March 2008

Dear Subscriber:

SINCE THOSE ANGRY MEN have reached their verdict, we are ready to move on to the closing show (it’s hard to believe it’s upon us already) of the Mainstage season. We’ve all gone on a journey which has taken us from the sacred halls of Oxbridge to a sanatorium terrorized by blood thirsty ghouls to dressing rooms filled with love, war, comedy and lots of great singing and dancing—with a brief break to find balance and peace under the shade of a beautiful maple tree. The Off-Ramp season showed us the life-changing power of the “Raise the Praise” tour, and the life-saving power of shoe boxes for a woman and her daughter, while the words of the Bard were spun in a most amazing way. Meanwhile, in the Studio Theatre, we saw the magic of cleaning house and the complexity of human relations and politics. We now shift our focus from the jury room to one truly amazing woman. Playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, along with co-conceiver Dyke Garrison, recognized that a single word says it all—Ella. Their vision, combined with the artful musical arrangements of Danny Holgate, brings to our stage the only Ella there is, the First Lady of Jazz, Miss Ella Fitzgerald. Their elegant tribute to this musical icon transports us to a concert hall in Nice, France where the year is 1966 and Miss Ella is rehearsing for the evening’s performance. At the urging of her manager, she is reworking her set to include what he calls patter—personal tidbits, snippets of her life. And though she argues that she has nothing to tell (after all, she is “the nice one") as the night unfolds, she intersperses a jigsaw puzzle picture of her past with the music that defines her. In all, we are treated to portions of two dozen of her most memorable selections, ranging from the Gershwins, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter to Duke Ellington, Sonny Curtis and Johnny Mercer.

THE MUSIC IS INCREDIBLE and “getting to know” Ella is a privilege, but what makes this woman so remarkable is hard to pinpoint or quantify. Stuart Nicholson, while espousing her many stellar attributes, alludes to this “otherness” in his biography, Ella Fitzgerald: A Biography of the First Lady of Jazz:

Ella Fitzgerald has lived to sing. Nothing else in life has meant as much to her. It has been the focus of her whole being, sustaining her career at the top of her profession through seven decades. Her vocal style, widely acknowledged as a touchstone of excellence, has been admired for its purity of tone, clarity of diction, harmonic imagination and a highly refined sense of swing. Seemingly impervious to the unrelenting shocks announcing the new that periodically swept both jazz and popular music, she had the ability to fill concert halls around the world, whatever the prevailing musical trend… Here was a plump, middle-aged black artist who defied the convention of popular beauty at work in the field of popular music who managed to achieve widespread popularity in a United States that was still two years away from legislating that segregation in streetcars and buses was unconstitutional.

GARY GIDDINS NAMES THIS ELUSIVE QUALITY, “joy.” In fact, his chapter on Ella Fitzgerald in his book, Visions of Jazz: The First Century, is parenthetically titled, “joy.” He writes:

When Ella Fitzgerald was singing at her peak—in good voice, with good song, vocal accompaniment and arrangement—nothing in life was more resplendent. An evangelist of swing, she inspired devotion that bordered on blind and elated trust...[S]he offered the illusion of perfection in a context of free-ranging individuality...She was the finger-snapping oracle who envisioned all of humanity “trucking on down the avenue/without a single thing to do”. One of a handful of preeminent jazz performers who were held tight to the public’s bosom, Ella Fitzgerald taught us something vital about joy, as Billie Holiday taught us something vital about pain. Each was possessed of a certainty… Exceedingly shy off-stage, she was bold to the point of impudence in the rapture of music...She personified a jazzy glamour—showbiz royalty, the unassailable First Lady of Song.

ROB RUGGIERO RETURNS to direct Tina Fabrique in a most impressive turn as “Miss Fitz.” You may have seen Tina on Broadway in such shows as Ragtime; Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying or The Gospel at Colonus, to name a few. She has been on the national tours of The Wiz, Bubbling Brown Sugar, South Pacific and many others. Tina was a featured soloist with the Duke Ellington Orchestra for several years, touring in Europe and the U.S. She was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award in Washington, D.C. (their Kline Award) for her performance of Ella last month, and she won the Carbonell Award in Florida last year for her work in Ella. She is supported by a swinging band comprised of George Caldwell conducting from the piano, Thad Wilson on Trumpet, Rodney Harper at the drums and Clifton Kellem on bass. Harold Dixon plays manager and friend extraordinaire, Norman Granz. Michael Schweikardt provides the concert hall set, Alejo Vietti defines Ella’s unique sense of style through costume, and John Lasiter and Michael Miceli maneuver us through time and memory with their respective design of lights and sound.

THE STUDIO THEATRE concludes its season with Jane Page directing Rabbit Hole, David Lindsay-Abaire’s 2007 Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a family’s struggle to navigate their lives after the tragic death of a child. Filled with moments that are alternately tender, funny, warm, awkward and heartbreaking, this is, according to the playwright, “not a tidy play” that moves to a quick or easy resolution or release for its characters. Instead, it is real in its treatment of loss, affording us a compelling look into the months that follow in which grief, whether through a quiet happy memory or a painful direct confrontation, is always there, reshaping and redefining who these people are and how they live. Victoria Adams-Zischke, as the mother Becca, joins Rep veterans Timothy McCracken, Carolyn Swift and Ashley West, along with Webster Conservatory student, Adam King. Scenic design is by Robert Mark Morgan, with costumes from Garth Dunbar, lighting by John Wylie and sound from Tori Meyer.

WE BRING OUR SEASON TO A POWERFUL CLOSE with two intimate portraits of both joy and grief and the astoundingly fine line that separates the two. Ella makes our shoulders sway and our hearts soar with song, all the while reminding us that even perfection isn’t perfect. And Rabbit Hole nudges us to explore the precarious intersection of life’s greatest heights with its most devastating depths. What gives life, energy and urgency to these works is their common recognition that there is a path that runs between, or perhaps parallel to, these seemingly isolated worlds. We can find our way from one to the other and back again. We can’t wait to share these very special shows with you. You’ll soon be seeing the exciting season we have planned for next year on all of our stages. Imagine all the great times you’ll enjoy from your theatre seat. Part of theatre’s appeal is its transitory nature: each performance live, each performance slightly different, each audience member part of a private club.  These experiences eventually reside in our memories, and it’s thrilling to ask, “Were you there?” to witness a particular moment. The feeling is priceless, special and personal because you DID share that unique experience.  We look forward to your return next season and encourage you to ask your friends to join you—there’ll be lots of stories to discuss and savor. Thank you for your support this season. Have a splendid spring and summer.

See you at the theatre,

Steven Woolf
Artistic Director