New York Stages

The Student Prince

            I got my first directing gig in New York with a production of THE STUDENT PRINCE for the Gallery Players, a 17 year old Showcase house in Brooklyn.  They had a small budget, but plenty of resources and I was blessed with a wonderful staff that helped to make the show beautifully realized.  The press thought so too and the production did very well at the box office.  The creative staff was made up of newcomers to New York, trying to get started in the business.  Joel Rapp was a marvelous set designer who managed a colorful three settings in the limited space by having hinged pannels fold in on themselves, like a giant storybook.  Two weeks before we opened we gained a replacement lighting designer, Jason Jeunnette, who I have since worked with several times because he and I seem to have the same final picture in our minds.  If I give him a note, he has already made the note for himself.  It’s as if we speek through osmosis.  He made the show look magical and enchanted and he understood that light can be a musical instrument too.  Abby Taylor Smith managed the costumes, puling them from various warehouses and ending up with something quite cohesive considering she had twenty-four actors to clothe in the  turn-of-the-century period on four hundred dollars.  Dominic Amendum was hired as Music Director over the phone and was moving into a Queens apartment the week of auditions.  He was a marvelous pianist and a joyful personality.  He has since gone on to conduct many things and has been on the road with national tours.  We had a hysterical laugh over a resume we received where the actress had no credits listed, but only the shows for which she had auditioned.

            The week of auditions, however, threatened to cancel the whole event.  We were scheduled to have the first call backs on Tuesday, September 11th.  I don’t have to tell you what happened to call off the audition.  Tuesday was a general mess, Wednesday everyone stayed home to keep out of the way of the authorities dealing with the tragic collapse of the World Trade Center.  The following Thursday, New York got back to work.  We called all of our auditioneers and most of them came to a Sunday call back.  Some decided they just couldn’t do a show in light of what was going on, several I imagine, packed their bags and went back to Allentown.  My roommate at the time did just that.  But, we got a fine cast and made a gorgeous show, which was just the tonic the public wanted.  THE STUDENT PRINCE is about youth and spring and the beautiful things in life.  Although it has a bittersweet ending, the joy of the production was what people needed.

Broadway and 9/11

            URINETOWN was due to open that horrible week of 9/11, but was pushed back a few days.  When it did finally open on Broadway, it was well embraced.  You couldn’t help but laugh and people desperately needed to laugh.  The cast found themselves being thanked by the audience for giving them laughter.  Over at TKTS, the lines were longer than ever.  The call had gone out, “You want to help New York get on it’s feet?  Go out to dinner, go to a show, don’t go into hiding.”  People heard the message and Broadway business was brisk in terms of New Yorkers going out.  The tourists took a bit longer to return.

            The City Center put on it’s BROADWAY BASH, a concert of rare musical theatre songs performed by a great group of working Broadway Talent.  It was presented on a Monday when most Broadway shows were dark, so that stars like Gary