Back to ABOUT
STEEL MAGNOLIAS: Laughing Through Tears and the Value of Friendship
Many of us know the inspiring and heartfelt story of Steel Magnolias.
American writer Robert Harling created this comedy-drama about the bonding among a group of Southern women in northwest Louisiana as a way of coming to terms with a very personal family tragedy. No spoiler alerts here, but many people know the life-altering plot development that has made this play a modern classic.
Given its subject matter and story line, Steel Magnolias is a natural to be included in The Sharon Playhouse’s “Season of Joy.” Because this story leaves theatergoers with a profound sense of community and an understanding that while we all experience loss and grief, we are buoyed by the love and support of friends and family. It is important to include the way the characters used humor and lighthearted conversations to cope with the seriousness of the underlying situations.
The title suggests the "female characters are as delicate as magnolias but as tough as steel.” The magnolia specifically references a magnolia tree the women are arguing about at the beginning.
While most people know Steel Magnolias from its star-studded movie version of 1989, Harling began the narrative’s journey as a short story, then adapted (in only ten days!) into an Off-Broadway play, eventually reaching Broadway in 2005. An all-Black Lifetime version aired in 2012 and a brief television series was broadcast in the 1990s. Moreover, the play has been performed throughout the U.S. and in several countries worldwide.
Many notable and esteemed theater actresses have taken a crack at these meaty roles, including Marsha Mason, Frances Sternhagen, Anne Pitoniak, Polly Bergen, Elaine Stritch, Queen Latifah, Alfre Woodard, Phylicia Rashad, and Condola Rashad, Margo Martindale, Rosemary Harris, June Lockhart (theater and television).
However, many may not remember it was the movie debut of a young Julia Roberts, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and won a Golden Globe Award for her endearing performance, alongside the likes of Sally Field, Shirley MacLaine, Olympia Dukakis, Dolly Parton, and Daryl Hannah. Sally Field also snagged a Golden Globe nomination. The movie itself picked up a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Motion Picture.
So come laugh and cry with Sharon Playhouse friends and family at Steel Magnolias, playing August 30 – September 8 in the Bobbie Olsen Theater. And bring tissues!
HAPPINESS IS YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN
The Sharon Playhouse concludes its Summer 2024 Season with the joyous You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.
It’s hard to believe that Clark Gesner created this classic musical more than 50 years ago, in 1967. Gesner wrote the music and lyrics that bring Charles M. Schultz’s iconic comic strip Peanuts characters to vibrant life, while the “book” of the musical is credited to John Gordon, but, according to the Guide to Musical Theatre, that is actually a pseudonym for collective efforts of Gesner, the cast members, and the production staff, all of whom collaborated on the script. The original cast included Bob Balaban, Gary Burghoff (who would go on to Radar O’Reilly fame in the long running series M*A*S*H), Bill Hinnant, Skip Hinnant, Karen Johnson, and Reva Rose in a star-making turn as Lucy. One of the many charms of this adorable show is that the Peanuts children were portrayed by adult actors, giving the show added wit and poignance.
The score boasted such tuneful songs as “Beethoven Day,” “Book Report,” the heartwarming closing number “Happiness Is,” as well as the title song.
The Off-Broadway production – which won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Show Album – was well received with The Village Voice praising the “strikingly talented” cast. Walter Kerr in The New York Times called the show “a miracle,” saying, “Almost everything works, because almost everything is effortless.”
The score boasted such tuneful songs as “Beethoven Day,” “Book Report,” the heartwarming closing number “Happiness Is,” as well as the title song.
The Off-Broadway production – which won Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards as well as a Grammy nomination for Best Show Album – was well received with The Village Voice praising the “strikingly talented” cast. Walter Kerr in The New York Times called the show “a miracle,” saying, “Almost everything works, because almost everything is effortless.”
While the musical had a brief Broadway run in 1971, it resurfaced on Broadway in 1999 with a revised book and new songs and arrangements by talented Broadway composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party, The Addams Family). In this version, the character of Patty was replaced by Charlie Brown’s younger sister Sally Brown.
The 1999 version, which is the version being produced by the Sharon Playhouse, is notable for its diverse and multi-ethnic casting, and for the knock-out new songs added by Lippa. More significantly, the role of Sally Brown launched the career of Kristen Chenoweth (later of Wicked fame, On the Twentieth Century, The Apple Tree, Promises, Promises and the upcoming new musical Queen of Versailles). For this now-classic turn, Chenoweth received a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical. Moreover, Roger Bart, so memorable in The Producers and currently giving an hilarious Tony-nominated performance on Broadway in Back to the Future, vividly portrayed the character of Charlie Brown’s outrageous beagle, Snoopy, also winning a Tony Award in the process.
This musical is perfect for the entire family! Join us for what is certain to be a wonderful production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, playing in the Bobbie Olsen Theater for one week only (only two weekends!) September 20-29. We promise that you are sure to know what happiness is.
Charles Schulz, Creator of Peanuts and Charlie Brown
Charles Schulz photo from Alamy.com
Cartoonist Charles Schulz created Peanuts, one of the all-time great and most popular comic strips in American history. Born in 1922 in Minneapolis, Schulz introduced Peanuts in 1950 as a newspaper comic strip and it grew into a television sensation, Broadway hit, books, and countless licensed products.
The hero character of Peanuts was Charlie Brown and over the years the strip would run in more than 2,000 newspapers and in many languages. It also expanded into a stage play, TV specials like the Emmy-winning A Charlie Brown Christmas, as well as publications and a huge merchandise collection. Schulz died on February 12, 2000.
Charles Monroe Schulz was the son of a German immigrant and barber, and a waitress. The desire to become a cartoonist emerged when he was a child and would devour the Sunday funny papers. When he was just 15, his drawing of the family dog, Spike, was published in the then popular Believe It or Not! newspaper feature.
As a high school student he signed up for a course at the Federal School of Applied Cartooning in Minneapolis. He also began submitting his cartoons to various publications. His career was interrupted when he was drafted into the U.S. Army in the fall of 1942.
Schulz trained as a machine gunner and rose to the rank of staff sergeant. His unit was shipped to Europe in February 1945, where it helped lead the charge on Munich and liberate the Dachau concentration camp. Schulz received the Combat Infantryman Badge for fighting in active ground combat under hostile fire. He was discharged from the Army on January 6, 1946.
Maintaining his interest in cartooning, after the war ended he began working as an instructor at his old art school. His first cartoon was published in early 1947, the same year he began a weekly panel cartoon in the St. Paul Pioneer Press called Li'l Folks, which featured early glimpses of what would soon become the iconic characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy. In 1948 the first of 17 of his cartoons was published in The Saturday Evening Post. United Feature Syndicate began distributing his strip in 1950 and it was called Peanuts.
Peanuts first appeared in seven newspapers on October 2,1950. Soon fans grew attached to the quirky, philosophical cast of characters; Charlie Brown, who always strikes out or gets his kite stuck in a tree; Lucy, and her little brother, Linus; classical music lover Schroeder; and Snoopy, the pet based on his own family dog, Spike.
Peanuts won the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year in 1955 (and again in 1964), Exhibits of Peanuts originals were displayed at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of Minnesota. Schulz was named Humorist of the Year in 1956 by Yale University. Soon the Peanuts crew was featured in Hallmark greeting cards and even an ad for Ford cars.
In the early 1960s, Schulz teamed up with writer/producer Lee Mendelson to film a documentary about the strip. Little did they know it was the start of a lifelong collaboration. Their first work together was followed by the television special A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) and by more TV hits such as Charlie Brown's All-Stars and It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown debuted as a stage musical in 1967 and was an animated TV special in 1985.
Schulz added more characters, such as Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and Franklin. There were more TV specials and feature-length movies such as Snoopy Come Home (1972) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!) (1980). The Peanuts comic strip grew to have millions of readers in 21 languages across some 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries.
Schulz underwent quadruple-bypass surgery in 1981, but continued to create his strip, even after developing a hand tremor in later years. Finally, when abdominal surgery brought a diagnosis of colon cancer in late 1999, the cartoonist announced he was retiring.
Schulz produced more than 18,000 strips over nearly 50 years of work. He was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in late September 2015. The honor came on the eve of a brand-new Peanuts 3D movie in November 2015. He received numerous posthumous honors, including the Congressional Gold Medal iIn 2002. With its characters continuing to appear in daily newspapers, anniversary books, TV specials and commercials, the Peanuts empire continues to flourish.
The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center was opened in Santa Rosa, California in 2002. It displays original artwork, letters, photographs and other memorabilia.
IS LIVE THEATER “VIRTUALLY” THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE?
THE IMPACT OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON LIVE PERFORMANCE
Oscar and Emmy nominee and Screen Actors Guild and Golden Globe Award winner Steve Carell recently made his Broadway debut in the well-received production of Uncle Vanya. In an interview in advance of the opening, Carell commented: “I am a huge proponent of live concerts, [and] theatre. I kind of think it’s the wave of the future, frankly. With AI and with everything you’re seeing on a screen, who knows what’s real and what’s not. And when you go to see someone perform live, there’s no hiding. It’s exactly what you think it’s going to be.”
The use of video projections aside, that reflection does indeed resonate with those of us in the theater community.
Others have written or spoken about the value of live theater – as well other forms of live entertainment, such as concerts, poetry readings, and sports – as an antidote for artificial intelligence, or as writer Victor D. Infante put in a piece for Worcester (Massachusetts) Magazine, “live entertainment [is] an antidote to computer-generated cultural overload.” Infante was reflecting in comments with GBH (Boston Public Radio) executive arts editor and host Jared Bowen on how live theater is “an opportunity – and antidote to overproduced, overly computer-generated entertainment.”
Sharon’s very own PBS radio station, Robin Hood Radio, concurs: “Live is everything! It’s all about live. It’s all about communication. Marshall Miles always said what people didn’t realize about radio is the immediacy. That is key,” commented Jill Goodman, co-founder with Marshall Miles of Robin Hood Radio, Sharon, CT, in a live interview.
Perhaps this is not a new thought, or even an obvious observation. However, who cannot deny that people today are looking for something “real” or to use an overused word, “authentic”? Both of these commentators shared that they yearn for “real acting, real singing and real comedy. It’s hard not to see live entertainment as a sort of remedy to that virtual ailment.”
As we know, in live entertainment anything can happen. Sometimes flubs or breaking character are part of the enjoyment of live entertainment, as it shows us that the performers are “real” people, as vulnerable to making mistakes as we are. Recently, on a live broadcast of Saturday Night Live, actor Heidi Gardner found a skit so funny that she broke into uncontrollable laughter. She was worried how her producers would react. But the audience and viewers LOVED it! Also, in live theater, there are no do-overs…except for sometimes. Some years ago, when theater legend Nathan Lane was giving a Tony Award winning performance of the classic A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum, he accidently slipped and plopped while making an entrance to a song. He picked himself up and said directly to the audience, “Let’s try that again.” The audience's applause lasted for several minutes.
Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Ayad Akhtar (Disgraced, 2017) offered these comments while accepting the prestigious 2017 Steinberg Playwright Award, in a speech titled, “An Antidote to Digital Dehumanization? Live Theater.”
“I recently learned that a group of neuroscientists have discovered that watching live theater can synchronize the heartbeats of an audience. One of the researchers put it this way: ‘Experiencing the live theater performance was extraordinary enough to overcome group differences and produce a common physiological experience.’ The theater is an art form scaled to the human, and stubbornly so, relying on the absolute necessity of a physical audience. The actor-audience relationship is unmediated by the contemporary disembodying screen. Not the appearance of a person, but the reality of one. Not a simulacrum of relationship, but a form of actual relationship. The living presence of the audience is what strikes me as so singular about the theater, why I love working in the theater so much and why I believe in the particular importance of our beloved form right now. This sense of oneness with an audience, of losing all sense of time, of absorption in the travails and triumphs of the living actors — this is the daily antidote. For which I write. About which I dream. And from which so much of my truest hope is mined.”
As an experiment, Brisa Carleton, three-time Tony Award winning producer, actually asked ChatGPT for its opinion of how AI could impact live theater. This is what ChatGPT replied:
AI-powered tools can enhance the creative process for Broadway producers and writers, helping them to analyze audience preferences, identify emerging trends, and generate new ideas for shows. For example, AI can analyze social media data to determine which types of shows are resonating with audiences, and then use that data to inform productions that will be more likely to succeed.
The use of AI can automate certain administrative tasks, such as ticket sales, some marketing functions, and customer service, improving the efficiency of these processes.
AI-powered chatbots can provide real-time support to theatergoers, answering show questions and providing recommendations for nearby restaurants or parking, enhancing the audience experience.
AI can help theater producers and managers to optimize ticket pricing by quickly and accurately analyzing audience data.
AI can be used to predict show attendance and demand, allowing producers to adjust marketing and advertising efforts to allocate resources more efficiently.
The use of AI can help to reduce the environmental impact of Broadway by optimizing energy consumption and reducing waste produced during productions.
AI-powered tools may lead to a homogenization of Broadway shows, with writers and producers relying too heavily on data-driven decisions rather than creative intuition.
AI-generated shows may lack the emotional depth and spontaneity of those created by human writers, composers, and directors.
The reliance on AI-generated recommendations for shows may reduce the diversity of productions offered and limit the exposure of lesser-known productions to audiences.
There is a potential for ethical issues to arise with the use of AI, such as data privacy and manipulation of audience preferences.
Carleton, intrigued, further challenged ChatGPT to provide examples of theater-enhanced AI:
“In 2019, a theater company in London used AI to generate a script for a new play called Beyond the Fence. The AI system analyzed data from existing plays and generated a script based on the patterns it detected. The resulting play was co-written by a human playwright and received positive reviews from audiences,” responded ChatGPT.
Carleton concluded: “While these experiments show the potential for AI to enhance the live theater experience, it is worth noting that human creativity and performance remains a key aspect of live entertainment. AI is likely to augment rather than replace human contributions in the industry. Theater is an opportunity to remember what it means to be connected to other people in an experience that will never happen quite the same way, ever again.”
As you might expect, The Sharon Playhouse’s own Education & Associate Artistic Director Michael Kevin Baldwin, feels the same: “Live theater and other forms of live entertainment offer a unique, irreplaceable experience that stands as a powerful antidote to the rise of artificial intelligence and computer-generated media. They foster genuine human connection, evoke real emotions, and remind us of our shared humanity in ways that technology simply cannot replicate.”
Whatever the eventual role of AI is in the arts, one thing is certain. AI and computer-generated media can never replace the impact of live theater. Come and experience the impact and pleasures of live theater for yourself at The Sharon Playhouse. Visit www.sharonplayhouse.org to order tickets and for more information about our 2024 Season.
THE SHARON PLAYHOUSE HOLDS WORLD PREMIERE OF SASSY CINDERELLA
BY MICHAEL KEVIN BALDWIN ON SATURDAY, AUGUST 24
Sassy Cinderella, the first full length play by Michael Kevin Baldwin, will debut on Saturday, August 24th, with 11am and 2pm performances at The Sharon Playhouse in Sharon, CT.
Baldwin is the multi-talented Education and Associate Artistic Director of The Playhouse, who has an extensive history with the acclaimed regional theater. He clearly remembers when at just 10 years old he auditioned for a role there and discovered the magic of theater. He knew that it would be his career choice even at that early age and feels how important it is now that he is in charge of the Youth Theater and he can provide opportunities for kids to step into that same magic.
Sassy Cinderella is a take-off on the classic fairy tale. The Brothers Grimm wrote one of the most popular versions and named the main character Aschenputte, which translates to The Little Ash Girl or Cinderella.
At the heart of the traditional tale of Cinderella is the relationship of an abusive stepmother and her two evil step daughters with their younger half daughter/sister, who they treat terribly and call Cinderella.
All are invited to a royal ball, but while the mother and sisters get dressed grandly, they have no intention of taking Cinderella to the ball with them. Nonetheless, Cinderella's fairy godmother appears and grants Cinderella's wish to go to the ball. She provides her with a coach, servants, a dress and perfectly fitted glass slippers.
Baldwin's Sassy Cinderella has turned the tables on the old version of the story and has given the youngest sister an overdose of sass and entitlement to a point where she's an egomaniac. She is an evil character who needs to learn a lesson, while the older sisters and their mother (who prefers to be called “Barb”) only want to be friendly and have fun. Instead of a fairy godmother, there is a fairy godfather to grant wishes.
Baldwin has experience in acting, directing and has written one act plays before, Sassy Cinderella is his first full length creation. He was inspired to write it in 2020 when he started a Sharon Playhouse Performing Arts Residency at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, CT. He wanted to produce a play for third and fourth graders, but couldn't find anything relevant and funny that would give somewhat equal stage exposure to the kids who wanted to be in it. Plotlines usually had a hero or two with an ensemble cast to compliment the lead characters. Members of the ensemble were hardly fully developed characters, but they wanted to be. That provided him with the impetus to create a one act play for 11 child actors. He has since adapted it for a larger cast of 20, included first to fifth graders, and added one song titled “Shake Your Sass” at the end.
Instead of farm animals in the old version of Cinderella, Michael created house pets with personalities. They include a turtle, goldfish, guinea pig, parakeet, iguana and a bulldog. They are more than endearing side characters, as they also narrate the play.
Baldwin credits The Playhouse playwriting class last spring with helping him expand his original creation. The classes enabled him to view his work from multiple perspectives. It also gave him accountability because he knew his teacher and fellow classmates were waiting to see what he came up with each week. It also helped him mine the comedy and emotional arc of his 45-minute play and gave him the opportunity to hear it read aloud
Though Baldwin writes alone, he says his most important sounding board and collaborator in his work is his husband, Will Nash Broyles, who is an experienced actor, singer, dancer, musician, director, choreographer and designer.
“There are so many reasons that make being in the theater a magical and rewarding experience,” says Michael. “I can remember only a few years ago when a kid came to us who wouldn't make eye contact with anyone. She was closed and drawn. The more she got interested in theater, the more she changed, not unlike Sassy Cinderella. Now, only three years later, she looks you in the eye, smiles and speaks with confidence. It's really the best kind of magic.
Sam LaFrage, a leading teaching artist with The Barrington Stage, will be directing the play. Sponsors Avele Conlogue and Mike Keating have underwritten a video recording of the play.
Baldwin said he is dedicating Sassy Cinderella to the late Mary Graf, “the sassy lassie who loved her role as a volunteer with The Sharon Playhouse YouthStage and was loved back by everyone.”
MEET THE TEAM BEHIND CURTAIN UP!
Publisher: The Sharon Playhouse Editor-in-Chief: Emily Soell, President of the Board of Directors*
Editor/Reporter: Jacqueline Markham-Priaulx*
Managing Editor: Rod Christensen
Design Director: Justin Boccitto
Reporters: Lee Davies,* John Christian Lange*
Advisors: Carl Andress, Artistic Director; Michael Kevin Baldwin, Associate Artistic Director/Director of Education; Sarah Cuoco, Education & Company Manager & Wendy Prause, Business Manager
*Members of the Board of Directors
All of us at Curtain Up! thank you for reading our newsletter.
Back to ABOUT