New York, so I would be remiss if I didn’t pay homage to that. I love living in the city, I love the energy of it, the drive of it all. There is a treasure trove of rich inspiration from just observing the city. You can sit in a Starbucks, watch people walk by, and witness the tempo, the character of the city, or sit on a subway and watch the way people react to movement in our everyday lives. The characters in On the Town ride the subway and walk the streets; what does that look like? That is often harder to choreograph than actual steps. You have to create the reality of New York.
TH: In addition to the city, of course, Robbins’ original choreography is iconic. How much of that has inspired you over this process?
TJV: All of it. I studied Fancy Free and I’ve seen many different productions of this show, some of which used Robbins’ choreography and some of which didn’t. When I did The King and I, I learned that you have to bow to the original and do some of the things that people expect: they expect to see the sailors with their arms open, there are pictures they want to see. If you don’t fulfill that, whatever they have in their mind, then you’ve failed.
But you also want to make it your own. You have to adapt it for this stage, for this audience, and for this time. Our tastes have changed over time. People have so many distractions now; they’re used to TV culture and instant gratification, so you have to work harder to keep people’s attention. Jerome Robbins could hold the audience’s attention with those traditional 1940s musical things, meaningful looks and the like. The style needs to be a bit snappier than it used to be.
I take Robbins’ choreography as gospel. Not the steps, necessarily, but the energy. And On the Town is such an open script; it gets to a dance number and there’s really nothing written. The “Times Square Ballet,” which is like a six minute song, gets four lines of stage directions. I’m like, “Six minutes and that’s all you’re going to give me?” You have to write your own story in a lot of ways, which makes this show so different every time I see it. I’m trying to tell a story like Robbins did. He was very much a writer in his own respect. I think really good choreography equates to telling a story. You have to serve what is happening on the stage and not interrupt it.
TH: In classical 1940s musical theatre, there’s all sorts of choreography, including the famous dream ballets. Building off your last point, how do you shape those stories?
TJV: There’s no ABC in choreography. Personally, I work better when I have a story. When I’m just doing steps, it feels empty to me. I would much rather come up with something in my head. The more specificity I have in that story, the easier it is to create.
Looking at that “Times Square Ballet,” for instance, what I’ve come to is that “New York, New York” is the city happening around them, but by this finale of Act One, they’re with the city. That’s the story that I’ve created, that they’re now pulsing with the city. At the same time, I’m bringing back the characters and bits we’ve seen, bringing back elements from Act One. These boys are central in New York now, and all these people have become connected to their story. Even in a crazy big city like New York, we are all connected.
For our Miscellaneous Monday, I’m shouting out to the Olney Theatre Center Apprentice Blog (and all the great work our former Artistic and Casting Apprentice Megh Cooper did on it). There are some real highlights on there, including this piece on our Helen Hayes experience and this picture of Education Apprentice Chris Pinto and Associate Artistic Director Jason King Jones.
As we’ve started a new apprentice class (seven of the fourteen current apprentices are class of 18-19, which is wild), I wanted to highlight this blog and let everyone know to follow it! (Selfishly, I also wanted to look back at some of the highlights of this year and reminisce a little)
(Don’t worry, devoted reader(s), I’m here until August. You can’t get rid of me that easily)
Town Tuesday - I shared part of my interview with Christopher Youstra.
Wise Words Wednesday - We shared a quote from the genius Leonard Bernstein.
Throwback Thursday - We shared the joy of Bernadette Peters singing “I Can Cook Too”!
Fiscal Friday - We featured more of Michael Bloom’s dramaturgical work!
Spotlight Saturday - We highlighted Jennifer Flohr, in our ensemble!
I can’t believe Our first On the Town spotlight is already upon us! The 80th season is coming rapidly to a close (which means my apprenticeship is too but we aren’t talking about that yet, Timothy, knock it off).
Our first spotlight is on Jennifer Flohr, who is a member of our ensemble!
Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green were all in their twenties when On the Town opened on Broadway. What was the highlight event of your twenties?
I began my cruise ship career in my twenties. I worked for Carnival Cruise Lines for about 4 years as a production dancer. The idea of performing while traveling the world was phenomenal! I met some truly amazing people, and saw some pretty amazing sights!
This is a dance heavy show. What was the first time you danced onstage?
I was 3 years old. I danced in a pink poodle costume lol.
On the Town is part of the Golden Age of musicals, which, according to some, stretches from Oklahoma (1943) to Gypsy (1959). What is your favorite musical, Golden Age or otherwise?
On The Town has always held a special place in my heart. There's just something about the music and choreography that makes my heart happy! I also love West Side Story, which is a bucket list show of mine, and also has original choreography by Jerome Robbins.
Madame Dilly is a mentor to Ivy (albeit a rather bad one). Who were your mentors growing up?
I don't think I realized it until I was older, but my mother has always been a HUGE mentor to me. She's never been a performer, or has even taken a dance lesson, but has always been super encouraging, as well as my biggest fan.
