• Interviewing the cast of "Red"

  
  originally posted by John Bathke, for News 12 NJ
  
  I’m seeing a lot of red this week. Red as in the color of so many of Mark Rothko’s paintings that I have been looking at and “Red” as in the play about Rothko that is now running at George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, New Jersey.
  
  Tonight I interviewed both cast members, Bob Ari who plays Rothko and Randy Harrison who plays Ken, an assistant hired by Rothko to help him as he paints the Seagrams murals, one of the abstract expressionist’s famous commissions.
  
  I’m expecting the segment we put together will be ready to roll next weekend for the next ON THE SCENE, but since we just shot tonight I’ll have to let you know for sure next week.
  
  “Red” debuted on Broadway in 2010 starring Alfred Molina and Eddie Redmayne, who won a Tony Award for his performance. It’s an intense, complex drama about the creation of an artist, about an established albeit tortured artist mentoring an emerging talent.
  A lot of viewers remember Randy Harrison for his role as “Justin” on “Queer As Folk.” We also talked about the series and that part of our conversation will be a web bonus feature for ON THE SCENE viewers.
  
  
  
  
  

• Austin the Unstoppable to Premiere this Week

  
  
  
  
  reposted from The Home News Tribune / NJ Press Media
  by Chris Jordan
  The George Street Playhouse is looking to make healthy living and eating an “Unstoppable” way of life.
  The theater’s new health and wellness musical, “Austin the Unstoppable,” will debut at 10:15 a.m. Jan. 11 at the theater as part of a daylong conference highlighting children's health. The play, produced by the George Street Playhouse Educational Touring Theatre, will play in schools and community organizations in New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania beginning in February.
  
  
  “We created ‘Austin the Unstoppable,’ our first touring musical, to bring greater awareness to students about the choices they make regarding diet and exercise — and the long-term consequences of those choices,” Jim Jack, director of education for the George Street Playhouse, said in a statement. “This musical focuses on how a family confronts an unhealthy lifestyle when their mother is diagnosed with type II diabetes.”
  
  
  The play’s book and lyrics are by Barry Wyner (“Calvin Berger”), music is by Daniel Israel and it’s directed by Kevin Del Aguila, who wrote the book for the long-running off-Broadway show “Altar Boyz.” The musical is a collaboration between the theater and the state’s Shaping NJ initiative.
  
  
  “While the musical presents the seriousness of chronic illnesses related to an unhealthy diet and a lack of exercise, the spirit of the story is transformative — a fun, upbeat musical comedy that shows how positive change can occur through the power of love, hard work and support,” Jack said.
  
  
  Parents, teachers and administrators are invited to join health and education professionals for the Jan. 11 conference.
  

• “A Nutcracker Musical?! But what would The Nutcracker be without the dancing?”

  
            – Professor Hoffmann, Act One, Scene 3, The Nutcracker and I.
  
  Gerard Alessandrini always believed The Nutcracker could be adapted as a traditional musical comedy. He wanted to transform Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece, using all that glorious music, into a book show with his own zany, satirical lyrics. For him, writing this show was a childhood dream.
  
  When we were growing up together, Gerard introduced me to all the classic Broadway musicals. One of his favorites was Kismet, with a score by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the classical music of Alexander Borodin (a Russian composer and a contemporary of Tchaikovsky). But Wright and Forrest adapted Borodin’s musical themes into songs. Gerard’s idea may have been more ambitious: he wanted to put his words to Tchaikovsky’s music while being faithful to the original compositions. He discovered that Tchaikovsky’s music was a precursor to 20^th century song form – so many of his melodies have a classic AABA structure. In other words, he establishes a musical phrase, repeats it, then there’s a “bridge” (or a “release”), then he returns to the original “A” musical phrase. Gerard spent his whole life listening to The Nutcracker score and he could hear songs in the music!

  For years, Gerard kept telling me that he wanted to write The Nutcracker as a musical. But the story, as it was adapted for the ballet, was a challenge. In fact, the ballet’s story is rather slight, it’s just an excuse for classical dance and divertissements. The ballet’s source material, E.T.A. Hoffmann’s children’s novella The Nutcracker and the Mouseking (1816), is a richer story, but some of its plot complications might not be recognized by fans of The Nutcracker ballet. What to do?

  It took us a while to come up with an original story that is faithful to the spirit of the ballet, but also tells the classic tale in musical comedy terms. For inspiration, we looked at other fairy tales and fantasy stories. But in the end, we came up with an original idea. It’s about a young ballerina who grew up dancing in a local production of The Nutcracker ballet. When she’s finally old enough to play the leading role of Clara, she breaks her leg! We knew we could tell a “backstage at the ballet” story in a totally modern setting. I remembered how Gerard had broken his leg in our high school production of Oklahoma! We were two suburban kids who dreamed of coming to New York and pursuing careers in theater. Suddenly we had it: a young girl, full of dreams, breaks her leg and can’t dance in her favorite ballet… but with the help of a toy nutcracker who comes to life, the girl’s dreams are magically realized. Finally, adapting The Nutcracker as a musical comedy was possible for us. We discovered all it takes is believing childhood dreams sometimes really do come true.

  Peter Brash, November 2011
  

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