The 8:05 Trenton Local

I hate getting up early.  If I didn’t work full-time, I doubt I would be up before 10 a.m.  Yet, when I’m excited about the day ahead, it’s a different story.  That was true on Sunday September 25^th, when even only after sleeping for 6 hours I awoke a 6:29 a.m.  On that Sunday I was one train ride away from New York City where I was about to attend the theater geek’s version of ComicCon, the Broadway Flea Market and to see a musical I never thought would be revived.  Anxious, excited, flustered, you choose the adjective.  I was just excited about the day that was to unfold .

Standing on the NJ Transit Hamilton Station platform at 7:50 a.m. made me realize how eccentric I really am.   What other 25 year old, Republican, kid from Pittsburgh, would be standing around mouthing the lyrics to “I’m Still Here” from Follies, while waiting for a train in central New Jersey?  Beat’s me, but who cares.  The 8:05 Trenton Local to New York pulled into the station and grabbing my window seat, it became real.  New York City was only 75 minutes away.

I’m often asked whether I consider myself a tourist when in New York City.  The answer is a resounding NO!  Aside from having lived in New York for one summer and visiting several times a year, I’m pretty familiar with the city I now consider my second home.  I can use the subway without referring to the guide map, don’t get scared by the street people in midtown and above all else: I hate the commercialization of Times Square.  If that doesn’t say New Yorker, I don’t know what does.

Ironically though, I rarely stay in New York overnight.  The sole reason is cost. Unless I’m visiting with friends, it’s just not affordable.  So when traveling solo, I usually stay with family in the suburbs of Philadelphia, and then catch the commuter train into New York City.  It’s the best of both worlds: Philadelphia cheese steaks and the Broadway theater.

The 8:05 pulled into New York ahead of schedule.  After exiting the train, I made my way through the maze that is Penn Station and onto the street, rapidly making my way uptown.  One thing I love about walking up 7^th Avenue towards Times Square is seeing the Broadway theaters’ marquees.  It makes me realize that yes, the American theater is alive and well.  And there’s no greater symbol of that currently then of the marquee for the Marquis Theater which says, Follies: Direct from the Kennedy Center.

But before I revisit an old classic, I turn down 44^th Street.  Usually a busy thoroughfare, but not today.  The sign ahead of me says it all, 25^th Annual Broadway Flea Market.  And with that, my day in New York Officially begun…….

Part 2:  The Phantom from My Past

Lessons from the Frontier

It’s 1943 and the world is at war.  For many servicemen and women, Times Square literally was the crossroads of the world; their last stop before embarking en route to the European theater of conflict.  That spring a new musical entitled Oklahoma opened on Broadway at the St. James Theater.  Regardless of the glowing notices the show received, to the service members in the audience Oklahoma came to have a much deeper meaning.  To them the show was a celebration of the American values they were about to fight and die for.  68 years later, Arena Stage’s enterprisingly brilliant revival of Oklahoma is once again a celebration of the American way of life. 

Before I even begin describing this production it’s important that I first explain why Oklahoma is so revered in American culture.  For starters it was the first “integrated musical.”  Traditionally, musicals featured song, dance and plot; however the plot was meant to fit the songs and dance was mostly used as filler between scenes.  Oklahoma changed this in 1943 by using the plot, not the songs, to dictate the format of the show.   The songs, music and choreography would then only be used to enhance the storyline.  Henceforth, the word integrated was dropped, and the American musical as we know it was born. 

Arena Stage’s fantastic production of Oklahoma, exquisitely directed by Molly Smith, comes off as anything but your standard revival.  The production is staged in a theater-in-the-round style and provides the audience with a fresh perspective on a show often seen as the annual high school musical.  By staging the show in the round, Smith showcases to the audience how song, dance and plot combine to make a darn good show.  This production is a celebration of the “integrated” musical at its finest. 

I’m often asked why I am so passionate about the musical.  It’s because aside from jazz, the American musical is the only art form to have been originated in the United States.  Yes, the musical is a derivative of opera and operetta, but it wasn’t until Oklahoma that it could really be considered an art form all its own.  The musical is our American heritage and it’s never stopped from helping us to grow as a nation.

One example of this is the love story between Laurie and Curly which traditionally is performed by white actors.  In this revival, the relationship between the romantic leads features an interracial love story.  Even more fascinating is that the audience doesn’t seem to care or even notice.  This concept would have been unthinkable during Oklahoma’s original Broadway run.  Regardless, it’s an example of how we’ve grown as a nation and the musical is a form of storytelling reflecting that growth.   

To those servicemen and women in the audience in 1943, Oklahoma was a celebration of the “can do” American spirit.  It helped a war torn, depression ravaged nation remember their hopes and dreams.  At its core, Oklahoma is  a show about life on the frontier and the dreams of those living on it.  Today our new frontier is learning to live in an uncertain world.  And like the frontier characters in the show, we’ve learned that the only way to live life is to the fullest.

For more information on, or to purchase tickets to, Arena Stage’s production of Oklahoma please visit: http://www.arenastage.org/shows-tickets/the-season/productions/oklahoma/

Performing the National Mood

This week we pause and reflect on the tenth anniversary of the September 11^th terrorist attacks.  While we remember where we were, who were with and most importantly those who gave their lives, I think we should also take a moment to recall how we as a nation coped.   So much can be learned from our responses over the last decade but perhaps none more important than we how survived through the darkest of American days.  And if there was one prism, one social microcosm that best reflected our emotions as a nation over the last decade, it was the Broadway Theater. 

Following the terrorist attacks Broadway, like most of the nation, shut down.  When the Great White Way did reopen on September 13^th it was unclear who if anybody would show up.  Smash hits and long-running shows such as The Producers and The Phantom of the Opera played to half-full houses.  That night the audience and cast sang “God Bless America” at the curtain call and for the first time since the attacks, laughter could be heard in New York City.

Over the next decade the most popular Broadway shows all had one consistent theme, escapism.  The biggest hits from 2001 – 2011, Mamma Mia, Hairspray, The Producers, Spamalot, Jersey Boys, Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon and the mega-blockbuster Wicked, all featured stories that included the lovable-hummable show tune, happy endings and took audiences to a place that lacked terrorism and the fear that had gripped our everyday lives.  There was no mention of war, a color coded terror system or 24/7 cable news channels hyping the perceived terror threats.  No, these shows were safe places where audiences could learn to live, laugh and love again.

For New York, and indeed the nation, these shows taught us how to cope.  Their stories featured characters that were: searching for a purpose such as Princeton in Avenue Q, looking for love in life like Donna in Mamma Mia!, or how to remain true to oneself in a world filled with complexities as exhibited by Elphaba in Wicked.   The theater was providing us with stories about characters anchoring themselves in an ever changing world, something audience members were struggling to do every day.  I know this, because I learned firsthand about the power of the American musical in its ability to heal.

In December 2001, I visited Ground Zero for the first time.  Words cannot describe the pain, hurt, anger and confusion I felt.  Later that day I was scheduled to see Mamma Mia! which had opened merely five weeks after the terrorists attacks.  Leaving the ruins, I couldn’t fathom sitting through a Broadway musical, it just didn’t seem right.  How, with all the death and destruction in our nation, could people be singing about happier times?

I left Mamma Mia! that night walking on air.  The show took me to a world without terrorism, a world filled with love, humor, dancing and yes, even spandex costumes.   It reminded me what joy was and showed me how art can help heal the most traumatic wounds.  I would go back to see Mamma Mia! 4 more times and till this day I have never forgotten how that show helped move me beyond the grief I was feeling. 

Shortly after 9/11, Susan Stroman, the director/choreographer of The Producers, predicted that Broadway’s next decade would be filled with shows that featured escapism.  Audiences didn’t want to face the present, they wanted to abandon it.  She was right; however in helping audiences to escape, Broadway was also teaching them how to cope with this “new normal.”   Even by going to these “escapists” shows, audiences were rehabilitating themselves and learning how to live again.

As a nation 2008 was a watershed year for us because our “new normal” included two ongoing wars and an economic recession.   We didn’t have time to escape, now was the time for us to face our challenges head on and the theater was there to counsel us like it always had been.  The biggest show of the 2008 – 2009 Broadway season was Billy Elliot.  It was about a boy who uses dance to escape the economic and political upheaval facing his family.

The show was extremely relevant for a nation encountering economic uncertainty, and yet it didn’t let us escape.  Unlike the other big post-9/11 shows Billy Elliot did something different, it reminded us of the challenges we faced.   I remember watching Billy Elliot at the Imperial Theater the same week I found out that my job was being terminated.  Unemployment terrified me, much as it did every character in that show, but that wasn’t the lesson I left the theater with that night.  Billy Elliot reminded me, and everyone else who saw it, of the strength of the human soul and the importance of remaining true to my family and friends.  Like Mamma Mia! seven years earlier, Billy Elliot reminded the audience of the necessity of moving forward.  That is the lasting lesson of 9/11.

As we reflect on this the tenth anniversary of 9/11, it’s easy to remember a nation that was scared and from whom at times needed to escape the new reality.  However I remember a different story.  I remember a nation that summoned the strength of the human soul, who learned to laugh again while never forgetting those didn’t make the next curtain call.

I don’t know what the next decade holds for America.  What I am confident about is the American theater’s ability to help us in the grieving and learning process.  It has been said that America is a light in a dark world.  That is why it was no surprise to me that on September 13, 2001, one of the brightest lights to shine in New York City was that of the marquees of Broadway’s theaters.