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Ted Chapin, David Dorfman On Addressing Hot Stories BroadwayWorld TV CAROUSEL's Domestic Abuse Issues At Connecticut College (/article/Jane-Krakowski- by Michael Dale (/author/Michael-Dale) Mar. 4, 2016 and-Christopher-Jackson- http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted-Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse-Issues-At-Connecticut-College-20160304 1/5 4/4/2017 Ted Chapin, David Dorfman On Addressing CAROUSEL's Domestic Abuse Issues At Connecticut College Will-Announce-2017-Tony- On This Day, April 4- The Broadway Babies of Nominations-20170403) Krakowski and Jackson Will text=Ted+Chapin%2C+David+Dorfman+On+Addressing+CAROUSEL%27s+Domestic+Abuse+Issues+At+Connecticut+College+&url=http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted- Announce 2017 Tony Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse-Issues-At-Connecticut-College-20160304) Nominations (/article/Jane- Krakowski-and-Christopher- Jackson-Will-Announce-2017- (https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted-Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse- Tony-Nominations-20170403)

(mailto:?subject=Ted Chapin, David Dorfman On Addressing CAROUSEL's Domestic Abuse Issues At Connecticut College&body=http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted- Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse-Issues-At-Connecticut-College-20160304) "You don't want Rodgers and Hammerstein to become Gilbert and Sullivan," says Ted Chapin (/people/Ted-Chapin/), President and Executive Director of the company that goes (/article/Photo-Coverage- Sara-Bareilles-Will- by the name Rodgers & Hammerstein (/people/Rodgers-%2526-Hammerstein/) (formerly Swenson-Chris- known as the Rodgers & Hammerstein (/people/Rodgers-%2526-Hammerstein/) Diamantopoulos-Take-First- Organization). Bows-in-WAITRESS- 20170401) "They (Gilbert and Sullivan) Photos: Sara Bareilles, Will Swenson, Chris were absolutely rigid about Diamantopoulos Take First the way they wanted those Bows in WAITRESS (/article/Photo-Coverage-Sara- shows done, and they're Bareilles-Will-Swenson-Chris- basically gone from the Diamantopoulos-Take-First- Bows-in-WAITRESS- vernacular. I think in the 20170401) years I've been here it's fair to say that the challenge is to engage current theatre artists to, in a way, possess the shows so they can feel (/article/Review-Roundup- engaged by them. If you're THE-PLAY-THAT-GOES- good to Rodgers and WRONG-Attempts-to- Hammerstein shows Open-on-Broadway- Brittany Baltay and David Socolar they're very good to you. Updating-Live-20170402) as Julie Jordan and Billy Bigelow Review Roundup: THE PLAY It's amazing what you can THAT GOES WRONG discover." Attempts to Open on Ticket Central Broadway - All the Reviews! Browse All Shows (/shows/shows.php?page=shows) (/article/Review-Roundup- WAR PAINT Chapin describes the company as "mission control" of Rodgers and Hammerstein THE-PLAY-THAT-GOES- broadway-offers.cfm) WRONG-Attempts-to-Open- copyrights. "From soup to nuts. From the movie of THE SOUND OF MUSIC to your local on-Broadway-Updating-Live- DEAR EVAN HANSEN high school's next production of OKLAHOMA!" 20170402) (/special-broadway- offers.cfm) 54 BELOW Additionally, the company handles the performance rights to over 100 other musicals, broadway-offers.cfm) including interesting selections such as CARRIE, FIRST DATE and THE COCOANUTS. ATLANTIC ACTING (/special-broadway- But despite Chapin's, and other licensing companies', willingness to discuss revisions to offers.cfm) (/article/Sara-Bareilles-Hits- suit the needs and ideas of individual directors, there are always cases that arise where BWW PERSONAL Times-Square-with-the- WEBSITES (/special- legal action must be taken because of unauthorized changes. WAITRESS-Band-in-Tow- broadway-offers.cfm) 20170401) In 2011, a Towson University production of RENT was ordered to restore the script to what Sara Bareilles Hits Times Watch Now on BWW TV Square with the WAITRESS More (http://www.broadwayworld.com/tvmainnew.cfm) Jonathan Larson (/people/Jonathan-Larson/) wrote after Internet chat and reviews made Band in Tow (/article/Sara- it public that the director had changed the ending. Last year a Kent State University Bareilles-Hits-Times-Square- with-the-WAITRESS-Band-in- director was criticized for casting a white actor as Dr. Martin Luther King in Katori Hall Tow-20170401) (/people/Katori-Hall/)'s THE MOUNTAINTOP, a move that wasn't made known to the (/article/BWW-TV- (/article/VIDEO- author until after the production had closed. Get-Dreaming-with- GRANNIE-is-the- Highlights-of- Rags-to-Riches- But when Connecticut College audiences attend this weekend's revised version of Phillipa-Soo-More- Story-That- Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1945 musical CAROUSEL, considered by many to be among in-AMELIE-on- Everyone- (/article/From-Screen-to- Broadway's greatest examples of the art form, they can rest assured that director David Broadway- KnowsAlmost- Stage-An-In-Depth-Look-at- Jaffe worked diligently with Chapin to make sure all his changes were approved. Broadways-Latest- 20170328) 20170402) Adaptations-20170401) TV: Get Dreaming with GRANNIE is the Rags "I've known David for years," says Chapin. "He and I, at different times, ran the National From Screen to Stage - An In- Highlights of Phillipa to Riches Story That Depth Look at Broadway's Soo & More in AMELIE Everyone Theater Institute at The O'Neill Center. I directed him in a play at Connecticut College Latest Adaptations on Broadway! Knows...Almost many years ago." (/article/From-Screen-to- (/article/BWW-TV-Get- (/article/VIDEO- Stage-An-In-Depth-Look-at- Dreaming-with- GRANNIE-is-the-Rags- Broadways-Latest- Highlights-of-Phillipa- to-Riches-Story-That- Adapted from Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár's LILIOM, Rodgers and Hammerstein Adaptations-20170401) Soo-More-in-AMELIE- Everyone- set CAROUSEL on the coast of MAINE in the late 1800s. Its central character, a barker o(/na-rBtircolaed/VwIaDyE-O-On- K(/anrotwicslAe/lVmIoDsEt-O- named Billy Bigelow, is a troubled man who hurts others with the mistakes he makes in T2h01is7-0D3a2y8-)March-29-- A20n1d70re4w02-R) annells- life. Among them, it's mentioned that he's hit his wife, Julie. While the musical tells a tale NEWSIES-Seize-the- Talks-Girls- of redemption, as society has become more aware of instances of spousal abuse and Day-on-Opening- Performance-Takes- Night-20170329) Pup-Quiz-on- more open about the issue of violence against women, that aspect of CAROUSEL has (/article/AMELIE-Dreams- On This Day, March 29- TONIGHT-SHOW- become more of a focal point. Her-Way-to-Broadway- NEWSIES Seize the Tonight--Meet-the- 20170330) Day on Opening Night Andrew Rannells Talks Company-20170403) (/article/VIDEO-On- 'Girls' Performance; This-Day-March-29-- http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted-Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse-Issues-At-Connecticut-College-20160304AMELIE Dreams Her Way to 2/5 4/4/2017 Ted Chapin, David Dorfman On Addressing CAROUSEL's Domestic Abuse Issues At Connecticut College Jaffe had "some very real AMELIE Dreams Her Way to NEWSIES-Seize-the- Takes 'Pup' Quiz on Broadway Tonight- Meet the Day-on-Opening- 'TONIGHT' concerns about the Company! (/article/AMELIE- Night-20170329) (/article/VIDEO- Dreams-Her-Way-to- aspects of CAROUSEL that Andrew-Rannells- Broadway-Tonight--Meet-the- are tricky for a modern Company-20170403) Talks-Girls- audience. Especially a Performance-Takes- Pup-Quiz-on- modern audience at a TONIGHT-SHOW- college. We talked about 20170330) what that meant and I gave him my usual 'Don't (http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW- throw the baby out with Morning-Brief-April-4th- the bathwater.' 2017-INDECENT- Understand why the LIGHTNING-THIEF-and- creators made the choices More-20170404) Morning Brief April 4 - that they made and if INDECENT, LIGHTNING THIEF there are things that you David Jaffe and David Dorfman & More! Subscribe Now do feel would take a address company members (http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/BWW- Morning-Brief-April-4th-2017- Register now for discounts, specials & more! modern audience out of INDECENT-LIGHTNING- the play let's talk about it." THIEF-and-More-20170404) E-mail address Chapin notes, "Molnár ended his play with the line 'Is it possible for someone to hit you... hit you real hard... and for it not to hurt at all?' and the Julie character says 'Yes, it's possible," and the curtain falls. That's the end of LILIOM." Subscribe

"I think Rodgers and Hammerstein honored what LILIOM was all about but put it in some perspective that that may not hold for everybody."

So the New London-based college's production intends to look at that perspective in a way that modern audiences might. The musical will be bookended by scenes featuring Billy and Julie's daughter, Louise, now an adult, after an argument with the man in her life.

"We're setting up the context of what Louise is experiencing," says the production's choreographer, David Dorfman, whose company, David Dorfman Dance has performed worldwide. "The whole play is a reliving of her life. Things that she's been told about but never seen. It's not a matter of reliving an actual memory. It's a playing out in the space of an imagined experience."

Producing a musical with this subject matter on a college campus adds relevancy, as Recommended for You students around the country become more and more exposed to college-based HAMILTON Fan Proposal organizations promoting awareness of violence against women. Features Re-Written Performance of 'My Shot' Jaffe and the company's dramaturge have been discussing the production with Safe Futures, a local domestic abuse treatment center. VIDEO: GRANNIE is the Rags to Riches Story That Everyone "We have had not only the Knows...Almost actors, but also all the orchestra players talking about this," says Dorfman. Exclusive: Jessica Vosk Performs 'Oh Industry' from It has been the ideal liberal BEACHES! arts school collaborative project. Every single person from our makeup to props WICKED Shows Support for One Billion Rising with Epic person to crew member to Dance the orchestra members to the actors to the lead dancers; they've either been asking questions or privy to these discussions." Conductor Mark Seto, David Jaffe and David Dorfman Audience members (/people/Audience-members/) will be provides with program notes expounding on issues of domestic abuse. "I think we've done a comprehensive job of contextualizing where the play came from, why our interest rose about the play, and how our version is intended to relate directly to and to move an audience in New London in 2016," says Dorfman.

Part of the effort to relate directly to the audience is to change the setting to the college's local community of New London, and to adjust time so that Louise's scenes take place somewhere around the 1960s or 70s, but Dorfman believes the difference will not change the creators' original intentions. http://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Ted-Chapin-David-Dorfman-On-Addressing-CAROUSELs-Domestic-Abuse-Issues-At-Connecticut-College-20160304 3/5 4/4/2017 Ted Chapin, David Dorfman On Addressing CAROUSEL's Domestic Abuse Issues At Connecticut College "We are being so faithful to the play. We are doing our interpretation but it is so through and through CAROUSEL by Rodgers and Hammerstein. But partly due to our great relationship with Ted Chapin (/people/Ted-Chapin/) we are allowed to slowly massage character development so that it doesn't seem frozen and immobile for the audience. It feels like it still deals with those issues in a profound, but also a harsh way and also has the breadth of what we've learned over these decades."

Changes made to musicals in an effort to adjust to changing perspectives have always been a controversial topic among musical theatre lovers; some welcome revisions while others prefer the scripts remain as written. The Internet has certainly increased discussion about musicals that make statements, both classics and new works.

"I always say that art begins the conversation," says Dorfman. I don't think that any work of art, whether it's a painting, a dance, a piece of music, a play or a movie is so complete that it closes down the conversation. In fact, if it does, I'm suspicious of it."

Visit conncoll.edu (https://www.conncoll.edu/theater-season/).

(http://www.broadwayw(hotrtlpd:./c/womw/war.btircolea/dAwnanyaw(lheoitgrtlphd:-./c/womw/war.btircolea/dVwIDaEywO(ho-trtlpd:./c/womw/war.btircolea/dPwhaoytwo-orld.com/article/WAR- Ashford-Danny- Sally-Field-Reveals- Coverage-Hamish- PAINT-Starring- Burstein-Stephen- Why-She-Decided- Linklaters-THE- Christine-Ebersole- Adly-Guirgis-Nikki- to-Return-to- WHIRLIGIG-Cast- and-Patti-LuPone- M-James-and-More- Broadway- Meets-the-Press- Headed-to-the- From This Author Michael Dale (/author/Michael-Dale)

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