ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S NOTES

So… DID YOU SEE WHAT WALTER PAISLEY DID TODAY?

Creating new work – from the blank page to the full stage – is always the most daunting, but frequently the most exciting, of theatrical endeavors. The journey is full of twists, U-turns, blind alleys, and – one hopes – a green light or two.

Randy Rogel, the multi-Emmy Award-winning composer/lyricist, brought the idea of the show to La Mirada Theatre just about three years ago. (I say “just” because, given the realities of play production these days, three years could be considered warp speed.) Randy and I had known each other for 20 years, when, wearing his actor hat, he played the lead in a rare but joyous 1915 Jerome Kern musical I directed at the Goodspeed Opera House. I mention this because that show, now that I look back, has some things in common with this show: it had a small cast, a brisk pace, a cornucopia of melody, and, we hope, that increasingly vanishing theatrical ingredient – charm. Now, how Kern arrived at his destination and how we arrived at ours a century later couldn’t be more different, since our show would be the kind of dark comedy that wasn’t in vogue in his day.

In Spring of 2020, La Mirada Theatre’s smallbut-mighty staff gathered on an empty stage to hear Randy’s first draft of Act I, and, based on their enthusiasm and positive input from the actors, we embarked on a series of internal readings to finish the show. As they say: musicals aren’t written, they’re rewritten – and the gifted performers who brought those developmental drafts to life deserve an ongoing standing ovation. Finally, we presented the show to newcomers – first, our beloved ushers (who are also discerning theatregoers) and then our valued subscribers in a concert reading in October 2021. Their further encouragement led the City of La Mirada to do something it hadn’t yet done in its already-impressive history of supporting the Arts: give the Theatre the opportunity to present a musical that it had developed from the ground up. For that, we will always be deeply grateful, and we imagine that everyone who loves the Arts feels the same.

Of course, the fact that so many magnificently talented theatre artists jumped on board – stellar designers, musical wizards, choreographic creators, and actors from Broadway and Los Angeles – working with the tireless producer Kevin Bailey (MB Artists) – has made the journey even more rewarding.

It’s a show with a long title – and a question.

But it’s one we’ve enjoyed answering. Here’s hoping you will, as well.

BT McNicholl

Producing Artistic Director