JK:
We originally met on "Smart Guy" and so I’ve know Jim
throughout the years and we happened to be doing one of the episodes of
"Suite Life – " and he had just done another show called
"Two Gentlemen of Corona" to a great acclaim at another theatre
that I’m involved with called West Coast Ensemble. That show was up for
the Ovation award and did very well, so we started talking about that. I
told him that I was the new Artistic Director at the Attic and would be
interested in anything he had, because I’ve always admired Jim’s
writing. Not only from "Ony Kidding" but another play called
"Light Sensitive", which is one of my favorite plays, actually.
So Jim brought this musical up,
and I thought, "There’s no way I can do a musical in this
space" (the Attic). But we talked a little more about it and he told
me it was about the relationships and about these characters, and less
about the big grand sense and movement, and so I read it. I was on tour
with a company I work with up in Seattle, and after I read it, one
afternoon I called Jim and I said – "Let’s talk about it!"
And that’s how it all went down.
RP: Being Artistic Director now – how has
that changed you from what you did before?
JK:
Well, I was a free lance director before for many different 99-seat
companies and I also direct for camera as well – but now I have to think
more with a mind for theatre in the long term. I’m not just taking on a
show and doing that show and then leaving the theatre. I’m taking on that
show as part of a season that I’ve designed – and trying to make that
theatre work best for the whole season. So I need to make that show work as
part of the whole season. So I think it just that now I have to look at the
bigger picture.
RP: And UG is part of this season’s big
picture?
JK:
It is.
RP: It’s opening the season?
JK: Well, it’s my
opening as Artistic Director here. I came on over last summer – and since
then we’ve done one night marathons, a production of "Closer",
the West Coast premiere of Keith Redden's "All the Rage" and then UG.
RP: How has the
casting been for UG? Any nightmare casting stories?
JG: We were
going to do the play a little bit earlier – but we just couldn’t get
the last two or three people to fit into place, and Jerry and I both
agreed. Let’s do it right! Let’s have everyone we’re really excited
about and right now we are totally excited about every member in the cast.
We had to wait a few months for
the right pieces to fall into the right place, but to rush it into
production with two or three people who could only do a few weeks and then
come back later, we weren’t that excited about others, but the ones we
loved were gracious enough to hold their schedules and come on back. I’ve
seen the rehearsals and every role is strong – the casting is strong, top
to bottom.
JK: It was worth the
wait.
JG:–
You know, people in theatre and in the arts tend to be impatient – "gotta
get it done now – if I don’t do it now it will never get done"
type of attitude. It was hard to wait. For me it was very hard. To sit back
and do nothing is very tough. It’s tough, but we wanted to do it right.
So we’ve got a great casts now. It worked out.
RP: You have as six week run?
JK:
We’re scheduled for six weeks, and we hope to extend that if it does
well.
JG:
It opens on the 19th of January and the preview is on the 18th.
RP: So Jim, are you planning anything beyond UG
– maybe UG 2 or UG 3?
JG:
In regards to UG?
RP: Or maybe, let’s say your next project . .
.
JG:
I’m totally dried out! (laughter) I’m in such a shallow – fallow
period right now it’s unbelievable! What am I doing? I was writing the
book to a musical for Broadway and it’s being revised in a few months we
just started a new season of Zack and Cody – I’m modifying a pilot and
I’m looking at a screen play I just don’t have a play in me at this
time. When it comes it’ll come. I have nothing beyond UG all right, I
have another play, but I’m not telling anybody about it now/ (laughing).
I’m always writing a play – always writing – I’ve been writing a
play for seven years and I think I’ll be done in another six.
RP: Do you normally take a long time to finish
a play? UG was eight years . . .
JG:
UG took a long time because I had to collaborate with a composer and learn
the trick of lyric writing. Two Gentlemen of Corona came quick – it only
took about a year – but Only Kidding took three years – almost four;
Light Sensitive took two years. Sometimes they just take a long time, and I
don’t show it to anyone until it’s ready. UG is now a very lean show.
It’s going to go by like a freight train full of big laughs and body
punches – good looking girls and the music is kick-ass. It couldn’t be
more exciting.
RP: When you are writing e a play, are there
any techniques for inspiration?
JG:
I won’t start a play unless I know what the act break is. I want to have
a good one, and this one has a really good act break – I won’t start
writing anything until I know what the ending is. If you start writing and
you don’t know the ending, you’re in big trouble. So when I know what
the last page is I start writing the first page – so I’m thinking about
UG for a good two years around the house. I know he’s a cave man – I
know he fears death – I know he wants to immortalize himself in some way,
and this is why we scratch pictures on wall – this is why we compose
songs – and this is why we do artistic things. His artistic expression is
a play – he invents something called "a play". Complications
come to a strong act break – I know what the ending is going to be so I’m
OK. Once I have that, I can finish. The first two years was just muddling
all that through my mind, you know?
RP: Jerry, let me get back to you, if I may. As
an artistic director, when somebody brings you a new project, what are you
looking for?
JK:
Well, it depends on what I’ve chosen as a season. As Artistic Director
for this company, I want to do things that one would not normally see in a
99-seat theatre, or things that deserve a production but for some reason
have not gotten it. I’m able get that and to do it in this kind of stage.
And it’s the same thing with all the creative people I’m bringing in
the writers – people of Jim’s caliber. The cast in the last show were
people who normally don’t do 99-seat theatre. I’m really trying to
bring in a higher caliber into this theatre and keep that working in this
space.
RP: What is the process for planning a season?
How do you decide – "This season I’m going to lean more this way
".
JK:
Well, I don’t theme a season, but when I decide – you know, there might
be a couple of lynchpins and then you work with that – you want to
counter program. I don’t want to do six comedies a year – I don’t
want to do six musicals, but if there was going to be a constant theme, it
would be just a bit of something with an experimental edge – things you’re
not necessarily going to see elsewhere. UG fits that bill in the sense that
it’s a musical, and musicals in a 99-seat theatre are very – very
difficult to do. On the other sense, this show could be a huge hit in
Pacoima – or maybe Kansas City – it’s such an accessible show.
JG: With
enough girls, it could be a big hit in Vegas! No reason why the tribe can’t
consist of twenty beautiful women – no reason at all!
RP: And the costumes?
JG:
Very – very – let’s just say it’s summer. It’s hot! You don’t
want to wear too much! Jerry is right. If someone from New York saw it in a
mid size house saw it, you’d up the chorus by about four people. You’d
still have a lean cast of about sixteen and it would make a perfectly
interesting and doable musical.
RP: So what has been the most challenging
aspect of this production?
JG:
Nothing other than just getting the right people. It’s very tough to find
good actors, who have comedic skills, who can sing well and dance. That’s
tough. It sounds easy, but it really isn’t. It’s very very tough.
RP: And for you Jerry, what was the hardest?
JK:
I have to agree. Casting is 80% of the job, but once we got the cast we
wanted the rehearsals have been quite easy actually. The cast is strong and
they knew they were well cast for their roles, so it’s really been about
just getting them up and telling the story.
JG: And
two of the people in the cast work on "The Suite Life of Zack and
Cody"! They auditioned for the part and got them; they just wanted to
work with Jerry and its really great to have them.
RP: Jim, did you audition the people yourself?
JG:
I
was there, yes.
RP: Final decision was yours?
JG:
Always Jerry’s – always Jerry’s.
JK:
But Jim has so much experience I’d be a dummy not to listen to him
(laughter).
RP: – So as a closing, let me ask you to fill
in the blank here – "UG will be _____"
JG: Uhmm
– That’s a tough one, especially since I’m not a writer. OK . . . UG
will be a medium sized motion picture in a couple of years! (Laughing)
RP: Jerry, you’re using a track (music)
JK:
We are, but the singing is live.
JG:
And the music is by Rick Rhodes, who unfortunately passed away recently. He
left us much too soon. I made a promise to him that no one would ever touch
his music. It’s all his work, and by the way, his widow will be at the
show. It’s very important to her, and I’ll be thinking of him
throughout the run.
JK:
We’re dedicating the show to the memory of Rick – the music is
phenomenal – it’s really catchy. You ask to fill in the blank - how about
this, UG will be something that you remember much longer than just a half
hour after you walk out! The music stays with you – the story stays
with you and the characters stay with you.
JG:
I’ll tell you a good story for closing. Two years ago I met a
producer-writer on a pilot who was writing a musical and was scared to
death. I told her, " Don’t be frightened – I did it and I’m a
schmuck!" At the time I had CD’s so I gave her one – a CD of UG,
which has very commercial songs – they’re almost songs for young people
that can be enjoyed by adults. She called me up to tell me how much she
enjoyed them, and said that her 10 year old boy recently had a birthday and
was given as a present a choice to listen to any CD on the way to and from
Disneyland. What did he choose to listen? UG. Both going and coming to
Disneyland! Wow – this from a ten year old!
