Join Broadway Stars, the most recent Bistro Award winners and friends Carole Demas (Grease original “Sandy”) and Sarah Rice (Sweeney Todd original “Johanna”) in their musical celebration of Broadway’s Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt (The Fantasticks, I Do, I Do, 110 In The Shade, Celebration, Colette, more). Carole & Sarah, who each played “Luisa” in The Fantasticks at NYC’s Sullivan Street Playhouse, share their unique and often hilarious backstage/onstage stories, photos and appreciation of their professional work and personal friendships with Tom and Harvey.
- Nitelife Exchange (NLE) – How did the idea come to both of you to celebrate your friends, Tom and Harvey, at The Laurie Beechman Theatre and how was the process?
Carole Demas (CD) and Sarah Rice (SR) – For most of our lives, even before we knew each other, Sarah and I have each been drawn to Tom and Harvey’s music and have loved them both enormously. The idea of celebrating what has been in our hearts, minds and voices for many years, came some time later. Our individual dreams of playing the role of Luisa in The Fantasticks (I grew up in Brooklyn and Sarah, a bit later, in Arizona) came true for both of us, ten years apart. I played Luisa in the NY production at the Sullivan St. Playhouse from 1966-68 and Sarah played there for two years beginning in 1976. We had the same manager and got to know each other better at that time. I played roles in Tom and Harvey’s workshop, Portfolio, and in their show Celebration, in Seattle. Our careers grew. On Broadway, I was the original Sandy in Grease. Sarah was the original Johanna in Sweeney Todd. In recent years, we began singing in some of the same cabaret and concerts and realized we had something special when we combined our hearts and voices. Our friendship and respect for each other’s talent grew.
We found that each of us had wanted, for a very long time, to create a show based on our love of Jones/Schmidt music and our personal memories and long friendships with them. It wasn’t long before we knew that our individual thoughts and goals had been compatible all along. We knew we wanted something different that wasn’t a more typical “catalog” or retrospective show. Almost instantly we saw that together we could do more justice to these rich and varied songs and memories than any one person might do individually.
We wanted to put aside ego, share the wealth of our experiences, honor the songs we chose, share the ones we both loved to sing and give each of us the chance to shine. It was interesting to realize that we each had the opportunity to work closely with Tom & Harvey at different times, to witness some of their process first hand and to get to know them as friends, each of us storing up our memories for the NOW of our show.
Creating a cabaret show can be a serious challenge. The fire was in the belly but when you’ve had an idea that has been important to you for years, it can get so big and complicated and you want so much for it to be worthy, you don’t know where to start! How do we share their gorgeous and clever music and our personal adventures with Tom and Harvey and help our audience to enjoy and come to know them as we have over a span of 50+ years? Aware that Tom & Harvey are growing older (and we are, too!) we needed to do this while they were still with us. So, we jumped in as a team, putting together bits and pieces of ideas, lists of songs we admired, had sung (or wish we had) working through the many details that went into building a show that has become, as critics describe it, “more than the usual cabaret-…a theater piece that deserves to be seen by more and more people.” My husband, Stuart Allyn, became our producer and sound designer, assembled and edited all the visual material and has been involved every step of the way. Sarah brought in Joe Goodrich, who is not only a talented Musical Director and pianist, but has a wonderful singing voice. Most of Tom and Harvey’s shows have included a harp. We were lucky to get Maria Banks, who played harp for The Fantasticks. Working with her is pure pleasure- and a harp isn’t something you see on a cabaret stage very often! Hal Robinson, Sarah’s first El Gallo at Sullivan Street, is a lovely actor who, as our special guest, enhances the opening portion of our show with his beautiful performance of The Glen Speech. Digging into Tom and Harvey’s treasure trove of songs became an exciting and sometimes daunting process. We were struck, en masse, by the timeless beauty and energy of them. The hard part was deciding what NOT to include. Joe joined us in some duets and on other songs and we made duets of songs that are not normally done by two women. I reached out to my dear friend, actor and brilliant director, Charles Repole, who I feared would not be available, but somehow, he was! Charles loved the project, brought his vision and talent to the music and dialogue we had planned, and we knuckled down. It’s great to put yourself in the hands of a director who is a thoughtful, creative collaborator, someone you can trust enough to be willing to let go of some things, try what you hadn’t thought of, and find you have a meeting of the minds, with the flow of your show building and growing stronger, funny, emotionally full, satisfying the goals you had cherished for so long. Writer John Schak, who has worked with Tom & Harvey for decades, helped us find music, photos and other material for visuals. We contributed our personal mementos and John came up with some gems we are so happy to include. Kenny Bell, Theater Manager, his assistant Michael Kirk Lane, Steve Olsen, owner of the West Bank Cafe and Abby Judd on lights and stage and all of the staff at the Laurie Beechman Theater have been, as always, supportive, caring and enthusiastic. The little Black Box Theater atmosphere is a really nice venue for us. Now turning 90 and still productive and amazing, Tom Jones generously spoke to our audience when we first opened the show. The process is ongoing because we are still so invested in it and want it to stay fresh and current.
So, we’ve done it, at last- we have this latest version of our show- a lovely, timeless, memorable, very entertaining (and informative, we are told) celebration of two men who have changed our lives forever. We have been blessed with fabulous reviews, terrific articles and interviews in many publications. Having seen the intense enjoyment of our audiences, we hope to continue bringing our show to theaters for a long time to come. We find ourselves continually filled with the passion of this material.
Sarah Rice (SR) – What spurred us to do this sooner rather than later is that we wanted to deliver our love letter to Tom and Harvey while they were still alive to hear it. We found that we were of like mind- the emotional communication of a song was paramount to both of us. I believe there is great power when you do something that has pure love at its center. This beautiful “child” of a show has been a true collaboration- Carole and I are the heart of it, but all of us, Carole and I, Joe, Maria, Stuart, and of course, Charles, have put our best selves, our true hearts forward.
Being Luisa really was a dream come true for me. I didn’t think it could ever get any better than that.
2. NLE – Which lyric created by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt do you relate to most?
CD – When Sarah and I and Joe Goodrich were exploring Jones/Schmidt material, revisiting their songs, even though we had been singing many of them for years, we were swooning all over again at their exquisite quality -the spare, lush poetry, the beauty, those chords of Harvey’s that just reach into you, the cleverness and humor- There is such variety! I adore Tom’s writing. Harvey has a very distinctive musical style and an almost magical grasp of where Tom is going and what he is feeling/saying with his words. Harvey’s music is so filled with life, and longing and fun- it marries the words and fills the songs. The lyrics and music often become inseparable, as in the work of many of the great Broadway songwriting teams. (Then there’s Harvey’s “Overture” for The Fantasticks– a wondrous and much loved piece of music. No words, but you hear them anyway!)
So many lyrics to love, but since you asked, these especially get to me:
“The Room Is Filled With You” and “Joy” (Colette Collage)
“Soon It’s Gonna Rain” and “Try To Remember” (The Fantasticks)
“My Cup Runneth Over” and “A Man And A Woman” (I Do, I Do)
“My Garden” and “Celebration” (Celebration)
And there’s a line or two in a song from Roadside, which won’t leave my head: “All men is crazy. Yes, all men is crazy- as crazy as they can be… If they’s just a halfway crazy man, then that’s the man for me.” (and I married him!).
No surprise-most of these are in our show- And It’s no wonder that some of these songs became huge popular hits on their own. Tom and Harvey very recently received The Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theater- one of the best of their many well deserved honors.
SR – The wonderful thing to me about Tom’s Lyrics is that they grow with you through life. The words that meant the most to me as a young person are different as I have gotten older and more experienced in life. Different lyrics take on different meanings and you understand them differently. As a young person, all the “I’m gonna” lyrics resonate in “Much More”. “I’d like to swim in a clear blue stream, where the water is icy cold, then go to town in a golden gown and have my fortune told. Just once, before I’m old.” As I have gotten older and known more sorrow and loss, the lyrics of “Try To Remember” and “Joy” or “The Room is filled with You” take on different significance, for example. Tom’s lyrics are words to grow by and that is why they endure the test of time.
3. NLE – Tell me about a time you had a very troubled day but had to perform that night. How did you get through it?
CD – Oh, in 57+ years of professional work, there have been many, many of those. I’ve been lucky enough to have played some long runs. There are always going to be tough days that bring you down, but the people in each audience are there to see this show NOW and they deserve the very best you’ve got. I remember a few in particular: Two days after my beloved dad suddenly died (our family was in total shock) my dear friend and Magic Garden (“the most successful regional show in the history of children’s televsion”) co-star, Paula Janis, and I were booked to do a performance at the then new Children’s Zoo at The Bronx Zoo, and to be part of the “cutting the ribbon” ceremony at the entrance to this charming new exhibit. I knew Dad would want me to be there. It was surreal – that fairy tale atmosphere, and all of the families and children laughing and that heaviness in my gut while I tried to understand that my father was gone. Another time, Paula and I performed three of our live shows in one day, in a theater, the day after her mother died. The photos show the dark circles of grief under her eyes, but she was totally there and did a wonderful job.
Performing under physical or emotional stress in any job is very difficult and life is unpredictable for most of us. A life in “the biz” can be especially so. Constantly honing your skills and staying physically fit and emotionally in charge through the built-in disappointments, dashed hopes, rising to the top of your game on a moment’s notice audition, being totally present on stage every single moment- all part of the job.
If you’re working with an injury you usually don’t want the audience to be aware. Sometimes, depending on the piece, you can channel your pain and bring some extra power to your performance. Often, your fellow performers are there to support you through it.
Many working artists handle all this while keeping a home and raising a family. It has to be who you are.
I originated the title role in Stephen Schwartz’s The Baker’s Wife in the premier production. One unforgettable night I had been quite severely injured only hours before, accidentally lacerating my wrist and fingers while trying to open a window. My understudy was not ready to go on and we had a full house- thousands of people. I had to refuse pain drugs because I was afraid they’d make me physically, vocally and emotionally numb. I went on in dozens of stitches and a partial cast covered with makeup and did my best show ever. Proud that “Meadowlark”, my major song, brought down the house. The adrenaline we can make at times like this is a miracle, as many actors (and athletes, too) will tell you.
It’s all another world.
SR – I was taught early on that you leave your bad day at the stage door. You take your best self inside and don’t let the bad stuff interfere with the job you have to do, you owe that to the audience and your colleagues. The theater and onstage has always been a safe haven for me. It’s real life that is difficult. After my beloved grandmother died, I would go on stage and do what I had to do and then go cry my heart out in the wings.
4. NLE – Who were some of your early musical influences?
CD – You probably mean the kind of influence I felt from Disney songs and silly 40’s tunes, the romantic WWII ballads and patriotic songs pouring from the radio, later Joan Baez, Joanie Mitchell, the Beatles, Billy Joel, Judy Collins- and more- At 16, I saw my first Broadway show (L’il Abner) and was awestruck- but, far as I knew, it was all something I would never be a part of.
When I thought about your question, I realized the strongest influence was my family. Music was in and around us in our daily lives and in the mentors who guided me later.
We had no “show biz” background. Both of my parents grew up as first generation Americans speaking another language at home (Greek for my father, a lawyer, Polish for my mother, a nurse). Both of them loved to sing and had pleasing natural voices, good pitch and lots of musicality. All four of us fortunately inherited their natural talent and love for music. As a little girl, I didn’t realize that having a good singing voice was special in any way. I thought every family was like this.
Mom sang around the house and my father sang in the Kings Glee Club in Brooklyn, as did his two brothers and lots of men who sang for the love of it. I was a very young “program girl” at their concerts and remember the thrilling sound of masculine voices filling the concert hall. The whole place was literally vibrating. My father also sang Barber Shop and taught me, my sister and two brothers to sing as a quartet. I’m 77 now and grew up in the 40’s and 50’s. We played classical music and popular records on our victrola! No TV- but of course we had the radio. I had dance lessons (I loved ballet) and some piano lessons, but my sister Marian was the only one of us who actually played the piano- and very well. All four of us kids sang in choirs in St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn, but the real star in the family was the youngest brother, Alex. Under the guidance of the magnificent Choir Master, Charles Ennis (who had a strong influence on me and my early training) Alex worked hard and was very inspiring, becoming one of the finest boy sopranos in the United States (he has a wonderful tenor voice and plays more string instruments than I can name). Charles Ennis helped me begin to study voice when I was 16. I was in the Mixed Chorus, under “Boss” Levine, in Midwood High School (where I met Paula Janis, in 1954, when we were 14). I sang solos in chorus and difficult solo music in church, but truthfully, I was terrified of singing in public and didn’t even dare think of a singing or acting career. The fear has never entirely left me- but when I’m singing/acting, I am whole. It was my incredible professor Greg Falls, at the University of Vermont, where I was an English major, who cast me in leading roles in college productions. He gave me a chance to learn. I was Julie (Carousel), Fiona (Brigadoon), Micaela (Carmen), Monica (The Medium) and others. It was a small puddle and I was a late bloomer but it was new and exciting. In the middle of a performance as Julie, it dawned on me that being somebody else and singing as “her” wasn’t nearly as scary as being me; sky rockets when off inside, like something in a book, or a movie. I’d suddenly found what I hoped to do with my life. The feeling was so strong I almost forgot where I was. Greg and his wife, Jean, introduced me to Tom & Harvey’s music (WOW!) and said I’d play Luisa someday, somewhere….
Metropolitan Opera Star, radio tenor, movie musical star Felix Knight became my voice teacher in the mid 1960’s. He and his wife Ethel were so good to me. Almost until the end of his long life, Felix taught me technique that made it possible for me to use the long range of my then lyric coloratura voice, to sing a variety of music without doing damage and to continue singing to this day. How someone who never imagined a career in show business had the good fortune to make her way to such special mentors, I will never know.
SR – I was raised in a house with classical music on the radio and Broadway Cast Albums. I grew up listening to Barbara Cook in Music Man, Julie Andrews in everything, Disney soundtracks, of course The Fantasticks, and my father played “Moon River” and other popular songs on the Hammond organ. I spent my childhood in the theater and took piano lessons. One of my favorite pieces of music was “Rustle of Spring.” I would make my piano teacher play it for me each lesson! It was my reward at the end of the piano lesson. I taught myself to play the overture to The Fantasticks and the “Carousel Waltz” on the piano because I loved them so much. We had a wonderful Children’s Theatre and a community theatre where I would spend most of my time, even if I wasn’t in a show, just taking it all in. I sang and danced in so many community theater productions and I belonged to a church group that did musicals. I didn’t care how big the part was, as long as I could be onstage. Then in high school, a friend introduced me to the music of Stephen Sondheim. That is another one who’s music grows with you over your life, you understand songs differently at different stages of your life. I wanted to be Victoria Mallory, Hayley Mills, Beverly Sills, Leontyne Price, Mirella Freni and Joan Sutherland when I grew up. In college I was part of a wonderful music program and the head of the Music Department, Dr. Kenneth Seipp, was a wonderful teacher who exposed us to an eclectic range of music from opera to strange little musicals and music theater pieces to the classics. I left college very early on to come to NYC. Music has always been my solace and my joy.
- NLE – What was the most challenging part of learning the part of Luisa from The Fantasticks?
CD – When you’re really passionate about a role (as both Sarah and I were with Luisa), even if it’s challenging it’s such sheer joy to find yourself learning and playing it, it isn’t horribly difficult. There’s a lot to learn, but you have so much positive energy. I was a good fit for it, physically and vocally and I had already played the role at the Milwaukee Rep (on a totally different set) but doing it in NYC, in the “real” production (as Sarah calls it) was scary and exciting. I entered the show (which ran for 57 years) six years after it opened. The rest of the cast was in full swing. My biggest concerns were learning the blocking- being in the right place at the right time, so I wouldn’t mess up any of the other actors, and adjusting to any specifics of the music and dialogue that were required in this original production. Over and over, I rehearsed moving on the little platform, grabbing and swinging around the pole at one end so the location would be “in my bones” and I could just know where to find it without looking. In the NY production, Luisa turned pages for the pianist when she wasn’t actually on stage. I was also scared that I’d mess that up! These are the things you never want an audience to notice!
SR – By the time I got the part in NYC, I had the whole show memorized from wanting to do it so badly and loving the show so dearly, so it all felt very organic to me. The hardest part was learning the blocking in a week with only the stage manager and then going onstage opening night with the actual cast. Opening night I felt like a deer in headlights. Then, you settle in for the joy of a long run, where it becomes so familiar that being onstage doing the part felt like the most natural place to be in the world.
- NLE – What is the most rewarding character in a show you’ve ever worked on?
CD – In 57 years, if you’re lucky, there will be at least several of those. Of course, Luisa was extremely special to me. Then there’s that rare opportunity to create a role in a new Broadway show- you can only hope that will happen some day and that the show will actually run! Sandy was all that and more for me, and Grease has had an extraordinary life and has become an iconic show. It made me a Broadway star. I would never have dared to imagine that.
Originating the title role in The Baker’s Wife was a big deal and a powerful memory. I introduced Steven Schwartz’s “Meadowlark,” now considered one of the great story songs of musical theater. Over 40 years later, I still sing it and find inspiration in its beauty and many layers.
I played numerous roles on television (including recurring roles on soaps and guest star roles on prime time shows – even a murderer, on a Barnaby Jones back in the 70’s) but Carole in The Magic Garden, which ran for 12½ years and today, 46 years after it began, gets a million views on some facebook posts, is another totally unexpected thing. It was such fun developing and performing it with Paula (on my one day off from Grease!). We couldn’t have known that it would be loved and remembered this way. We still do live family concerts together (to full houses). I am grateful for all of it.
SR – I have been so lucky to play some wonderful characters in my career so far. Luisa is right up there because she gets to take an emotional journey and sing some great music. I also loved doing Cunegonde, Kathie in the Student Prince, Ophelia, Marie in Daughter of the Regiment, Rosina in Barber of Seville, Susanna in Marriage of Figaro and Gilda in Rigoletto. These were all girls who had emotional challenges. The most frustrating were the ones where you stand around looking pretty and everyone else has the big emotional moment. It is fun to die on stage. I am also looking forward to playing Sally in Follies someday. I have been waiting to be old enough.
Carole and Sarah perform at The Laurie Beechman on:
February 4 at 1:00pm: for tickets this day, click here
and
February 8 at 7:00pm: for tickets this day, click here.
The Laurie Beechman
407 West 42nd Street
Downstairs at the West Bank Café
New York, NY 10036
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