Interview #2: Introducing the Music Man

He's a composer, a conductor, an actor, a singer, a musical director...and he's only twenty-five. Plus he offered to get me and my co-worker a glass of water at the fundraiser last night, so that means he's also just a really nice guy.

The mentsch I'm speaking of is Colin Britt, the musical director of our upcoming musical The Last Five Years. I met him yesterday at the Playhouse after he admirably answered my interview questions with the celerity of a theatre major running to see The Glass Menagerie. So I'll stop rambling now and let his words speak for themselves.

Naomi: How did you hear about The Last Five Years at Playhouse on Park?

Colin: Sean, Darlene, and I worked together at WH Summer Arts Festival for three summers. When they had set the season for PoP, Sean contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in doing the show. I'm a big fan of Jason Robert Brown and this show, so it was an easy yes!

Naomi: Have you ever been a music director for a musical before? How is being a music director different from conducting?

Colin: I've been the musical director for more than 10 shows, and about as many revue concerts. Music direction in theater was actually where I got my first stint at conducting (and I was pretty awful).

In the theater, music direction usually has a very broad job description, and can include conducting and playing shows, teaching music to a chorus, being a rehearsal pianist, hiring players for the orchestra, and sometimes even arranging or orchestrating music for a show. Conducting is only a small portion of the responsibilities; very frequently, I don't end up conducting much at all (especially if I'm playing, which in this case I am). Head nods tend to get the message across!

Naomi: How has Connecticut shaped your musical career?

Colin: I've been living in CT since 2003, when I started my undergrad at the Hartt School. I graduated in 2007, worked for a year as an accompanist, and then started my master's at Yale. I just graduated in May; thus, all of my advanced education has been while living in CT. I have been very lucky to have had such amazing opportunities to compose, conduct, play, sing, do theater, and teach. Connecticut is wonderful in that it has a lot of music happening, but it's geographically small enough that it's very feasible to be involved in many groups and places.

Naomi: Where did you grow up and how did music factor into your life before you attended the Hartt School?

Colin: I grew up in Auburn, Maine. I've sung in choirs since I was 7, and I took piano lessons from about 5 on. I started acting in plays and musicals when I was in fifth grade, and I knew very early on that I wanted to work in theater. Later, when I was in high school, I started writing music (including a couple of musicals I co-wrote with my mother, who is quite a gifted playwright); that ended up being the avenue that I pursued in college. The musical direction/conducting side happened a little later, and it was only in college that I decided to pursue a career as a choral conductor.

Naomi: Describe your experience working on the The Last Five Years so far.

Colin: We've only been in rehearsals for a week, but I've really enjoyed delving into the music and the story, especially since it's constructed in such a unique way. The piano part is one of the hardest in the repertoire, so it's taken some work getting my chops up. It's also been a joy working Carey, Jeff, and Kyle, none of whom I had worked with before. Their professionalism, talent, and openness to different ideas are inspiring.

The Next Ten Minutes with Carey Anderson

She's been on Broadway, she's done a national tour, she sings with a band and is working on recording her own album. Carey Anderson is just about the ultimate showbiz star. The only thing left for her to do is perform at Playhouse on Park, and then we can officially classify her in the same ranks as Barbara Streisand, Julie Andrews and Liza Menelli. Lucky for Carey, there's a show at Playhouse on Park next week called The Last Five Years and I think she's starring in it.

Starting June 16, Carey will be playing Catherine, a role that Carey says has "complex material to work with" in both the acting and singing departments. Catherine is an aspiring actress who meets Jamie, a successful writer. The story of their courtship, marriage and divorce is told backward by Catherine and forward by Jamie. One of the reasons Carey wanted to audition for the show is because "there is so much solo work in this play" which she thinks will be a pleasant challenge for her. "It's practically like we are doing two simultaneous one-person shows that just happen to coincide with one another in the middle. Brilliant!" she says.

Carey's most recent and most notable credits include playing Sophie in Mamma Mia and Kate Monster/Lucy T. Slut in Avenue Q - both on Broadway. She then toured nationally with both of the shows. Performing in regional theatres, she also played Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, Emily Webb in Our Town, and Kate Mullins in Titanic. I was lucky enough to meet her for a few minutes last week and conduct an interview with her over email. Here are some of her thoughts on past roles, acting, singing, and The Last Five Years:

Naomi: What has the rehearsal process been like (for The Last Five Years)?

Carey: So far it's been going great! Since the show works in reverse time for my character and in real time for Jeff's character (Jamie), we have spent a lot of time working on the time line of the piece. We have tried to lay out all of the events chronologically so that we can make sense of where each of them are during the other one's numbers

Naomi: Do you have a favorite song or moment in the play?

Carey: Well, my favorite song to listen to has always been Jamie's song "Resist Temptation"...I just think it's really funny. But I'm so in love with so many moments in Cathy's journey that it's hard to pick a favorite.

Naomi: What attracted you to performing in musicals rather than in dramas?

Carey: Singing is my first love. I absolutely love telling stories through song. I love the idea of a world in which things get so hightened that you can't speak about them - you just have to sing!

Naomi: What got you interested in theatre?

Carey: It was my love for singing. A friend talked me into auditioning for a children's show when I was 12 and I was hooked ever since.

Naomi: So of course I looked at your website and was really impressed by some of your previous credits. What was it like to play Sophie in Mamma Mia?

Carey: I absolutely loved playing Sophie. It was my broadway debut so I will always hold it close to my heart. I still hold the title of being the longest running actress to ever play the role of Sophie on broadway! That's pretty cool!

Naomi: Had you heard of ABBA before in cast in Mamma Mia?

Carey: I had heard of ABBA, but only their big hits like "Dancing Queen" and "Mamma Mia." Let's just say I know them backward and forward now.

Naomi: I noticed you also do some more relaxed performances with your husband and you're also doing some recording. How are these projects going?

Carey: I love singing and performing with my husband, we like to do it at any opportunity we can. He plays the guitar and we like to try out new tunes. I am currently recording TWO albums simultaneously! It's kind of crazy, but the one with the band that I sing with called THE BLUE BOTTLE COLLECTION is pretty much done and just getting mixed. Please look us up! We perform all over NYC and actually have a gig coming up on June 21st at The Bitter End. I am also recording my own solo album, which I'm so excited about. I actually starting writing a little myself and am contributing lyrics to at least one of the songs. I will be touring Japan in the fall with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra and wanted a CD that the audience could buy if they liked what they heard! I hope that it's done by August...that's the goal, anyway.

Naomi: Do you have a favorite role out of all your past credits?

Carey: I'm not just saying this, but I really think Cathy Hiatt will be right up there if not my favorite role by the time our run is over. I am having so much fun discovering all the different layers that she has!

Naomi: What do you think of your experience in West Hartford so far?

Carey: I'm really loving being in suburbia! I am a midwestern girl, so I get comforted when I see strip malls, Cheesecake Factories and Targets! But I'm really loving the gorgeous homes and kind people I'm meeting in line at the grocery store. My impression is that it's a very eclectic place, and I really love that!

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The Last Five Years of Youth

The boisterous blogger in black is back...

Although the stage still belongs to This is Our Youth, the office at Playhouse on Park is slowly being taken over by the next offering in our summer season: The Last Five Years. As one show takes a bow and another prepares to open its curtain, I'm observing the theatre in an odd state of fluctuating transition.

But first, let's wrap up This is Our Youth. Having seen this show in preview and having spoken to one of its fabulous actors, I am very attached to this piece and will be sad to see it go. So sad, in fact, that I had to see it once

again before it left! Last night I extended my work day a few hours longer to usher for the show and inevitably treated myself to another full viewing. The second viewing of the show was not as riveting as the first, but only because I knew what to expect during the climax and the ending. In my new seat I got a great view of Dennis' back (which was sadly unexpressive) but I also a received wide array of facial expressions from Jessica. In general, though, I was highly impressed with the consistency the actors showed and their dedication to entertaining the audience while making them feel everything the characters felt.

But I was an audience member on the lookout. While watching This is Our Youth a second time, I tried to match up some of the newspaper reviewers' comments with what I saw. For example, in the Examiner, reviewer Andrew Beck mentions Jessica's "quirky, teenage shorthand" and Dennis' expressive shoe-tying, both of which I picked up on last night. Beck also states that Dennis' second-act performance "veers toward unconvincing hysteria," but I have to disagree with that. It was very convincing.

So despite the special place that Warren, Dennis and Jessica will always have in my heart, this week a soundtrack CD found its way into my hand: the soundtrack for The Last Five Years. While simultaneously reading over the script and listening to the soundtrack, I realized that this is a musical that people can and will get into. The songs are not cheesy and don't have that conventional Broadway glitz that makes so many musicals sound the same. The Last Five Years has two very real characters that seem to participate in life's activities quite authentically. Hopefully watching their romance wax and wane will be as enjoyable as watching Warren stutter through a Norse pick-up line.

The Last Five Years, by Jason Robert Brown, will run at Playhouse on Park June 16-27. Directed by Kyle Fabel, the show stars Broadway performers Carey Anderson and Jeff Scot Carey as Catherine and Jamie - the romantic couple of interest. The music director is Colin Britt, a graduate of Hartford's very own Hartt School of Music who recently completed his Masters of Music degree at Yale.

In one of this week's odd overlapping moments, Carey and Kyle attended last night's performance of This is Our Youth. I got to introduce myself to the Broadway star herself, and planted a seed for next week's blog posts: interviews with the cast of The Last Five Years! Be on the lookout for these interviews next week and have a great, sun-filled weekend.

P.S: Scroll down to the bottom of the blog to participate in a poll that will help out the theatre!

ACTORS and an actor

So it's my fourth day at the theatre, and I've set up my "office" in a well-lighted nook in the lobby between the grand piano and the coat rack. Working tirelessly in my own little corner from ten am until six pm, I see more than I ever expected of theater life. People wander in and out, the phone rings off the hook for ticket sales, and office activity waxes and wanes. But the most exciting part for this attentive observer is seeing the actors off-stage.

Actor. What

a word. It carries with it a sense of awe and admiration. Just calling someone an actor makes him kind of awesome. It also makes him a little intimidating to talk to.

As an intern, however, I know it is time to overcome my star-struck shyness. If I am going to sit in a theatre all

day with actors and actresses walking in out, I am going to make the most of my situation. I am going to talk to them. So today, instead of saying a quiet "Good Morning" and ducking back to my computer screen, I approached the ACTOR sitting a few seats away from me in the lobby. Robert DaPonte, one of the three stars of This is Our Youth, was sitting in a chair just like mine and checking his email with his computer tilted upward for convenience. I asked if he had time for an interview, and, receiving an affirmative response, I returned to my laptop, hastily typed up a few questions, and began my queries.

Robert was great right from the start. He is really easy to talk to, and just a genuinely friendly guy. After asking some background questions, I learned that Robert has been an actor for twelve years, and began his career at Bradford College in Haverville, MA. In high school, he had been into writing (especially screenplays), but it wasn't until he got to Bradford and took his first acting class that he realized that the theater world was definitely the place for him. After college, he worked at the National Theater Institute in Waterford, CT and the Secret Theater in New London. Now he lives in Philadelphia.

I also spoke to Robert a little bit about the role he's playing now (Warren Straub) and past roles he's played. When I asked how Robert, as an actor, tried to connect to Warren's character, he responded that the better a script is, the easier the actor's job is. Not to say that connecting to Warren was a piece of cake, but Lonergan's characters are clear and realistic, and Robert could look at Warren and say "I kinda get that guy." Warren has a lot going for him: he's frustrated, angry, has trouble communicating with his parents and peers, and he's socially awkward. There's got to be something in there that an actor can relate to.

When I asked Robert what his favorite past role had been, he kind of wowed me with his response. He said he always wants his favorite role to be the one he's working on. He also said that he did really enjoy playing Estragon in Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, a role he got to play twice in two different theaters.

Curious about his perceptions of This is Our Youth, I asked him how he thought opening night had gone. He replied that he thought it went "really well" and was glad there were a lot of college students in the crowd. He also felt, however, that by the end of show most of the audience, regardless of age, was involved and invested in the characters. And I'm pretty sure that's a great feeling to have.

As for Robert's favorite moment in the show? He loves the moments "in between the lines:" those times when he connects with another actor on stage without saying anything. Sometimes body language and the drapes of silence can express much more than any line of dialogue.

And what does he think of West Hartford? Well, he says we're "pretty cool."

Opening Day

It's opening day for "This is Our Playhouse," the blog that keeps you updated about the summer season of West Hartford's very own Playhouse on Park. As the creator of "This is Our Playhouse," let me introduce myself: my name is Naomi, and I am one of five summer interns at Playhouse on Park. An average college student who fell in love with theater during high school, I got lucky enough to spend this summer reading plays, seeing plays, writing about plays and starting my own blog about (surprise) plays. I'll be writing all about what's going on at Playhouse on Park this summer, and I hope you'll respond to my views and post your own!

So my first post is about This is Our Youth, the edgy first production of Playhouse on Park's summer season. As an intern, I got to see the "pre-preview"- an intimate performance of the show two nights before opening night. Although the audience contained only ten people (including a sprightly photographer) the actors treated us to a performance-ready production that displayed their immense talent as well as the talents of the writer, Kenneth Lonergan, and the director, Matt Pfieffer.

Before the show, I had been warned by my superiors at the Playhouse. There's drugs, they said. There's language, they cautioned. It's "out there" and risky, they alerted me. So I was expecting to be put off. I was expecting to be disgusted and uncomfortable and ready to walk out. I was expecting to have to force myself to like it so I could genuinely do my job of convincing others to attend. I was expecting a stomachache.

But I didn't get one. About half way through the first act, I recognized This is Our Youth. I recognized it because it spoke to me and drew me in. I recognized it as good theater. The story takes place in 1982 in New York City's Upper West Side, and tells a story about three kids in their early twenties working through issues regarding independence, friendship and mortality. The play essentially gives a twenty-four-hour snapshot into the semi-pathetic lives of drug-dealer Dennis Ziegler (Zack Robidas) and his sidekick Warren Straub (Robert DaPonte). Fading in and out of this snapshot is Jessica Goldman (Alison Barton), the girl of Warren's dreams who has enough fashion sense to make up for both Dennis' and Warren's grunge.

Everything I had been warned about was true. There were drugs, f-bombs, and a whole slew of insults that will never ever cross my own lips. But they all helped to tell the story. The profanity was natural coming from Dennis and Warren, and the presence of illegal substances spurred major plot events and successfully filled out the scene of 1980s New York that Lonergan was trying to create. What I identified most with, however, was not the obsessive

drug use or the dangers of living in 1980s New York City. What really drew this play beyond the confines of time and place were the moments of awkward girl-guy confrontation and the scenes of true and intense friendship between Dennis and Warren. Behind the

characters' acid tongues and devil-may-care attitudes lies a dynamite script and a trio of tragic characters that resonate soundly from generation to generation- especially with each generation's youth.

Left to right: Dennis (Zack Robidas), Warren (Robert DaPonte) and Jessica (Alison Barton)