Official Blog of New York City Center
Encores! Diary
Merrily: the end.
Feb 20th
Dear Encores! Diary,
As we finished out our closing weekend of Merrily We Roll Along, I remembered the thing that truly makes doing an Encores so amazing and that is the audiences. What a pleasure it is to have an audience that is so on the ball, that recognizes the orchestra and conductor with such generosity, that understands the references and inside jokes and musical miracles that are performed on the stage.
It never ceases to amaze me how a group of two thousand-plus people, strangers to each other, can all enter a building, having had entirely different experiences from their day—the dinner they just ate, how they got to the theatre, where they are from, what made them mad just before, what made them happy an hour ago—and they sit in their seats, the lights go down and all these random people turn into one entity. With a singular personality. To the point that as a performer, you finish your first scene, walk backstage and you are able to sum up an audience with one adjective. They’re smart. or… They’re tired. or… They’re drunk! Because the audience’s performance matters as much to us as our performance does to them. So to do show after show for a really sophisticated, enthusiastic, in-the-know group of people, well that is truly a pleasure. So thank you to all who come to Encores!, you bring us great joy. And you make the communal experience that is theater even more rewarding. Because remember, in the theater every single night is a once-in-a-lifetime event, experienced only by those people who show up to the building on either side of the curtain. It’s remarkable.
Also, Bernadette Peters was there tonight. And Stephen Sondheim. I’m not gonna lie, that makes it fun too.
I thought the show got even better every time we got to do it. I thought the cast was really excellent across the board. I thought Elizabeth Stanley and her boys were hot. I thought Betsy Wolfe sang the s*#@ out of Not A Day Goes By. (I had a mortifying memory pop up that in my senior recital at high school I did a modern interpretive dance to that song while my best friend Jennie Gray sang it to memorialize a teacher who had passed. I bet that was hard to watch.) I thought Adam Grupper was truly fantastic. I think James Lapine is a master. I think Rob Berman is a master. I thought the ensemble was an over-qualified group of people gracious and happy to be there because of what this show means to all of us. I thought the orchestra killed it every single night. And I thought Colin and Celia and Lin found a humanity previously unmined and made us love their trio with brio.
I’m grateful to have been given the opportunity to do the show, and also to have been invited to share my random thoughts on this, my first-ever blog.
GO TO THE THEATER!!!!! YOUR LIFE WILL IMPROVE!! YOUR CHILDREN WILL RESPECT YOU! YOUR NEIGHBORS WILL TAKE OUT YOUR TRASH!!! YOUR SPOUSE WILL MAKE BETTER LOVE TO YOU!!! REALLY, I PROMISE.
So long from your pal, Mylinda Hull, aka Scotty the agent in Merrily We Roll Along, 2012
Merrily, Week 2
Feb 16th
Dear Encores! Diary,
The other night after the show I had the great pleasure of riding the F Train to Brooklyn with Lino Gomez, one of the woodwind players from the Encores! Orchestra. (By the way, “riding the F train to Brooklyn” is not a euphemism for a drug habit, we actually were riding the F train to Brooklyn. Where we both live.) And we had a terrific conversation. It started amusingly enough with Lino asking me if we had ever done any shows together. That’s the funny thing; the way most theaters are set up, physically and the timing of the calls, the orchestra and the cast can go months if not years without actually seeing each other—even though they are in perfect sync, led by the same baton every night. You sort of have to seek someone out. Turns out we didn’t have too many shows in common; he might have subbed on a couple that I was in. But Lino, who plays 5 instruments (flute, e flat clarinet, b flat clarinet, bass clarinet and tenor sax), was talking about the joys of playing the score. He spoke about Jonathan Tunick, the orchestrator, and how the musicians love to play his arrangements because he really understands the voicings and strengths of each instrument, and that there is an inherent logic that makes it a joy to play. Lino is a terrific guy. As you are facing the stage you will see him in the front row of the band, all the way on your right, light grey hair, smoothly juggling his 5 woodwinds. And those are just the ones he plays for us… pretty impressive.
Tuesday night was a magical night in the theatre for the folks who were kind enough to come see our show. There were 20 members of the original company of Merrily in attendance, and they joined us onstage for the curtain call. Then, as a bonus, none other than the man himself, Stephen Sondheim, walked on. Enormous cheers and an outpouring of love from all sides. He shook the hand of young Zachary Unger, who plays Frank Jr., and sobs could be heard. It was quite emotional and lovely. Go to the theatre people, you never know what is going to happen.
More soon,
Your pal, Mylinda
Merrily: Day 8,9,10,11,12,13 & 14 (whoops!)
Feb 12th
Dear Encores! Diary,
Okay, what did I miss…? BlahBlahBlah, opening, BlahBlahBlah, backstage celebrities, BlahBlahBlah press, BlahBlahBlah. Okay!
Let’s really talk about Merrily. It is a hard, grown-up play. This is no beautifully fluffy Gershwin score where boy and girl meet cute. We got divorce, child custody, adultery, alcoholism, selling out, the dissolution of epic friendships. And the story is told in reverse order!!!! Listen people, you have got to pay attention. I really think it takes a moment for the uninitiated to figure out what is going on, or rather how it is going on. What’s fun is a moment in the second act when you can actually hear the audience fully get on board with the format, and really start to enjoy it: Gussie says in one scene, “Remember when I told you a couple of years ago fate brought us together,” and then in the next scene (which takes place a few years earlier) she says, “Fate has brought us together”, people laugh with the giddy, knowing joy of comprehension.
I know that there are many movies and tv shows that use a flashback format, but usually there is a “present” to which the story returns to check in. We just keep going back and back. Another challenge is that we join the story in the first act when the characters are at their most unlikeable, and then as the greek chorus continues to ask through the night, “what was the moment?” “how did you get to be here?” we go back showing certain episodes that perhaps got them there and all of our main characters become more and more innocent, and idealistic and lovable. And then we get to “Our Time” and you weep not only at the beauty of the song and the lyrics, but because you now fully understand the implication of all that has been lost.
I hear that Valentine’s Day is sold out.
Listen, I had a thought and you’re going to have to stick with me for a minute on this one. I take Bikram Yoga—you know, the one in the crazy hot room. And there are these 26 postures, or poses, you do, in the same order, for the same amount of time every time. And all of these poses are preparing your body for the final pose. Now the final pose is actually quite simple. Most of the other poses are much more complicated. The final pose you just cross one bent leg over another bent leg and twist to stretch your spine, you easily could do it before the start of class, but you wouldn’t get the same effect out of it. But after you have done those other poses, you are prepared to receive the full benefit. The instructors actually use the words (I’m sure they are copyrighted!!!) telling you to wring out your spine, as you are twisting, as though you are wringing out a rag. And I sort of feel that “Our Time” is like that. You could just sing it at the top of the show, and it is a real pretty song, but somehow after watching all of these episodes, when the time comes you have been prepared to receive the full impact and it will wring you out.
Not quite as sweaty though.
I really feel like our production benefits so greatly from the casting of incredibly likable people, (who are also so fantastic in each of their roles). So that even when you jump in and they are behaving badly and you don’t know what is going on, you do immediately care about them and want to know what the story is. I am writing this on Sunday, before our final show of the week, and every show has just gotten better and stronger and more confident and you really wonder what we could have done had we had more time. ”There’s not enough Time!!!” to quote the end of “Opening Doors.”
When you come to see the show, be sure to take note of that talented piano player in the Downtown Club cabaret show scene, none other than our beloved Rob Berman, music director and conductor extraordinaire.
Your pal, Mylinda
Day 6 & 7
Feb 5th
Dear Encores! Diary,
Well, it’s the Sondheim Superbowl this year. Did anyone else notice before the game when Eli Manning was asked what final words Coach Tom Coughlin had for the team before they took the field? He said “It’s our time”. It’s Our Time??? Clearly, Coach Coughlin had been quoting Merrily We Roll Along in the locker room, drawing some Sondheim parallels. What else could he have been saying? In fact, I think I just saw Eli holding up that trophy and saying “At last, my right arm is complete again.” I honestly did not realize there was such a strong musical theatre connection to the NFL. I might watch a little more often. Because There Are Giants In The Sky.
We had Sitzprobe Friday, working up to Superbowl Sunday. The sitzprobe is the first time the orchestra and the cast come together to play and sing the music together in the same room. It is enormously exciting. The musicians are absolutely the best on Broadway. To sit in that room with all of those people is a real privilege; it is the kind of moment you tuck away in your memory pocket for a rainy day. Jonathan Tunick was there, his orchestrations are outta this world. Mr. Sondheim was there giving helpful notes to musicians and actors alike. I know a couple of the musicians from other shows. A terrific fella named John Beal is on bass—he told me he also played the original production. I love Beal. I sometimes sing with a jazz band and he is our regular bass player, and I always feel incredibly lucky to sing with him.
Tomorrow, Monday, is the big day. That’s the day all the technical elements come together and everyone does in one day what it usually takes several weeks to perfect. Lighting, costumes, sound, all of it. For my money, the sound department has the biggest challenge. Then we’ll have one more rehearsal Tuesday morning before our invited dress rehearsal Tuesday night. You know, a friend of mine recently shared with me her concerns about a family member who wants to go to school for theatre, and she wasn’t sure if he had the caliber of talent to make a career of it and thought it was maybe a waste. I shared my opinion that anyone who takes part in the theatre, whether in college, community theatre, summer camp, wherever, comes out of it better suited for life as a whole. You learn teamwork, how to meet a deadline, kindness to your fellow man, and how to own your joy and your pride. All of those things are certainly on display here at Encores!. And also, with the Giants.
Your pal, Mylinda
Day 6: Merrily, Merrily
Feb 2nd
Dear Encores! Diary,
Speaking of Justice Sonia Sotomayor….
I think she would be great casting the next time Encores! does Call Me Madam. Also, if they ever do Oklahoma!, I look forward to seeing Chief Justice John Roberts as Curly, Justice Elena Kagan as Ado Annie, and of course Justice Antonin Scalia as Jud Fry. Can I get a whatwhat? Feel free to chime in with Supreme Court Casting. I think it just might be a new feature of the day.
We had a run through for the designers and their associates in the afternoon. Oh, and some guy named Steve Sondheim was there too. No pressure. No pressure when you straggle into the rehearsal room after lunch and he is already sitting in one of the chairs reading his New York Times. Not bothering with the crossword puzzle because chances are he MADE IT UP. No, no pressure.
Actually it wasn’t because as we all sat watching him watch the play when we were not on (of course), you could tell that he was genuinely interested and supportive and enjoying it all. Word on the street after is that he was generally pleased. Phew.
But seriously, it is crazy that we did a successful run through with such a limited amount of rehearsal time. It is a hard show!!! Time runs backward for pete’s sake!!! This is not the amateur hour to say the least. As our fearless leader James Lapine has reminded us, this is the time to bring your A game. Lin and Colin and Celia are bringing their A plus plus plus game, somehow they’ve been able to find subtlety and resounding emotion and true humor in this really complex piece in about 5 minutes. But that is the miracle of Encores!. You gird your loins and go.
Loin girding! Hooray!
But you know there’s another legend in the room every day. Peter Lawrence, our Production Stage Manager, is the veteran of oh, say, 29 Broadway shows. And those are just the ones we know about. Come on. That’s a lot. And he’s really nice, and upbeat, and funny every day. There’s a lesson in that, eh? He and his associates have kept everything smoothly on course, which is enormously helpful.
Okay, one more. I know, you were thinking it too, Golden Boy with Justice Clarence Thomas as Joe and The Honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg as Lorna. I Want To Be With You is all I have to say on that one. Holla.
Your pal,
Mylinda
Day 4 & 5, Merrily We Roll Along
Feb 1st
Dear Encores! Diary,
A lifetime ago, when I was young and supple, I did about 8 companies of A Chorus Line—regionally, on the road, etc. (actually it was my first professional job that same year when I was 15 and saw the Merrily in La Jolla). And the director would talk about how when Michael Bennett originally choreographed the opening dance combination, he put in that “turn turn out in” triple pirouette with an arabesque in the middle step because it’s almost impossible to do it right every night. You have to be really focused every time and really reach for it every time; you can never relax. It might seem a little cruel to assign something unattainable to do 8 times a week, but the truth is it serves the action and emotion of the audition setting.
I feel like it’s similar with Sondheim’s score for Merrily. So many songs leave you breathless from their composition, or the melody is unexpected and awkward and you are fighting to get the words out and it turns out that that is exactly what is happening in the scene, and it’s so helpful because your effort is factual, not simulated. That means there is one less thing to “act”. And lord knows the less acting the better, right? Genius, in the case of both gentlemen.
We had a terrific rehearsal today. We of the ensemble began with a very helpful vocal review session with Ben Whitefield. We went over the intent of the words, which actually fixed much of the vocal dynamic by default. He is good. Then, since yesterday we blocked the ENTIRE SHOW, we were able to do a work-through of Act 1, chunk by chunk, with director James Lapine, choreographer Dan Knechtges and musical director Rob Berman on their feet, giving notes, doing fixes and shaping us at every turn. Picture a boxer walking down the hallway to the ring with all of his team working on him at once: trainer, promoter, masseur, the hand-wrapper-thingy guy. That’s what it feels like the whole cast is, that boxer heading to the ring with everyone doing everything they can to make sure he’s a winner by the time he gets there.
The ever-elegant Ann Hould Ward, our costume designer, has been in the rehearsal room so much, always there to answer any question that pops up; sound designer Dan Moses Schreier and set designer John Lee Beatty are popping in and out; even Jack Viertel wanders in occasionally. He’s the best audience member ever. I poked my head in to the stage right fly rail (which is a skinny catwalk on the wall of the theatre, but 3 stories up from the stage!) to say hello to the fellows up there loading in the set for the show. We chatted a bit about all the renovations to the City Center theatre and how it affects the backstage world as well. I am VERY excited to see the new lobby and auditorium—there’s been no time to sneak a peek yet.
Then we did a run-through of the act at the end of the day. We are, dare I say it…. rolling along.
Your pal,
Mylinda
Day 3, Merrily We Roll
Jan 30th
Dear Encores! Diary,
Speaking of the Supreme Court…
One of my favorite memories at Encores! was during Girl Crazy in 2009. After the curtain call one night, we were all heading offstage back to our dressing rooms and standing by the elevator was this lovely, petite woman surrounded by four big tall fellows. Federal Marshals, actually, because the lady was Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor. I joined a line of my cast mates to meet her and shake her hand and say hello then went upstairs to my dressing room and bawled my eyes out that I got to meet her. It was only a couple of months after she had been confirmed and the story of her path to the Supreme Court was fresh in my mind and very moving to me. And I got to meet her because of Encores! Apparently she has been a fan of Encores! for some time and attends whenever she can. Hey, she’s a classy New York lady.
Today I think I just added another. This morning we were in our Equity meeting, (the actors and stage managers are all members of our union Actors Equity Association, Equity for short) where Keith, one the business reps, comes to go over the contract, benefits, health insurance, etc. (ahhh the glamorous life). So we were all dutifully listening to his excellent presentation when suddenly Stephen Sondheim poked his head in the room, to see if the meet-and-greet had started. And we all looked over to see him standing there and you could just feel everyone stop breathing for a second. Like we were a group of birdwatchers suddenly seeing an Asian Crested Ibis or something. Then he turned around and walked out and we just started to quietly laugh. And poor Keith had just lost his audience for the rest of the meeting. You could just hear the brain wheels turning: That was really him. He will see us doing his show. That was him. That was really him.
It was a good bonding experience.
Hey, it’s a great place to work.
More to come.
Your pal, Mylinda
Day 2, Encores!
Jan 28th
Dear Encores! Diary,
Perhaps it will be as shocking to you as it is to me that the ensemble learned the ENTIRE score of Merrily We Roll Along today. (Well, our part of it anyway!) Sitting on chairs in the green room, pencils poised at music stands from 10am to 6pm, well, “learned” implies knowledge retained so maybe that’s the wrong word, but we at least addressed and assigned the whole shebang . Call us chicken because we are fried!!! Ben Whiteley, the Associate Music Director, was phenomenal. As hard as it is to sit there and focus and learn it, imagine how hard it is to stand there and teach it to 19 squirrelly actors. He had flow charts, group assignations, astrology charts, you name it; really amazing preparation for us, and he got the job done with kindness and style. It’s a terrific group of singing actors, who really know what they’re doing. I read music passably well. I mean if music was French, and I went to Paris, I would be able to order coffee and a baguette and probably manage to flirt with the waiter, but I certainly couldn’t discuss the finer points of Barthes. So I am always impressed with those who can truly, deeply read music at the first pass.
Don’t get me wrong, I get by.
We had a mini meet-and-greet with the whole acting company this morning. Lapine asked us to introduce ourselves and also to say where we are from originally. That was fun to find out. I only know a couple of people from before, but really everyone in our community is only one or two people removed from anyone else. I saw Colleen Fitzpatrick, who I met working on Road Show at the Public a few years back. She’s fantastic. Colleen is a good-looking blonde lady, with bright blue eyes and a husky speaking voice who swears like a sailor, dresses like a hit man and then opens her mouth and sings like an absolute bird. It’s beautiful and I’m so happy to get to listen to her sing and swear once again.
Lapine had asked me where I was from yesterday as well, maybe he’s got a thing about it. And I told him I grew up in San Diego, and that I had actually seen the 1985 version of Merrily that he directed at the La Jolla Playhouse. I was 15 and saw it with my sister Marjorie. We were already entrenched in the theatre, and we took it in with the pure excitement that only comes with the sincerity of youth and it had a great effect on both of us. There were many pinkies linked and “here’s to us, etc.” after that between us and our theatre friends. So it was especially meaningful when I got the call to do this here at Encores. I said yes, hung up, and called my sister right away. So she’s flying in and bringing her daughter to see the show for her 14th birthday.
Sobbing will ensue.
Though I suspect/fear I may be fighting the waterworks every night. This score slays me, especially Our Time, all that purity of purpose coming at the end. I think the show is moving to many people. The examination of friendship and love, what is gained and what is lost as we move through our lives, looking back to see how the seemingly random choices that we make end up carving us into who we become. Dreams v. Compromise. Determination v. Distraction. That’s the Supreme Court of life, Mister.
Bet you’re excited to see it…. right?
Your pal, Mylinda
First Day of the 2012 Encores! Season
Jan 28th
Hello, Mylinda Hull here, cast member of Merrily We Roll Along and guest blogger for the Encores! Diary.
Today was my first rehearsal. The principals have been at it for a couple of days and 5 more of us were added today to start work on “That Frank!” and “Now You Know.” Good lord it is exciting to sing this music. You know how you think you know a song, hum along when you hear it and think you know it? Very different when you get into the room and delve into the super-precision work required for a Sondheim score. Notes are not what you think…! Rests are located in surprising places….! Nothing is what it seems….! Unless of course it seems brilliant and moving and funny and real, in which case it is exactly what it seems.
Very enjoyable to watch Celia Keenan-Bolger, Colin Donnell and Lin-Manuel Miranda put together “Opening Doors.” They were just woodshedding it on a break, because it is incredibly complicated (and funny and real and moving and brilliant) with typewriters and telephones and rolling chairs and lots and lots and lots of words, and on an Encores! schedule you grab every moment you can to get it right. So the rest of us, also on break, were sitting and watching them get it wrong. Then get it less wrong. Then get it more right. Then get it totally right! The natural suspense in watching others learn is incomparable. I don’t know, imagine watching a kitten trying to jump on the top of a wall, watching him miss, then make a tiny adjustment, then get closer and change the angle, and then almost make it and by then you are twisting your own body as though you are that little kitten and then when he makes it you just want to absolutely cheer.
It made me realize that one of the inherent things about putting up a show in such a short amount of time is that you are learning in front of your peers the whole time. It’s very vulnerable. Usually during the rehearsal period for a show you’ll have a couple of private sessions to learn your songs, and rehearse emotional scenes with just the director, and then you’ll have at least a week or so to rehearse at home, listen incessantly to your parts, sing them incessantly in the shower, so that when the time comes to put it all together in front of and with your fellow actors, you feel like you at least have the hang of it. During an Encores production (this is my third) you are doing all that learning with witnesses! The whole time! I think for any person in any job having your whole company watch while you learn to perform your tasks would be intimidating. Fortunately everyone here is in the same boat, we are all learning at breakneck speed, so there’s no time to worry about feeling so naked, because we’re all naked together. Aha! There’s the hot news flash I was looking for in my blog: Encores! Everyone is naked together!!
Also, everyone is so magnificently good that they could charge admission to watch these people be wrong and the audience would still get their money’s worth.
Okay, so that was my first blog post. Let’s see…. compare our leading principals to a kitten…? Check! Admit that I didn’t really know how the songs go…? Check! I think my work here is done for tonight. Tomorrow is the official first day with the full company, so we’ll wait to see what that will bring.
Your pal, Mylinda
Weekend Wrap-Up: Making a Miracle
Mar 21st
I spent this morning finally putting away everything I brought home from the theater last night: makeup bag, signed poster, roses from the lovely Leah Horowitz and Leah Edwards, show undies, script and character shoes. Now, as I sit here watching the snow falling outside (!), I will give you the highlights from our brief run this weekend of Where’s Charley?.
We all tried to heed Jack Viertel’s warning to us that even though the show might start to feel comfortable, we could not just sit back and relax, because that will be the moment that you sing the wrong pickup rhythm or wear a hat onstage during a waltz (not that that happened to Max Kumangai). This was especially good advice for our Friday night performance, which was being taped for Lincoln Center Library’s Theater on Film and Tape (TOFT) archive. If you messed up on Friday night, your grandchildren and great-grandchildren would be able to see it preserved on film for the rest of history! In all seriousness, it was a great honor to be included in their collection, one that I am embarrassed to say that I don’t take advantage of nearly enough.
The performances did seem to relax a little bit, though, through the weekend, in the best way possible. All of the tricky musical entrances and uniform head turns became a little bit more ingrained in our bodies, and our scripts and scores became merely a prop rather than a lifeline. The audiences were all hugely responsive, even at the matinees, proving that silly humor can be a universal experience, even in an intellectual town like New York.
One of the highlights of the weekend was the talkback after the Saturday matinee. I have done many talkbacks in my performing career, mostly for schoolchildren or investors or interested locals at a regional theater, but I have never been to one where almost the entire 2,000 people in the audience have stayed to watch. The session was led by theatrical historian Robert Kimball, who started off with some musical trivia from 1948, the year Where’s Charley? was first produced. There seemed to be a lot of folks in the audience who were either around that year or are even bigger theater geeks than I am. The incandescent Jo Sullivan Loesser made an appearance, as well as John Doyle, most of the creative team, and a good percentage of the cast. And no, we never did come to a consensus about who the woman in the picture is.
Sunday night, it was time to wrap things up, just as it seemed like we were getting started. Many cast members spent the majority of the show in the wings, watching the work of their fellow actors one more time before it slipped into the ether. Our final singalong of “Once in Love with Amy” was not only a gift to the audience, but a way to say good-bye to each other. Then it was time for the Closing Night party, a tradition somewhat peculiar to Encores! which doesn’t throw a corresponding Opening Night party (although I guess it would be silly to do two parties in five days. But fun!). Having been to three of these now, I will tell you that the food last night was hands down the best it has been! Besides that, though, it was wonderful to meet people’s parents (Hi Freda!), boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands and wives — I got to tell Rebecca Luker’s husband, Danny Burstein, what a huge fan I’ve been of his — and to make connections one last time. Jack gave his usual inspirational speech of gratitude, thanking everyone in that building who could possibly be thanked, and we raised a glass one last time before City Center closes and undergoes renovations for the next few months. Soon, my friends who buy nosebleed seats will be able to see me when I’m on a high platform!
Will this really be the end of Where’s Charley? for ever and ever? Well, as even the most generous reviews noted (and boy, were they complimentary), we are probably not the best candidate to transfer to Broadway this year or really any year. However, there has never been a definitive recording of Where’s Charley?; there are tracks of Ray Bolger singing “Once in Love with Amy” and a heavily truncated British recording from years ago, but that’s all that exists. Will the Encores cast get to finally record a Where’s Charley? for the ages? Stay tuned…
I leave you with one last reference to my hair, which was expertly coiffed by Analisa this weekend, as seen in the picture below. Analisa, you will be karmically rewarded one day for your generosity!
See you at the next Encores performance!
Leah Horowitz (red tie) and Analisa Leaming (green tie) whipping my hair into shape! Meggie Cansler and Patricia Noonan are amused ("Oh Patricia!").