Andrew Rohn & Catherine Capellaro: Corporate Crusaders

Married musical-theatre team, Andrew Rohn (music/lyrics) and Catherine Capellaro (book) are just weeks away from opening their original musical Walmartopia off-Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre.  Having debuted their material in Madison, Wisconsin and at the FringeNYC last summer, Walmartopia has been reshaped and recast, ready to share its mission and message to New York audiences beginning August 21.

BroadwayWorld.com's Eugene Lovendusky, based in San Francisco, had the opportunity to chat with this creative team about their new work, their inspiration and anticipation for their Opening Night, appropriately on Labor Day…

Eugene Lovendusky: Thanks for taking a moment out of your busy lives to talk to BroadwayWorld.com! The two of you are only weeks away from opening your original musical Walmartopia at the Minetta Lane Theatre! How are you two handling it?

Catherine Capellaro: I kind of feel like I'm soaring through Manhattan sometimes and then also get exhausted. But it's just been a blast at rehearsals, watching this all come together.

Andrew Rohn: This is totally new for us and I think we're doing great. We're not under as much pressure as the directors and all of them.  At this point we're kind of like consultants; we're keeping our eye on it and making little improvements, making sure our vision stays intact.  But it's all new! Usually we're doing everything – but it's great, the people who are in charge are talented and really listen to us.

Eugene: Today's labor issues are pretty big, and the concept of a Walmartopian Society 30 years from now sounds both out-of-this-world and frighteningly probable! What gave you the courage to stage Walmartopia to begin with?

Catherine: As an artist, I feel a responsibility to comment on what is going on in the world. That's sort of where I come from and my background is in journalism. What's going in the world is we're becoming run by corporations. The separation between corporation and government is such a fine line, it doesn't exist anymore. And in this case, there is one corporation in particular that is popping out, the one who is willing to do anything to cut costs and expand. I do think Walmart works as a pretty good metaphor for what trends are happening in the world: The devaluing of individuality and creativity and workers at the expense of massive production of consumer goods and plastic crap. There's a lot to talk about!

Andrew: Walmart has not threatened us with anything [laughs] We have been politically-progressive all our lives and this is just how we think.  There are other great things coming out; there was a Walmart movie a couple of years back. What we feel is unique, special about what we're doing is, while we have a message, our prime responsibility is to make people laugh. We try very hard not to be heavy-handed about it. There's laughs every few seconds!

Eugene: When you first showcased your musical in Madison, Wisconsin, what was the response?

Andrew: It was a huge hit in Madison. It is a liberal town, but both the entertaining, fun, singing and dancing aspect, and political aspects were both winners in Madison.  I'm trusting it'll be the same out here.

Eugene: Since debuting at last summer's New York International Fringe Festival, have you been approached by any former or current Walmart employees who have shared their own personal stories or nightmares?

Catherine: We were approached as part of the Madison production, we were approached by someone who is a minister now who was a manager at Toys R Us [laughs] and it was familiar to him.  Big bucks culture tends to be similar. In terms of Walmart workers, I really hope that we can bring more people who work there into the show, to see it. But I do have a feeling that a lot of them are working their butts off and not able to see a lot of theatre; which is why we want to offer a discount to them…

Andrew: Walmart workers could come free to the shows in Wisconsin, and we're going to work out a discount for Walmart workers here.  And we've had some people come up to us and say: "That's really how it is! I'm glad you're doing this show." And then other people who had an okay experience working there loved it anyway because it's fun.

Eugene: Unlike Urinetown, where the message is similar but the bad-guy is ambiguous, Walmartopia makes its target clear and present.  Has this caused any negative back-lash?

Andrew: None.  Walmart has not chosen to pay attention to us, which is probably smart. They have gotten an idea – who knows if they were inspired by us or not – a couple years after we came out with the first version of Walmartopia. They had kind of a one-act huge extravaganza for a share-holders' meeting.  It happens in the store where there is one disgruntled employee who turns around to see how wonderful Walmart is… maybe that was their response!

Eugene: How did director Daniel Goldstein come into the picture?

Andrew: We met him while during a reading of Temp Slave, our previous full-length musical about the plight of temp workers.  We did a reading out here in New York in 2000 and we really got along with him, so when we were coming to the Fringe last summer, we called him and asked if he would come out to Madison for a few days to spiff-up our show, cutting things that don't work, tightening it up.  It was a really great experience. It came to the Fringe, it did very well. There was the excitement and ability to go on, to launch a commercial production. We asked if he was interested and he was.

Eugene: What sort of transformation has the production seen since last summer?

Catherine: It's kind of all the magic of theatre. When we had our sold-out 5-week run in Madison, which was our context a year ago, we felt like we were at the pinnacle of our career… And here we are opening this giant commercial production in New York. For us it's kind of all been one step at a time, but the show has transformed a lot. It's directed by somebody we're just so pleased – Andrew explained, it was almost like a blind-date that we first met Danny when he directed our reading – we're really simpatico. The vision we're able to share and create with him is tremendous and the level of performers is astounding. We've thought a lot about the show. We've quit our day-jobs to devote ourselves to making the show as good as we can. It has changed a lot, the core is the same and the message is similar, but I think it's a much more powerful statement than it used to be because of the time that we've taken to really tie it all together and make these characters really real.

Andrew: The soul of it is the same, but many particulars have changed. The protagonist, Vicki, is still a single-mom who works at Walmart.  But her daughter, who was just in one scene in the previous version, is now throughout the show and goes with her mom into the future.  The second act takes place in the future where Walmart has taken over everything. About half the songs are new, some are added and some are replacing old songs.  In general, it's tighter, it's fast-moving and there is something meaningful and exciting happening at a faster rate.

Eugene: Looking at your list of actors, your cast certainly doesn't shy-away from talent! Just to name a few, you've got Stephen DeRosa, Nikki M. James, John Jellison.  Each seems to be rolling in some impressive Broadway and regional credits! Tell me what it's been like watching the cast bring your music and book to life.

Andrew: It is such a thrill.  Especially when they get comfortable and start to make it their own, it's just astounding. It's at least twice as good as it is on paper. New meanings are coming out that we didn't notice before. The whole team, Catherine and I who are at rehearsals, and the music director and Danny, we're ready and willing to change something at any moment.  If an actor tries something, we can keep it.  Or if something doesn't make sense, we can get rid of it. But the single-most thing I'm most impressed by is how hard these actors work! How quickly they get the material. And the singing ability is really astounding to me. The vocal arrangements are now quite complex, lots of huge seven-part harmonies, and people just nail them. And I've never been in the presence to that before.

Catherine: It's like falling in love with eleven more people. Their enthusiasm for the project and their hearts are so in it. They're being thrown a lot of new stuff very quickly, the script is still evolving; we're still tweaking the songs and the arrangements. It's a new musical, things are in flux. They handle everything with a huge amount of professionalism. It's just guts! The singing and acting is blowing my mind – every single day there's something new. It's such a treat to see my book, which I've been staring at on a computer screen for the last 8 months, come alive with these new people. It's like having a whole bunch of children in a way. And it's just beginning. Once we get through the hell of tech and get on stage with the costumes and set, it's going to be great.

Eugene: You started this interview saying most importantly, your musical is to make people laugh.  Is it also important to you that your little off-Broadway show is standing-up against the world's largest company?

Andrew: Oh it's very important! That's definitely at the heart of it. I hope it makes people think in a different way. It's definitely not a throw-away. We're serious that there is something wrong going on here. It's also absurd and you can laugh at it.

Eugene: Pardon for hopping onto the stereotype wagon… but a music, lyrics and book-writing team from Wisconsin isn't exactly a dime-a-dozen. You've got about 10 mini-musicals under your belt on top of other creative projects. Tell me a little bit more about your musical theatre experience before New York.

Andrew: I had musicians in my family; I've been doing music since early on. I did both music and drama in high school.  I started to be interested in writing songs but much more from a pop-rock music stand-point. Theatre really took a back-seat after I got out of school. But when I got to Madison, I fell into this wonderful, kooky theatre there, Broomstreet Theatre, which does only original work only by people of that community, only by people in Madison who were involved in the theatre. It's completely home-grown. The artistic director saw that I had some musical talent and started to use me. My first formal experience was writing the music for two of his musicals. Actually, Catherine and I met doing one of those musicals. I was music director and she was acting in it. I guess it was a few years later, Catherine was inspired for the idea of Temp Slave. We were just in a great situation where, never having written one before, we had a friend who was artistic director of another company who said: "Okay you have a slot… Now write it!" The short musicals were all written in the context of 24-hour play festivals in Madison. The writers have 12-hours to write a short play; we've always done a musical.  This was also when we had young children, so we didn't have a lot of time in the year to be involved in a big production. This was perfect for us, giving us concentrated boot-camp experience writing a show really fast. Kind of brutal, but really fun and kept us in the game.

Eugene: Catherine, you had spoken earlier about this show being like you have a bunch of new children… Going to your own children, you and your husband moved to New York just a few months ago with your sons. How was the transition and where do you shop?

Catherine: [laughs] We try to shop at small places, that's sort of our principle. We're not perfect. We've been spotted in Target! But in general, this has made us more aware that those of us who have the ability to make a choice, and not everyone does, should be willing to spend a couple more bucks to buy something that wasn't made in a sweat shop and to support a family instead of a giant corporation. Our kids are really aware of that too! They have a real awareness of value; we were in an antique store just the other day and they were exclaiming how they used to make things better back then.  In terms of the transition, it was really intense for a few months to move from Madison, Wisconsin to New York. It's been a whirlwind of theatre and we've been inspired by all kinds of other productions. The energy of this city is something I have been taking-in and I think the kids have enjoyed it a lot too, as long as we have the sanctuary to relax in our apartment.  It's been fun.

Eugene: It certainly all sounds very big and exciting for you and your family! Congratulations to you and best of luck on your Labor Day Opening Night!

Photos: Andrew Rohn (music/lyrics) and Catherine Capellaro (book) with their twin boys; Walmartopia logo courtesy Walmartopia.com; FringeNYC 2006 company of Walmartopia