Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold - Page 17

The young and young at heart were treated to a day of enchantment at Maine State Music Theatre today, when the company presented four performances of Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark's delightful musical retelling of Aladdin, directed and choreographed by Raymond Marc Dumont. Presented in a fully staged production, this timeless tale conjures up the magic of wish making, the power of love to transform, and the importance of believing in one's self. In the past few seasons, MSMT has made a concerted effort to expand and enhance their Young Audiences series by offering original musicals based on traditional children's literature and packaged in sophisticated productions with elaborate costumes, imaginative scenery and stagecraft. Moreover, these hour-long performances are entirely created by MSMT's young professional artists- interns, apprentices, and local actors – thereby offering these artists a chance to gain valuable experience.

'We are the storytellers; we are the musicmakers; we are the dreamers of dreams.' With these words the cast of Frank McCourt's The Irish and How They Got That Way brings to a close a spellbinding evening of story and song that has the audience clapping, foot-tapping, weeping, and laughing in one of the most vibrant theatrical experiences in recent memory. The co-production of Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt's 1997 play with music marks a stunningly successful collaboration between Maine State Music Theatre and Portland Stage and promises to be a major hit for its brief four-week engagement. McCourt's one-hundred-minute drama tells the story of several centuries of the Irish experience on both sides of the Atlantic. No mere history lesson, however, as much knowledge as the play does impart, rather The Irish is a poetic, saucy, irreverent, and exquisitely beautiful tapestry of music, language, narrative, peopled with colorful characters and showcased in compelling song and dance.

'It's the music and the storytelling; the storytelling walks a fine line between being universal and silly. There is a lot of humor and a lot of warmth and so many relationships you can connect with. All that coupled with joyful, upbeat, recognizable music - those crazy tunes by those inspired creators - make for magic.' Leading lady Lauren Mufson is explaining what she believes to be the enduring appeal of the joyous ABBA musical, Mamma Mia! In which she is currently playing Donna Sheridan, a role she performed on Broadway and national tour. She is joined by a panel of other artists - actors Ian Knauer (Sam Carmichael), Mylinda Hull (Rosie), Chelsea Williams (Sophie) and stage manager Mark Johnson - all involved with the stunning revival that opened to rave reviews at Maine State Music Theatre on August 11th for the last in the Peek Behind the Curtain series of interviews by Broadway World's Carla Maia Verdino-Sullwold, held at Brunswick's Curtis Memorial Library on August 17th.

When Aladdin, directed and choreographed by Raymond Marc Dumont, opens on August 22, the four performances at Maine State Music Theatre will mark twenty-six years of collaboration and fifteen original shows created by the team of Marc Robin and Curt Dale Clark. These two highly respected artists – Robin, director, choreographer, Artistic Director of the Fulton Theatre and Clark, actor, director, Artistic Director of Maine State Music Theatre – have devoted a considerable portion of their indefatigable creative energy to composing, writing the books and lyrics for a series of musical fairytales designed to introduce new audiences to the magic, make believe and miracles that theatre can offer to the young and young at heart.

'There are two kinds of people in the world, as ye very well know,' Peter Cormican asserts in a lilting accent, 'those that are Irish and those that want to be.' The English-born actor, son Irish parents - a Protestant mother from Belfast and a Catholic father from Galway - is currently in Maine to make his Maine State Music Theatre/Portland Stage debut in Frank McCourt's play The Irish and How They Got That Way, directed by Marc Robin, which opens in Portland August 19th. The production, a bold new collaboration between two of Maine leading Equity companies, marks an exciting new chapter for both theatres and promises to be one of the season's biggest hits, as it has been in every town its played. Cormican is joined in our conversation by two of the other four principals from the a small cast that also stars Curt Dale Clark [see BWW interview 5/24/16], Charis Leos and Cary Michele Miller, (and features Cameron Wright and Emily Davis, Ernest Sauceda (fiddler) and two other musicians). Both Leos and Miller are MSMT veterans, but new to McCourt's play. 'This is my debut at Portland Stage,' Miller says with anticipation. 'I always look forward to working with Curt and Charis and Marc, and I am enjoying getting to know Peter. And I am always excited to learn new material and new music.'

The electric, near ecstatic atmosphere in Brunswick's Pickard Theater last night more closely resembled that of a rock concert than a theatre company opening. For months in advance, the sold out box office has signaled the joyful anticipation of Maine State Music Theatre's new production of Mamma Mia! - one of the first regionally for the blockbuster Broadway hit. But anticipation aside, it is the delivery here that is the story: a stunningly executed, intelligently staged, deliciously performed rendition of the 2001 long running ABBA musical that transformed the intimate Pickard Theater into a boisterous celebration.

It's a party -under the blue skies and Mediterranean sun of a Greek island - or at least an evocation of that paradise on the stage of Maine State Music Theatre in Brunswick. "It's a party and a great story, and I am so very excited to be part of it! I look forward to revisiting the ABBA music and to encouraging the audience to get up and dance and sing with us." Cory Jeacoma is talking about the anticipation swirling around this week's opening of MSMT fourth main stage production, Mamma Mia, in which he makes his MSMT debut in the leading role of Sky. The vibrant young actor, who just four months ago was graduated from Pace University's musical theatre program, has been working steadily for some years now and is already on his way to making his name and talents known.

If you were among the lucky theatre lovers who scored a ticket to the Broadway blockbuster hit, Mamma Mia! in 2005, you might have had the pleasure the pleasure of experiencing Lauren Mufson make her Broadway debut in the leading role of Donna Sheridan. Now more than ten years later, the actress returns to the beloved ABBA musical in a highly anticipated new production at Maine State Music Theatre that opens August 10. The musical theatre and cabaret artist, teacher and voice coach and mother of two is delighted not only to revisit one of her favorite parts, but to make her Maine stage debut in one of the first ever regional productions of the show.

'We are excited to have the audience open its eyes to some sunshine. [Artistic Director] Curt Dale Clark and I were just saying this morning that this has been an intense season so far, and Fiddler on the Roof and Evita cannot let in much sun. But we stream that light in Mamma Mia, and we hope it will provide a chance to breathe in the joy of the Greek Isles. If we do it right, we will all feel an uplift.' Director/choreographer Mark Martino is waxing eloquent about his latest project and one which constitutes his Maine State Music Theatre debut: a new production of the 2001 Broadway smash it musical Mamma Mia, based on the songs of ABBA. Martino has what he calls 'a very short history' with the show, having mounted a production for the first time in June of this year at the Theatre Aspen. 'The two will be staged very differently,' he explains. 'Aspen is a 200-seat thrust stage, and here they have a 600-seat proscenium theatre. The Pickard Theater gives me an opportunity to expand the show. Our cast at MSMT is about one third larger than in Colorado - some twenty-seven actors - which is even a bit larger than the twenty-four in the original Broadway production. The production values are going to be large and lavish, and the cast has a huge amount of energy, so for me it is an opportunity to revisit the show and make different pictures and entirely different choreography.'

One week into the virtually sold-out run of MSMT's Fiddler on the Roof, cast members, Bill Nolte, Susan Cella, Erick Devine, and Rachel Rhodes-Devey, together with MSMT's Managing Director Stephanie Dupal convened in the third Peek Behind the Curtain panel discussion at the Curtis Memorial Library on July 27, 2016, to examine the phenomenon of the show that continues to mesmerize audiences fifty-two years after its Broadway debut. In response to moderator Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold's observation that Fiddler is a show which - like its characters - survives, the participants discussed their individual perspectives on the show, their characters, and the universal themes that continue to speak powerfully to audiences.

The Theater at Monmouth's new production of Pierre de Beaumarchais' delightful, provocative 18th century comedy, The Barber of Seville, (in translation by Elizabeth Griffith) sparkles not only with saucy wit, but also with a striking modernity. The first play from the French master's Figaro trilogy is a comedy of manners about marriage with the underlying theme - embodied in the wily Figaro - of class conflict. And though the historical context is Enlightenment France, Rosine's quest for self-determination and love and Figaro's cheerfully impudent challenging of a hierarchical society ring with relevance.

One of Shakespeare's best-loved history plays, Henry V, opened Friday July 23 at Maine's Theater at Monmouth in a stylish and stirring performance directed by Mark Mineart. Trimmed to a little over two hours, the production, nonetheless, keeps the architecture of the masterpiece and all the most famous speeches, and performed as it is by a strong ensemble, it achieves an immediacy and truthfulness.

Maine State Music Theatre's third 2016 main stage production is a cause for celebration! After twenty-one years, the beloved Bock-Harnick musical, Fiddler on the Roof returns to the Pickard stage in a monumental production directed and choreographed by Gary John LaRosa, that stunningly weaves a rich and joyous tapestry of laughter, tears, and joy. Maintaining its perfect dramatic and emotional equipoise, this Fiddler on the Roof travels between tradition and change, monumental events and mastery of detail.

"I haven't specifically counted," the dynamic actress sitting opposite me replies. "Somewhere between 1000-2000 performances, I think. I've done the role with Theodore Bikel and Harvey Fierstein, on both national tours, and in regional and stock houses all over the country." Susan Cella is speaking of her signature portrayal of Golde, the vehicle which has brought her to the latest stop in her artistic journey, Maine State Music Theatre in a new production of the Bock-Harnick musical, Fiddler on the Roof, that opens July 20.

Ogunquit Playhouse's third season offering is an epic production of the Alan Menken-Stephen Schwartz- Peter Parnell musical version of Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. This is only the third regional production of this adaptation of Hugo's 19th century novel set in 15th century Paris and represents another major step in the development process which will likely eventually bring this show to Broadway.

'It's all about growing and being willing to change…about people finding a way to look at things from both sides and learn to empathize.' The soft-spoken man sitting opposite me thoughtfully answers my question about the universality of the musical theatre piece in which he stars, Fiddler on the Roof. There is a gentle, heartfelt quality to all his comments, and one understands immediately why Bill Nolte makes an ideal Tevye. The Broadway actor, singer, and visual artist makes his Maine State Music Theatre debut on July 20 in a part he has played twice before, and he waxes eloquent about the experience in Maine and his reunion with director/choreographer Gary John LaRosa and many of the veteran cast members.

'This is like a real homecoming. The last time I worked at Maine State Music Theatre was in 1995, and it was also Fiddler on the Roof,' says nationally acclaimed director-choreographer Gary John LaRosa. La Rosa, who is widely considered one of the reigning authorities on the beloved 1964 Bock-Harnick bitter-sweet musical about Russian Jews confronting a changing world, has in his own words, 'literally done dozens' of Fiddler productions throughout his vibrant, busy career. 'I've actually stopped counting,' he says with a smile, though we note that among all these, he staged the 50th anniversary Fiddler gala on Broadway, as well as at least four of these won prestigious theatre awards and nominations. This month he finds himself in Brunswick, Maine, directing a thirty-six person cast in MSMT's third main stage show of the 2016 season.

History- actual 20th century events and the theatre's own story and legacy - became the joint focus of Maine State Music Theatre's second Peek Behind the Curtain talkback, held on July 7 at the Curtis Memorial Library. The panel examined the characters and forces that formed the basis for MSMT"s thrilling production of Evita, now playing at the Pickard until July 16, and also took several excursions into MSMT's history, which forms the basis of a new retrospective exhibition, MSMT Past, Present, and Future, which serendipitously celebrated a gala opening that same date. Moderated by Broadway World's Carla Maria Verdino-Sullwold, the panel featured the three stars of the Andrew Lloyd-Webber musical, Kate Fahrner, Matt Farcher, and Nat Chandler, as well as the Artistic Directors of two of the areas leading theatres, MSMT's own Curt Dale Clark and the Good Theater's Brian P. Allen.

Twenty-five years after it was last presented at the Pickard Theater, Andrew Lloyd-Webber/Tim Rice's masterpiece has returned in triumph to Maine State Music Theatre in a stunning new production directed and choreographed by Marc Robin. Boasting the largest cast in the company's history (46), this Evita is gripping and epic, at the same time that it is touchingly intimate and magnificently detailed. The size of the endeavor is both literal and figurative, for MSMT's Evita succeeds not only in its grand sweep, but also in the magnitude of its intangible assets - unsparing honesty, intensity, and emotional depth.

On a stage, of course! You only have to watch the twenty-five year-old actor inhabit a character, take possession of a story, and let loose with his emotive voice to understand his assertion. Matt Farcher is currently poised to make his debut at Maine State Music Theatre on June 29 as Che in Andrew Lloyd-Webber-Tim Rice's epic musical Evita, but in the short time since he has performed professionally, he already boasts a resume replete with challenging and diverse leading roles and a career that has taken him off-Broadway and to leading regional theatres across America.