Interview: 'What a Glorious Feeling': MSMT Panel Celebrates SINGIN' IN THE RAIN and Anniversary Concerts

In the midst of what has proved to be an extraordinary week for the company, Maine State Music Theatre fans turned out in a capacity crowd at the Curtis Memorial Library's final Peek Behind the Curtainpanel to celebrate the concluding events of this Diamond Jubilee season. In the Brunswick season's penultimate week, MSMT presented nine performances of its smash hit, Singin' in the Rain, as well as two sold-out gala 60thanniversary concerts and a free Concert on the Mall that drew close to 2500 people. The panel, moderated by BWW's Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold, featured Nicolas Dromard, Kate Fahrner, Brian Shepard, and Kim Sava, the stars of the production, two returning stars closely associated with MSMT's history, Sue Cellaand K.K. Preece, as well as Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark. The resulting discussion, which focused on the joyful new staging by Marc Robin of Singin' in the Rainand the special anniversary events, was filled with warmth, laughter, and substance.

Curt Dale Clark opened the conversation by tying together the two themes and explaining how MSMT decided to program Singin' in the Rainas the splashy closing of the Diamond Jubilee season. "The 60thanniversary season means so much to me because I cannot sop thinking of everything that has come before this to get us to the point we now are. Without the efforts of everyone who has preceded us, we would not have a chance to do what we are doing today. I feel it is important that we honor all this through events like the exhibit here in the library or the concerts this past Monday, and to make the 60thanniversary special."

"As for choosing Singin' in the Rain, I have done this show myself over 1000 times and I know that it always makes people incredibly happy. This cast is knocking [our production] out of the park every night. It warms my heart every night to watch what a glorious feeling this show gives our audience. And then, on a technical level, we always try to give a big, splashy, colorful, joyful show in the fourth slot so that our patrons will want to come back next season."

The four stars concurred that their experience was an exhilarating one and continued the discussion talking about their characters and the challenges of this exceptionally lavish, large scale production which features actual rain, fog, and "wind" on stage, as well as a thirteen-minute ballet, some 176 opulent costumes, and choreography to dazzle and die for.

Nicolas Dromard who made his role debut as Don Lockwood at MSMT talked about how playing this part has been a dream thirty-one years in the making. Asked what it feels like to finally be dancing in the shows of his boyhood idol, Gene Kelly, he quips, " I am bringing away soggy shoes every night." Then continuing seriously: "The experience is simply magical. Finally playing this character with these amazing people [he indicates his cast mates] and with Curt at the helm of MSMT is so special. And the people in the audience are so warm and giving. That's what makes this theatre different from being on tour or in a big Broadway house. The audience is so close, you hear every reaction. Every little joke, every splash makes the crowd scream, and that fuels us on stage, and we give it [that energy] right back."

Dromard talks about how he has tried to make Don Lockwood a multi-layered characterization. He credits his cast mates who make it easy for him "to play off. Don is self-absorbed [at first], but Kathy throws a wrench into those wheels. Don also develops from the grand style of a silent screen actor to the more realistic style of the talking pictures. His love for Kathy and his friendship for Cosmo make him a real human being and not just a projection on the screen."

Kate Fahrner comments that she, too, has tried to give Kathy Selden some additional character substance rather than making her a mere ingénue. "I love that [director/choreographer] Marc Robin gave me a chance to play this role. Halfway through the rehearsal period, he looked at me and said, 'I hired you because you are Kate Fahrner, so let's be Kate Fahrner.' I thank him for that because it gave me a chance to stop being the cute little girl next door and just be myself. Hopefully, that has dimension."

Fahrner cites as an example how Robin suggested that rather than sing "Would You" in the second act in a pretty soprano, she belt it out in a different key and let the orchestra pull out with it. The direction helped her put her own stamp on Kathy Selden, different from Debbie Reynolds' movie interpretation. Fahrner says, "I always loved the movie, but I was more of a Chorus Linegirl," though she notes in an aside that her three year-old daughter is currently obsessed with the Singin' in the Rain movie and knows all her mother's lines and songs.

Brian Shepard, the show's Cosmo Brown, ponders the question about how he makes his virtuoso performance seem so effortless. "Do I?," he asks modestly. "I think the secret is that it is really so much fun, so stupid, and so wonderful to be out there [on stage] messing around like a little kid with a dummy. I love getting away with dance tricks. This show is an extravaganza with a little bit of everything in it; I get to tap, to sing at the top of my voice. It is easy to throw myself one hundred percent into it." A veteran of three productions now, Shepard adds that "I am learning every time I do it. This is probably the most lavish production I've ever done, and it knocks all the production values out of the park. I have done smaller scale or smaller budget productions, but this is the most fully realized, most exciting staging with a huge dancing ensemble. That's what you want it to be. [After all], it is a musical about the invention of the movie musical You don't necessarily need all that [lavishness] to tell the story, but it is sure great to have it. The energy just keeps building."

Kim Sava joins the conversation discussing how she transforms herself into Lina Lamont with her squeaky voice and ditzy blonde mannerisms. "I toured with a show [Matilda] where I had to do a voice similar to Lina Lamont's, and I lost my voice a few times as I was trying to figure out how to manage that in a healthy way. I have recently played a number of short-minded blondes where I have had to use this kind of voice, and I have now come up with a way to warm up [vocally] just as if I were in a show where I had to sing really high. I start [working on it] in the morning, and I have to speak less during the day and not have as many glasses of wine at night. I have to treat it as if it were a sung show." Asked about the sumptuous costumes Lina wears, Sava compliments designer Travis Grant, but admits she had to learn to maneuver in those beautiful gowns. "We call the dress for The Dueling Cavalierthe "mini-bus." The wig is literally two feet tall, and when I fall over, I am actually falling and Charis [Leos] has to catch me. Wearing a beautiful ball gown makes you feel stunning and makes you walk the way a movie star would. These costumes help you further the character and put you in that place and time."

Asked in a question from the floor about playing these "dumb blondes" in a modern feministic world, Sava replies, "I don't think of them as dumb or that would make them one-dimensional. I try to make them into actual people - someone I know or have met. Lina isn't just dumb; she is not as intelligent as Kathy or some of the others, but she is a jealous, ruthless human being who falls in love and gets her heart broken. I think that is what makes it less of a problem [to play] nowadays as a feminist."

Clark explains how he, Managing Director Stephanie Dupal, and Marc Robin arrived at casting the four current principals. He reveals that though he initially had other actors in mind for Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont, Dromard and Sava gave such convincing auditions that they both seemed "'to come in and say 'this is mine.'" He also compliments all four actors and the entire ensemble for "being such troupers" in a production that offers so many technical challenges. "This show is always a beast getting on its feet. Here the floor has been a particular challenge. Our design team had a plan, and as sometimes is the case, the plan did not work, and so they have had to persevere. When you put water on a floor, it is like taking a dry sponge and raining on it. It blows up, and we have already had to replace the floor three times. I have been through that as an actor, and it is not easy because it means extra rehearsals to learn each new surface. These artists have been champions in the way they have handled it all, and that has filtered down to the ensemble, so everyone stays positive, happy, and loving it. This allows our audiences to see the show the way it is supposed to be, and I thank them very, very much for making this happen."

Making it all happen has always been what MSMT has been about, and the conversation turns to Sue Cella and K.K. Preece, two beloved leading ladies who have been very much a part of that history and tradition. Cella, who last appeared on the Pickard stage as Golde in Fiddler on the Roofin 2016, begins by talking about the changes she has witnessed in her appearances over the last five years. "I have always loved Brunswick, Maine, and this theatre. I loved it under the old regime. Chuck [Abbott] was a great person and a terrific director, but the lengths to which Curt Dale Clark has taken this company in recent years and especially exploded their level of technical production is insanely ridiculous! I was saying to myself last night, 'How do they do that in two weeks?' Every time I come back, whether to perform or to see a show, I am astonished at the leaps and bounds in production values, talent, and in the apprentice program which is the best in the country. I cannot say enough about this place or what this guy [she indicates Clark sitting beside her] has done for this theatre!"

K.K. Preece, who has been a reigning, leading lady beginning in 1975 when Victoria Crandall first hired her, concurs. Asked what was the first thing that struck her on this visit after some years, she says succinctly, "talent" and then elaborates, "Curt has [also] brought another quality with the sponsorship level. I was honored to be asked back to do the 60thanniversary concerts. This is my second home. I still love this place." She goes on to recount an anecdote about the time an audience member called out to her in the middle of Side By Side with Sondheim"'We love you, KK.' I just kept singing but I realized it was because this lady felt close enough to say that. I hope we will continue to be that kind of theatre for many, many years."

Her sentiment is echoed by Curt Dale Clark who is asked to sum up his thoughts and feelings as theDiamond Jublilee draws to a close. Responding first to a comment from the floor in which a woman notes she sat behind Clark at a recent performance of Singin' in the Rainand "no one laughs louder or applauds more," Clark say," I am a very lucky man. I love what I do."

Addressing the question of what he sees as MSMT's greatest accomnplishment over the years, he declares firmly, "Survival. Because survival in the theatre world is no easy task. This can be a dangerous business, and because of the support of people like you, we are safer than most companies. That is a blessing which we cannot take for granted. It is importnat to honor the past because it is the past that has gotten us to where we are now, but we also have to keep moving forward. Change has to occur at all times. Stephanie [Dupal] and I try to keep what works in place for as long as it is working, but we have figured out that everything has a shelf life. Every event, every system peaks and then plateaus; at the point that something is about to plateau, it is time to

try something else. That is what we try to do - mix it up at all times."

And his strongest wish for the company moving into the future?

"Looking toward the future, I think this community is telling us that we need to find for ourselves a small space where we can operate in addition to all of the shows at the Pickard in the summer - a place where we can do smaller shows at the beginning and ending cusps of our regular season. That is my most fervent wish for our company because I think the community would support this; the community wants it and needs it, and I know our businesses need it, too. Businesses want another reason for people to decide not to sit on the couch in the evening, but rather to go out and interact with other people - to enjoy a theatre piece that makes them laugh or cry or think - that makes them feel emotions and talk to each other. It is all that which creates the kind of atmosphere that Brunswick is all about."

Photographs courtesy of MSMT; photographers: Lauren Tudor (group portrait), Mary Catherine Frantz (Mall concert)

Peek behind the Curtainseries resumes in the 2019 season on the second Wednesday of each main stage show at the Curtis Memorial Library. Singin' in the Rain runs until August 25, 2018 at the Pickard Theater, 1 Bath Rd., Brunswick, ME.