DIVA TALK: She Said/He Said with Tony Winners Victoria Clark and Ted Sperling
By Andrew Gans
October 16, 2009
News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
VICTORIA CLARK
Actress-singer Victoria Clark, who won her Tony Award for her beautifully moving and thrillingly sung performance in Lincoln Center Theater's production of The Light in the Piazza, is re-teaming with her Piazza conductor Ted Sperling (also a Piazza Tony winner, for Best Orchestrations with Adam Guettel and Bruce Coughlin) for The Vicki and Ted Show, which will play Feinstein's at Loews Regency Oct. 20-24. The concerts celebrate the 30th anniversary of Clark and Sperling's friendship, which began at Yale University and continued to Broadway with leading roles in the Tony-winning musical Titanic (Clark was second class passenger Alice Beane with Sperling as second class passenger, orchestra leader Wallace Hartley). Prior to their Feinstein's bow, we thought it would be fun to pose a similar set of questions independently to both Clark and Sperling; their answers follow:
When and how did you and Ted/Vicki meet?
Vicki: We met after a performance of Pirates of Penzance at Yale. I was a freshman. He was still a senior in high school. I know this because Ted keeps telling me. I don't remember. I remember meeting him Christmas caroling on the steps of a house in New Haven December 1929. I mean 1979!! Yikes! Hard to believe I met him when he was nearly my own son's age. Shocking!
Ted: We first met backstage after a performance of the Yale Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production of The Pirates of Penzance, in which Vicki was playing Mabel and my cousin Nina was playing Ruth. I don't think I made much of an impression. We then met again on the steps of the music library at Yale the following year when I was a freshman, and my memory is that Vicki sort of brushed me off as a fan! Then we really met a few months later, singing Christmas carols on the streets of New Haven with the Battell Chapel Choir, the only professional choir at Yale. We were singing the same part (I specialized in countertenor at the time), and quickly became fast friends.
 |  | |
| Victoria Clark and Ted Sperling |
| photo by Laura Marie Duncan |
Vicki: I have so many — it is really hard to pick just one. Any time I am singing onstage and see Ted conducting in the pit, I feel better. I have a good feeling in my gut — I know I am home. He has that effect on lots of people, not just me, but I would like to just put it out there and say, hey, I knew him when, and he has always made me feel better when he is in the rehearsal room or in the orchestra pit or onstage next to us. Sometimes, it is scary, he knows me so well, he already knows where I am going to breathe, and working on this show, we are finding when we sing together, we can anticipate all kinds of things like breaths, phrasing, etc. We are sort of mind-melded! Vulcan ancestry I guess.
Ted: I have a photo of us painting the set for our first show together, Side By Side By Sondheim, in the courtyard of our dorm at Yale, and that brings back very happy memories of our figuring out every aspect of how to make a show together, and then going for tuna grinders at the local Greek pizza joint at two in the morning. There are many favorite moments since then. I did love singing to Victoria on stage in Titanic!
What do you think makes Ted such a great musical director-accompanist/Vicki such a great performer?
Vicki: Ted loves actors! Ted is an actor at heart, as well as a leader, and musician. You will find him quietly sitting in rehearsal, knitting, or listening, and lending his valuable insightful input, and then he is an absolute genius orchestrator and conductor. But you will also find
him laughing harder than anyone at something funny. He works hard, he plays hard. He has tremendous respect for what actors do, and what we go through.
Ted: Her talent is immense, she is extremely smart, and her natural gifts are very special, but it is really her extraordinary work ethic and dedication to her craft that make Vicki the great artist she is... I don't know anyone else who does as much research and soul-searching in preparing a role as Vicki does.
What's your favorite song in the new show?
Vicki: It's a surprise!!!
Ted: I think it's actually the oldest song, the one we first sang together at Yale: "Pack Up Your Sins and Go to the Devil." It's one of Irving Berlin's signature "double melody" songs, where two completely different tunes work perfectly on top of each other.
If you could go back in time and work with any other Broadway artist, who would it be?
Vicki: Mary Martin, Moss Hart, George Kaufman, Eva La Gallienne...I could go on and on...
Ted: Wow. So many choices. I'm fascinated by Ethel Merman, and would love to have been a part of the original Gypsy. I have had the great fortune to work on a few projects with Stephen Sondheim, and he kindly shared some choice Merman stories with me.
What don't people know about Ted/Vicki that they should?
Vicki: He is a major foodie. The way to that man's heart is through his tummy!
Ted: She makes incredible banana bread.
|  | |
| Victoria Clark in The Light in the Piazza |
| photo by Chris Bennion |
Vicki: It's got to be Tony night when the sound guys thought my mike went out — that remains a mystery — and Kelli O'Hara saved me from having a coronary right on the stage of Radio City.
Ted: Playing "Fable" for Vicki for the first time. And teaching "Say it Somehow" for the first time at the Sundance Theater Lab to Celia Keenan-Bolger and Steve Pasquale... that was also thrilling to hear for the first time.
If you could go back in time and star in/cast Vicki in any classic musical, what would it be?
Vicki: I don't really look back very much; I'd rather think about the roles that are ahead of me in new shows that will change our world, illuminate the human condition, and make us laugh our faces off!
Ted: Well, we're very eager to do Lady in the Dark together, and we're working on it. It's a fantastic show that not a lot of people have actually seen, and we have some good ideas about how to do a fresh production. And Gypsy! I think she'd make an astounding Mama Rose. I guess we may have to wait a while before people are eager to see the show again in NY, but when they are, watch out!
[Show times at Feinstein's will be Tuesday-Thursday at 8:30 PM and Friday and Saturday at 8 and 10:30 PM. All shows have a $60 cover with $75 premium seats available; there is also a $40 food and beverage minimum. Feinstein's is located at 540 Park Avenue at 61st Street in New York City. For ticket reservations call (212) 339-4095 or visit feinsteinsatloewsregency.com and TicketWeb.com.]
DIVA TIDBITS
|  | |
| Chita Rivera |
| photo by Laura Marie Duncan |
A host of theatre favorites will take part in Broadway Wishes, a concert in California to benefit the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Orange County and the Inland Empire, which is "dedicated to granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions." The Oct. 24 concert be held at the OC Pavilion Performing Arts Theater in Santa Ana. Currently scheduled to perform are Eden Espinosa, Megan Hilty, Norm Lewis, Laura Osnes, Kate Shindle, Stephen Tewksbury and Tim Howar. Paul Canaan will host the evening, which will also feature special guest musician Seth Rudetsky. The performance, press notes state, will begin with a "special performance from an exceptional local star." The producers are asking event ticket holders to log on to the "Broadway Wishes" Facebook page and post song requests in the comment box. Tickets are available online by visiting www.broadwaywishes.org.
|  | |
| Christine Pedi |
NEWSical the Musical, which played 215 performances Off-Broadway in 2004, will return to the New York stage next month. The Drama Desk-nominated musical, penned by composer-lyricist Rick Crom, will begin previews Nov. 24 at The 47th Street Theatre with an official opening scheduled for Dec. 9. Drama Desk nominee and Forbidden Broadway alum Christine Pedi will star; additional casting will be announced shortly. NEWSical the Musical, press notes state, "is an ever-evolving mockery of all the news that is fit to spoof!" The 47th Street Theatre is located at 304 West 47th Street, off of Eighth Avenue. Ticket information will be announced shortly.
"Extraordinary eBay," the online fundraising initiative started by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS last summer, continues with a package for the eagerly awaited fundraiser Bernadette Peters: A Special Concert for Broadway Barks Because Broadway Cares, which will be presented Nov. 9 at Broadway's Minskoff Theatre. Directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, Peters will be backed by a 30-piece orchestra under the musical direction of Marvin Laird and will perform a new repertoire. The Peters package includes the following items: A pair of premium tickets to the Nov. 9 concert; two VIP tickets to the post-performance party at Blue Fin where the winner will meet Peters for a once-in-a-lifetime photo; two tickets to attend the private final dress rehearsal on the afternoon before the concert; and a framed poster for the event signed by Peters and a copy of her New York Times best-selling children's book "Broadway Barks," also signed by Peters. To bid on the auction click here. The auction will end Oct 22.
Well, that's all for now. Happy diva-watching! E-mail questions or comments to agans@playbill.com.
*
Diva Talk will go on hiatus for several weeks.