Theater News

Loose Lips

Mary Louise Wilson heads back to the Gardens, Nancy Anderson throws her Ten Cents in, and Philip Heckman designs costumes to Shout about. Plus: Where to find Barbara, Christine, Kristin, Judy, and Lynn this fall!

IF I WERE A BEALE

Mary Louise Wilson
(© Michael Portantiere)
Mary Louise Wilson
(© Michael Portantiere)

While much of the theater world is anxiously awaiting the opportunity to hear the soon-to-be-released CD of the soon-to-transfer-to-Broadway musical Grey Gardens, don’t count Mary Louise Wilson among them. “Oh God, I can’t listen to my own recordings,” says Wilson, who plays Edith “Big Edie” Beale. “I feel the same way about watching my work. I usually think I would’ve done something differently. The one exception is that sometimes I catch old episodes of [the CBS sitcom] One Day at a Time and I think I looked great back then. At the time, I thought I looked so old.”

Wilson certainly doesn’t worry about her looks in playing the somewhat disheveled Big Edie in the show’s second act. Then again she says that the chance to play this indelible character is worth the sacrifice. “Edie was always a maverick, which I admire. She really wanted to be a singer, but wasn’t allowed to do that because of what society was like back then. Marriage was clearly in order and woman had to be supported.” As Wilson points out, her own family was surprised — and not altogether pleased — when she decided to become an actress. “I felt most of my family had to be dead before I did a show like Full Gallop (in which she played legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland). I don’t think I could’ve survived their response. The one exception is my older sister, who is an amateur actress and very supportive.”

Wilson has never been married or had children, but that hasn’t affected her portrayal of Edie one bit. “There was this wonderful actress, Ruth White, who was single her whole life, and someone asked her once how she played wives and mothers. And she answered, ‘I have an imagination,'” notes Wilson. “I’ve also developed a real maternal relationship with Christine Ebersole (who plays her daughter, Little Edie, as well as the younger version of Big Edie in the show’s first act). I feel very protective of her and very proud of her. She’s an enormous talent, and I want her to get everything she deserves.”

Although she isn’t sure how Broadway audiences will react to the piece, Wilson is keeping a positive outlook. “I think there’s a niche for it; the audiences at Playwright Horizons went crazy for it,” she says. “I am sure, however, that the whole experience will change for us, not necessarily for better or worse. Eventually, we’ll adjust our performances if we have to for the Broadway stage, but I don’t believe there’s any such thing as acting big or acting small.”

Nancy Anderson
(© Michael Portantiere)
Nancy Anderson
(© Michael Portantiere)

THROWING HER TEN CENTS IN
Few actresses work as consistently as Nancy Anderson. This year alone, Anderson — whose Broadway credits include A Class Act and Wonderful Town — has starred in the Off-Broadway musical Fanny Hill (which earned her a Drama Desk nomination as Best Actress) and the Off-Broadway play Burleigh Grime$, for which she received sensational reviews for playing three different parts. She’s just returned from the Sundance Lab, where she co-starred in a workshop of Kind Hearts & Coronets in a role written expressly for her by composer Steven Lutvak, later this month she heads up to the Cape Playhouse to star alongside soap opera star Linda Dano and Patrick Quinn in A.R. Gurney‘s comedy, Sylvia, and in October, she’ll be part of the Jerome Kern tribute at the Broadway/Cabaret Festival at the Town Hall.

But if you want to see Anderson doing what she loves best, head over to The Summer in the City season at Birdland on Monday, August 14. That night, she’ll perform selections from her debut CD, Ten Cents a Dance, a collection of songs from the 1920s and 1930s. “Some of these songs are pretty obscure, but I picked them because even in their simple swing form, they have really interesting lyrics,” she says. “Some of them didn’t even have sheet music — I even contacted the Library of Congress — so Ross Patterson, my music director, had to transcribe them from recordings.”

Anderson first got interested in the period at age 18, when she was looking through some of her father’s tapes to play in her car and stumbled across The Best of Artie Shaw. “I didn’t know who he was, but I grabbed it because I liked the look of the cover, and it has turned out to be my all-time favorite album,” she says. “After that, I started collecting records — you know vinyl — from that era.” Her reputation as a prime interpreter of songs from that time has been cemented by her performances in the Broadway By the Year series, which is where she met Bill Daugherty, a fellow specialist in the era and a driving force behind Thoroughbred Records. “He said, ‘How is it you sing like that, and I haven’t met you?’ she recalls. “And then they offered to produce my album, which is the biggest gift you can imagine.”

As much as she loves the old songs, Anderson’s big wish is to work with one of today’s hottest composers: Tony Award winner Adam Guettel. “I would sell my soul to work on his stuff, and especially for him to write something for me,” she says. “The most formative theatrical experience I’ve had in New York was seeing Floyd Collins. I was so poor back then I signed up as a volunteer usher at Playwrights Horizons in order to see it. And from the minute the downbeat started, I didn’t ever sit back in my seat. In fact, I don’t think I even blinked, breathed, or moved for the entire show.”

MOD MAN

Marie France-Arcilla and Erica Schroederin Shout! The Mod Musical
(© Joan Marcus)
Marie France-Arcilla and Erica Schroeder
in Shout! The Mod Musical
(© Joan Marcus)

Costume designer Philip Heckman, the man responsible for the absolutely groovy clothes in the ultra-colorful Shout! The Mod Musical, could have spent all his time prowling vintage shops to outfit the five women who star in this tuneful revue of 1960s British pop music. But he took a somewhat different route in creating the right wardrobe for the five lovely ladies who perform the music of such iconic singers as Dusty Springfield, Petula Clark, and Lulu.

“I would say about 80 percent of the costumes were built from scratch,” he says. “I love the designs of people like André Courreges and Pierre Cardin, but they were a little over the top. Plus, we found that when we put most clothes from the 1960s on these modern-day bodies, they made the cast look a little old. We wanted them to be young, fresh, and sexy. The other advantage of making them is that we could accentuate whatever a woman’s best feature is, whether it’s great legs or a great waist.”

Heckman also had the chance to design for some guys, too — specifically the men in the onstage band. “We wanted the band to look like they came with the set, which is so outrageous and vibrant. It’s kind of a big Barbie Dream House concept,” says Heckman. “So we made them these really bold printed outfits. They’re great for the show, but if you saw the guys walking down the street wearing them, you’d probably snicker.”

Judy Kaye
(© Michael Portantiere)
Judy Kaye
(© Michael Portantiere)

WOMEN OF THE YEAR
Jennifer Van Dyck will team with Matt Letscher in the Williamstown Theatre Festival’s production of the thriller Double Double; former Miss America Susan Powell will join Broadway stars Kevin Spirtas and Lee Roy Reams for The Cape Playhouse’s 80th Birthday Party on August 20; Carole Cook will host One Night Only, a special benefit featuring the casts of A Chorus Line and The Light in the Piazza for the Richmond/Ermet AIDS Foundation at San Francisco’s Club Fugazi on August 21; and Ruby Dee will be a special guest speaker at A Night of Artistic Inspiration Honoring Woodie King. Jr on August 25 at New York’s Julia de Burgos Latino Performing Arts Center.

Looking forward, Kristin Chenoweth will be part of the Hollywood Bowl’s Fireworks Finale, September 15-17; Christine Ebersole will give a benefit concert for The Actors’ Fund of America at New World Stages on September 18; Kirsten Chandler, Kim Huber, Julie Dickson Jackson, and Bets Malone will star in the new musical The Marvelous Wonderettes, September 29-November 26 at North Hollywood’s El Portal Forum Theatre; Lynn Redgrave will star in her much anticipated solo piece Nightingale at L.A.’s Mark Taper Forum, October 4-19; Judy Kaye will once again star as socialite Florence Foster Jenkins in Souvenir at L.A’s Brentwood Playhouse, October 12-November 12; Barbara Cook will receive The Town Hall’s Friend of the Arts Award at the famed venue’s 85th Anniversary Gala on October 22; and Debby Boone will play Mrs. Anna in the American Musical Theatre of San Jose’s production of The King and I, October 31-November 12.