Well, the moment has arrived. The Eagle has Landed. “The Music Man”has finally opened on Broadway.
I did a production a few years ago of “The Music Man” at the Guthrie in Minneapolis. I played Jacey Squires, the very high tenor on the school board. You know, the tenor dude in all of that gorgeous barbershop quartet stuff..”Lida Rose” etc.
The lead critic in Minneapolis in his review thought “Jacey Squires” was my real name. Honest to fucking God. He printed that name, not mine, in his review singling out the quartet as a high point in this production. That pretty much sums up the the prowess of critics. I wrote him an email and suggested he must have been so blown away by my performance that he just thought I was the character. Or that he had possibly fallen asleep. Regardless, I got a retraction… and no apology of course. Stay tuned for more about critics.
I had never even seen a production of “Music Man” before that..believe it or not.. and I was pretty blown away at the craft in the writing. I love experiencing these iconic musicals as an adult in theater. This show was musically ahead of it’s time and deserves it’s place in musical theater history. It’s a classic that still speaks to the human condition, love and politics and America. It’s funny, touching, entertaining and relevant.
Relevant.
Ok, why not… I’m gonna tell you my experience in “Music Man” at the Guthrie.
I arrived in Minneapolis with a lot of excitement. The Guthrie is the Holy Grail of regional theaters… and since Equity had fucked up touring contracts I was making more money doing a regional gig than a national tour. I had a nice apartment and the restaurants were great. It was a long contract. Four months away from home though. But, it was the best regional theater in the country arguably.
“Music Man” was a huge production, and they jobbed just a few actors in from New York. In all honesty they could have cast the entire show with local actors, but I suppose they wanted the cache of “Broadway” actors, even though several of the local cast members had worked on Broadway.
The cast was super nice and very talented. At the meat and grate, I was a little perplexed at the set design. The conductor was not in a pit.. the orchestra was in another building I think.. he was onstage in a little hole.
Oh, and the fight coordinator was all bandaged up. She had fallen off of a cliff or something. Yes, I have pictures.
After all the presentations from the creative team, a delicious actor who I had met years ago who had done several productions of “The Music Man” leaned over and whispered in my ear.
“I think we’re in trouble”.
As it turned out, we were. Not just in River City.
We started music rehearsals for the quartet a couple of days later. A talented bunch of guys. And just lovely peeps. All middle aged.. all shapes and sizes, including a local African American actor who was well known in the Twin Cities, a true operatic bass and another accomplished actor/singer who was understudying Harold Hill.
That barbershop music is challenging to sing.. even if you’re a trained musician. A cappella. The internal harmonies cross frequently and “rub”.. there’s a lot of dissonance and you just have to hold on for dear life. You have to be an extremely confident trained musician to pull it off.
Anyway, as we all got to learn each other’s voices and blend and tune, it was apparent that one of the guys was just not getting it. He couldn’t hold his part.
We rehearsed that music for four weeks. Four weeks, and he still wasn’t getting it.
Completely not his fault. Incredibly wonderful guy who just didn’t have the background to sing this particular music. Barbershop singing wasn’t in his wheelhouse.
The first preview was fast approaching. Like here we were in tech with our beautiful custom white suits and hats and wigs and shit and I remember being swooped in to one of the many rehearsal rooms for the umpteenth time to see if maybe this time, maybe this time we’ll be lucky. Maaayyybee this time we’ll weeeahhhn!
We didn’t. That quartet rises and falls with just one part not being flawless.
I found myself, literally, beating my head against the wall in that rehearsal room. I had to take off my boater.
We get to the set, which at this point was like stepping on land mines, to take another stab at not taking a very brief stroll to arriving in Flat as Fuckland.
Per ushz, we got there in record time.
But then, out of the corner of my little ear I hear the orchestra accompanying the quartet.
Now, I had never thought in my wildest dreams that a production of “Music Man” at the Guthrie would accompany an iconic a cappella quartet. I wouldn’t think a middle school would do that.
Anyway, I walked down to the hole at the front of the stage.. which now had fencing around it because the conductor was getting kicked in the head during the dance numbers, and informed him I couldn’t do this. I was putting in my notice.
They replaced the actor who was just not up for it and his cover took his place and I stayed. But, we essentially lost 4 weeks of rehearsal.
Oy, that was painful. Particularly for the guy who they cast who wasn’t up to it.
In all honesty, I think the Guthrie was so intent on diverse casting that they left a wonderful actor out to dry. He never auditioned. They were more interested in his ethnicity than his ability.
They were intent. They were employing the spirit and heart of inclusive casting. I don’t think they were desperate.
Things have changed Raoul. Things have changed.
Commercial theater is now a war zone. There are battles on many fronts, but all of them are mired in identity politics, tribalism, gender wars, micro aggressions. I’m sure there will be a new name for something before I press publish…..
Anything can tip the balance of publicity to close your show prematurely, damage reputations, and bank accounts. Ask the producers of “Great Comet” for more about that. Or the team that wrote “The Visitor” at the Public. Or Harry Potter. Ok, not him but the actor playing him who was fired for…… nobody knows.
The weapons aren’t guns or swords.
They’re thumbs. Or accusations.
The social media thumb warriors can have quite an impact on any show, even one as bulletthumbproof as this “Music Man” with a big fat star at the helm and a 50 million dollar advance.
I’m more interested in the politics of Broadway than Broadway shows at the moment, so I’ve been closely watching the skirmishes and insurrections and the “revolution” closely.
Here’s what I’ve found.
There’s an undeniable push for inclusion … I’m going with that word but I don’t think it’s accurate…in theater prompted by George Floyd’s tragic death. I think that horror was the catalyst for a change in theater. The irony is the change in representation had started more organically before that fateful day in Minneapolis. Theater is not, and never will be, a democracy so the same rules simply don’t apply.
But, boy people are trying.
From LA to New York, in every part of theater they are trying.
It’s the trying that’s not working. In fact, it seems to be backfiring.
“There’s so much happening now. Coming out of a pandemic. Coming out of a period of a racial crisis. Years of inequity.”
NY Times
“The problems at the C.T.G. are problems that are alive at every major theater institution in America,” he said. “There are significant issues with personnel, and there are significant issues with programming. Women aren’t produced enough. And people of color are not produced enough.”
NY Times
“One of the key challenges for the theater is how to expand its appeal without losing the mostly white, mostly wealthy audience that lives on this city’s West Side and has long been the foundation of its audience.”
NT Times
“Judi Davidson said that she thought the Center Theater Group had become a bit too bland over the years. “It’s great that they want to be adventurous again,” she said. “I applaud that. We have so many subjects to talk about. So much is going on. As much as I want to see Hugh Jackman in ‘The Music Man’ — and I really do — I don’t think that’s what they should be doing.”
NY Times
“The Music Man” has become ground zero. It fascinates me that CTG is wondering how to hang on to their “mostly white, wealthy audience” while at the same time slamming Hugh Jackman and “Music Man”.
It’s a show, but presented in context as a “white show”.
More thumb shots… this one from Fair Wage On Stage, I mean, Actors Equity Association:
A few more:
There’s a whole lot of these. And they’re aimed at River City. Ok, the Winter Garden. A rally was held there by one of the many social justice groups during the pandemic to not only get rid of Scott Rudin, but I think put the show on notice.
I haven’t seen any at “MJ”.
Anyway, I would describe the climate at the “Music Man” somewhere between the Stockholm Syndrome, Munchausen syndrome by proxy, and having a gun pointed at your head.
Theater everywhere is still very precarious, and nowhere near back to pre-pandemic levels. I’m not sure if it ever will be, but I predict this will be the last show for a long, long time with a 50 million dollar advance.
I’m sure the producers and creative team and everyone involved in this production are acutely aware that they are walking a tightrope, and when I saw this press release from a very, very seasoned press rep for the show I took notice. He’s talking about inviting critics only to opening night:
“We feel just terrible for offering dozens of theater critics premium seats to a Broadway show. I am sure they will simply loathe having to tell their grandchildren about the time they were forced to witness Broadway history in the making. Most of all, it pains me personally to imagine the burden of having to turn around a review on such a tight time table — has such a feat ever been attempted before? Well, let it be seen as the greatest vote of confidence by this production in our beloved press corps that we think they just might be up to the challenge!”
Rick Miramontez
That is a throw down. It’s snarky. And, to me, it’s saying… don’t fuck with us. It’s a battle line drawn by probably the only show that can do it. It’s a power play. And, I think it was meant to address the thumb warriors too. It’s meant to take their power away.
And on that starry opening night, I read this article in Forbes:
The producers had very recently recast the quartet… an existing popular barbershop quartet that they had signed to a deal memo.
Deal memos are extremely rare in theater.. I’ve only heard of them in film. But, the producers wanted these guys badly enough to sign them to a year contract.. which a deal memo essentially is… and it included term dates of a year past opening and salary compensation that was well over 2 grand a week and rehearsal dates and a whole bunch of stuff.
They probably had bookings for the upcoming year as a group, so this was the best way to insure they were in the show before rehearsals started.
Then, they changed their minds.
Why?
The company manager rushed over production contracts for them to sign after they refused a ten grand buyout. Had they signed those production contracts, they would have been terminated for no cause.. which is written into the production contract for the first few weeks of rehearsals.
They talked to a lawyer who was smart enough to tell them not to sign it. The producers then walked away, so they’re suing.
Being in “Music Man” on Broadway would have changed their lives, not only financially but career wise. They had already rented apartments in NYC and one guy sold his house.
The producers then gave a bullshit excuse in my opinion about hiring actors instead of singers. Or dancers instead of singers.. I don’t know.
All I can say is if I can dance the opening number in “Cats”, anybody can do anything.
Those guys should be compensated for what their contract stipulates.
Why were they let go? Why so close to the opening? I think because they were all white dudes, and now, instead of intending to cast with diversity, they were forced to.
They couldn’t afford the thumbs. But hopefully they can afford the buyout. In fact, I’m sure they can.
The current quartet is racially mixed.
Art and theater is the only thing that I can think of that has to be free.. free to create, free to cast, free to write, free to paint, free to sculpt any fucking thing you want.
It’s generated by vision… and that starts with yourself..
The minute you start becoming self conscious, or afraid.. you lose it. You lose that thing that can make it great, if not only to you but the people who will see or hear or experience it.
My heart goes out to all the casualties.
Robert DuSold 
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