In an early scene in Beautiful, struggling songwriter and 16 year-old college student Carole King meets handsome fellow student Gerry Goffin, who aspires to become a playwright. Dismissing her suggestion to collaborate by writing lyrics for pop songs, he asks, "What can you say in three minutes?"
The same question could be posed, "How can you fit the life and career of one of the most prolific and successful female songwriters of the twentieth century into a 2 1/2 hour musical?" The answer is you can't. Instead, the touring production of Beautiful, on stage in Overture Hall through June 18, tells a compelling but simplified story of Carole King's evolution from an awkward teenage composer in Brooklyn in 1958, to a poised, accomplished singer/songwriter playing a triumphant solo concert at Carnegie Hall in 1971. The fast-paced, funny, and polished production showcases a very strong cast juxtaposing exuberant love songs with King's turbulent personal life as she rose to fame.
My son Charlie and I were lucky enough to attend Theatre LILA's first annual Whoopensocker performance at Overture Center on May 31st in Promemade Hall. For the students and peformers who created the evening of vignettes, it was a celebration-- the culmination of six-week creative arts residencies in third grade classrooms at Sandburg, Lincoln and Emerson Elementary Schools in Madison. For audience members, it was an unforgettable night of new voices expressing the silly, the serious, and everything in between from a decidedly nine year-old world view.
Presented in Radio City Music Hall in the heart of New York City, the Tony Awards show is a celebration of Broadway. But for those of us in the flyover states, watching the Tonys each June can seem like glimpsing a faraway theater world, filled with plays and musicals we haven’t seen and won’t be able to experience until they tour Midwest markets in a year or two.
The Bartell Theater is home to Stage Q, Strollers Theatre, the Madison Theatre Guild, Mercury Players Theatre, Kathie Rasmussen Women’s Theatre (KRASS), and also hosts some of the Madison Ballet’s performances. These groups recently announced their seasons, which include more than two dozen productions that will add tremendously to the diversity of performing arts offerings in our community.
So, therewas a little fill in the blank questionnaire going around on Facebook about a month ago about musicals — a genre I love. I didn’t fill it out, partly because of the Sondheim thing (keep reading, you’ll see what I mean), and partly because a friend of mine urged her fellow playwrights not to bash anyone publicly — after all, you might end up working with them someday. (She coaches young people who are auditioning for big Broadway shows like Matilda, Fun Home, School or Rock, etc.) While I doubt that Lin Manuel Miranda is ever going to call me so we can talk over a cool new idea he has, that he just needs a little writing help with, I get that putting bad vibes out into the universe and ridiculing theater creators publicly is probably a bad idea. So, you know. I’m doing it here.
I see a lot of plays. As a theater lover/nerd, a friend of many actors and a professional critic, I see tons of community theater productions, professional shows in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago, and New York, and touring productions that stop at Overture Center as they criss-cross the country. I also take my son to children’s theater, and occasionally check out high school and college productions. The interesting shows I can’t see, either due to geography or finances, I frequently read about through online reviews and buying/borrowing scripts.
I love writing plays that have a historic context. In the age of the internet, I also love to do research. I have a fascination with other time periods that started with my wish to be Laura Ingalls and live as a pioneer in a log cabin, around age 6. The trick is not to get the information mostly right. It’s to get it completely right — and then figure out which details will make your story even better. The more specific, the more true your setting is, the more honest and real your characters feel, and the more authority your audience will give you to tell the story in the first place.
I could feel a draft moving through Milwaukee’s Broadway Theatre Center’s rehearsal hall that snowy January afternoon. The artistic directors from Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and Forward Theater Company leaned back in their folding chairs. “Whenever you are ready,” someone said.
I took a deep breath and looked at the other actor to let him know he could start the scene, reminding myself to project, to plant my feet. Move with intention, I thought. Act on the lines, not in between them. Listen.
