| JOURNAL |
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Melissa Brandzel, Stephanie Andersen & Patti Diamond - "Divas" |
"THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOLLYWOOD" started some 15 years ago in a workshop production created by Michael Woolworth, Cynthia Verdecia and myself. The creators of that first version went their separate ways and produced various incarnations of the show. The current producer (and co-author) SHIRLEY HILLARD approached me last year and gave me the opportunity to finish what I started! Ten songs from the original score have survived and I wrote eight more and lots of incidental music to a new script by DAN BERKOWITZ and Shirley. Director RICK SPARKS calls the show "An extended Carol Burnett Show Sketch". It's a love letter to Hollywood and a parody at the same time. It's silly and fun and should be a hoot! We open at the Stella Adler Theater in Hollywood on June 1st. If this first production goes as well as we hope, we plan to move the show to a bigger Equity house before long. And there will be an original cast album, of course! |
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Our heroine is Dorothy (from Kansas), the world's biggest movie fan. She comes to Hollywood, secretly wishing to become a movie star herself. While putting her feet into the footprints at the Chinese Theater, an earthquake causes part of the Chinese to hit her on the head. She then dreams the entire history of Hollywood (in 90 minutes!) meeting every star from Charlie Chaplin to Marilyn Monroe and learning what she needs to know to become a star. |
Heidi Godt as "Dorothy" |
| THE JOURNAL: |
Jeff Griggs as "Tarzan" |
3/8 - I convinced our producer that having a demo tape of all the songs would be a great advantage: the cast and crew would all have the same reference from which to learn the show ... and any cast changes in the future would go more smoothly as well. Shirley agreed, and I've spent the week recording the show. I sang all the parts myself (to piano and sometimes drum tracks) except for the Hattie McDaniel number and the Sci-Fi Movie number, which I had my cabaret partner BRENDA SILAS MOORE sing for me. What a blast! The result is pretty nifty, if I do say so. Don't be surprised if these tracks show up on an album one of these days! |
| 3/9 - Final callbacks
were today. We have a wonderful cast to work with. This is getting very exciting!
ROBERT BRANDZEL is aboard as Musical Director. Bob has worked in musical theater
forever (including the original road company of "Man of La Mancha") and really
knows his stuff. Rick has to finish directing his new adaptation of "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" before he can begin work on our show. Shirley and Dan are going to tweak the
script in the meantime. They've asked me to write a new opening number for
Act Two. Excuse
me while I go do that.
4/17 - We had the first read-through of the script with the cast tonight. It went well, although Dan and Shirley scrambled back to their computers for some re-writes. Rick wants the show to be a one-act, so the new 2nd act opening I wrote and recorded has been cut! Arrgh. (By the way, Rick's "Horses" opened to rave reviews! I saw it, and I'll never forget it. It was incredible.) |
Clay Adkins as "Carmen Miranda" |
| 4/22 - Have you ever produced an Equity Waiver show? Actors drop like flies for better-paying jobs. We've had a harrowing weekend. But yesterday the new cast assembled for the first full rehearsal. Bob taught them the title song and the Busby Berkeley number. (I tried not to jump up and down too much. Is there a bigger thrill than this?) Shirley found us an old rehearsal hall built above Hollywood Blvd. in 1923. The place is fantastic! Our stage manager, scenic designer, light designer and costume designer were all there. While the cast learned the songs, the designers met in the hall and worked on the stage construction, while VALENTINE HOOVEN, the costumer, pulled out cast members to get measurements. KEVEN CRAWFORD, Rick's assistant choreographer, was working in the corner on the first dance number. Out of this chaos somehow a show emerges. |
David Barnathan as "The Agent" |
| THE CAST |
CLAY ADKINS |
STEPHANIE ANDERSEN |
DAVID BARNATHAN |
MELISSA BRANDZEL |
AMY COLLETT |
SCOTT DAVIDSON |
PATTI DIAMOND |
HEIDI GODT |
JEFF GRIGGS |
GINA NEAL |
ANETTE MICHELLE SANDERS |
BRYAN SHINE |
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Amy Collett as "Marilyn Monroe" |
4/24 - One of
the fun things about writing this musical was the variety of styles. We trace
the history of the movies from the early silent films to today. Each number
is in a different era and evokes a specific time and place. RICK and KEVEN staged the opening number
tonight. Since it's the title song and sets the campy tone of the show, I
choose to make it very 1950's Broadway in style, and they certainly picked
up on it. What a fun number! I think the cast now knows this show will not
be a walk in the park: they worked their collective behinds off! I have to
leave this weekend for a week to work for Atlantis
Events in Mexico. I hate missing the day to day
growth of the show, but imagine what I'll see when I get back!
5/8 - Wow! Lots of changes! That'll teach me to leave town! These actors are dancing in practically every number. (Lots of huffing and puffing at the moment.) RICK has bigger ideas every time he comes into rehearsal. The show is going to be incredible. I went to KEVIN's dance rehearsal for "The Bottom Line", a sarcastic song sung by a big time (and very young!) Hollywood Agent and the Studio Heads. He staged it like an N'SYNC number! I was standing in as our heroine, Dorothy. Don't try to picture it: it will only make your head hurt. The next rehearsal I can make will be when we try to "stitch" the various scenes and songs together in order for the first time! |
| 5/18 - We're in
the theater hanging lights, practicing cues and building the set ... better
known as tech or "hell" week. It's well named. The show has suddenly begun
to look like a real show. We've been doing full runs every day. That first
one was a doozy, by the way. At the end of it JEFF GRIGGS, who sometimes
works as an aerobics instructor, lay on his back on the floor and said, "I've
got to find a way to pace myself"! From the first meetings with the other
writers I've said the place to watch this show will be from backstage! Each
actor (except HEIDI GODT) plays multiple characters with multiple rapid-fire costume
changes. HEIDI has
a different experience as Dorothy: she never leaves the stage! She has to stay focused on
the madness the whole time. As usual, I'm getting "actor's envy", wishing
I was up there doing the show. So yesterday was good for me. We went into
the studio to pre-record two transition numbers that the cast will be too
busy to sing live, and all the special sound cues, including some vocal lines,
earthquake sounds, phone rings, and the like. I come alive in the studio
and got to conduct for a change. Musical Director BOB BRANDZEL and I work well
together. You can't mention a show he hasn't conducted somewhere! It's become
a running gag between us! The recording went well, and today they block the
last two numbers on the stage. I fill in for BOB at the piano for tomorrow's
full tech day. Let's see if I can play this score I wrote!
By the way, I'm sure every composer feels this way about his cast, but these kids are amazingly talented. I didn't know any of them before they were selected for the show, but in that show-family way, we're all getting to know each other. They all have great moments and I can't pick out a favorite, but all of them are actors to watch, just now at the beginning of their careers. |
Scott Davidson as "W.C. Fields" |
Anette Michele Sanders as "Rita Hayworth" |
5/23 - We're getting close. The panic is setting in. Can we actually be ready in time? The tech is done, but not perfected and tonight is the first run-through with the band and in costume! It's going to be a night of stop and start, crash and burn ... but when it's over, all the actors will know which obstacles they have to overcome. I can't be there tonight, but it's probably just as well: the last thing the actors need right now is some crazed songwriter telling them to enunciate while they're struggling through the tap number in a costume that won't fasten shut! The photo shoot went splendidly! Our costumer (VALENTINE HOOVEN) really came through with lookalike outfits and make-up for Bette Davis, W.C. Fields and Mae West, Tarzan, Rita Hayworth, Carmen Miranda, ... and that's just for the photos! At last count there are 108 costume changes in this extravaganza! I'll be interested to see if the theater is still standing tomorrow night. |
| 5/30 - Yes, still standing ... and the show gets better each day. We are still having costume problems, and tonight is the Dress Rehearsal! It's been a harrowing week. We had to cancel last week's preview performances because our massive technical show wasn't ready, and I lost a musician from the band. But BOB BRANDZEL on piano and DAVE LOTFI on drums sound like an orchestra unto themselves, god bless 'em. And we get one Preview tomorrow night before we open to the critics Friday. I had an extra drama over the weekend: because we're doing the show without an intermission, the three ladies singing the swing number "Pin-Up Girls" didn't have enough time after the "Busby Berkeley" extravaganza to change costumes. So director RICK SPARKS asked me to whip up a new song for STEPHANIE ANDERSEN (the only actor not madly changing clothes at the time!) to sing as "Louella Parsons". Drop in a nickle and out comes a song. So I did, and to my surprise, everyone loves it! Stephanie learned it in about twenty minutes and last night it went into the show. Ah, Show Biz! | June 1st - The preview went really well. Our first real audience laughed and applauded at all the right places! Tonight we open for the critics. As Steven Sondheim once wrote, "Gods of the Theater, Smile on us!" |
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6/5 - I think we have a hit! If the critics like us as much as the audiences this last weekend did, we're in. What a thrill! We were changing and adjusting things right through opening night and into the weekend, but this wonderful cast came through and the show came alive. It's amazing what laughter and applause can do for you! I've been asked to do another rewrite for this weekend, but overall the show is in terrific shape. We're booked in the theater for three months and it will be hard for me to stay away! Thursday night will be the first time we all see each other in a whole week, after living in each others pockets for a month. I'm having withdrawal pains! |
| "Snappy, campy parody ... a fitting tribute
to tourism and Tinseltown." - L.A. TimesTo read the rest of this review, click here.
"Summer's best bet...this will sell out!" - Blur Magazine "It's so much fun and so full of talented actors ... Stephanie Anderson all but steals the show ... Amy Collett's Judy Garland is breathtakingly funny and right on the spot." - KPCC-FM "Sly humor and sprightly performances ... the versatile and captivating Clay Atkins sparkles ... dazzling costumes and hilarious wigs!" - Frontiers "There's No Place Like Hollywood is a winner in every sense of the word ...a fantastical look at The Wizard of Oz, but instead of a tornado ... we get a hipper Dorothy, an earthquake and Hollywood - the creators here know how to show an audience a good time ... Strange and wonderful and magical and fun ... Heidi Godt is made for the role of Dorothy ... I think 'brilliance' is the word. Long may it run - no matter where!" - KCSN-FM "...there are several memorable musical moments, including Nelson Eddy and Jeanette McDonald in 'Jeanette And I', 'Diva' featuring Mae West, Bette Davis and Greta Garbo, 'Listen To Mammy' featuring Hattie McDaniel ... and the most memorable song of the evening, 'Be Careful What You Wish For' featuring a terrific Marilyn Monroe (Amy Collett) and James Dean (Jeff Griggs). - THE ACTOR SITE |
Scott Davidson as "WC Fields", Stephanie Andersen as "Mae West", Heidi Godt as "Dorothy" and Jeff Griggs as "Tarzan" |
Melissa Brandzel, Anette Michelle, Amy Colett, Clay Adkins, Heidi Godt, Patti Diamond & Stephanie Andersen. |
"The audience knows from the get-go what a fun-glorious evening is
ahead of them ... snappy music and lyrics by Wayne Moore ... a dazzling array
of characterizations ... this endeavor is pure gold." - VALLEY SCENE - To read the rest of this review (my favorite because it
catches the flavor of the show) click here.
"A Busby Berkeley production number worthy of the master ... This is a whole lot of fun!" - SHOWMAG.COM - To read the rest of this review, click here |
Heidi Godt as "Dorothy", Melissa Brandzel as "Greta Garbo", Patti Diamond as "Bette Davis" and Stephanie Andersen as "Mae West" sing DIVAS. (Did I tell you how Melissa auditioned for the show? Her father is Bob Brandzel, our musical director. To my shock, she auditioned with "Special" the show's big ballad! When she finished, the new-that-day assistant choreographer Kevin said, "Where did you find that terrific song?" whereupon everyone else in the room - including Melissa - chorused, "This show!") |
Satirizes some of the biggest stars in Hollywood ... hilarious Betty
Davis ... sexy but sorry Mayilyn Monroe ... heightened by director Rick Sparks'
hefty sense of good-natured fun." - BACKSTAGE WEST - To read the rest of this review click here.
"What a joy! This rollicking, wacky, camp 'movie biz' musical is jam-packed with talent, loaded with laughs, and tons of fun ... the high-energy cast of nine entertain and amaze as they riotously impersonate and poke fun at countless 'stars' of days gone by.? - THE TOLUCAN To read this entire review, click here! "A refreshingly non-traditional company ... present notable singing pipes and dancing stems, and considerable gleeful abandon ... Hollywood has every reason to achieve cult status." - IN Magazine To read this entire review, click here. |
| 6/27 - Time marches on. In Equity Waiver
Theater that means "replacements". Our wonderful "Dorothy"
- HEIDI GODT - landed a terrific job with Disney
and is leaving the show in two weeks! We're auditioning for her replacement
tomorrow. PATTI DIAMOND has joined a theater
company in Sacramento and has been replaced for six weeks by ANETTE MICHELLE SANDERS. She's got big pumps to
fill, but if anyone can do it, it's our Anette. We've known about this from
the start of rehearsals, so Anette has had time to learn the show ... she's
wonderful. SCOTT DAVIDSON is going to miss two
weekends and after auditioning for a week, I found his replacement, CHRIS BONNO. When Chris came to see the show (after
agreeing to do it!) his first comment watching the high energy, quick-changing
Scott was that he was going to take out massive life insurance on himself!
BRYAN SHYNE had his worse fears come true last weekend: he's understudying the three male actors outside of Scott. CLAY ADKINS has the hardest and most varied "track" to follow and Bryan hoped he wouldn't be the first to miss a show. Of course, he was! Clay had a previous commitment last Saturday night and Bryan went on as, among others, Fred Astaire, Jerry Lewis, Elvis Presley, Carmen Miranda and Cher! He's a good two feet taller than Clay, so it was "Cherzilla, the Diva that ate Chicago". And Carmen! My favorite moment in the show was listening for the tiny grunts during "Bananas" from back up dancers DAVID BARNATHAN and JEFF GRIGGS (the other actors Bryan is understudying) as they hoisted - instead of light little Clay - the tallest woman in a fruit basket hat ever seen! Bryan is in his 20's, cute as a button and fearless. He also has a lot of talent and missed being in the first-string cast by only a hair. He was marvelous! What a trouper! There was more drama backstage during that show than I knew about. We have a dresser on both sides of the stage to help the actors with their multiple costume changes, to handle props and effects, and just to keep the madness backstage moving. I watched the show from backstage a couple of weekends ago and you've never seen such organized chaos! (They like me, so the cast tolerated having me there in the way, but I could tell I shouldn't make a habit of it!) Well, the night Bryan went on, one of our dressers didn't show up! (He got sunstroke and overslept, and will probably never hear the end of it!) At the last minute, Scott's wife and AMY COLETT's fiancé were drafted to help. They'd seen the show many times from up front, but it was a real baptism by fire backstage. I know the show better than anyone, I couldn't tell anything was wrong from in the audience. Don't you just love theater? |
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