ICCT - We recently had a chance to interview Josh Sazon, the director of ICCT's upcoming production of She Loves Me. Read the interview and find out which local celebrity will have a cameo appearance on opening night.
First of all, what lead you to choose this particular musical?
Josh: I chose this musical because it’s a very good musical—charming and sophisticated music, literate and droll lyrics and a solid, well-constructed book. The quality is of a calibre that one would pretty much expect from the creators of Fiddler On The Roof (lyricist Sheldon Harnick and composer Jerry Bock) and Cabaret (book author Joe Masteroff). It’s also a musical that is not that well-known, one that has not been done all that often and one that has not been made into a movie. It’s nice to do a show where you don’t have an audience perpetually comparing a production to a movie adaptation.
I know that the musical is based on the Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo. Did you use that play at all when creating your version of She Loves Me? If so, in what way?
Josh: Actually, the musical is based more on Ernst Lubisch’s movie adaptation of Parfumerie. The Shop Around The Corner came out in the late thirties, with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. The musical hews much more closely to the movie version. I’ve not seen it since I started work on the production... nor have I seen In The Good Old Summertime and You’ve Got Mail, two other movies based on the original Parfumerie... but subconsciously I know that it does influence, in fairly subtle ways, how I might stage a scene.
What is the music like in this show. Are there solo showstopper numbers? Ensemble pieces?
Josh: The musical is pretty intimate, and some folks opine that the lack of a showstopper comparable to, say, Hello Dolly, which ran ‘round the same time as She Loves Me, makes it not quite as popular. Perhaps the best known song in the musical is Vanilla Ice Cream, which is a wonderful song but also a song that you really can’t sing and do justice to unless you’re a trained soprano. Thankfully we’ve been blessed with absolutely wonderful voices in this production, who do full justice to the songs.
Tell us a little about the rehearsal process – the highs, the lows, the fun stuff, the challenges...
Josh: Perhaps the biggest challenge in putting up a show like this is the weather. We had to cancel about a week’s worth of rehearsal thus far. And while our cast seems to be maintaining good health, it is also cold and flu season—and I do worry about that. That having been said, the rehearsal process is, as always, a joy. The score for She Loves Me is perhaps more difficult than most musical theater scores, and it is a joy when a performer finally clicks with their musical number. One of our cast members, a fairly experienced actor, is making his musical theater debut. Or rather, his solo debut. He started off pretty insecure about his singing voice, but he is coming along wonderfully!
What part of the choreography are you most excited about – what should we looking for?
Josh: The show is definitely not dance-heavy. Another reason why it appealed to me! But it does have its moments. The show takes place in Central Europe, and the dance numbers which are choreographed by Mark McCusker, who’s best known for associating with Iowa Dance Fest and Arts a la Carte, will definitely have a Hungarian flavor to them. To say more would be to spoil what is shaping to be pretty exuberant number.
Talk to me a little bit about your actors, if you could. Are they ICCT veterans we’ve seen before or new folks or both?
Josh: We have quite a few veterans of ICCT, including Howard Meadows, Jon Meadows, Chuck Dufano, Rex Van Dorpe and Jim Verry, among others. But we also have number of newbies as well. Our leading lady, Megan Sands, has appeared in a number of City Circle productions, but is making her ICCT debut and we are very happy to have her. Another principal actor, Zakary Morton, has done work with TCR. We have actors, including UI undergrad Nora Scherschel, who have come from out of state and are making their local area debut. We even have performers who have not done any theater work at all, but they all seem to be having a ball. All in all it’s a wonderful mix of people that we’re working with.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Josh: I hope folks get to see it! As I said, it is not terribly well-known, but it is a very good musical. In a way, ICCT gambled quite a bit on doing this—their first musical in over a year! And it would be nice if their gamble pays off. Our musical director is Ed Kottick, a retired professor from the UI School of Music, and he is bringing in a wonderful, seventeen-piece orchestra for the show. Also, we will also be having cameo appearances of noted Iowa City bigwigs—beginning with the new mayor of Iowa City on opening night!
Any show that features Regenia Bailey is one you don't want to miss. For more information about the show, go here.
First of all, what lead you to choose this particular musical?
Josh: I chose this musical because it’s a very good musical—charming and sophisticated music, literate and droll lyrics and a solid, well-constructed book. The quality is of a calibre that one would pretty much expect from the creators of Fiddler On The Roof (lyricist Sheldon Harnick and composer Jerry Bock) and Cabaret (book author Joe Masteroff). It’s also a musical that is not that well-known, one that has not been done all that often and one that has not been made into a movie. It’s nice to do a show where you don’t have an audience perpetually comparing a production to a movie adaptation.
I know that the musical is based on the Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklos Laszlo. Did you use that play at all when creating your version of She Loves Me? If so, in what way?
Josh: Actually, the musical is based more on Ernst Lubisch’s movie adaptation of Parfumerie. The Shop Around The Corner came out in the late thirties, with Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan. The musical hews much more closely to the movie version. I’ve not seen it since I started work on the production... nor have I seen In The Good Old Summertime and You’ve Got Mail, two other movies based on the original Parfumerie... but subconsciously I know that it does influence, in fairly subtle ways, how I might stage a scene.
What is the music like in this show. Are there solo showstopper numbers? Ensemble pieces?
Josh: The musical is pretty intimate, and some folks opine that the lack of a showstopper comparable to, say, Hello Dolly, which ran ‘round the same time as She Loves Me, makes it not quite as popular. Perhaps the best known song in the musical is Vanilla Ice Cream, which is a wonderful song but also a song that you really can’t sing and do justice to unless you’re a trained soprano. Thankfully we’ve been blessed with absolutely wonderful voices in this production, who do full justice to the songs.
Tell us a little about the rehearsal process – the highs, the lows, the fun stuff, the challenges...
Josh: Perhaps the biggest challenge in putting up a show like this is the weather. We had to cancel about a week’s worth of rehearsal thus far. And while our cast seems to be maintaining good health, it is also cold and flu season—and I do worry about that. That having been said, the rehearsal process is, as always, a joy. The score for She Loves Me is perhaps more difficult than most musical theater scores, and it is a joy when a performer finally clicks with their musical number. One of our cast members, a fairly experienced actor, is making his musical theater debut. Or rather, his solo debut. He started off pretty insecure about his singing voice, but he is coming along wonderfully!
What part of the choreography are you most excited about – what should we looking for?
Josh: The show is definitely not dance-heavy. Another reason why it appealed to me! But it does have its moments. The show takes place in Central Europe, and the dance numbers which are choreographed by Mark McCusker, who’s best known for associating with Iowa Dance Fest and Arts a la Carte, will definitely have a Hungarian flavor to them. To say more would be to spoil what is shaping to be pretty exuberant number.
Talk to me a little bit about your actors, if you could. Are they ICCT veterans we’ve seen before or new folks or both?
Josh: We have quite a few veterans of ICCT, including Howard Meadows, Jon Meadows, Chuck Dufano, Rex Van Dorpe and Jim Verry, among others. But we also have number of newbies as well. Our leading lady, Megan Sands, has appeared in a number of City Circle productions, but is making her ICCT debut and we are very happy to have her. Another principal actor, Zakary Morton, has done work with TCR. We have actors, including UI undergrad Nora Scherschel, who have come from out of state and are making their local area debut. We even have performers who have not done any theater work at all, but they all seem to be having a ball. All in all it’s a wonderful mix of people that we’re working with.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Josh: I hope folks get to see it! As I said, it is not terribly well-known, but it is a very good musical. In a way, ICCT gambled quite a bit on doing this—their first musical in over a year! And it would be nice if their gamble pays off. Our musical director is Ed Kottick, a retired professor from the UI School of Music, and he is bringing in a wonderful, seventeen-piece orchestra for the show. Also, we will also be having cameo appearances of noted Iowa City bigwigs—beginning with the new mayor of Iowa City on opening night!
Any show that features Regenia Bailey is one you don't want to miss. For more information about the show, go here.
No comments:
Post a Comment