INDEPENDENCE DAY 2021

 

We are presently living in troubled times, as has happened throughout the history of the United States. But today, July 4, 2021, may we take a moment to recall those men who served in the Second Continental Congress? Those ordinary men, those remarkable men, whose vision was so strong they dared to risk being executed for treason to bring a new nation into an old world. I believe it's acknowledged what they did was unparalleled in human history. 

Wherever we are today on this nation's journey, I choose to hold fast to their belief in the future.

From my author's note for the musical drama 1776, which I was privileged to direct for Pocono Lively Arts in 1989:

"They were men of human shortcomings, yet they were undoubtedly the most extraordinary group of men in all of history to have gathered together in one place and at one time. According to Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., in his book The Birth of the Nation, they were 'fearless, high-principled, deeply versed in ancient and modern political thought … convinced of man’s power to improve his condition through the use of intelligence, and unafraid of experiment. They were men of vision.'

“To this day the nation and the world are committed to the unending quest to unfold the ultimate meaning of those quiet phrases, written over two centuries ago by a young man in a small room in an unknown city on the margin of Western civilization: 'We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.'”

"Cinderella" Times Three

The book-in-progress has a name! Drum roll:

“MORE FOG, PLEASE!”

Thirty-one Years Directing Community and High School Musicals

Thanks to my copy editor, Ashleigh Evans, for the great suggestion. When you read the book you’ll see how well the title fits. Here’s a hint in a condensation of the chapter on three productions of Cinderella. There’s much more in this chapter, but this is a taste of the “flavor” of the book – memories that are exciting, funny, and poignant. Many names are being named! Stay tuned.

Cinderella (1, 2, 3)

(1984, 1993, 1999)

     The idea of fairies as tiny creatures with gauzy wings is a recent one. In the ancient myths and legends, and until modern times, fairies were powerful, immortal beings of human size. “Fairy tales” such as Cinderella were stories in which these remarkable creatures and their magical powers played an important part.

     When Cinderella says to her Godmother: “I wish you believed that once in a while something marvelous and magical could happen,” and the Godmother replies, “I don’t say that I don’t believe that once in a while something marvelous and magical can’t happen,” they speak for all of us. The child in everyone can’t help but believe that sometimes, wishes really do come true, and “marvelous and magical” things can happen.

     Whatever it is that brings us all together for these performances has its own magic. You, the audience, are a vital part of this: without you, these performances would be little more than rehearsals. You are part of what makes each performance unique, and so you are part of that wonderful, fleeting experience, live theater.

     So enjoy the show – and help us bring the fairy tale magically to life!

Susan Jordan

Pocono Lively Arts (Stroudsburg High School)

December, 1984

     The note is from the first of three productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella presented by Pocono Lively Arts, each time at Stroudsburg High School. PLA, as we referred to our organization, was established in 1977 as a presenting organization for a series of musical and dance events. In 1979 we presented our first musical theater production as an addition to the regular series. The musical was quite successful and prompted us to continue to offer the community the opportunity to both participate in and attend a “family friendly” holiday show.

     This first Cinderella was the first time we ventured into the maze of leasing a show from a major rental house, and having to come up with money to pay for the royalties and rental fees for a show. (These must be paid in advance, at least by an amateur organization.) Until that time we had performed musicals we procured from a music publishing house, or a show that was in the public domain. But our shows continued to meet with success, and more and more people came for auditions. And more people volunteered their services for the myriad requirements of a stage musical, from playing an instrument in the pit orchestra to helping with costumes and makeup to building the set to ushering for a performance.

     The Sunday before show weekend the local newspaper (Pocono Record) featured us in the special entertainment section, “Passport,” including the cover and a number of photos on a two-page spread. The Friday the show opened, they gave us another large article with photos; and finally, a review of the production.  Our PLA productions were major community events. The population of Monroe County was less than 75,000 at that time; it is nearly twice that today.

     One of my favorite pictures in that Friday article shows Cinderella with her contingent of mice, four adorable children dressed in furry white body suits including hoods with mouse ears, their whiskers clearly visible. I added the mice; Rodgers and Hammerstein didn’t include them in the script for their made-for-television musical. I also added horses to pull the carriage ─ and a Children’s Chorus to follow the Herald around as he announced the forthcoming ball for the Prince, and later when he was trying to find the owner of the lost slipper.

     The audiences loved, loved, loved the mice! For years afterwards when PLA’s Cinderella came up in conversation, someone was sure to comment how much they had loved the mice. Disney got it right. When our Cinderella sang “In My Own Little Corner,” the mice came out of hiding to commiserate with her. Exclamations from the audience were audible. Our mice were really cute.

     One of the reasons we began performing holiday shows was to give children an opportunity to be on stage. I remembered how much I had loved performing in The Emperor’s New Clothes as an eighth grade student in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and wanted “our” kids to have that kind of experience. We included as many children in our productions as we possibly could. It always broke my heart that it was impossible to include every child who auditioned. The kids in the shows had the time of their lives. Many youngsters did the show every year beginning at the age of eight, often continuing through their high school years.

     The biggest challenge with the show was Cinderella’s transformation from household drudge to beautiful princess … in ninety seconds. Lighting is a great help. I love stage fog. A lot of fog works wonders. The mice and rats danced offstage, and the characters playing the necessary accoutrements  ─ horses, footman, coachman ─ danced on. The coach was challenging but great fun for our set designers, and beautiful to behold. An army backstage took off Cindy’s rags and replaced them with a beautiful gown, swept up her hair, added jewels and shoes and … presto! There she was, pulled from the fog and brought downstage by her Godmother. The audience applauded this transformation at every performance. The imaginative and exciting music that accompanied this magical feat was also a great help. Stage magic is great fun to make – when it works. I always held my breath, but it worked unfailingly for us.

Cinderella is a happy show. The wedding is a lump-in-your-throat, if not a tears-in-your-eyes moment for everyone.

    I earlier mentioned the four little mice whose picture was in the newspaper in costume in our first Cinderella production in 1984. Three of them – Andrew Kowalyshyn, Chris Bond, and Marjorie Lawler ─ were still around for Cinderella #2 in 1993, and Chris and Marjorie performed in the show. Andrew had become a very fine sound technician, even as a high school student, and was running sound for the show – more about Andrew later in the book. See Song of Norway for a moment I will never forget.

     The fourth mouse, Donna Schweinberg, had grown into a lovely young woman, and was also to be in the production. Tragically, Donna was killed in an automobile accident shortly after the cast was announced. Everyone involved with the show, and all of the members of PLA, chose to dedicate the production to Donna’s memory, and these comments were included in my director’s note for that production:

     When we presented Cinderella in 1984, there was a sweet little mouse on stage named Donna Schweinberg. This year, Donna’s senior year at Stroudsburg High School, we had hoped she would once again join us. As sometimes happens, fate decreed otherwise and Donna’s young life was sadly ended just before we began rehearsals. The cast and production staff of Cinderella, and the Board of Directors of Pocono Lively Arts would like to dedicate this production to Donna and her family, in memory of that sweet mouse who had grown to become an exceptional young woman, much loved by her family and friends.

     Cinderella is a happy story, the kind we love to experience again and again. We all feel that Donna and other members of the 1984 cast who have gone on (Mary Jane Snyder, Hilda Vanderslice) would like being remembered in this special way, at this special, magical time of the year.

My memories of our three productions of Cinderella will always remain special and magical.

 Cinderella 1993

Judy Lawler, Kelly Foley, Paula Rivera

Photo by Rose Karlson

Sneak Peek: THE FANTASTICKS

My current writing project is a non-fiction book, working title Director’s Notes, since I begin each chapter with the notes which were included in the printed program for the show. In the book I revisit some of the shows I directed over a period of thirty-plus years beginning in 1984. Here’s an excerpt.

The Fantasticks

(2003)

 The Fantasticks is considered a classic in American musical theater, and with good reason. It is refreshing, imaginative, and has a first-rate musical score, which serves to help develop the characters and move the story forward. It asks the audience to use its imagination and to become involved in ways most shows do not. It’s a unique experience, and I only wish every person in this audience had the privilege I’ve had of spending time with the remarkable people involved in this production.

In preparing The Fantasticks, I have worked with an absolutely incredible cast and directing staff, and this has been a memorable experience. Kelly Foley is one of the most creative and imaginative people I’ve ever known. With The Fantasticks, she has been able to let her imagination soar and the results are, well, fantastic. Scott Besser is a remarkable musician and very gifted pianist and this score has offered him the kind of challenge he enjoys. His artistry enhances every moment of music in the show.

The cast has been delightful to work with and each person has developed a character that is truly unforgettable. I would like to thank each of them for making every rehearsal a special time I looked forward to. I believe we have all had a great time learning this lovely show.

For those of you who recall life before TV, you will remember (as I do) radio shows that let your imagination take you to wonderful places. The Fantasticks does that – but it also makes you think about a lot of important life lessons. It’s easy to see why this show has run for 42 years off-Broadway, and why it will be performed for decades to come. Like Shakespeare, it is timeless and absorbing. It is a show that resonates.

 Susan Jordan

Pocono Lively Arts (Best Western Pocono Inn)

July, 2003

Beginning in the summer of 1999, it became difficult for Pocono Lively Arts to continue our summer stage productions at Stroudsburg High School. Newspaper articles from June of that year, including an editorial in the Pocono Record on June 2, 1999, explained the problems that had arisen between the group and the Stroudsburg Area School District. (NOTE: the group had been presenting a holiday show every November or December since 1979, and these were ongoing. The problems were only with using the venue in the summer, which we had been doing since 1989.)

The summer of 1999 we performed A Grand Night for Singing, a delightful scripted revue of the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, and in 2000 we presented a semi-staged concert version of Guys and Dolls. These were performed primarily with piano, and though our casts were of necessity much smaller (we were performing in the Inn’s Ballroom), we enjoyed the intimacy and the new challenge of theater-in-the-round and the dinner theater performances were quite well attended. In 2001 we did another dinner theater production revue, Blame It on the Movies.

We found a way to do a fully staged show at Stroudsburg High School in the summer of 2002, The Secret Garden. We had to rehearse off site until tech week, and the set was also built off site and disassembled, moved to the school piecemeal and reassembled at the same time we were rehearsing. These difficulties, and the increased fees we were charged by the school district for our week of rehearsal and performance weekend, meant a return to dinner theater in 2003.

Learning The Fantasticks was an absolute joy for me. I’d heard of it, and I knew a few of the songs: “Try to Remember,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” and “Much More” were all songs I was familiar with and had taught to some of my private voice students. I had an idea of what the show was about, but hadn’t been aware of its thought-provoking, absorbing, meaningful and complex story. The Fantasticks can be defined in many ways, and I think it means something a little different to all of us. We can see ourselves in more than one character in this deceptively simple fable. The story line seems direct; the characters are what create the complexity.

It’s no wonder the show continued its run beyond the year 2003 and only, finally, closed in March of 2015. More and more people have come to see it and be enchanted, and more beyond that have returned, possibly many times, to find something new in the show each time.

Since we could not rehearse in a busy downtown hotel’s ballroom except on a very limited basis, we found other venues for rehearsal. With small casts this proved to be a relatively easy matter, and the Inn management generously gave us as much rehearsal time in the ballroom itself as they possibly could.

We rehearsed The Fantasticks for the most part in a large room which was in a strip mall behind the Paynter Music building. The school had converted it to a studio which was often used for ensemble rehearsals. It was about the same size as the dance floor in the hotel ballroom, which meant whatever we worked out in that space transferred fairly easily to our actual performance space.

It was an unusually rainy summer and we frequently had thunderstorms in the evenings. The parking lot near our rehearsal space had very poor drainage, and it wasn’t unusual for all of us to arrive with our feet soaked from walking the short distance from our cars to the venue. The rain continued into tech week and performance weekend, and the Best Western, a fairly old building, had a leaky roof right over one corner of the ballroom. We had to mop up the dance floor in that area before most rehearsals and performances and repeat the process during intermission. “Soon It’s Gonna Rain” for sure!

Our instrumentation for the show consisted of piano, keyboard, percussion and acoustic bass. Scott Besser is one of the most talented musicians I have ever been privileged to know, and is a near-genius pianist who tossed off the sometimes difficult score with great relish. The music, as the plot, seems deceptively simple, yet it has some complex and difficult sections, echoing the characters.

Scott hesitated about taking on the show at first; he wasn’t familiar with the music and wasn’t sure about the idiom. “Some of the pieces offered substantial challenges, technically and rhythmically,” he recalls. “‘This Plum Is Too Ripe’ was the song that convinced me to play the show. I gave it a chance and of course it grew on me.”

 The Fantasticks works best in an intimate setting, and it was perfect for the Best Western Ballroom where our audience was on three sides of the dance floor, which was our stage. Working in the venue had its challenges but I felt overall we handled the production well. I think the more intimate setting worked better for this show than the eight-hundred-seat Stroudsburg High School auditorium would have.

Anyone who is familiar with the piano score for this show knows it has some virtuosic moments. It requires a pianist who also understands the subtleties of accompanying singers. There is music through much of the show: set musical pieces, incidental music, scene change music. I volunteered to turn pages for Scott. He was probably sorry he accepted the offer, because I was an abysmal page turner for the show.

I went to a music school and turned pages for pianists fairly often. I know what the assignment is: you follow the printed music closely as the pianist plays, anticipating when the page should be turned, making sure to turn at exactly the right time. You cannot be distracted because that leads to an early page turn or a late one, and I’m not sure which is worse. Scott was generous to his very distracted page turner who had to apologize after every show for getting drawn into the performance. It’s hard to be the director who is admiring her cast’s performance and also be a good page turner. He said it was okay, but it wasn’t. Scott is a kind person. We’re still friends.

Every person who was part of this production was deeply committed to it, and was very much affected by it. Rehearsals were absorbing and sometimes exhausting, but more often, exhilarating. The Fantasticks draws you in as few shows do, and we were all sorry to see the run come to an end.

We could have gone on performing that show for a very long time. It’s definitely a theater piece that the actors live. It’s impossible to be a part of it without feeling you’ve been changed. You know yourself better; you look at the world a little differently. You see other people with more compassion. You resolve to be kinder and more understanding.

Maybe that’s why the pianist put up with this not-so-great page turner.

 Scott Besser

photo by Tristan Flanagan