CINCINNATI, OH -- Juan-Carlos Diaz. Faith Prince.
Sarah Jane Everman. Lee Roy Reams. Matthew K. Gurley. Stephen Flaherty. Barry
James. Lynette Perry.
Let me guess. You don’t recognize the first,
third, fifth, or seventh names. You do, however, know the second, fourth, sixth,
and eighth names.
Denis Lambert. Mark Waldrop. Annie Leri. Jim Walton.
Missy Matherne. Bob Walton. Kyle McDaniel. Michele Pawk. Kearran Mire.
You’re picking up on it now, aren’t you? You recognize the even-numbered
entries, but not the odd-numbered ones.
But the unknowns could shed that
label in a few more years -- when these students at the Cincinnati Conservatory
of Music join their more famous brethren -- all CCM grads -- as well-known and
important theater artists.
I go to CCM twice a year, where I function as
critic-in-residence. The only problem is, I don’t wind up criticizing too much.
That’s because the kids are so good, and the productions in which they star are
so wonderfully staged by Aubrey Berg, choreographed by Diane Lala, and
musical-directed by Roger Grodsky.
This semester’s attraction was My
One And Only, which I haven’t seen since its original production in 1983 --
first on its heavenly opening night when, after a disastrous Boston tryout, it
showed it had solved its woes and then some. Tommy Tune was terrific as Captain
Billy Buck Chandler, a 1927 aviator intent on being first to fly non-stop from
New York to Paris. But as Edythe, "the first attractive woman to swim the
English Channel," Twiggy was not.
I returned 16 months later to find a
much better Sandy Duncan in the female lead, but a just-adequate Don Correia in
the top male role. So what a pleasure to see two equally talented kids, Tyler
Maynard and Julie Tolivar, in the parts at CCM.
For one thing, if these
kids had gone to the same high school, their yearbook staff would have judged
them "Cutest Couple." More significantly, as they gave each other the look of
love, they exquisitely sang each Gershwin hit given them. Maynard made his
ambition a worthy but not egocentric one, and Tolivar, whose character was
already famous, impressively delivered her speech on the vagaries of wealth and
fame. Together, they made a big splash with their water dance, too.
Gabrielle Stravelli portrayed Mickey, the young mechanic who secretly
lusted for Billy. How fine she was in making the character strong but still
feminine, always wishing Billy would give her a second look, but forgiving when
she realized he’d just never get her many hints. Happily enough, she wound up
with the Russian Prince Nicky, who was there for a good deal of comic relief --
but Erik Nelson was superb in making him three-dimensional in a scene where he
showed he genuinely needed Edythe, and was willing to apologize to get her.
As Mr. Magix, Billy’s fashion and tap dance consultant -- the role that
won Charles "Honi" Coles a Tony -- Gregory D. Lofts moved his lithe body so
beautifully that I’m convinced he could twist himself into a pretzel. Josh Dazel
was amazing in his ability to smile and grimace at the same time as J.D.
Montgomery, a preacher who spoke easily about religion before returning to his
speakeasy. Kurt Domoney, Jason Patrick Sands, and Eric Daniel Santagata
beautifully played a myriad of roles from bellboys to nightclub dancers to aged
citizens.
I’ve been going to CCM for five years now, and have been
thrilled to see so many of the kids I saw in Cincinnati do well professionally.
Andrew Palermo was Tommy in Annie Get Your Gun, in a role that another
CCMer, Eric Sciotto will soon play on Broadway, where he’ll play opposite yet
another CCMmer, Claci Miller. Toby Foster is in Les Miserables on
Broadway, while Seth Bolling, Lisa Howard, and Matthew Teague Miller are doing
it on tour. Danette Holden was Young Sally in the Paper Mill Follies, Liz
Pearce was Josie Cohan at Goodspeed’s George M., and Sara Gettelfinger is
currently in Seussical. Last but hardly least, Randy Harrison will soon
be wonderfully notorious because of his regular role in Showtime’s highly
anticipated series, Queer as Folk.
They, as well as the current
crop, show me in the talk-back afterward what bright kids they are. When they
did Little Me a few years back, I mentioned that one of the songs that
Coleman and Leigh wrote for the show was originally written for Gypsy.
Three kids immediately shouted, "But Coleman and Leigh didn’t write Gypsy!"
before I could explain it was a song they wrote on spec in hopes of being hired
for the show. Another time, after I noted that Sondheim had a song from St.
Louis Woman in mind when he wrote "Comedy Tonight" -- but I couldn’t
immediately remember the title -- Chris Mitchell came by hours later to say he’d
checked out the cast album, and it just had to be "Cakewalk Your Lady." In fact
it was.
This weekend, when I off-handedly mentioned Andrea Burns -- an
accomplished musical actress, as those of us who saw Saturday Night last season
can attest, but certainly no household name -- I saw to my delight so many kids
nod in recognition. Burns can only wish that the rest of the world would pay as
much attention to her as these CCMers do.
Erin Ortman. Lee Wilkof.
Jennifer Peterson-Hind. Pam Myers. Angel Reda. Dorian Harewood. Neal Shrader.
Michael Gruber. Matthew Tweardy. Kathleen Battle. Leigh Ann Wielgus. I won’t be
surprised if you know them all someday.
