MUSICAL THEATRE DIRECTING SINCE the 1990'S by DAVID
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MUSICAL THEATRE DIRECTING SINCE THE 1990’s By DAVID MCKIBBIN AN HONORS THESIS PRESENTED TO THE SCHOOL OF THEATRE AND DANCE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2018 © 2018 David McKibbin To my supportive parents and my colleagues in the U.F. School of Theatre and Dance. ACKNOLWEDGEMENTS I thank the talented and dedicated faculty at the University of Florida College of the Arts. I especially thank Dr. Tony Offerle, Dr. Will Kesling, Dr. Ralf Remshardt, Dr. David Young, Dr. Mikell Pinkney, Professor Kevin Marshall, Professor Russ Schultz, Professor Malcolm Gets, and the late Professor Ric Rose. Your constructive feedback allowed me to grow as both an artist and a human being. I also thank my parents for sticking by me while I completed my education. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………….……4 LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………………………………….6 ABSTRACT………………………………………..……………………………………………...8 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION…………………………………………………………………...10 2 REVITALIZING THE CLASSICS……………………………………………….....12 Jerry Zaks and Hello, Dolly!....................................................................................................12 Bartlett Sher: Modernizing South Pacific and My Fair Lady………………………………..14 3 A RENAISSANCE OF THE DIRECTOR-CHOREOGRAPHER.…………………18 Susan Stroman……………………………………………………………………………….18 Casey Nicholaw……………………………………………………………………………...20 4 WOMEN IN MUSICAL THEATRE DIRECTING…………………………………24 Julie Taymor and The Lion King…………………………………………………………….24 Diane Paulus: Redefining Musical Theatre’s Boundaries……...……………………………29 Tina Landau and SpongeBob SquarePants………………………………………………….37 Rachel Chavkin and The Great Comet……………………………………………………....42 5 CONCLUSION……………………………………………………………………...46 LIST OF REFERENCES………………………………………………………………………...47 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH…………………………………………………………………….51 5 LIST OF FIGURES 1-1 Hello, Dolly! director Jerry Zaks…………………………………………………..……12 1-2 Bette Midler in the role of Mrs. Dolly Gallagher Levi, crossing the passerelle with a chorus of waiters in the title number of Hello, Dolly!.....................................................................13 1-3 South Pacific and My Fair Lady director Bartlett Sher……………………………...……14 1-4 A photo collage of scenes from South Pacific…………………………………………….15 1-5 Harry Hadden-Patton as Prof. Henry Higgins, Lauren Ambrose as Eliza Doolitle, and Alan Corduner as Col. Pickering in the revival of My Fair Lady………………………………16 2-1 A portrait of Susan Stroman……………………………………………………………...18 2-2 Zach Braff, Betsy Wolfe, and company in Bullets Over Broadway……………...………..19 2-3 Portrait of director Casey Nicholaw…………………………………………...…………20 2-4 Brad Oscar as Nostradamus leading the company of Something Rotten in “A Musical”.…21 3-1 The Lion King director Julie Taymor……………………………………………………..23 3-2 An actor playing Mufasa sporting his double-event mask………………………………..25 3-3 An actor playing Timon the Meerkat, operating a human-sized Bunraku puppet………...25 3-4 The Gazelle Wheel designed by Julie Taymor and Michael Curry……..…………..…….27 3-5 Actress Tshidi Manye, who currently plays Rafiki in The Lion King on Broadway………27 3-6 A portrait of director Diane Paulus……………………………………………………….28 3-7 The company of The Donkey Show……………………………………………...………..30 3-8 The company of Hair in “Age of Aquarius”………………………………….…………..31 3-9 Gavin Creel and the Tribe of Hair participating in the 2009 Equality March……….…….32 3-10 Norm Lewis carrying a cane and limping in the role of Porgy………………………..…..33 3-11 David Alan Grier and the company of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess………………….34 3-12 Patina Miller (center) and the company of Pippin performing “Magic To Do”…………35 6 3-13 SpongeBob SquarePants director Tina Landau………………………………………......36 3-14 A scene from “Idiot Box,” the episode of SpongeBob SquarePants that inspired Landau’s directorial vision…………………………………………………………….……………38 3-15 One of David Zinn’s scenic design renderings for SpongeBob SquarePants…………..…39 3-16 Gavin Lee as Squidward, leading a chorus of sea anemones in “I’m Not A Loser”..……40 3-17 Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812 director Rachel Chavkin....……………...41 3-18 The company of Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812……………………...…42 3-19 Phillipa Soo (center), Dave Malloy (right), and the company of The Great Comet at Ars Nova Off Broadway……………………………………………………………..……….43 7 Abstract of Thesis Presented to the School of Theatre and Dance of the University of Florida MUSICAL THEATRE DIRECTING SINCE THE 1990’s By David McKibbin December 2018 Chair: Kevin Marshall Major: General Theatre From the 1990’s on, directors have left their mark on the American musical for different reasons. Many pay homage to directors from past eras in musical theatre, while others break the traditional boundaries of the musical theatre form. The first chapter of this thesis will cover directors who have revitalized Golden Age book musicals for 21st-century audiences, focusing on Jerry Zaks’ staging of Hello, Dolly! and Bartlett Sher’s reimagined productions of South Pacific and My Fair Lady. The second chapter of this thesis will discuss the renaissance of the director-choreographer. Director-choreographers represented in this chapter include Susan Stroman and Casey Nicholaw. The final chapter of this thesis will showcase the contributions of female musical theatre directors who broke the boundaries of the traditional American musical. Directors featured in this chapter include Julie Taymor, Diane Paulus, Tina Landau, and Rachel Chavkin. Throughout this paper, there will be a discussion on how these directors’ visions allowed new musicals and revivals to become more accessible to 21st-century audiences by addressing unique social and political topics, making casting and staging choices that heightened character development, and even making the worlds of their shows immersive to promote audience interaction. These tactics will allow musicals to flourish in the latter part of the 21st 8 century by giving musicals a similar social and cultural relevance to previous Golden Age musicals obtained between the 1940’s and 1960’s. 9 CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION The American Musical Theatre has been changing shape for more than half a century. Since Rodgers and Hammerstein developed book musicals like Oklahoma! and South Pacific during the 1940’s, directors like Rouben Mamoulian and Joshua Logan were recruited to incorporate modern acting and staging techniques (i.e. Stanislavski’s system) into a theatrical style that has historically been associated with comedy. Director-choreographers like Jerome Robbins, Gower Champion, Bob Fosse, and Michael Bennett were responsible for incorporating movement and dance into the staging and character development of Broadway musicals throughout the 1950’s, 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s. Harold Prince was responsible for staging some of the first concept musicals of the 1960’s and 1970’s with Cabaret, Company, and Sweeney Todd, approaching a musical from its thematic idea rather than through a traditional book narrative. Additionally, his work with Andrew Lloyd Webber on mega-musicals like Evita and The Phantom of the Opera in the 1980’s allowed audiences to experience larger-than-life stories through a realistic lens. Prince’s work on the 1994 production of Show Boat proved that revivals of older classics could resonate with modern audiences. His contributions as a director were influential in shaping the staging practices of modern musical theatre directors that followed him. As musical theatre continues to develop as an art form, directors with various artistic approaches are involved in helming uniquely-crafted productions of varying styles. This paper will focus on three different movements in musical theatre directing since the 1990’s. The first chapter of this paper will focus on directors who specialize in revitalizing classic Golden Age book musicals and musical comedies, the second chapter will discuss a renaissance of the director-choreographer, and the third chapter will showcase the contributions of women breaking 10 barriers in musical theatre directing. These directors integrated traditional elements of the musical theatre with innovative daring. 11 CHAPTER TWO REVITALIZING THE CLASSICS In the 1980’s, 1990’s, and 2000’s, there was an increase in the number of classic musical revivals on Broadway. Directors face the task of not only preserving the traditional book musical, but also giving it a new life for younger audiences. This can be seen in Harold Prince’s 1994 Tony Award-winning revival of Show Boat. Some revival directors strive to maintain the integrity of their show’s original staging and choreography, while others reinvent the shows they stage conceptually and aesthetically. While Jerry Zaks is known for his big musical comedy revivals that are staged with the intent of invoking a simpler time in musical theatre, Bartlett Sher’s revivals of Golden Age musicals are often mounted to address serious social issues in present-day America while staying true to the original source material. Jerry Zaks and Hello, Dolly! 1-1. Hello, Dolly! director Jerry Zaks. One example of a musical being staged in a manner that pays tribute to its original production is the 2017 revival of Hello, Dolly! under the direction of Jerry Zaks. Zaks was praised for reviving big musical comedies with lavish visual elements and well-executed performances at a time when the musical comedy was going out of vogue. Prior to Hello, Dolly!, two most well-received productions in Zaks’ career were the 1988 revival of Anything Goes and the 1992 revival of Guys and