Guys and Dolls just closed at the Racine Theater Guild, and although I was tied up with a Side by Side by Sondheim rehearsal for most of the afternoon, I was able to get to the RTG in time for the last few minutes of the very last performance. . . which is what I try to do with most of the musicals. By that point in the proceedings, I’m pretty much irrelevant – the musical performance has settled into whatever it’s going to be, for good or ill – but I’m happy to say that this show was a shining success in nearly every respect. There was a bit of drama in this last weekend, however, when our magnificent Adelaide, Teri Wilson, came down with a really nasty bug. She first noticed it in the first act of Friday night’s performance when she began singing “I love you, a bushel and a peck” and had lost the little “squeak” which she (like most people who do the role of Adelaide) utilize on the word “a”. The squeak was gone – and it was her first clue that things were going amiss. (One of her closest friends, Jamie Johnson, was in the audience- and as soon as she heard Teri without her squeak, she though to herself “Uh oh. She’s sick.” Teri, the consummate pro, managed to survive but her throat got worse and worse – and she ended up going to Urgent Care early the next morning to try and get some help. (There were TWO performances Saturday – and we have no understudies.) Meanwhile, I contacted Oak Music, who did our accompaniment soundtrack, and had them email us versions of Adelaide’s big numbers transposed down. . . which proved to be a godsend. And Teri carried on, using all of her savvy and skill to present a fine performance despite losing a good fourth off of her top range. This may very well be Teri’s last performances with the RTG, as it’s looking like she and her husband will soon be moving, and while I’m sure she was frustrated to death to end her time with us so vocally hobbled, I think it was neat that our last image of her will be with that “the show must go on” attitude that defines live theater. And really, it’s performances like these, when the planets are NOT aligned in our favor, where we really prove what we’re made of. Teri Wilson is made of strong stuff.
There were all kinds of success stories with this production – including the glorious singing of Jennifer Kiel as Sarah, the hilarious antics of Dave Geisler as Nathan Detroit, the show- stopping charm and energy of Joe Vignieri as Nicely Nicely – and many other skilled cast members. But in many ways, I am proudest of the work done by Matt Specht as Sky Masterson . . . who delivered the goods so convincingly as Harold Hill in “The Music Man.” This role was a bit more of a stretch for Matt, who vocally is most comfortable singing in rock bands. (Not that Harold Hill is a rock person, but you don’t need a classically- trained, conventionally beautiful voice and singing style to render the part very well.) Sky Masterson has some tough stuff to sing, and some of it is fairly sustained and “legit” – and I wondered how Matt would do. (We cast him more for his theatrical skill and for his easy charisma and confidence- which are even more essential for the character.) But Matt worked so hard and was so responsive to all of my advice and he managed to come such a long way. And every time I got to hear him sing “I’ve never been in love before” and heard some real vibrato enter his tone, I would just start smiling.
Matt has always made me smile. The guy is Energy Unbridled and I guess has always been like that. He’s from Kenosha originally and at Bradford H.S. was splitting time between choir, piano lessons, and football /wrestling – and very good at all of them. When I first got to know Matt at the RTG, he was pretty young and even a touch on the wild side- apt to get both himself and younger castmates in trouble for antics of one kind or another. . . never anything mean or destructive, just potentially hazardous to life and limb. He has calmed down a bit in recent years, but not so much that there isn’t still that vibrant, puppy-like love for life and a real sense of gratitude that I think is so important to happiness. Just one sliver of an example- at any of the performances of G & D I attended, afterwards down in the green room when Matt would see me, he would come racing across the room and wrap his body builder arms around me in a bear hug that would threaten to crack three ribs and rupture my spleen. . . all the while with this big grin on his face. That’s Matt- and that’s another reason why I loved the work he did as Sky Masterson – because what I just described is so NOT Sky Masterson, the ultimate cool customer without a hair out of place. It’s one thing to get up on a stage and basically play yourself wearing someone else’s clothes. It’s quite another matter to get up on a stage and BE someone else. That’s when this whole theater biz gets to be incredibly exciting – and I feel so fortunate to be a small part of it, even if I’m just the guy in the corner playing the piano.