Stage Banter: The Arena Stage Blog

Arena Restaged: The Little Festival That Could

by David Dower

This weekend HBO will air the film of Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking for the first time. Reading this news, I thought "Wow. The Arena Restaged Festival just keeps on giving..."

First of all, the Festival, which spanned the 28-month period of our "diaspora" while the building was being built, gave us the time and opportunity to create, test, and develop the new artistic strategy that has debuted to smashing success with the opening of that building. One DC critic called this season at Arena Stage "the most complete and exciting season of theater I have ever seen in the region." Cool! We think it's pretty exciting as well-- nearly 50 titles under our soaring new roof. It bought us the time build a program based on four distinct pillars: production, presentation, development, and study. It created a new theater space for area companies over in Crystal City. And it introduced us, and our audiences, to the wonderful U Street corridor and the historic Lincoln Theater.

And of course it introduced audiences to the amazing star power of John and Leo Manzari. (Next month they are on stage at the Kennedy Center with the likes of Brian Stokes Mitchell, Julie Andrews, and Paul Simon! Paul Simon? Wasn't he married to Carrie Fisher?)

It's also introduced our audiences to works that just keep on going! Wishful Drinking moved to Broadway (one of three projects in the Festival that did that!), was published as an autobiography, and now begins life as a film this weekend. At the same time, Next to Normal (which picked up the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Awards after it's stay with us in Crystal City) is in the middle of its national tour and winding up its 20-month run on Broadway.  R. Buckminster Fuller: THE HISTORY [and mystery] OF THE UNIVERSE is in production at American Repertory Theater. Daniel Beaty's Resurrection, which launched the Festival, became Through the Night, a solo tour de force performed by Daniel, moved to a commercial run at Union Square Theater in New York and will resurrect a third time next month at Westside Theater. Kathleen Chalfant and Ellen MacLaughlin recently returned to their roles in A Delicate Balance at Yale Repertory Theater to great acclaim-- again! Josh Kornbluth's Citizen Josh returns to the area this Spring (and has been in India in between!), Maureen McGovern's Long and Winding Road has been making its way around the country, now called Carry it On. Resident playwright Karen Zacarias' Legacy of Light is in performance at a variety of theaters around the country this seasonn, following it's premiere as part of the Festival. All told, ten of the sixteen titles in the Arena Restaged Festival went on to additional opportunities around the country. From Broadway to Santa Fe, from U Street to YouTube, this little two-year adventure we took y'all on made a splash and introduced the new Arena Stage as a center for American work in ways we didn't even imagine when we set out on the journey! The experts are betting there's still more to come but we'll stop here. It does leave one in a sentimental mood, though, to recall all of these performances...

 

The N2N Tweet-ing phenomenon

by Janine Sobeck

If you missed yesterday's article in the New York Times about Next to Normal, you should definitely check it out.  The article talks about the "Broadway first" of the show - and the fact that over 35 days, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt "published" an adapted version of the show over Twitter.  Talk about your creative challenge!

I don't want to give the whole article away, so here's a sneak peek of what Brian had to say about the experience:

“In the process of this I became a Twitter convert, and I don’t say that lightly.  I’m always a little skeptical of whatever next new big thing comes out. I know that all of the half million followers are not equally engaged, but to think that we can have a relationship with an audience this size — far more than will ever see the show live — feels really new to me.”

Here's the full article.

Next to Normal at the Tonys!

A special "hooray" to the Next to Normal cast and production team for picking up three coveted awards at the 2009 Annual Tony Awards: Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley), Best Original Score (Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt), and Best Orchestrations (Michael Starobin and Tom Kitt). In case you missed the show, or simply want to relive the moment, enjoy this clip of Alice Ripley, J. Robert Spencer, and Aaron Tveit performing "You Don't Know" and "I am the One."

The Best Reward: More N2N with Brian Yorkey

by Brian Yorkey, book and lyrics for Next to Normal

It's all a bit much.

I'm sitting in Radio City Music Hall watching Aaron Tveit rehearse his portion of the Tony Awards opening number. I'm sworn to secrecy about the contents, but let me just say this: you won't be bored. The whole production seems kind of astounding from where I'm sitting, with lights chasing and giant video screens and the word "Tony" everywhere you look. This is the camera blocking rehearsal (it's Thursday morning as I type), so the television people and the personnel from each show crowd the stage and the house, and the cameras are flying on booms, and people with responsibilities run urgently back and forth while I sit here, overwhelmed.

I promised to blog about this "in-between time" in this week running up to the awards ceremony Sunday night. It's been a remarkable time in many ways, finding ourselves a part of the theatre community in a way we maybe hadn't before, and especially a part of the Tony tradition. There've been a pile of interviews and events, and many opportunities to meet heroes of mine, including the famed  "nominees-only" Tony luncheon. It's great. And it's a lot. Everyone keeps telling me to "make sure you enjoy it," and while I couldn't be more pleased at the recognition our show has received, and all the doors that are opening, at this point "fun" is more "just trying to keep up."

I do try to keep in mind a couple things. First, this is a tremendous ending to the very unlikely Next to Normal story. In my first blog entry, I talked about the amazing experience we had at Arena, the penultimate step in a long journey for this show. Not only did we  never dream we'd be down there  in DC, we certainly never dreamed we'd make it to Broadway.  From there on, it's all above and beyond anything we ever expected. I see the Tony nods, in particular, as a great celebration of all the people who worked so hard on Next to Normal, cast, crew, staff, and supporters—from the BMI Workshop to Village Theatre in Seattle to Second Stage in New York to Arena Stage in Washington (and "the Crystal City") to the Booth Theatre on 45th Street in New York. And wherever I get to go as a Tony nominee, I represent all those folks. And that's cool.

The second thing I try to remember is that none of this is real. I mean, it is, but it isn't. This world of sparkling lights and big awards shows and black-tie events is incredibly special, and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything, but come Monday morning  
it all evaporates into the ether (or the mists of theater history, or whatever florid metaphor you want) and we go back to the real world.  Well, as real as the theater world ever is. We go back to working on the next show, and figuring out how to solve the problems and find the right collaborators and get the show produced. We go back to work.

Someone once told me that the best reward for work well done is the opportunity to do more. At overwhelming times like this, it's good to keep in mind.

Alice Ripley's "View" performance

by Janine Sobeck

If you missed the View's spotlight on Next to Normal last week, here's your chance to see Alice Ripley perform "I Miss the Mountains."  Everyone is curious to find out what will happen on Sunday at the Tonys!

Next to Normal on "The View"

Last minute notice, but the cast of Next to Normal will be performing on The View tomorrow (Wednesday May 27th).  Check it out...

The Next to Normal "After-story" with Brian Yorkey

by Brian Yorkey, book and lyrics for Next to Normal

Thanks to Arena for inviting me to guest-blog! Well, let's tell the truth. I invited myself. I have a huge crush on Arena Stage—is it possible to be in love with an institution? I think it is—and with everyone who works there, and the thought of being a part of the Arena Stage blog was too exciting to pass up. (I check it all the time, myself. My favorites are when Janine takes us inside rehearsal, or when David Dower tweets. I also just like saying "David Dower tweets.")

 

I first fell in love back in the fall and winter of last year, when we cast, rehearsed, and opened Next to Normal in Crystal City. Tom Kitt and I still remember the time as among our most favorite in the long journey of the show. (It's been 10 years, and there have been some times, believe me.) I walked by a McCormicks and Schmick's in Midtown Manhattan the day before yesterday and felt a pang of longing for "the Crystal City," as we all called it, because it sounded like a magical place. And was, it turns out.

Because now here the show is on Broadway with 11 Tony nominations, none of which would have happened without the work we did down in D.C. It's all been a bit of a blur, and not just because I got new glasses while in Crystal City (shout-out to Northern Virginia Optometrists, right next to the theatre, y'all). We opened early December at Arena, and closed mid-January, and three weeks later we were in the recording studio making the CD, and three weeks after that we were in rehearsal, and three weeks after that we were in previews on Broadway. Huh? What?

 

Not that I would have it any other way. There's been very little time to panic.

 

We didn't spend a great deal of time in the rehearsal studio this time, because the show hadn't changed drastically since Arena. Nips and tucks here and there, assorted new lyrics, a few pieces of staging Michael changed (goodbye, Alice on a staircase, hello Alice on a gurney!). But then it was right into tech, and very soon, previews.

 

Our first preview was a little bit crazy. All our best fans were there, it turned out, many who had seen it at Arena, others who could only read about it there, and had been waiting since Second Stage to see it again. When the big blackout hit at the top of the show, screams and whoops filled the house. Tom and I looked at each other: What the hell? At intermission Michael Greif leaned over to us: "Just so you know, it's not always like this. This is special."

 

The last image from that first preview, which I'll never forget. We were in the house, doing the usual post-preview notes session. (By "we" I mean Michael, the designers, crew, stage managers, Charlie, Tom, and I.) From outside the theater we hear a huge crowd cheering.  Angela Lansbury emerging from Blithe Spirit, which is showing in the adjacent Shubert, we think. Nope, someone reports from the stage door. It's our crowd, cheering each actor as they emerge.

 

Yeah. This is special.

 

(Dear me, I've already gone on longer than a blog entry should. I was supposed to talk about opening night, Tony noms, and these "in-between" days after opening...maybe I'll be invited back? I know, shameless hint-dropping. Give me a break. I'm in love.)

Next to Normal Cast Album to be released May 12th!

If you saw Next to Normal, chances are you’ve been walking around the past couple of months with fragments of “Wish I Were Here” and “Light” stuck in your head.  Now, you will no longer have to submit your friends to sub-par renditions of “Superboy and the Invisible Girl” because a Next to Normal cast recording is on the way!  The digital recording is already available on iTunes, but Ghostlight Records will release the two-disc album on May 12^th, and the cast will be on hand at 4pm at the Lincoln Triangle Barnes & Noble to celebrate, sign records, and if you’re lucky, maybe sing a song or two.

The Next To Normal Opening

by David Dower

Anyone following the journey of Next to Normal is aware, by now, that it opened at the Booth Theater in New York on Wednesday night.  I was fortunate enough to be along for that ride.  As I've written here, I'm surprised at myself-- how delightful it has been to have this and 33 Variations open on Broadway just a month apart.  For the first time, I'm madly reading the chat boards' Tony predictions and handicapping that race like I had a horse in it.  It's all vicarious, but a thrill nonetheless.  On the chance that you, like me up til a few months ago, haven't been to a Broadway opening, here's a few photos and highlights.

  The N2N opening celebration started with dinner at Joe Allen's with others from the Arena team who were on the list.  Jaylee Mead (shown here at the after-party with Alice Ripley), Mark, and Merrill Shugoll were the show's sponsors for the run at Arena and it was fitting that they were all along for the fun. Molly, her partner Suzanne, Jaylee's escort Victor Shargai, and I rounded out the table. Joe Allen's is one of those quintessential Broadway restaurants, with its walls famously crammed with framed posters of ignominious flops on the Great White Way. We all chuckled nervously that perhaps it wasn't such a good idea to be here this night... There, in the corner, was Terrence McNally, who's Ragtime will bring him to DC shortly when it opens at the Kennedy Center.

At the Booth, the sidewalk teemed with theater celebrities and media. If you were looking for such things, which I wasn't actually, you would have spotted composer Stephen Schwartz, Shrek star Brian D'Arcy James, In the Heights star Lin Manuel Miranda, Rent star Daphne Rubin Vega, and a whole host of others milling about. Since I wasn't paying attention, I only discovered this watching this charming video of the night. Of course, there were the proud creative and producing teams accepting the various slaps on the back and bear hugs that are the ritual congratulations at such milestones. Since we'd spent so much time together when the show was here at Arena, I did pay attention there and had a chance to slap backs and hug bears with the rest of them before the house lights dimmed.

Something you may not know about a Broadway opening, as distinct from openings here at Arena for instance: the critics, for the most part, have already seen the show and filed their reviews before the opening night performance even begins.  That's how the reviews are in print the next morning after the opener. For example, I got a text out on the sidewalk twenty minutes before the downbeat that the Mr. Marks had filed a rave for the next morning's Post. Word circulated that Variety was favorable as well.

"A Grab for the Heart" - Next to Normal Rocks its Broadway opening

by Amrita Mangus, Allen Lee Hughes Dramaturgy Fellow

It's the day we have been eagerly awaiting for the past few months, N2N fans! Next to Normal opened yesterday at the Booth Theater and received a stunning review in the New York Times this morning. The review was followed by some enthusiastic comments from the audience members. Here's a few of them:

"In a Broadway world where all show seem to be based on previously existing content, it is very refreshing to see a musical that is completely original. Though the content is heavy-hitting... the music, the passion, and the acting is so powerful, that the audience becomes emotionally involved with the family in a way I have never seen with a Broadway show. This is a must see." - bsflink

"I had absolutely no idea what to expect going into this show. My friend got me tickets to Saturday's matinée. I was blown way. This show was like a roller coaster, and even when I couldn't be sure where it was going I was totally along for the ride. I can't remember the last time I was so surprised by anything in a musical. The music rocked and every cast member delivered some of the most moving performances I've ever seen. So many great songs that I have to go back to get the CD... And the awesome visuals entertained me from start to finish. But above all, it was the unexpected emotion and story that makes this a show I will remember. This is definitely not fluff theater... brace yourself for Next to Normal!" - andrewldiamond

"My friend has been following N2N for a long time now. I was very excited to see what all the buzz was about, and I was not disappointed. I absolutely loved the show. I was crying hysterically at the end, but in a good way. It was refreshing to see such a passionate cast. Alice Ripley was amazing." - mere320