And For Those Who Have No Cake, There's Plenty of Bread

When I turned twenty-one, my mom wrote to a bunch of theatre and movie people (without me knowing it!) and asked them to send me birthday greetings up at college. A whole bunch of them did! For more than a month, going to my mailbox every day was a great adventure.

The first thing I received was a letter from Lucie Arnaz and Larry Luckinbill about a month before my birthday. I was stunned. They knew I was a Muny usher! It was an incredibly nice letter, but I was baffled as to why they sent it. On the back was a P.S. from Larry that literally changed my life.

He wrote, "Go broke if you must but always overestimate the intelligence of the public. They'll thank you for it!!"

I was never the same again, after reading those two sentences.

At the time, I didn't know I'd be starting a new theatre company six years later. And I didn't know that Larry's postscript would become that company's guiding principle. It made me think about theatre and storytelling and audiences in a whole new way. Every time New Line produces a challenging show, our audiences prove Larry right.

And that's happening again right now with Promenade. It's an unusual show and it breaks so many rules, but New Line has done a ton of shows that break the rules (Assassins, Jerry Springer the Opera, Bukowsical, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Floyd Collins, Spelling Bee, Hands on a Hardbody, A New Brain, and so many others).

These wonderful shows have taught me two other lessons. First, never fear the audience! Second, audiences don't only like what they know; they like what's good.

Again, our audiences prove both things true with Promenade. It's about as unfamiliar as a show can be, on several levels, but it's really really good. And our audiences and the critics are responding to that. And also, to my great relief, the reviewers really "get it." They're seeing all the cool things under the surface of this amazing piece of theatre.

Reviewer Gerry Kowarsky wrote for Two on the Aisle, “New Line Theatre is up to its old tricks again, and we should all be grateful. The company’s last four fully staged musicals were revivals of successful shows from its past. These safe choices were understandable, given the financial challenges facing New Line and many other theaters. With its current staging of Promenade, however, New Line reclaims its place among the boldest producers of musicals. . . In taking a chance on a provocative, seldom produced work, New Line has lived up to its billing as ‘the bad boy of musical theater’. . . The opportunity to see this rare and historically important work should not be passed up.”

Reviewer Michelle Kenyon wrote for her blog Snoop’s Theatre Thoughts, “New Line Theatre is known for shining light on off-beat and lesser known shows, and their latest offering is one of their quirkiest yet. Promenade is an experimental musical from 1969 that features a catchy score and a markedly absurdist style. It’s sharply satirical and surprisingly relevant to today, featuring a cast and creative team that have gone all-in on the absurdity, making for a thought-provoking, entertaining and challenging production that highlights the best of what New Line is about. . . It’s a production that brings out the best of what New Line can do while satirizing some of the worst of what humanity has to offer in terms of economic disparity and abuse of power. It’s certainly a show that will make you think, and you just might find the songs playing in your head as you leave.”

Richard Green wrote for TalkinBroadway, “Delightfully absurd, 1965’s Promenade is a mad tea party in act one and a sprawling, nutty gadabout in act two. You keep shaking it like a Christmas present, going crazy trying to figure out what’s inside. But a playful nonsense rules the day. . . ‘What does it mean, and where is it going?,’ I kept asking myself during this production. Those questions become the ultimate joke in a show that’s gleefully evasive, where powerful idiots delight in flummoxing one another, as the powerless sneak in for a closer look. . . The whole show comes along at exactly the right moment, with its unexplained war and our own wealth gap at the worst it’s been since the French Revolution. And every wise word twisted into ridiculous nonsense. What a surprising relief, finally, to be able to laugh at it all.”

Jack Janssen said in his online video review for Jack Reviews Musicals, “New Line’s production of Promenade is lighting in a bottle. If this were helmed by a lesser crew, it would have crashed and burned. . . New Line makes it look easy, effortless, accessible even. And it’s all thanks to an enthusiastic cast, a lush jazz combo, creative visuals, and great directing.”

All this again reinforces my belief that the director's job is not to have "a vision" or to be "fresh" or "original." The director's job is to make sure every moment, and the story as a whole, are as clear as possible. Directing Promenade all I could think about was clarity. There's no room in this show for "vision" or cleverness. Fornés and Carmines have stuffed this show with relentless, perpetual-motion brilliance. If I'd try to impose my own "vision" the whole thing would collapse. It's as intricately built as a Swiss watch and I'm not about to tinker with that.

I frequently remind myself -- we serve the show; the show does not serve us. It is not a vehicle for showing off or being impressive. I knew, from working on so many other weirdo shows, that I just had to trust the material, no matter what. So we did. And the result is a terrific production.

As we plan for next season (the fun never ends!), I remind myself that New Line doesn't exist to sell out or to get rave reviews; New Line exists to share with our community the very best of our art form, the American musical theatre. Money is a necessary evil, but money is never the point. The point is we're storytellers -- that's our role in the world -- and storytelling is absolutely vital to the survival of our society and species.

These are very dark, Back to the Future Part II type times. To quote Chess, "These are very dangerous and difficult times." Yeah, no shit, Molokov. So more than ever, we need the Light -- the enlightenment -- of storytelling. It's not about escape, it's not disconnection; it's connection.

Connect, George!

Our absurdist adventure continues....

Long Live the Musical!
Scott

P.S. To get your tickets for Promenade, click here.

P.P.S. To check out my newest musical theatre books, click here.

P.P.P.S. To donate to New Line Theatre, click here.