Author: Charleston Stage

by Michael Lasris, Charleston Stage Resident Actor 

Ever since I was 13 years old, I have been choreographing dancers for various reasons. I started my choreographic career as a junior choreographer for an annual cabaret at the Rodef Sholom Temple back home in Virginia. I progressed up the ranks until I was the head choreographer as a senior in high school. I then went off to college where I choreographed a few dances for showcases, but never did I get the chance to choreograph a large full-production musical… until now. The Producers marks the first full-scale musical I have choreographed!

I couldn’t have asked for a better cast and production team to work with! Going into this experience, as with any choreographic endeavor, you never know the level of dance ability or willingness of the cast. Luckily, this cast has risen to every single challenge that we have offered. For example, many of the dancers in the ensemble have ZERO tap dance experience and two of the largest production numbers (“I Wanna Be a Producer” and “Springtime for Hitler”) are tap heavy. Having watched their progress over the rehearsal period, I think everyone will be quite surprised with the high level of tap proficiency on the stage.

Perhaps one of the most unique challenges of this show comes from the genius of the original choreographer, Susan Stroman. In the song “Along Came Bialy,” Max Bialystock (played brilliantly by Brian Bogstad) finds himself in the imaginative Little Old Lady Land, which is flooded with all of his financial backers. Stroman saw fit to include a unique prop in the dance break of the song: walkers. So, Sarah Claire Smith (Co-Choreographer/Ulla) and I decided to continue this idea, which resulted in hours of fun rehearsals and a brand new appreciation for these delightfully insane props.

This experience has been SO much fun! Not only are the dances fun and challenging, but also the process has been a wonderfully creative progression of ideas. Because of the absurdity of the show, the choreography must match. So this no-holds-barred style of production has allowed me to truly experiment and grow. I hope everyone enjoys the dancing as much as I (and Sarah Claire) have enjoyed creating it.

 

 

(Far Left:  Charleston Stage Resident Actor Michael Lasris as Roger Debris) 

 

(Charleston Stage Resident Actor Michael Lasris as Roger Debris performing in “Springtime For Hitler”) 

 

by Brian Zane, Charleston Stage Resident Actor 

When I found out that we were switching our last musical from Crazy for You to The Producers, I was thrilled!  Since I was little, Mel Brooks has been one of my favorite filmmakers of all time and The Producers is definitely up there with my favorite musicals of all time.  I thought to myself, “I get to do West Side Story and The Producers, two of my dream shows, in the same season!  Who could ask for anything more?”  (To quote the musical we are no longer doing). Though I have had a huge passion and drive to do both shows, preparing for the part of Riff (from West Side Story) was quite different from preparing for the part of Franz Liebkind (my part in The Producers).  Riff was from New York, like me, so all I had to do was turn up my New York accent a little bit.  Franz is from Germany, so I had to work on that accent a little harder.  Riff was a character who I could sympathize with who wanted to preserve his gang, but went a little too far.  Franz is a Nazi playwright who wrote a glorified play about Adolf Hitler.

My biggest challenge in West Side Story was learning all of the athletic dancing and fitting it into my body.  My biggest challenge in The Producers was taking a character with many exaggerated and unlikeable traits and making him likeable, if not two legs short of a chair.  Brooks has already done a lot of that work for me, but I have added some more bits and quirks to this already loony character.  The results have been fun to find and hopefully the audiences will enjoy Franz’s eccentricities!  It’s been a blast doing my two favorite musicals, and it’s great to be doing a musical comedy after so many serious plays.  I hope you enjoy the show as much as we’re going to be performing it.  It’s going to be VUNDERBAR!

 

 

 (Charleston Stage Resident Actor Brian Zane as Franz Liebkind)

 

(by Julian Wiles, Charleston Stage Founder and Producing Artistic Director)  Recently our production staff toured the Historic Dock Street Theatre to get a first hand look at the renovations.  These are on schedule and moving along.  The building is going to look stunning when we return.  Renovations are over halfway completed, in fact, except for the portico (which should be completed this spring), but the exterior renovations are complete!

 

Inside there is still a lot of work to be done, but it’s very exciting to see this grand structure coming back together.  And yes, the seats will be more comfortable.  There will be new comfortable chairs in the balcony, and downstairs the benches are being remade with new seat cushions and (for the first time) cushions for the backs as well.  Below are some photos of the ongoing renovations shot by our Property Master Mike Christensen.  You’ll also see a view from backstage looking into the auditorium.  The large wooden scaffolding was put in place over the seating area to remake the ceiling.  It will be removed soon.

 

Below is a view of the stage from overhead.  Note the steel beams that have been added to strengthen the walls to earthquake the building.  Most of the walls in the building have had this important seismic reinforcement which is one reason the renovations have taken so long.

 

Plans still call for the fully renovated Dock Street Theatre to reopen in May 2010 in time for Spoleto. Charleston Stage productions will return to the Dock Street in September 2010.  We can’t wait!

(by Beth Curley, Charleston Stage Communications Manager)  Over the weekend, the cast and crew of The Producers rehearsed at our studio space in Mt. Pleasant.  They worked hard perfecting dance numbers and blocking and rehearsing scenes from Mel Brooks’ hit musical comedy.  The show opens in two weeks and is looking great! Check out the photos below for a sneak peek!  

 

(Former Charleston Stage Resident Actor Brian Bogstad as Max Bialystock) 

 

(Little Old Lady Land) 

 

 

(From left to right:  Former Charleston Stage Resident Actor Brian Bogstad as Max Bialystock and Charleston Stage Resident Actor Andy McCain as Leo Bloom) 

Steve Martin’s script for Picasso At the Lapin Agile is full of surprises ranging from the grand, a visitor from the future, to the subtle yet funny jokes in the arguments between Freddie and Germaine, the couple who run the bar.  When it came time for Director Julian Wiles and Michael Christensen to add sound effects and for me to add lighting to the show, we used the various tools at our disposal to add even more surprises and, let me tell you, that was a very fun approach to this show.  Also it was worth it, as it is not often that a lighting change or a song played in a scene elicits as palpable a response from our audiences as “the show down music” or “the miracle of the stars” have from last weekends audiences, earning applause and praise. We definitely didn’t hold anything back.  Picasso was a huge success!  We will be spending the next couple of days tearing down the set with the help of our Resident Actors who starred in the show.  And we will be saying goodbye to Memminger Auditorium.  All of our productions next Season will be held at the College of Charleston Sottile Theatre!  Now we move on to our next challenge, The Producers!  This is one production where we will be pulling out all the stops in lighting, sound effects and set design.  Audiences are in for a treat, and what a way to end this season!!!

This was a very challenging show that required a lot of understanding for the different personalities of the 10 characters. Once the personalities were established, the ideas fell into place and, keeping with the requirements of the script, the costumes were relatively simple. Each character has his own special look that makes him/her come alive in the beginning of the 20^th century.  Everything from Einstein’s hair to the Messenger’s sunglasses was created to make viewing the show as much fun as hearing it.  I really enjoyed the process. 

 

(The Resident Acting Company in Picasso at the Lapin Agile) 

When I first heard that Charleston Stage would be producing Picasso, I could not wait to audition.  I am a fan of Steve Martin and of this script in particular.  As soon as I was cast as Germaine, I started my character research.  In many ways, a fictional character is more fun to research because you can let your imagination run wild in terms of family background and past experiences and relationships.  With this and research of the time period, along with very helpful suggestions from the director, I began to form a character.It was exciting to see Germaine change and grow with each rehearsal.  Each night, she became a little feistier, a little more bold and more and more connected to the characters around her.  Getting on to the set and in costume really helped to solidify Germaine as a flirty, fiery, feminine French woman living in the first decade of the twentieth century.  And, really, is there any other kind?

  

(Jan Gilbert as Germaine and Robbie Thomas as Freddy) 

Resident designer Stefanie Christensen and I had a lot of fun with this set.   The Lapin Agile is a real bar in Paris and Picasso himself actually painted a picture of the interior that we worked off of when designing our set.  This gave us a starting point.  Stefanie recreated the actual sign that hangs outside the real Lapin Agile on the front door for our production.  Overall, however, we were not trying to reproduce the real Lapin Agile in Paris.   More than anything we wanted to be theatrical with this set.  To begin with, we decided to paint a star studded floor which Stefanie executed beautifully.  We also got lucky since a movie being shot in Charleston (Dear John) had just wrapped and, as they left town, they donated some of their props to us including the terrific bar which Stefanie incorporated into the set.  While Stefanie worked on the set itself I busied myself working on the projections which play a crucial part in our production.  I scoured the internet for images to use, but found that most of web images were too low in resolution to be blown up 12 feet high.  This sent me to the library to search for iconic images of art and science of the 20th century.  These were scanned and incorporated into iMovie and Keynote (Apple’s version of Powerpoint) to create the dozens of images used for the production.  Overall, Stefanie and I wanted the set to be as playful as Steve Martin was in creating this wild and crazy play.  With neon lights, stars appearing in the sky, a falling roof, and a blast of smoke for the mysterious visitor that appears later in the play, we sought to pull out the stops but to do so in a way that still served the play.  Audiences seemed to be delighted with the whimsy of this set and of course we’re delighted with their delight.

 

If you were to look up the word “irony” in the dictionary, it wouldn’t be out of the realm of possibility to find a picture of Albert Einstein along with it. I have never easily understood Mathematics and Science, but throughout my preparation on playing the role of Einstein, I have found myself perpetually enlightened by the revelations of this quirky, impudent, rebel of a genius. And much to my delight, I’ve discovered that modern science isn’t necessarily to be understood only by the scientific mind; my brain appears to grasp previously elusive ideas and theories, when proposed in “relativity”.  When rehearsal began, Julian had me play the role of Einstein from a cartoon character perspective. That characterization constantly morphed until we realized that a more realistic approach was what would work best. Experimenting is an incredibly fun way to find a character. I’ve already had the opportunity to become a zany Einstein, a pensive Einstein, a quiet Einstein, a skittish Einstein and more. And we haven’t even opened yet! Thanks to Charleston Stage and Julian for this opportunity. The cast and crew are amazing. Audiences are going to be incredibly entertained by this brilliant play.      (Randy Risher as Albert Einstein)

When I found out I would be playing the title role of Pablo Picasso in Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” I was both delighted and daunted. I was delighted to have such a dynamic and complex role in a terrific comedy by one of comedy’s all-time geniuses. I was also daunted to be playing a real person in  not so real circumstances which seemed like an enormous challenge. When an actor is handed a role, the first thing they must do is research. Since I was playing a person who actually existed, I had lots of text and information at my disposal. However, since I knew the comedy and the man behind the play was as important as the artist, I started with Steve Martin’s autobiography “Born Standing Up.” This gave me some great insight into the extraordinarily talented playwright and his process in comedy and in life. I have always been a Steve Martin fan (since seeing “The Three Amigos” as a young chico), but this book helped me understand the man behind the laughs. It also showed me how tortuous it can be to be hailed as a “genius.”

     This took me to the character of Pablo Picasso- the pioneer and genius behind the Modern Art Movement. I started with a biography called “Picasso Master of the New Idea” which gave an unbiased depiction of his life and art. I also read parts of “Picasso” by Gertrude Stein, one of his close friends. This gave me a great feeling for the man behind the art. He was a man intrigued by art. He was attracted to people who were creative and loved talking about the process of being creative. He thought it was absolutely necessary for any artist to suffer before they could create any real art. In that respect he believed that greatness came out of suffering. He was the kind of man that could take control of the room and tell stories until the sun came up. He was also the kind of man that could retreat to the corner of the bar and brood in depression. He loved women and had many lovers throughout his life. He was also very competitive and always strived to be the best at what he did.

     Jump to the actual play “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” an absurd comedy about a night that never actually took place. Geniuses meeting and arguing over which area of genius is more important to the human race. Ridiculous comic circumstances taking place with Einstein, Picasso and various visitors in a bar in Paris. The Picasso of the play is very similar in appearance to the real Picasso, but how is he different? That was the next part of my process. Finally, I knew I had to put my own spin on the Picasso of the play which already put its own spin on the Picasso of the world. Are you beginning to understand how taking on this role could seem daunting? What conclusions did I come to and how did I end up interpreting the man and the character of Picasso? If you want to find out, you’ll have to come see the show!

 

 

(Far Right:  Charleston Stage Resident Actor Brian Zane as Picasso)