I was searching the internet for theater, Broadway and musicals information to share with you. Here are some good postings I came across recently:
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Susan Hilferty (#233) - September, 2009
With her Tony-winning costume designs for the hit musical “Wicked” virtually circling the globe, costume designer Susan Hilferty describes the detailed process by which the show’s creative team conceived their own vision of Oz, and the level of work required to execute the show’s distinctive costumes. She also talks about her initial interest in both fine art and scenic design, even as she worked in costume shops as an artisan; the lucky break that got her professional design credits while still an undergraduate; her decision to go to the Yale School of Drama after several years of working in New York and how that led to her 30-year collaboration with South African playwright Athol Fugard; her quick takes on the varying directorial styles of her most frequent collaborators, including James Lapine, Des McAnuff, Carole Rothman, Robert Woodruff and the late Garland Wright; her counsel to students, as the head of the graduate design program at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts; and why she felt she was going to have to protect Frank Wedekind when she began work on the musical “Spring Awakening”. Original air date - September 8, 2009.

Linda Lavin (#269) - May, 2010
“Collected Stories” star Linda Lavin discusses why she’s playing the role of Ruth Steiner in Donald Margulies’ play for a fourth time, likens the two-character play to a duet that changes with each new co-star, and explains why she turned the role down the first time she had the opportunity to play it. She also talks about her musical heritage growing up in Maine; how she got her Equity card after her freshman year studying drama at the College of William and Mary; how a chorus role in her first Broadway show, “A Family Affair”, grew to afford her four character roles by opening night; the unexpected success of “The Mad Show”, which was originally planned for a two-week holiday run; the experience of creating roles in two Neil Simon plays, “The Last of the Red Hot Lovers” and “Broadway Bound”, including the story of how swiftly Simon wrote her impressive act two monologue for the latter; whether it was tough for her to be considered for stage roles after nine seasons on TV’s “Alice”; how she saw the character of Mama Rose when she took over for Tyne Daly in “Gypsy”; what she thinks prompted Charles Busch to create the title role in “The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife” with her in mind; and why when she’s not busy with professional acting roles she spends her “spare time” running the Red Barn Theatre, a community theatre in Wilmington NC. Original air date - May 19, 2010.

Martha Banta and Carolee Carmello (#38) January, 2005
“Mamma Mia!” star Carolee Carmello talks about her performances in “Parade”, “Falsettos” and “Kiss Me Kate”, among others, and along with “Mamma Mia!”’s resident director Martha Banta, talks about the process of taking over a role. Original air date - January 14, 2005.

Patrick Stewart (#201) - May, 2008
Shakespeare veteran Patrick Stewart talks about finally having the opportunity to play the title role in “Macbeth”, some 50 years after he first memorized the play’s great speeches, and chronicles the production’s swift journey from Chichester to London to Brooklyn to Broadway. He also talks about his decades-long association with the Royal Shakespeare Company, including his appearances in multiple productions of such plays as “The Merchant of Venice”, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Antony and Cleopatra” and “Titus Andronicus”; the impetus behind his one-man adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” — including its interminable first performance; his enthusiasm for playing Prospero in “The Tempest” with an American cast in Central Park and on Broadway; the thrill of creating a role in Arthur Miller’s “The Ride Down Mount Morgan”; why he’s “finished” with certain roles and still hopes to play others yet again; and some of the plays he’s looking forward to doing in the next few years, including a nascent project with his film nemesis Ian McKellen. Original air date - May 9, 2008.

Allison Janney (#230) - August, 2009
“9 to 5″ star Allison Janney talks about her transformation into a musical comedy performer, and why the dancing didn’t worry her but the singing did. She also discusses her theatrical education at Kenyon College, the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts; what it was like to be directed in her very first college show by Paul Newman and her subsequent tutelage under mentor Joanne Woodward; her challenge in finding an agent; what an aptitude test said she was most suited for professionally; how the movie “Hoosiers” helped her conquer her fear of making her Broadway debut opposite Frank Langella in “Present Laughter”; why she’s not a Shakespeare aficionado in general and why we’ll never again see her performing in Central Park, where she starred in “The Taming of the Shrew”; how “The West Wing”’s “walk and talk” sequences reminded her of theatre; and “the truth” about how she scarred Anthony LaPaglia for life when they appeared on Broadway in “A View from the Bridge”. Original air date - August 17, 2009.

As always, thanks for reading!

David Caban
Producer/Host of Sunday Matinee