By Andrew Gans
Question: You had mentioned before that your character is a singer. Do you get to sing in the play?
Question: When are you looking to do that?
Question: Where is the Charles Busch play being done?
Question: You need another Broadway show to keep up with the reading!
Question: Sounds like you're busy.
Question: Any chance Come Back, Come Back might come to New York?
[For tickets call (732) 246-7717 or visit www.GSPonline.org. George Street Playhouse is located at 9 Livingston Avenue in New Brunswick, NJ.]
DIVA TIDBITS
The John W. Engeman Theater in Northport, NY, will present two star-studded concerts in November. Broadway Leading Ladies — Nov. 6 at 8 PM — will feature the talents of Liz Callaway, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Jessica Lee Goldyn, Rachelle Rak and Chelsea Morgan Stock. The singing actresses, according to press notes, will "recreate some of their most memorable career highlights, display their great versatility and share amusing behind-the-scenes anecdotes." Broadway Songbook — Nov. 7 at 8 PM — will include Lisa Howard, Lauren Kennedy, Norm Lewis, Elizabeth Loyacano and Howard McGillin. Musical director/accompanist for the evenings will be Fred Barton. Stephen DeAngelis produces. For tickets call (631) 261-2900. The Engeman is located at 250 Main Street, Northport NY.
Voices in Unity, the 75 member choir of Unity of New York, will celebrate its tenth anniversary with a concert at Peter Norton Symphony Space Nov. 16. The 7:30 PM concert will boast several special guests, including Tony winners Chuck Cooper and Donna McKechnie, Rosena Hall, the Spiritual vocal ensemble and spoken word artist Gha'il Rhodes Benjamin. The evening will offer selections ranging from gospel to Broadway and pop to jazz. Music director Britt Hall will choose the repertoire. Peter Norton Symphony Space is located in Manhattan at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street. For tickets, which begin at $20, call (212) 864-5400 or visit www.symphonyspace.org.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
09 Oct 2009
Question: You mentioned before about performing at George Street. What makes that theatre so special for you?
Alison Fraser and Shirley Knight in Come Back, Come Back, Wherever You Are photo by T. Charles Erickson
Fraser: Well, I think it starts at the head, and that's David Saint. He's an extraordinary man, a wonderfully intelligent artistic director who's willing to take a chance. A lot of times at regional theatres you'll see a lot of crowd-pleasers — like that really cute show, Forever Plaid, which is done all the time. David Saint is doing, I believe, five new plays this year. That's not only a tribute to David, it's a tribute to David's finely honed audience that they not only appreciate David's exquisite taste, but they crave it and support it. They have a wonderful subscription house. When you have a bunch of dedicated theatregoers really looking forward to new plays, that's exciting theatre. That's not to say it's not fun to do [revivals] — I had a ball doing Lend Me a Tenor and Lips Together, Teeth Apart and Gunmetal Blues out here, but to be able to be part of the creation of a new piece of American theatre — you're a little piece of that history forever, and it's thrilling. And I also have to say something about the staff at George Street. It's like an extended family. Everybody loves each other and everybody does the best job they possibly can to support their family. The costumes here are so great I always wind up buying them. It's like, "I can't leave these here! I have to buy them." . . . We're people here. We're not just pegs that have to be put into a specific hole. . . . It's unbelievable how every cog in the machine works and is beautifully greased. Every individual adds to the great machine that is the George Street Playhouse.
Fraser: I do. I get to sing a couple of songs. It's wonderful, a couple of standards. I always love to sing. It's kind of fun to actually have a good voice again. [Laughs.] I did Tessie so long I really thought I was never gonna be able to sing again. Her voice was such a damaged tone. It took me awhile to come back from that, it really did, but I'm back and I'm really enjoying the singing. I actually just got asked to do a gig at Feinstein's, but I'm not sure I can. On the one hand you get to work with Arthur Laurents, on the other hand you get to work with Charles Busch. The two of them are masters in their field. I'm doing Charles Busch's new play, which is sort of like one of his wonderful older plays like Psycho Beach Party or Lady in Question, one of his genre plays. This is called The Divine Sister, and it takes place in a convent, and I am a not-so-nice nun. That's going to be a lot of fun. That will be directed by the very talented Carl Andress, who is also busy reworking the book, with Charles, of [Busch and Magee's] The Green Heart, which is just about due for a second chance, I think. We went into the studio and we did the music as Rusty planned it, not as it was ultimately produced and cut drastically. So I have that music. It's very exciting. John McDaniel is the music director.
Fraser: I don't think that there's a definite date. He's just getting the creatives together right now, but John [McDaniel] is on board, which is thrilling. He was, oddly enough, the very first music director we had. And, there'll be re-orchestrations, and I believe it's going to be cut down to a more manageable amount of people. It's just such a good show that really didn't have the production it should have had. It needs another shot, so we can all make a lot of money! [Laughs.]
Fraser: I think it's going to be at Theatre For a New City. It's gonna be loads of fun. It's Julie Halston — oh, my God, she's so funny. Dare I be on a stage with this woman? [Laughs.] I'll be wearing the cloak of invisibility. I can't take my eyes off of her, how can the audience? To watch Julie and Charles work together is like watching one of the great comedy teams. . . . To watch two superb comedians perform material written specifically by one of them for the two of them is just amazing. I feel very lucky this year to work with, first of all, Arthur and Shirley and David on this very intense, very personal, very emotional piece, and then later on in the year with Charles and Julie and Carl on what will definitely be loads and loads of fun not only for the audience but also for us. And also, I will be graduating from Fordham University! But I'm going to continue on. I'm having a big graduation party, and we're going to have Jell-o shots, and I hope somebody gives me a convertible. [Laughs.] Or at least a trip to Europe.
Fraser: Right now my major is English Lit. I'm really enjoying that. I'm liking the new realism — a lot of Sinclair Lewis and William Dean Howells, but I just fell madly in love with Jonathan Swift, so who knows? I don't know what turns my education will take.
Fraser: So true! They gotta bring Gypsy back again. Or there must be another Broadway show where I can just pop in for a song and leave! [Laughs.]
Fraser: I am busy, and my son's real happy. He's off at school. Things are good. I can't believe I'm working with Arthur and then Charles.
Fraser: I think with Arthur there's always a chance. He's one of the great treasures of the American theatre. And, you've got Shirley Knight here giving a performance that — she's devastating. She's Shirley Knight for God's sake! [Laughs.] It's ridiculous. That's not to denigrate the others in the cast, because everyone is wonderful. Leslie Lyles is just wonderful, and John Carter, my train mate, and Jim Bracchitta, who gets to be my love interest. [Laughs.] My love interest, I love that. He was really mean to me in Gypsy, so he's making up for it now. Bracchitta wasn't mean to Alison — Pastey was mean to Tessie!
Leslie Kritzer and Doug Kreeger, who co-starred in the short-lived Rooms: a rock romance, will perform at a party celebrating the upcoming release of the musical's CD. The New York Musical Theatre Festival, Van Hill Entertainment and Time Life Records will present the pre-release and listening party Oct. 14 at Sweet Caroline's in Manhattan. The evening will begin at 8:30 PM. The recording is produced by Grammy nominee Robert Sher; producing associate is Brandon Wardell. A release date has not been announced. Sweet Caroline's is located at 322 West 45th Street. Tickets for the pre-release party are $15 plus a one-drink minimum; visit www.nymf.org/Show-1240.html.
DRG Records will record Tony Award winner Jane Krakowski's solo cabaret debut at Feinstein's at Loews Regency. Krakowski is currently playing the Manhattan nightspot through Oct. 17. DRG will record both Oct. 17 performances live. "Two shows will be recorded and the album, once edited, will consist of the entire show," DRG President Hugh Fordin told me earlier this week. Fordin will produce the disc; Cynthia Daniels is the engineer. Krakowski's new show, entitled Jane Krakowski Has Sold Out… Tickets Available, features songs popularized by the female performers who have inspired her, including Anita O'Day, Ann-Margret and Eartha Kitt. Michael Kosarin is Krakowski's musical director. A December CD release is scheduled on the DRG label.
Jane Krakowski photo by Joan Marcus
DIVA TALK: Catching Up with Come Back's Alison Fraser Plus News of Krakowski and McKechnie
Question: What do you want to continue on with after graduation?
