PhotosPHOTO EXCLUSIVE: Backstage at John Doyle's Actor-Musician Merrily We Roll AlongStephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along takes on new musical depth in an actor-musician staging by John Doyle.
By
Matthew Blank
March 22, 2012
Performers David Garry and Jane Pfitsch documented the experience for Playbill.com.
"It's a match made in heaven: Stephen Sondheim, John Doyle, and Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park," says Pfitsch. "The 13-member cast of Merrily We Roll Along takes you backstage to see how we get ourselves and our 25+ musical instruments through a two-show day. Note the lack of backstage down time - all 13 of us are onstage for the entire show!"
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PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: Backstage at John Doyle's Actor-Musician Merrily We Roll Along
PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: Backstage at John Doyle's Actor-Musician Merrily We Roll Along
Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Merrily We Roll Along takes on new musical depth in an actor-musician staging by John Doyle. Performers David Garry and Jane Pfitsch take Playbill.com backstage and offer a look at the inner workings of the 13 actors and 25+ instruments. Read the Playbill.com story.
26 PHOTOS
Welcome to Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park!
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Sitting in music rehearsal, Dan Jenkins secretly wants to be a flute player.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Matt Castle shows Becky Ann Baker the joys of playing the upright bass as Malcolm Gets studies his music.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Scott Pask designed our set. All of the music on/in/around the stage is copies of Sondheim's original manuscript to Merrily. Here's the view from the sound booth - cleaned and ready for a two-show day.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Here's a closeup of the back wall. More of Sondheim's original manuscript!
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Malcolm Gets warms up before the first show of the day.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Jane Pfitsch warms up Leenya Rideout's violin. (Playing Beth and Gussie, they share more than just a husband!)
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Fellow flute player, Jessica Tyler Wright, watches Lee Harrington warm up her piccolo before the show.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
The equivalent of Fight Call, "Music Call" is a group warm-up focusing on material from the show. Tuning, problem spots and note checks are generally the order of business.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
The "Standbys": These guys wait tuned up and ready to go off stage right in case any of the on stage string instruments malfunction. They do not, however, get their 1/8!
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Stage Left instruments are set. At half-hour the actors leave the stage and their instruments behind.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
The center stage stacks hide the woodwinds.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Nick Pope, our sound mixing engineer, makes magic every night at the sound board. This is a tricky show to mix - note the panic in his face!
The dog owners of the cast have to check in with their furry friends between shows: Dave Garry with Neo, Fred Rose with Cooper, Leenya Rideout with Maya and Jessica Tyler Wright with Lucy.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
On Saturdays we don't have enough time between shows to cook - so volunteers spoil us with delicious Cincinnati fare.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Becky Ann Baker catches some well-earned zzz's before the second show.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Back at Music Call for the second show: Matthew Deming, Becky Ann Baker, Dave Garry and Dan Jenkins go through "Opening Doors."
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Mary Mitchell Campbell, our orchestrator, gives some encouragement before the second show. Matt Castle, cast member/Music Director, rejoices.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Ben Diskant (Frank Jr.), at the piano, leads the cast in rehearsing the "Merrily" transitions.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Music call also sometimes involves a physical warmup - particularly for Leenya Rideout, who carts the upright bass around the stage for most of the show.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Fred Rose (Tyler) the last one to leave the stage after Music Call and the last one ready at "places."
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Becoming Gussie. (Or "Bessie," as Leenya's mom calls her!)
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
There's Gussie Carnegie!
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Dave Garry keeps his embouchure warm with the spare trumpet in the dressing room. From the end of Music Call to the beginning of the show is approximately 37 minutes, and his first note is a high C#!
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
The Spidey Mics! Bruce Sabath and Matthew Deming have body mics both in the hair (for their voices) and on the wrists for their respective Clarinet/Oboe/Saxaphone parts.
David Garry and Jane Pfitsch
Our floor is embedded with Sondheim's score as well. This is the first page of the opening number. We thank Stephen Sondheim and George Furth every night for this glorious material!
Doyle has set Merrily We Roll Along within a musical world, where manuscripts of the original score fill the space of the Robert S. Marx Theatre. The two-act musical, which Doyle has staged without an intermission, comes in at just under two hours. Previews began March 3 for a run through March 31.
The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park is also where Doyle debuted his actor-musician production of Sondheim and George Furth's Company, which transferred to Broadway in late 2006. The production earned the Tony Award for Best Revival and a nomination for Best Direction.
The 1981 musical, which has a book by Furth and a score by Sondheim, is based on Kaufman and Hart's 1934 Broadway play. Merrily famously travels backwards in time to navigate the bumpy history of three friends who start their careers in showbusiness together.
The 2012 staging of Merrily marks Tony nominee Malcolm Gets' second pass at the role of songwriter Franklin Shepard – he previously played the role Off-Broadway in the 1994 York Theatre Company staging of Merrily, which introduced revisions by Sondheim and Furth since its 1981 Broadway run. Doyle's production reflects the 1994 York revisions.
Gets (A New Brain, The Story of My Life) also collaborated with Doyle in the American premiere of his Rodgers and Hart actor-musician musical Ten Cents a Dance at the Williamstown Theatre Festival last summer.
Daniel Jenkins, a Tony Award nominee for Big River, portrays songwriting partner Charley Kringas; with Becky Ann Baker (Good People, Assassins) as Franklin and Charley's disillusioned pal Mary Flynn.
Completing the cast of Merrily are a handful of Doyle musical veterans, including Jane Pfitsch as Beth, Leenya Rideout as Gussie Carnegie, Jessica Wright as K.T., Matt Castle as Scotty, David Garry as Jerome, Bruce Sabath as Joe, Lee Harrington as Meg, Fred Rose as Tyler, Matthew Deming as Ru and Ben Diskant as Frank Jr.
Mary-Mitchell Campbell, who orchestrated and was musical supervisor for Doyle's Company, is also involved. Tony Award winner Scott Pask (The Coast of Utopia, The Pillowman) designs the set, with costume design by Ann Hould-Ward, lighting design by Jane Cox and sound design by Dan Moses Schreier. Cast member Matt Castle serves as musical director.
For tickets phone (513) 421-3888 or visit CincyPlay.
The musical is the newest project by Hunter Bird, one of the creative minds behind the immersive Off-Broadway revival of The Phantom of the Opera, Masquerade.
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