GRACE NOTES Feature Articles

  The Scottsboro Boys’ Christian Dante White: The Sky’s The Limit
by Adryan Russ for GRACE NOTES, May 25, 2013

A cast member of The Scottsboro Boys, by John Kander, Fred Ebb and David Thompson, now at LA’s Ahmanson Theatre — Christian Dante White is a force to be reckoned with.  Bright, articulate and talented, he was in on the ground floor of this show, in its first reading, its off-Broadway and Broadway productions, and is now on tour with the production.

 Says Christian, “I did the first reading of the show at New York’s Vineyard Theatre – we rehearsed for a week and read the piece with chairs and music stands in July 2009.  I got a call to do a full production off-Broadway in 2010.  We rehearsed for four weeks before opening off-Broadway at the Vineyard, which led to our out-of-town tryout at The Guthrie Theater; then I did the show on Broadway.  I was grateful they kept me on the train.”

How did it all begin for him? “I had just booked The Wiz at New York City Center, a huge production with Ashanti, Orlando Jones, La Chanze, playing the Scarecrow, and got my Equity card.  I got called to audition for Kander, Ebb and Thompson and I thought, there’s no way I’m going to get this, but went anyway during my lunch break and didn’t think I had a good audition at all.  But I got a call after rehearsal and couldn’t stop laughing because I got in.”

After The Wiz and the reading for The Scottsboro Boys, which he participated in simultaneously, Christian was supposed to appear in Jersey Boys in Las Vegas, but was called, literally at the airport, asking him to come back to be in The Scottsboro Boys.  Luckily he hadn’t signed anything yet. In the meantime, he appeared in Lost in the Stars at New York City Center, a failed pilot in Los Angeles and a workshop of Big Fish, scheduled for Broadway with Susan Stroman.  Then the Book of Mormon here at The Pantages last Fall, which he left to return to Scottsboro Boys.  “So here I am again,” he smiles.  After this production they go to London’s Young Vic.

Says Christian, about the role of Charlie Weems, “Whenever you’re playing a villain, you can’t judge the character.  If you do, you won’t find the truth in him. You have to find the humanity in the person.  For me, this role is about survival, and that’s what I hung onto.  I also found the fun in it.  People who saw the show have said, ‘We loved to hate you!’

About director Susan Stroman, “She has grace, poise and pulls the best out of you.  She has an eye for detail, does everything with a smile and gets you to do your best because she’s doing her best.  I am fortunate to have worked with her on two shows.  She’s the best director I’ve ever worked with – love being in the same room with.  To me, you’re only as strong as your leader.”

Asked about how the show personally affects him: “There are so many holes in history about these guys. If you Google their names, you don’t find much, which is sad. Eugene Williams – we don’t know what happened to him.  He could still be living, for all we know.  It’s devastating.  Clarence Norris we know died in 1989, but most of them – like my character, Charlie Weems, there’s nothing about him. It’s sad for me that they are not known as individuals but as a group – the Scottsboro boys.

Future plans? “You know what?  The sky’s the limit. I’d love to be like Audra McDonald and Kristen Chenowith – across-the-board artists — concerts, theater, TV and film.  Other than that, I’m enjoying the show, and encourage people to come and see it, stay with it — the first half is heavy — but there is a huge arc that takes you to the end, so people should ride it out. That was our ultimate goal – to get people to research and talk about ‘the boys.  For me, as an actor, it’s a privilege to be able to tell and uplift their story.” 

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  Steven Landau:  Getting in Tune with Jekyll & Hyde
by Adryan Russ for GRACE NOTES, Feb., 8, 2013

Steven Landau is music director/conductor for Jekyll & Hyde, heading to Los Angeles’ Pantages Theater Feb. 12 – Mar. 3, and then to the Marquis Theatre on Broadway in April.  He’s been to Broadway before, music directing/arranging Big River for Deaf West Theater/Roundabout Theatre Company; conducted several national tours: Titanic, Big River, Irving Berlin’s White Christmas; associate conducted The 25^th Annual Putnam CountySpelling Bee and Young Frankenstein.  For the Mark Taper Forum, he music directed and arranged for Pippin; for Ford’s Theatre, Parade, 2011 Annual Gala, Shenandoah; and at the Hollywood Bowl played keyboards for Hairspray.

GN:  How did you get started in music? 

Steven:  I’ve been playing piano since I was a child.  I made up my mind that I wanted to do something with music professionally when I was in high school, and fell into theater finding it to be a nice niche.

GN:  How did you “fall in”?

Steven:  I started doing shows when I was in my 20s in what used to be called “Equity waiver” and now called “99 seats” in Los Angeles — small piano trios.  A few years later I was on the First National Tour with City of Angels as an actor and singer. After that, I got back into music directing and worked as a pit conductor for the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera.  From there I made connections that took me to Music Theater of Wichita for three summers, made more connections there, eventually landing an associate conductor position on the First National Tour of Titanic, which I did for almost two years, then got bumped up to music director for the last four months of the tour.  I’ve been lucky.

GN:  Lucky and obviously talented.  Is it a good life?  You travel a lot.

Steven:  I do.  It’s hard to be away from home, away from my partner.  He’s a stage manager and has done his fair share of touring over the last 10 years, so now it’s my turn again – he’s working on Jersey Boys in Las Vegas.

GN:  Your experience with Big River is amazing.

Steven: I started it with Deaf West Theatre in North Hollywood; from there, we were picked up by Center Theatre Group and moved to the Taper, then a Broadway run for the Roundabout, then the tour; followed by another production at Ford’s Theatre, which I couldn’t music direct because I was still on the tour, but I got the tour set up as music supervisor.

GN:  Quite a ride!  And, as we speak, you’re closing Jekyll & Hyde in Denver, then heading our way.

Steven:  I am.  Then we head to Broadway in April — the Marquis Theatre.

GN:  What size cast are you working with?

Steven:  It’s 22 or 23, I believe.

GN:  And you have an 11-piece orchestra?

Steven:  Yes, I travel with three musicians.  I conduct and play keyboards, I have an associate conductor who plays another keyboard, and we travel with a guitar player and drummer.  In every city, we pick up seven local musicians – two violins, a viola and cello, a bass, woodwind player and French horn.

GN:  It’s great for each town that you hire local players, although that obviously adds to your workload.

Steven:  It is nice, but it definitely makes for a lot more work.  The first Tuesday in every city is quite a long day — I start at the theater at 7:45 AM.  There’s a setup of the orchestra, which then rehearses from 9 ‘til 2.  We move everything into the pit, then I get a couple of hours off before our sound-check. Then we do the show. It’s my job to represent music supervisor and arranger Jason Howland’s vision as well as I can.  He was the music director and conductor of Jekyll & Hyde when it was on Broadway.

GN:  Are there differences in playing, arranging and/or conducting a Maury Yeston show, Stephen Schwartz show, Frank Wildhorn show?

Steven:   You have to approach them all differently — according to the composer’s wishes and what style you’re going for.  The style of this show has changed from its original, because of Constantine Maroulis (Tony-nominated for Rock of Ages), who’s a rocker, and Deborah Cox (Aida on Broadway) who’s R&B.  We’ve made the score more rock oriented than it used to be.  There’s a harder edge to it.

GN:  What are the most important things you’ve learned music directing, conducting and arranging?

Steven:  First, you have to listen to the creators and the director, and be in tune with their vision; and second, you need to treat the material well to support your actors.

GN:  Sounds like perfect advice.

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 CATHY RIGBY: A New Sense of Freedom
by Adryan Russ for GRACE NOTES, January 10, 2013

GN:  Congratulations on the new production of Cathy Rigby is PETER PAN heading to The Pantages for two weeks, then on tour.  You’ve been to Broadway, on TV — you’ve won Emmys, been Tony Award nominated — what inspires you, after all this, to do it again?

CATHY:  I’m flying, singing and playing in Neverland, and the joy comes from watching generations of families come with me.  And, like Peter Pan, it helps me believe anything is possible.

GN:  You and Peter Pan are ageless and timeless.  You’re doing this role having just celebrated your 60^th birthday.

CATHY: When you love something as much as I’ve enjoyed doing this show, if I can do it better than before, and be believable… that’s the hope. I wondered, will I be able to do this?

GN:  Clearly, the answer is yes.

CATHY:  When you can find more spontaneity, mischief and joy, it becomes a better show. There are changes. Costumes and sets have changed; some dance elements – you’ll see Tiger Lily on a kind of Cirque de Soleil silk that looks like a hanging vine.  The flying is more athletic.  I now have a single and double harness.  They’re connected so I can fly on a single or double wire, which allows for more acrobatics, flipping, spinning, horizontal flying. The heart of the story has evolved dramatically over the last 30 years, especially the last six months.

GN:     You were the first woman, at age 15, to win a medal in the World Gymnastics competition, constantly competing and winning medals.

CATHY:  I was an obsessive person, and I loved gymnastics.  If I could’ve slept on the balance beam at night, I probably would have.  My parents found an outlet for their hyper little girl who was jumping off the roof using my parents’ bed sheet, hoping it would open like a parachute – they thought gymnastics would be safer.

GN:  Gymnastics requires great discipline, but the character Peter Pan seems to be completely opposed to discipline.

CATHY:  I think it’s true – Peter has probably saved my life and my creative process for that very reason.  Children have this boundless energy that isn’t always focused but is almost always creative, inquisitive and mischievous.  If you can harness that in a show as an adult – it’s great therapy.

GN:  You are working with the wonderful Brent Barrett.

CATHY:. It’s nice to be ending this Peter Pan in April with Brent Barrett, with whom I did Annie Get Your Gun 20 years ago.  We’ve always talked about our doing this together – he’s been busy, doing Phantom, Chicago – this time he was available. He’s my nemesis this time instead of my husband.

GN:  Do you have a favorite Peter Pan song?

CATHY: “Distant Melody” (by Jule Styne, Betty Comden and Adolph Green).  It’s a song where Peter and Wendy try to remember what their mother said to them when they were younger.  It’s a turning point in the show — Wendy decides to grow up and go home, and Peter decides to forever stay a child.  As a mother and grandmother, dramatically and emotionally it resonates with me.  In the show’s opening, Wendy picks up a flower and gives it to her mom, who says, “If only you could remain like this forever.” We all want our children to grow up and experience life, but there’s something lovely about that parent-and-child moment of innocence and connection where you want everything to stay the same.

GN: In addition to all your accomplishments, including mothering four children, you’re a motivational speaker. What’s the essence of what you teach?

CATHY:  My top goal, from the Olympics to Broadway, has been finding the balance between going for the gold at any cost and allowing myself to enjoy the process and live every day without the fear of making a mistake.  I used to white-knuckle life – in both athletic competitions and onstage. I got a great review once, which taught me a lesson.  It said, in Peter Pan, for Cathy Rigby every “t” is crossed and every “i” is dotted, and she’s as predictable as her balance beam routine.  That was about 25 years ago.  It changed how I approach everything:  You can work hard and be the best, but if you white-knuckle everything you do, it’s never going to be as brilliant as it could be.  At some point you have to allow things to happen and let go. I think maybe that’s why Peter Pan has become more successful as I’m getting ready to close it – I have a sense of freedom.  And that’s very Peter Pan-like.

Cathy Rigby is PETER PAN runs Feb. 15-27 at LA’s Pantages Theatre.

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  Curt Hansen:  When It Rains It Pours
Interviewed by Adryan Russ for GRACE NOTES, Dec. 21, 2012

Curt Hansen, who plays Prince Harry in Pasadena Playhouse’s A Snow White Christmas, was once a pre-med student.  Fortunately for all of us, after breaking up with a girlfriend, he switched to his true love, musical theater, and he’s been gracing stages with his outstanding performances ever since, starting with getting the lead in a production of AIDA when just a transfer-student freshman at University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, and winding up not much later on Broadway.

GN:  Was that the sign you needed to know this was the career for you?

Curt:  It seemed to tell me that I have what it takes to do this for a career.  But when you’re from Wisconsin, it feels like a pipe dream, because it’s not something you’re exposed to right away.  I’d never met a famous person.  We have this cool art center in Hartford, where I grew up.  The Smothers Brothers came through and since my dad worked there, I got to meet them.  Hal Holbrook came through with his one-man show, so I got to meet him.  But these people were just passing through, not from a small town.

GN:  Many well known people do find a path to their dreams, and it looks like you’re finding one of your own.

Curt:  That’s what’s interesting — how different everyone’s path is.

GN:  So after changing your path, were there other productions at school?

Curt:  Aida happened that second semester, but I had to wait a year to be a freshman in the program. So I finished my general requirement classes.  The next show I did there was Pirates of Penzance, and next spring, Jason Robert Brown’s Songs for a New World.  The next fall, I did my first play, Lend Me a Tenor, which is a straight play but there’s still singing in it.  I learned so much doing that — I’d never done a straight play before — up ‘til then always just getting by with my singing voice.

GN:  What did you learn doing that play that was different?

Curt:  I was able to focus more on acting.  We actually broke down the beats of our lines — stuff that I’d never done before in a musical.  I was acting and not having to worry about singing — sounding pretty.  During tech for that show, I went to Chicago for an open call for Spring Awakening.  I got a callback that weekend.  I lied and said I was stuck in traffic and missed tech for Lend Me a Tenor because of this callback.  It was such a great opportunity, I had to do that.  I got back eventually and wound up telling the truth because I felt guilty.

GN:  Good for you.  Truth is always the best.

Curt:  I know, but at the time I was….What do I do, what do I do?  When Lend Me a Tenor closed, I got a final callback in New York and flew out.  While I was out there, I auditioned for a reading of the new musical The Flamingo Kid, based on the 1984 Matt Dillon movie.  It was the same director, same production team — two birds with one stone — audition for both.  I ended up getting the lead in Flamingo.  Crazy!

GN:  Now you knew this is what you were supposed to be doing.

Curt:  I know a lot of it is luck — being in the right place at the right time.  But The Flamingo Kid — 95% of the people in my life in New York are from that experience.  It was a very special thing for it to be my first one.  Henry Krieger, who wrote the music for Dreamgirls and Side Show – he’s like my grandpa out there now.  We just did a concert for him at Merkin Hall — and he came out and sang, “I Am Telling You.”  He’s not a singer, but he knows how to sell it — an amazing man.  My best friend assisted him during that reading – he’s like my brother out there — so it was cool that this was my first big thing.

GN:  And this is how you got to Broadway.

Curt:  After The Flamingo Kid I kept flying out to NY for auditions and wound up getting Hairspray on Broadway.

GN:  You understudied a role and also played a role?

Curt:  I understudied Link Larkin and had a date in my contract to take over as Link, but then they announced they were closing.

GN:  So you never got to go on as Link?

Curt:  I went on three-and-a-half times.  One performance I had to go on halfway through because the guy playing Link got sick.  That night was when Marissa Winokur was back, and she left the show mid-show that night.  I went in halfway through the first show, and she left halfway through the second show – she hurt her leg.

GN:  Live theater.  Crazy things happen all the time.

Curt:  So, getting this role, I never graduated, but eventually I’d like to get a degree, but in something different — maybe art history.

GN:  So how did this lead to your playing Gabe in Next to Normal?

Curt:  I got offered the tour, and then they needed a vacation “swing,” so they asked if I wanted to learn the show two months early and get another Broadway credit.  That sounded good to me!  So I think I did a month total as a Broadway understudy — never went on.  I think it’s for the best, because I had enough time to watch it then.  When we started rehearsals for the tour, I felt that I knew the show.

GN:  It was a lot of the same cast, right?

Curt:  Yes.  Alice Ripley, of course. Asa Somers, who did the Off-Broadway run as the doctor and then he was the dad on the tour.  He knew the show.  Emma Hunton played my sister.  She did the same thing I did – she covered that role in New York.  So we all went on tour knowing the show really well, which I think helped tremendously.  We had three weeks to put together this new thing that wasn’t new.  We had to find nuances.  Rather than having to worry about hitting our marks, we were able to just dive in to the material, which was cool — and rare.

GN:  I saw Next to Normal in New York and also saw it here in Los Angeles, so I saw you do it.  I found your performance gripping and moving.

Curt:  Thank you. I’ve gotten to do some amazing shows — Parade, for example, and Next to Normal — artistic theater, which doesn’t exist much right now.

GN:  In Next to Normal, you got to use your acting and vocal skills.

Curt:  And physical skills.  That show was — running up and down.  I wish we had closed in LA, because it took me the eight weeks we were here to just get it underneath me.  It’s hard to sing all that — so emotional — while running up and down stairs.  Once I got the hang of it, it was fun.

GN:  Good aerobic workout.

Curt:  Exactly.  It kept me in shape, because Lord knows, I didn’t eat well.  I miss that now.  I wish I had a show that kept me in shape.  Get paid to do cardio!

GN:  So this Panto show you’re doing now — it does not keep you in shape?

Curt:  It keeps me in mental shape.  You have to be “on,” regardless of the lines.  The audience can respond in some way and you have the freedom to react to it.  It’s a different skill that I’ve never had to use.  I was terrified.

GN:  This is a Panto play, which essentially presents a well known storybook tale performed pretty much over-the top – the way Gaston is in The Beauty and the Beast.  Everyone has to be Gaston-like. How did you prepare for A Snow White Christmas, playing Prince Harry over-the-top.

Curt:  Yes.  I watched the movie “Enchanted” — James Marsden’s character.  Gaston is in his own world, but in “Enchanted,” James’ character, Prince Edward, is outside his world and that’s what I felt I needed to see — a character juxtaposed with “real” people.  This process was great, working with people who did it last year.  They knew the tone of the show.  I saw what they did, and worked to match them. I think I hit a wall during rehearsals. I always feel this way.  For me, I need to be onstage.  I hate that I work that way, but I know that this is what I do.  I think it’s key that I realize that this is how I am, how I work.  Once we were in the theater, we weren’t doing runs of the show; it was all the technical stuff.  For me, having an audience helps, being onstage helps.  Then you’re in the world, rather than in a rehearsal hall.

GN:  The audience is always half of what happens in a performance.

Curt:  Especially in this show.

GN:  And in a Panto play, the audience is encouraged to cheer the hero, and boo and hiss any villain.

Curt:  A new thing I do now is, I strike a pose (he strikes a pose as if to say, “I’m here now”) and then usually they don’t clap, so I strike the pose again, and make them clap for me.  I have fun with it – that’s all that matters!  And, by the way, people say that the show does not touch on Christmas at all, even though it’s called A Snow White Christmas. Our producer, Kris Lythgoe says that Panto plays only happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so that’s what makes it a holiday show.  There are 35 Panto plays happening in London right now.

GN:  It’s a charming show, whether you’re a child or an adult — there’s something for everyone.  So what’s next for you?

Curt:  I’m doing a show called Girlfriend at Actors Theatre of Louisville (music and lyrics by Matthew Sweet, book by Todd Almond) .  We did a concert version of it last January.  It’s a two-person musical, based on the music of Matthew Sweet, an alternative rock guy who had an album in 1993 called “Girlfriend.”  It’s a sweet boy-meets-boy high school story. I do this in February.  There are other possible things in the works – nothing we can mention yet!  But all very exciting. I’m planning to move to Los Angeles this coming year.

GN:  Good for us!

Curt:  I would love to transition, at some point, out of musicals into straight theater and TV.

GN:  You’ve done some TV.

Curt:  Yes.  I did a pilot for Nickelodeon and wound up getting re-cast.  I was the lead, and now, in their fourth season, they’ve had me back in a recurring role.  I did a “The Good Wife” episode.  Some film work, but nothing gratifying yet.  I’m excited about “Les Misérables” — how they recorded the singing “live.”  I think that’s going to be ground-breaking.  And I know that I can act and sing at the same time, so hopefully more movies will be like that.  I’d like to see Next to Normal become a movie.

GN:  It should.

Curt:  That would be awesome.  I’m not getting any younger though.

GN:  Are you kidding?  You look amazing.  (And he does.)

Curt:  Five years in New York — it will age you.

GN:  I see you having a long career — you are multi-talented and deserve it.  I think things are looking up.

Curt:  Last year was brutal, but this year — when it rains, it pours.

A Snow White Christmas continues through Dec. 30 at the Pasadena Playhouse.

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The Performers on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre
by Michael Scheman for GRACE NOTES, Sept. 25, 2012

“Robyn Goodman, lead producer of The Performers is one gutsy lady.  Opening an untested comedy on the main stem is practically unheard of today, but she and her creative team are confident;  As star Cheyenne Jackson put it, “It’s the funniest thing I’ve read in years…Fuck it, let’s go to Broadway.”  Jackson, along with co-stars Ari Graynor and Alicia Silverstone will provide some B.O. insurance, but according to Daniel Breaker (Shrek the musical) it’s the play’s “laugh-out-loud funny” and “romantic” qualities that led David West Read’s piece to the Longacre.  Set in Las Vegas on the eve of the Adult Film Awards, The Performers has more in common with Neil Simon than Boogie Nights.   Spirits are high amongst the cast – Silverstone “feels great” about the chance to open cold on Broadway – and with Henry Winkler rounding out the cast as adult film veteran “Chuck Wood”, The Performers is one of the most hotly anticipate new plays of the fall season.”