The musical Mary, based on the life of the mother of Jesus, takes the stage this evening in Charleston, and over the next couple of days we'll share some email interviews with the writer, musical director and one of the actors from the show.
We start with Dan Kehde, who wrote and directed the show:
Q: We know who Mary is, but tell us about the show you've written about her.
A: It's an interesting show. We paralleled the story of Mary with the story of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. Mary was a young woman, in her
early to middle teens, and Elizabeth was in her 80's or so. In Biblical texts, both were visited by the angel Gabriel, and were pregnant at the same time, Elizabeth giving birth (after having still born many other babies) only a month or so before Mary gave birth to Jesus. It's very much a story of faith and love on many different levels: Mary's love of God, her love for Joseph and her willingness to sacrifice her life and the life of her first born son. It was a tough piece to write.
Q: Was doing a story based on the mother of Jesus intimidating?
A: It's funny, Mary has always seemed the most accessible member of the holy family: the object of the prayers of the truly desperate, the conduit to the
almighty used by those of us unable or unwilling to pray to God or Jesus for whatever reason. Mary was always terribly and wonderfully human.
Q: This is the 12th time you've staged the show, so it's safe to say that audiences have responded well to it. How is the 12th show different from the first?
A: Our first Mary lasted about 45 minutes. We had nerve enough to hold an intermission just to stretch the thing to an hour. We added 16 new songs for
the second year. We're still refining it, in fact, Mark Scarpelli's finishing up a new composition for the final moments even as we speak. Our casts are bigger than that first one - I think we had 14 that year. But their hearts were enormous.
Q: You have a big cast for this show - are they veterans from past shows or is this new to them?
A: A little of both. Jonathan Tucker, the actor playing Joseph is new to the company. Molly Means, who plays Mary, has done several pieces with us, as has Tanya Dillon Page (Gabriel), and this is the second piece with us for Melanie Larch (Elizabeth). A lot of the kids have come back from past years for this, and others have come in new. It's a good cast.
Q: I'm surprised to see the show starts the day after Thanksgiving - is it tough to stage a show on Black Friday?
A: We started out on these two weekends (Thanksgiving and the week after) because it was the only time when the theater was available. Now it's become tradition. And no, we don't generally set attendance records on opening night, but Mary is one of those shows that you're either going to come to see or you're not, so it really doesn't matter when during the season we perform it. Although one year we closed two days before Christmas - that was harder.
Q: Tell us the basics - when the show starts, where it is, ticket prices, etc.
A: We open today and run 8 p.m. curtains on Nov. 28, 29, Dec. 4, 5 and 6 and have a Sunday Matinee at 2 p.m. on November 30. Tickets are $5.50 for students and seniors, and $9.50 for adults. Tickets are available at the door the evenings of the performances. For large group reservations you can call the box office at 304-342-6522 during regular business hours. All performances are on the stage of the WVSU Capitol Center Theater, 123 Summers Street, Charleston.
Thanks, Dan! Tomorrow we'll talk to composer Mark Scarpelli!
No comments:
Post a Comment