13th Street Rep to Stage Five Shows About Irving Berlin

When ASCAP Award-winning playwright/director Chip Deffaa's "The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue" has its world premiere at the 13th Street Repertory Theater on November 9th, it will be the second new show about Berlin to play the theater this year.

It follows on the heels of Deffaa's acclaimed "Irving Berlin's America," which played at the theater this past summer, co-starring stage/screen veteran Michael Townsend Wright and 17-year-old Giuseppe Bausilio (from Broadway's "Billy Elliot" and "Newsies"). And it will be followed, in 2015, by no less than three other shows about Berlin that Deffaa is developing. (He's had readings of all of the shows, with artists ranging from Bailey Cummings to Ben Orlando.) The theater considers the five shows to collectively constitute "The Irving Berlin Project."

Why five different shows about Berlin?

Deffaa notes: "Berlin was the single most successful songwriter in history. For 50 years, he wrote more hits-and made more money-than any of his competitors, such as the George and Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, Richard Rodgers, Larry Hart, Oscar Hammerstein. His legacy can-and should--be celebrated in all sorts of ways. But no one-up until now-has ever told Berlin's life story on stage. Berlin was zealous about protecting his privacy. He lived like a hermit, like a recluse, in the latter part of his life. And, as long as he lived,. he blocked every effort to dramatize his life-whether on stage, screen, or TV."

Deffaa, who has been working for eight years on the Berlin project, can tell you exactly when the seeds were planted. He notes: "My late friend, singer-songwriter John Wallowitch, invited me to join him and other friends, one Christmas Eve, in serenading Berlin at his home, 17 Beekman Place, New York City. I turned John down, saying that-as much as I revered Berlin--the timing just wasn't right for me that year. On that bitterly cold Christmas Eve, the group sang outside of Berlin's home as planned. They sang classic Berlin songs like 'White Christmas' and 'Always' and 'There's No Business Like Show Business.' And to the great surprise of John Wallowitch and everyone else, the notoriously reclusive Berlin-who was then up in his 90s--invited the whole group into his home. He told them they'd given him the best Christmas present of his life.

"I always regretted missing that unique opportunity to visit Irving Berlin, whom I idolized, at his home. George M. Cohan and Berlin have always been my two personal favorite songwriters. Their photos hang on the wall in my home for inspiration. John Wallowitch, who loved Berlin's music as much as I do, urged me to write something about him. So did another old friend, composer Jack Gottlieb. But I put the idea on the back burner."

When a prominent New York supper club, Michael's Pub, planned to do a tribute to Berlin, telling his life story via songs and commentary, Deffaa wrote a preview piece in The New York Post. Deffaa recalls: "Berlin read my article in The Post, angrily called the club's owner, Gil Wiest, and got the club to cancel the tribute. Berlin said, in effect, that he did not want anyone telling his life story while he was alive; he very much wanted his privacy. After he was dead, he said, people could tell his life story however they saw fit....."

Deffaa was so intrigued by the notion of the 90-something Berlin actively suppressing planned tributes to him, he wanted to know more about Berlin. He began asking friends of his--from musicologist James T. Maher to radio/TV host Joe Franklin--for recollections of their encounters with Berlin. Deffaa initially was not sure if he might someday write an article, a book, or a show about Berlin. But the more he dug into Berlin's life and the more he dug into Berlin's music, the more convinced he was that it would take a show-or a series of shows-to properly do justice to him. Berlin wrote the scores for 18 Broadway shows, 19 Hollywood musicals. And some 1500 pop songs.

"What a character he was! He may have been notoriously cranky and reclusive in his later years. But, oh! the terrific music he left us. Deceptively simple--and unforgettable. When we presented 'Irving Berlin's America' at the 13th Street Rep, people were leaving the theater humming songs they'd heard; Berlin's music is wonderfully infectious. He never learned to read music-or even write music, for that matter; he hired musical secretaries to set his songs on paper. But for decades he was a leading figure in American popular music. We're going to have fun getting his music out there again. We've released a cast album for that show, with Jack Saleeby and Michael Wright, and hope to eventually do more albums of Berlin's music."

"The Irving Berlin Ragtime Revue"-which is now in rehearsals at the 13th Street Rep-will star Michael P. Czyz, Maite Uzal, Matt ZanFagna, Ann Marie Calabro, Emily Bordonaro, Michael Kasper, Jonah Barricklo, K. W. Andersson, Missy Dreier, and Rayna Hirt, with Brandon Pollinger, Timothy Thompson, Marisa Budnick, Hannah DeFlumeri, Rachel Hundert. Philip Louis Calabrao, and special guest star Carolyn Montgomery-Forant. Deffaa is the writer/director. Richard Danley is the music director. Peter Charney and Sam Donnenberg are assistant directors. Tyler DuBoys and Alex Acevedo are co-choreographers. Kate Solomon-Tillet is the stage manager. Sandra Nordgren is the producer.

Deffaa plans to keep the same creative team intact for the forthcoming productions of his other shows in the series, which will be rolled out over the next two years: "Irving Berlin & Co.," "The Irving Berlin Story," and "Irving Berlin: In Person." Deffaa has directed readings of the shows in the past two years, and is now he's developing proper productions of them.

"We'll eventually have five different shows about Berlin out there, for different cast sizes, with different songs, and different stories--just as we've done with George M. Cohan," Deffaa says. (Deffaa has written and directed six shows about Cohan; all have been published and produced.) "Berlin was a genius.. He accomplished so much, and gave us so much great music, he needs a series of shows to celebrate him. MGM wanted to film his life story. The BBC wanted to televise it. But he stopped them all.

"I want to develop shows that can be done anywhere in the US-from community theaters to regional theaters, to high schools and colleges. Berlin is pure Americana. It's good to hear this music again. I leave the rehearsals with his irresistible numbers, like 'When the Midnight Choo Choo Leaves for Alabam' dancing around my brain. When we opened 'Irving Berlin's America' at the 13th Street Rep, reviews were positive, and we were quickly offered a publishing contract.

"We did a well-received production of 'Irving Berlin's America' in New Jersey with Matthew Nardozzi and Michael T. Wright. And Amie Brockway Henson has done the show in the Catskills, at The Open Eye Theater. Eventually, we hope to get all five shows about Berlin playing in all parts of America. I'm grateful that Edith O'Hara--who runs the 13th Street Rep and is such a wonderful champion of playwrights she believes in--and her ever-supportive associate, Sandra Nordgren, have been so receptive to my work. We're having a lot of fun exploring Berlin's music. And launching this cycle of shows about Berlin. Five shows! We're only just beginning to explore the richness of his legacy. Such an amazing songwriter. And no one's told his life story in stage before. Maybe we'll wind up needing six shows to do him justice--just like we've done for Cohan. I love being immersed in his music"

For more info, please visit: www.13thstreetrep.org.

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