Following the success of Trial by Jury last summer, LOOK is producing multiple versions of Oh, Coward! Originally conceived as a revue of Noël Coward’s witty dialogue and clever lyrics, we’re taking the various pieces and putting them together in different ways for each evening’s performance. Fortunately Coward wrote a lot of material, so every show will have unique music and scenes presented – make sure you catch all four!

Oh, Coward! will be preceded by different opening acts each week. Eric Gibson and Cathy Venable have agreed to re-mount their “I Love A Piano” cabaret from 2006; Jenna Harris and Kyle Dougan are putting together a collection of recent, off-beat musical theater with other members of the ensemble; and I’ll be performing a cabaret that you, the audience, will help write! How will that work? You’ll have to come and find out…but by the time we’re done, you’ll be able to create your own performance of love songs and black humor.

Stay tuned to find out more about these intriguing evenings…

Andrea Leap

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Some random thoughts from the Artistic Director.This is an interesting season indeed, and it may very well live up to be “The Best of All Possible Seasons” as our 2008 tag line states.

I have always wanted to do a season that tied all three shows together with a thematic concept, a design concept or a casting thread. I think we are accomplishing that this season, certainly with the stage designs that I have seen so far. Central to the physical productions will be a large pie-shaped platform that lives in the center of the Williams Theatre stage. It will break apart; think of it like a large Trivial Pursuit game piece, but with the ability to make different shapes, creating various environments on the stage. It is also slightly raked, so it will be fun for the actors to climb all over, and with a simple pull of a handle, stairs will pop out of the sides. It is going to be very interesting and challenging to put it all together.

From what I can tell, the singers seem to be most excited about Candide, probably because it is so rarely done. For many of them, it is their first staged production of the piece. Most of the younger apprentices have leading roles in Into the Woods, so it will be exciting for me to work with all of these budding talents on this phenomenal Sondheim piece. Certainly one of the best productions we’ve done recently was last season’s Sweeney, and I think it is a certain commitment that Sondheim’s work draws out of an actor. People love to perform in his shows!

Candide has had an interesting journey for me. I initially thought LOOK wasn’t going to do it at all because it conflicted with another production, but when that hurdle was cleared, we went for it. Candide has been revisited, rewritten and retooled many times after an initial, tepid premiere on Broadway in the 50s. We landed on a version that was produced by the Scottish Opera and directed by Jonathan Miller in the 80s. However when I took a more extensive look at the script and read more about the 1973 Chelsea version produced by Harold Prince, I had serious, horrible second thoughts about my choice. Choosing Candide was a risk anyway, and to do the wrong version would be a huge mistake. Both for the company and for the audience.

So, after much discussion with the actors, James Bagwell and the LOOK staff, we did land on the Chelsea version to produce at LOOK and I’m very happy about it. I just saw Candide at New York City Opera on Friday night, and although they produce the fuller opera house version with more of the music intact, the scripts are very similar. LOOK alum Kyle Pfortmiller was Maximillian and the production was very zippy as it was originally directed by Harold Prince. It was a fantastic evening. The only thing was that even this version seemed to kind of slow down (just slightly) in Act II. Those are the scenes cut from the Chelsea version – so I really know now that I picked the right script!

We are busily prepping Candide (and Woods and Pirates of course) and we hope you enjoy this best of all possible seasons! Enjoy the blog – we’ll talk to you later!
Eric

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As I look outside my office and see the still-bare trees (spring seems to arrive on the East Coast as I arrive in Tulsa), it is hard to imagine that rehearsals begin in less than a month. Summer in Tulsa has become so much a part of my routine that I when I do finally land there, I feel as though I have not left, but that my life and work in New York and Cincinnati are obscure memories. I even think that I may have left a shirt at the dry cleaners at Utica Square, thinking that I would pick it up tomorrow, the result of over-caffeinating at “the” Starbucks and forgetting where I was.

In preparing for rehearsals there is a great deal of mundane behind-the-scenes work that must be done: orchestra scores must be studied and marked, tempos must be decided, and Eric and I have many discussions about such issues as pacing (always pacing) and how to deal with transitions in a given show. These discussions generally begin sometime in early January and will continue almost until opening night, and even beyond. I believe that a few may still be going on. Most of all, though, there is that wonderful anxiety of beginning something new again. Of the three shows that we are producing, I have conducted only The Pirates of Penzance; the rest are brand new. This is maybe the best part of my job, because in some ways learning a new score is quite close to meeting a new and (hopefully) interesting friend. You find what you like and what you don’t like. There is the discovery of little quirks that are endearing at first, but maybe slightly abrasive by the time you have faced them ten or twelve times. Then there are those perfect friends: South Pacific, Sweeney Todd, and The Mikado, friends that, even if you have not seen or spoken to them in a long time, reward you with their presence.

James Bagwell

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FROM LAST YEAR's CABARET Preparation:

Hello!

I'm Andrea Leap, an artist and Ensemble Director at LOOK 2007. Eric has
asked me to contribute to the LOOK blog and to explain a little about what
I'm doing to prepare for the season.

This year, LOOK has asked me to create four different cabaret concerts,
which will be paired with Trial by Jury as a double bill. Since the season
centers around "Men Behaving Badly," we've chosen some relevant themes to
frame our cabarets:

"Women Behaving Badly"
"Let The Punishment Fit The Crime"
"There Oughta Be A Law."
"Law & Order: Operetta Unit"

Earlier this year I received a grant to attend an arts retreat in Northern
Minnesota, and for the past week I've been up here in the rural prairie
arranging songs, writing skits, putting ideas together - trying to do as
much advance planning as possible while my brain is still [relatively]
clear. Of course, all the planning in the world may get thrown out the
window if an off-hand comment from an ensemble member inspires us to go in a
completely different direction.

Tracking down the songs and ideas that we use, figuring out how they go
together - it has become one of the things I enjoy most about preparing for
LOOK. It seems like every year I find more interesting and clever songs
than we can possibly use, like this one, by Tom Lehrer, called "The Old Dope
Peddler," which has a music box sounding accompaniment:

"He gives the kids free samples,
Because he knows full well
That today's young innocent faces
Are tomorrow's clientele."

Alas, I still can't find a home for that song in this season's cabarets, but
having found "Driving in Tulsa is Driving Me To Drink," "It's a Lovely Day
To Be Out Of Jail" and "Smut," I'm looking forward to other possibilities.
I hope you'll come and see what we produce!

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Well, we are only about 3 weeks away from the actors and technicians and designers arriving in Tulsa! This has got to be one of the most exciting times here at the company. As of right now, we have a complete cast, we just finished casting a few new folks because we lost a few people in the ensemble because (quite frankly) they got gigs they wanted to do more than LOOK! Usually this means they get a job closer to home, or in their home town, so they can make a living while remaining around their loved ones. We understand this, and we always try to make the best of situations for people. One important thing to remember is "it's only opera!"

There are many people I'm very excited about this summer, including a plethora of new ensemble artists. LOOK is always searching for "characters" on stage -- meaning people who can be a ham, or bring any type of "walk-on" or supporting role to life. These people are born with a talent to "grab" the attention of the audience the minute they walk on the stage. You can't teach that...you're born with it. We have a couple of those people this summer. There is an exciting new baritone, Peyton Crim, who is coming from Oklahoma City who is playing the "fop" Louis in Marietta. I think he'll be a scream. Returning to our stage who I think will be terrific also, are Pete Brennan, a natural ham (and from TU), and Kyle Dougan. Both of these gentlemen will be knock-outs in Music Man, but we'll see a different side of one of them this summer too....

Kyle Dougan is a funny man, but we're giving him the opportunity to play it serious this summer with Tobias in Sweeney Todd. Sometimes actors get "fached" or "typed" into roles. Kyle is very funny, but at his audition this year, he proved he could create the pathos and the sincerity needed for the young man in Sweeney who "adopts" Mrs. Lovett as a maternal figure in his life, and then later kills for her once our title character harms her. It will be fascinating to work with Kyle on this show!

LOOK has a bevy of amazing young women in the company too. I'll talk more about them later....But suffice it to say, we have probably collected one of the best companies we've had in years!

Talk to you soon! Eric

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