Interview: CAST of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN at Fulton Theatre

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN is currently playing at THE FULTON THEATRE until February 19, 2017. Under the direction of Marc Robin, the production stars Heidi Kettenring (Annie Oakley), Curt Dale Clark (Frank Butler), Richard Costa (Buffalo Bill Cody), Kathy Voytko (Dolly Tate), and Natalie Powers, (Winnie Tate). This production also features the fantastic 2 RING CIRCUS, showcasing their aerial choreography with breath-taking procession. As an audience member you land smack-dab in the middle of a big-top kaleidoscope of bustle and excitement.

I had the pleasure of sitting down and talking with some of the performers that entertained the audience with flair.

Christy Brooks: Heidi, I see that you have done both TV and stage performing. Do you prefer one over the other?

Heidi Kettenring: They are vastly different. I must prefer theatre since that's mostly what I have chosen to focus on. If television was something that I ached to do more of, I would probably move because although there is plenty of opportunity in Chicago, I don't think there's enough to make a living doing it. I love rehearsal and I love the rehearsal process and in TV there isn't a lot of it. From what I've experienced, rehearsing isn't an active part of communicating between actors to figure things out. TV is more on a time-crunch and on a budget so you act more on instinct and less on any deep-thought that could be involved.

Christy Brooks: What about musicals versus dramas?

Heidi Kettenring: I really don't have a preference. I've done both equally to the point when I'm doing one, I'm excited to get back to the other. We are doing the same thing: telling a story. Is one better than the other? No, because we are telling the story through art and through performance. I love them both equally. At this point, if I were to do just one, I would be sad because I would miss the opportunity to do the other. When I first started out, I almost always did musicals because my nerve level was a lot higher. To audition for a play, you usually have to do a monologue and with a musical, a song. And although a song is just a monologue set to music, it just feels more natural to me. Very rarely in life do we speak in monologue and very rarely do we burst into song but that heightened sense of doing a song allows me to be lost in it a little bit more.

Christy Brooks: What is the most complex character you have played?

Heidi Kettenring: Playing Harper in ANGELS IN AMERICA was very complex and complicated on a lot of levels. She's a complicated individual and an agoraphobic, Mormon in the 1980's who is married to a man who is coming out. The play itself is just a dark space to live in. I did a lot of research for that one. It was very fulfilling, very complex, but also one of those that when it was over, I had a sigh of relief getting to leave that person's world behind. At the end of the day, it was a hard one to leave at the theatre.

Christy Brooks: Is there a role you have not played that you want to play?

Heidi Kettenring: That changes. I did have some but I have aged-out of some of them. Eva Peron was on that list for a long time but then I thought that I didn't want to work that hard; meaning that it is a huge character, very emotional, and one that I would have to think long and hard about doing that to myself. It is an exciting time though, too, because I am getting to know shows from a different eye and seeing roles that I never even thought about doing. For instance, Auntie Mame was never on my radar but now I think that that would be a delightful role to play.

Christy Brooks: Curt, I see you have been Artistic Director of the Maine State Music Theatre for the last five years. How did you get that job?

Curt Dale Clark: It actually happened accidentally; the person who was there before left and they asked if I would do it on an interim basis for a summer and I said sure. About three months into it I realized I loved it and stayed.

Kathy Voytko: Let me just brag on him for a moment. He's also tripled their fundraising efforts.

Curt Dale Clark: That's easy to do when you love what you do.

Christy Brooks: If Frank could be played with a particular quirk, what would it be?

Curt Dale Clark: First of all, I would make him a tenor because some of the music is harder for me to sing. I would love it if I got a chance to do more gun tricks. In the old version, Frank gets to do a lot more with the guns. And in this version, it just doesn't happen. I tried to put one in during one of my entrances but there's too little time before I have to get into the song. Also, in this version, it's hard to see what Annie is attracted to because we don't see Frank's showmanship.

Christy Brooks: What was one new thing you found about your character during the last couple performances?

Curt Dale Clark: I'm falling in love with Annie earlier. Some of that is character-driven and some of that is personally-driven because she (Heidi Kettenring) is so rock-solid every day and it just gets easier and easier. And, as I get more comfortable with what I'm doing, it allows me to play outside of what I am doing a little bit more.

Christy Brooks: Natalie, I see from your bio that you are a senior BFA Commercial Dance Major at Pace University. Would you explain what a commercial dancer is compared to that of a ballerina?

Natalie Powers: Well, you see how much dance there is on television and Broadway, so we are training for basically anything that is supposed to entertain but not in a classical ballet form. We train in tap, jazz and basically, anything but ballet for our career but we still have to take a core curriculum of modern and ballet. We have to have that foundation. Personally, I like the theatre dance.

Christy Brooks: So what other types of shows have you danced in?

Natalie Powers: I worked in an opera last year, which was more of a modern setting with Cunningham Movement. In school we've worked with people like Andy Blakenbuehler. We've also had Sonya Tayeh in to teach who is very "jazz-funk" based so the training is very broad which is great because during auditions I don't feel so much out of my element at any of them.

Christy Brooks: You have very good comedic timing. Would you talk about that a bit?

Natalie Powers: Well, Marc has helped me with that because at first I couldn't tell if I was supposed to be a caricature or genuine and I struggled quite a bit just trying to figure out my character. I also feel like I am learning so much from watching this cast. I feel like I am in a Master's class every time we are in rehearsal or doing the show.

Christy Brooks: Have you always known that you wanted to be a two-dimensional character as opposed to a one-dimensional dancer?

Natalie Powers: I went to school being a musician first. I play violin. I'm actually playing the violin during that one cross in the show. I play piano, too. When I first got into Pace for commercial dance, one of my teachers said why not take voice outside of school...it's cheaper for one (in the city) versus dance. I thought I was really scared about dancing so I guess that meant that I really cared about it and wanted to get better. It's been a great experience and one that has pushed me a lot.

Christy Brooks: What has surprised you most about performing at The Fulton?

Natalie Powers: Like I was saying, it's a Masters Class. I've always been hard on myself and I think just watching everyone trust one another and being happy has helped. No one has an ego or sits and broods. I am not afraid to ask questions and just the community of The Fulton is incredible.

Christy Brooks: Richard, How well do you think your Bachelors of Music prepared you for your professional career?

Richard Costa: It was a musical theatre degree from The Shenandoah Conservatory of Music and at the time it was the only college that offered it. It was very invaluable at the time to learn music and to cite read because, back in the day, we didn't have all the electronic devices and at an audition, the director would ask if you could cite read. We learned all everything about the theatre from stagecraft to costumes, so it was a very intensive program.

Christy Brooks: What was your first show on Broadway?

Richard Costa: It was GENTLEMEN PERFER BLONDS and it was part of the National Actors Theatre, which was headed up by Tony Randall.

Christy Brooks: What was your best mistake regarding your professional career that you learned the most from?

Richard Costa: I just did a festival show which was one of the hardest things I have ever done because you are thrust into it. You don't get into the theatre until the day of the show, you have 20 minutes to set up, and you perform and have to leave before the next show. I was cast late so I had to learn the show quickly. The whole process was very stressful for me. I'm glad I did it and got that experience but I don't have to do that again.

Kathy Voytko: I have a story and learned a lesson. It was in high school and I was doing ballet. We were having tech rehearsal and I knew that my partner couldn't be at a rehearsal. So, I thought if he couldn't be at rehearsal it was silly for me to go and I ditched tech rehearsal. My whole family was angry at me. My mom was the most angry I had ever seen her be at me in my life. I thought there were so many other things to tech other than me since I didn't have my partner. My mom didn't care. She told me I had an obligation and that I had to apologize to the ballet director and the whole cast. It is a thing that haunts me still to this day. Now, I am never late. If I am, you know something bad has happened to me.

Christy Brooks: Kathy, Were there any similarities in your role as Dolly for this show and your role as the cover for Ado Annie from OKLAHOMA!

Kathy Voytko: No. When I first read Dolly I thought she was a much different person. I thought she was a little more fancy, subtle and understated but when I got here, Marc said that he wanted Dolly to look at her life and think Medea. He wanted Evil Stepmother so this is totally different than the role in OKLAHOMA! And it is way more fun his way.

Christy Brooks: Let's discuss the choreography of the show and all the synchronization that needs to occur. It is amazing and I'm sure it took many hours of rehearsing.

Kathy Voytko: We rehearsed the gun scenes more than anything else in the show. We had to because of all the counting that needs to happen.

Curt Dale Clark: It's multi-dimensional, too, because it changes tempo as well.

Christy Brooks: What is the funniest thing that happened to you on stage that was not intentional?

Richard Costa: In CABERAT I was one of the sailors that popped in and out throughout a particular musical number. My pants were supposed to drop and I had boxer shorts underneath. They were a new pair of boxers and the costumer forgot to sew up the front section. You can imagine what happened...but it was very brief.

The Cast would like to thank 2 RING CIRCUS, based in New York City for their professionalism and kindness. Co-owners Ben Franklin and Joshua Dean made them feel safe and comfortable while performing the aerials in the show.

The Fulton Theatre's production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN runs through February 19, 2017. For more information or to purchase tickets call 717-397-7425 or visit www.thefulton.org. Photo by Kinectiv

To post a comment, you must register and login.