Peter Holloway
Stage One Family Theatre: Does that name sound new to you? It is, in fact, a new name for two well-respected Louisville arts groups. Music Theatre Louisville and Stage One Children’s Theatre combined forces last year. Now their new moniker – Stage One Family Theatre – better reflects what they hope to accomplish with the fusion of their organizations. In this past year, Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville together served more than 100,000 students and their families, making them the biggest user of The Kentucky Center for the Arts “without ever going into Whitney Hall,” says executive director Peter Holloway. One reason for the increase in attendance is this strategic realignment of resources and close examination of how Stage One and Music Theatre Louisville go about achieving their respective missions of providing quality family theatre to the community.
SD: What is happening with Music Theatre Louisville’s summer season?
PH: It’s a very exciting summer season for Music Theatre Louisville. We’re starting off with a show I’ve always wanted to do – Ain’t Misbehavin’. It won a number of Tony Awards in 1978 and it is a showcase for the music of “Fats” Waller, the Harlem Renaissance and that era. Thomas Wright “Fats” Waller was a larger-than-life personality, and there is a character very much like him in the show.
SD: How many people are in the show?
PH: It’s a cast of just five, and it’s a great ensemble piece. We have a marvelously talented group that I can’t wait to see. The show will be directed by Rush Trowel, who grew up here, left to perform around the world and is back working in the education department of The Kentucky Center as well as in his own production company.
SD: What made it so appealing to you?
PH: It’s just full of tremendous numbers the audience will find very entertaining. It’s a little bit like going to the Cotton Club, and I think the intimate nature of the show will play well in the Bomhard. We’re going to enhance that feeling by putting in tables to make it more cabaret-style. There will be five tables of eight between the stage and the first row of seats. Bar service will also be offered during the show to give it a little more of that atmosphere.
SD: I know part of the mission at Music Theatre Louisville is to provide performance opportunities for the entire community. Last season you had a show for a mostly male cast and then an all-female cast.
PH: The cast of Ain’t Misbehavin’ is all African-American, and Harry Pickens is playing with the band. Harry is one of Louisville’s treasures and a recipient of the Governor’s Award last year; so having him and his amazing talent as part of this show is quite a bonus. A lot of people are excited about seeing Ain’t Misbehavin’ for that reason alone.
SD: Ain’t Misbehavin’ runs June 24 through July 2, but you’ll turn around and present the second show later that month.
PH: We’re following up Ain’t Misbehavin’ with Guys and Dolls, a very conventional show out of the classic Broadway period of the 1950s. Frank Loesser is one of our most prolific American Musical Theatre composers, but we haven’t done any of his work in a number of years.
SD: Do you think Guys and Dolls still speaks to a contemporary audience?
PH: Guys and Dolls is on my short list of near-perfect musicals. It has a little bit of everything in it, a great book (dialogue/story), fun dance numbers and some very unique characters. It represents that image of New York we all probably have but never really existed. The guys are a little shady, but they’re very entertaining, they’re very funny, and they speak a very unique dialect. Then there are the women who love them despite the fact that they don’t come home at night, they bet the rent money on a horse, or they lose it in a game of craps. These characters were created by Damon Runyon and, in Frank Loesser’s hands, everything comes out right in the end.
SD: When was the last time Music Theatre Louisville staged Guys and Dolls?
PH: It was 1986 – so twenty-five years ago.
SD: Why did you want to bring it back?
PH: I think Frank Loesser set out to write one of almost every kind of song for this musical, and he achieved that goal. He has a men’s trio, a men’s comic duet, a women’s comic duet, beautiful romantic ballads, comedy songs between men and women, men’s chorus numbers, women’s chorus numbers and a big gospel number in the eleven o’clock spot. They’re all there and they are all memorable. People may not know the “Fugue for Tinhorns” by its title, but I promise everybody knows the song when they hear it.
SD: Explain what the “eleven o’clock number” means on Broadway.
PH: I’m not really quite old enough to remember this, but during that classic period of Broadway, shows started at 8:30 p.m. A night out was really special then and people weren’t as concerned about getting home and getting to bed early. So late in the second act, there would be one real rousing musical piece that came to be known as the eleven o’clock number. Most of the shows from the ’40s, ’50s and ’60s have one to bring the audience back in case they were beginning to fade.
SD: What is that number in Guys and Dolls?
PH: “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.” It’s a fun number and comes up about fifteen minutes before final curtain.
SD: And the third show of the summer?
PH: The third show is from yet another era of Broadway. Based on the 1987 Tom Hanks film, Big is the story of Josh, a thirteen-year-old who gets his wish to be a grown-up, and the shock to everyone in his world when that happens. It’s a charming comedy that was made into a musical four or five years after the movie came out. It didn’t run very long on Broadway, so they took it back “into the shop” and reworked a lot of it – rewrote scenes, composed new songs – so it was a pretty different show when it went out on tour. It has been much more successful on the road but still hasn’t been seen by most people, so that makes it kind of fun.
SD: One of the challenges Big faced on Broadway and on the road was the need for child actors. The logistics and legalities make that hard to sustain night after night.
PH: Ironically, that’s one of the things that made Big especially attractive to us. We always try to have a show that will allow us to involve a lot of kids. Big has a whole lot of kids in that 11 to 14 age bracket who take important roles in the show.
SD: Last year you had Camp Annie. Will you do anything like that this season?
PH: Yes, we had many more kids audition than we could offer roles to, so we’ll bring back the “camp” process in the couple of weeks before the opening of Big. The kids in the camp will work with the same director, choreographer and music director. They will learn all the same material, then we will rotate them through the performances. That will allow us to have 60 to 70 kids taking part in the show who will all have the experience of performing at The Kentucky Center for the Arts.
SD: I assume you will have your other summer camps again this year.
PH: Oh, yes, we have the full slate of camps called DramaWorks. There are lots and lots of opportunities for kids to learn more about musical theatre, drama, dance and storytelling. They fill up pretty fast, so I would encourage anyone who is interested to go to our web site: StageOne.org.
SD: How are things behind the scenes at Music Theatre Louisville/Stage One?
PH: It’s been an interesting, difficult time. When the economy is tough, it’s even harder for non-profits. It hit us a little sooner, so we’re ahead of the curve in terms of recovery. We made some changes that were painful for us: We gave up our own production shop and changed our model to pay for things as we need them. We either rent sets and costumes or we hire folks to build them as they are needed.
SD: Has that strategy been successful?
PH: It has worked out pretty well. We simultaneously changed our model for Stage One and opened up the doors to get more kids in to have arts experiences. The schools are facing the same issues we are, and we saw declining numbers. Stage One has always been a gateway in the arts community. For a lot of kids, Stage One is the first, maybe only, time they see a live performance; and we don’t want to lose that. I don’t think people wake up at 35 and decide to try Kentucky Opera or the Louisville Ballet. It makes a big difference to experience that unique energy of live theatre when you are young.
SD: What is your new initiative?
PH: It’s called “Play It Forward.” We started it with kindergarten and first grades last fall and then added fifth and sixth grade students this spring. All students in the entire metro area are included, whether they attend public, private, parochial or home school. If you could get to the theatre, you could see one of our shows at no cost.
SD: Aside from increased attendance, what was the thinking behind the program?
PH: You know, eventually the arts have to prove their relevance to the community no matter what you do on the economic side. This showed us that teachers, principals and parents in this community still think getting their kids to go see live performances is important.
SD: What has been the response?
PH: Phenomenal! Our total attendance during the last school year was just over 46,000 children. This year we will be right at 80,000. That’s a huge jump! More than 30,000 more students have been able to come this year because of the program.
SD: Does Stage One simply absorb the costs of “Play It Forward” as a loss?
PH: No, the changes in our business model have made it possible for us to convert the generosity of individuals and corporations into what we call underwriting so that those kids could come.
SD: Your business model calls for combining the identities of the two organizations. Where are you in that process?
PH: We are rolling both brands into Stage One Family Theatre. and people will begin to see that name more and more. Music Theatre Louisville will become a subset of that brand. This has great economy of scale: We can put everything we do on one web site, operate from one ticketing system, and create one large series that affords people the opportunity to create a subscription that exactly suits their tastes.
SD: Is there any chance you will perform again at Iroquois Amphitheater?
PH: We continue to have conversations with them and we’re looking for ways to get back and present at least one show in the park. It’s such a wonderful facility, and we would love to keep that part of our heritage alive.
SD: Is the Bomhard still working for you?
PH: Yes, it’s a wonderful space that was designed with Stage One in mind. Long before you heard about stadium seating, the Bomhard had it. There’s a steep rake that allows kids to see over the row ahead of them. We have 615 seats, which is not that far off the number of seats in a New York City theatre. Those Broadway venues aren’t much bigger in terms of stage size either. It works really well and
everybody has a great seat!
Tickets for the upcoming summer season of Music Theatre Louisville are on sale now: Ain’t Misbehavin’, June 24-July 2; Guys and Dolls, July 15-23; and Big, August 5-14. Season tickets are $75 for adults, $60 for seniors/students and $33 for children. For more information, call 502.498.2436 or go to www.MusicTheatreLouisville.com.