Interview: Amy Powers on the “Heathers” Musical

Posted on April 6, 2014 at 3:42 pm

Can it be possible that “Heathers,” the highly quotable ultimate mean girl story, was made 25 years ago? As Entertainment Weekly dishes with the actors and filmmakers to mark its anniversary and The Atlantic’s Alan Zilberman considers its impact, a musical based on the movie has just opened off Broadway. I spoke to producer Amy Powers, a Harvard Law grad turned writer, lyricist, and theatrical producer, about the show, how she left law for show business, and how being a lawyer helps her do her job.

Who came up with the idea of “Heathers” as a musical?

That would be our visionary co-producer, Andy Cohen, President of the management and production company Grade A Entertainment. My husband (J. Todd Harris) and I met Andy through a philanthropic networking group for Jewish Los Angeles entertainment professionals,created by my great Harvard Law School friend Steve Price. We loved Andy’s idea… and Todd brought in Andy Fickman, our wonderful director. Andy took it to his Reefer Madness! Lyricist/bookwriter, Emmy winning showrunner Kevin Murphy… and we all courted Lawrence O’Keefe (Tony nominated for Legally Blonde, The Musical).

Is it still set in the 1980’s or is it updated to the era of texting and Snapchat?

It’s proudly faithful to its original 80’s setting. (Technologically, this is the equivalent of “once upon a time”… the better to underscore the universality of bullying, peer pressure and self doubt). So yes – there’s a VCR. A teacher passes out mimeographs of Heather Chandler’s suicide note. We even have corded telephones (remember those?).

Why does the extreme situation of “Heathers” feel so true to the experience of high school?

Because it pretty much is, emotionally. The social politics of high school often feel like life and death. Insecurity is the norm, boundary testing reflexive. Allegiances can feel like they are built on quicksand. People wish other people would just, well, die. As my husband says, very essence of successful drama takes a magnifying glass to reality, and that’s what HEATHERS does.

Who becomes a mean girl and what happens to them?

My personal opinion is that mean girls are born, not made. You’re either a Queen Bee or you’re not. To quote that veritable source, Wikipedia, “When a young virgin queen emerges… she will generally seek out rivals and attempt to kill them.” As a parent, I saw that happening in nursery school! Most mean girls are feared, worshipped, hated, …. and eventually left behind, as people grow up and there is life outside the hive. Nice girls win. Mean girls put away their stingers or become bitter, lonely old ladies.

What made you decide to leave law?

The Universe. First It smacked me upside the head (I got Chronic Fatigue Syndrome literally a month after joining the Real Estate Finance Department at White & Case). Then It kissed me on the lips (while recovering, I wrote my first song — about a paralegal, no less — and the rush was addictive). There’s a big difference between doing something because you can, and doing something because you must. It didn’t feel like a decision — it felt like a mandate.

How does your background as a lawyer help you as a producer? As a writer?

Well, it certainly is a boon in understanding and navigating the nuts and bolts of the rights situation, and all of the agreements (investor, theater, creative). And, as every single issue in producing theater is a negotiation, I still utilize the skills learned during my HLS class with Roger Fisher (Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In).

As far as songwriting goes, my legal background was actually a challenge. I actually spent my first 5 years “unlearning” how to “think like a lawyer”… to let go of logic and simply become a creative channel.

Which classic high school movie comes closest to your own teenage years?

It hasn’t been written yet. I actually had a great time in high school (I know, I’m the only one). The worst thing that happened to me – moving and starting a new school in 10th grade – was actually the best, too, because I got to write my story over from scratch. When someone shoots the suburban ‘new kid’ story about the happy, sappy heroine who hangs with jocks and nerds alike, stars in the school show, writes her college application essays in limericl, and whose biggest claim to fame is as President of the Friday Afternoon Pseudo-Intellectual Elitist Wine Group (which serves Almaden), I’ll gladly watch.

What surprised you most about being a producer?

It’s only glamorous on Opening Night. Otherwise, it’s basically a daily deluge of decisions. Luckily, we’ve been working with a fantastic team of co-producers, including Scott Prisand (Rock Of Ages), Jamie Bendell (A Gentleman’s Guide To Love and Murder), Big Block Theatrical, and Stage Ventures (Rock of Ages, Million Dollar Quartet and more).

What was the best advice you got?

When a New York theater opens up, jump at it… even if you have no cast, no funds raised, and only four months to make everything happen!

What are you hoping the audience will see in this show?

Themselves… and everyone they knew.

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Interview: Daniel Breaker of “Shrek: The Musical”

Posted on October 16, 2013 at 11:25 am

First it was a book by William Steig. Then it was a sensationally successful series of animated films, featuring the voice talents of Mike Meyers, Cameron Diaz, and Eddie Murphy. Then it was a blockbuster Broadway smash hit musical starring Sutton Foster, Daniel Breaker, and Brian d’Arcy James as the ogre. And now the musical is available on DVD, bringing the Broadway experience into the living room. I am a huge fan of Daniel Breaker’s work in “Passing Strange,” so it was a thrill to get to talk to him about playing Donkey on stage in Shrek the Musical.

What’s the first thing you did when you found out that you were going to be playing Donkey?

I guess I wondered if this is really happening or not. You know the part really came out of nowhere for me. I was actually on vacation with my wife and my newborn so I guess you wouldn’t call it vacation. My new born, he was only two weeks old when I got the call for that part. There was actually a lot going on at that point right when I got the call. My wife is a director. She was about to start rehearsals for a play called “Ruined” which takes place in Congo and which later won a Pulitzer and so we were on that path. And then “Shrek” came in and now we have this newborn so that was a very, exciting, and exhausting, and stressful for the first couple of months. But that’s just a part you can’t really say no to. I mean when somebody calls and asks me to play the donkey, that’s not really something you pass on.

It’s kind of a challenge because you’ve got people coming who have a strong idea of who the Donkey is. You want to make it your own but you also want to make them happy. How do you walk that tightrope?

Well, you know, what’s interesting about the version that we did is that the animated movies are very specific, right? And what was great was that when we translated that idea onto the stage, no one was pressuring anybody to make a direct steal from the movie to the stage. I think what we were doing was we’re taking some the benefits that come with live theater and applying that to the iconic story. So there was no pressure to impersonate Eddie Murphy or impersonate Cameron Diaz’s voice. If anything, we were celebrating the story even further by taking it unto a live medium. And then we’re almost coming full circle here by bringing it back to the screen with this DVD which, I think, captures all of the living, breathing excitement of the live stage performance and bringing you just a little closer so you can see certain elements and nuances from the acting that you might not see when you’re watching it on stage. So I think it sort of ups the pleasure of watching the story even further.

Donkey’s got a lot of the best lines in the show.

I think Donkey is such a great part because I think there’s a little Donkey in all of us. I think he is a little bit of a weirdo. He wants a friend. He wears his heart on his sleeve. I think that’s something that we all strive to be like. So, you know, I find him utterly thrilling. And just from sort of like the theater nerd in me, I feel like he is one of these ancient Commedia characters. I think he is completely honest in every single moment of his life. He does not know how to lie. That doesn’t live in his blood. I find it actually so thrilling to be that open and vulnerable on stage. Every night was so much fun. And also, the cast is just extraordinary. I had such a magnificent time playing opposite Brian d’Arcy James. I think even on those exhausted days when I was sick or I was tired, it was just seeing him up there and his very honest eyes and thinking, “Alright. I’m going to do this anyway. We’re going to have a great time.” So it was a thrill every step of the way. And Sutton Foster — that girl was a machine. I don’t know how she got through that thing of like throwing the green costume, and taking it off doing a tap number, and then just walking around right after a big tap number as if she was not even winded like she just crossed the street. I mean she is extraordinary. And she also makes everything look so easy. And then Christopher Sieber who played Farquaad, the fact that he is the tallest guy in the cast and he was the one on his knees. I thought that was some form of cruelty. He was wearing that 50 pound rig on his costume and he was still a trooper the whole way.

I love to see families go to the theater and teach kids about this role of the theater. What’s it like to perform in front of so many kids with their families?

It’s a thrill because you know that if a family is willing to drop the Broadway money to bring their kids to a show that they really actually want to be there. That’s quite an enjoyable experience to have and to watch, you know because sometimes I feel like a little like “Okay, the dad doesn’t really want to be here. It’s football season. He’s going there because his kids wanted to go,” and then five minutes later, he can’t help but crack a smile at how extraordinary this show is. So it’s a lot of fun to entertain in that respect. Also I was a dad by the time I started the show so it’s just nice to raise this child while also doing this show that is designed for children.

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Actors Interview Live Theater

1776

Posted on June 27, 2011 at 3:56 pm

Lowest Recommended Age:	4th - 6th Grades
MPAA Rating:	Rated PG for language
Profanity:	Some mild language
Alcohol/ Drugs:	Drinking, smoking
Violence/ Scariness:	References to war
Diversity Issues:	A theme of the film, decisions to maintain slavery and lack of rights for women
Date Released to Theaters:	1972
Date Released to DVD:	July 2, 2012
Amazon.com ASIN:	B000067D1R

Happy Independence Day! There’s only one possible pick of the week for the 4th of July.

This rousing musical about the Declaration of Independence makes the Founding Fathers vivid, human, and interesting characters, and is so involving that you almost forget that you already know how it all turned out. William Daniels is the “obnoxious and disliked” John Adams, Ken Howard is Thomas Jefferson, who would rather be with his wife than work on the Declaration, and Howard da Silva is a wry and witty Benjamin Franklin. As they debate independence, we see the courage that went into the birth of the United States, and as they compromise with the South to permit slavery in the brand-new country we see the tragedy. It is outstanding family entertainment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Iiiy8GnBNI

Breakthrough Performer: Laura Breckenridge

Posted on July 30, 2010 at 8:00 am

LB Color Headshot 2.jpg I make no pretense of objectivity. But even if she was not my friend I would appreciate Laura Breckenridge as one of the most talented young actresses working today. She has appeared on television (“Gossip Girl,” “Related”), in movies (“Loving Annabelle,” “Southern Belles”), and on- and off-Broadway (“The Crucible” and “The Cherry Orchard”). Because I know her, I can appreciate her professionalism, judgment, and dedication. And because I have seen her on stage, on television, and in films playing a wide variety of characters, I can appreciate her talent and her ability to captivate an audience.
I was thrilled to hear that Laura will appear on “Drop Dead Diva,” this weekend, co-starring with Cybill Shepherd in a plot she describes as “‘Devil Wears Prada’ with a twist.” First, I can’t wait to see it. Second, it gave me an excuse to catch up with her and congratulate her on her graduation this spring from Princeton. We chatted a bit about the movies we’ve enjoyed lately and then I asked her about her latest role.
Tell me about “Drop Dead Diva!” People love that show.
It’s a really good show! It’s very well done and very smart. They handle the fantastical element very well and make it very real, and at the same time it’s a lot of fun to watch. I watched a bunch of episodes to understand the tone of the show when I was preparing, and loved them. I now watch the show whenever I can. The cast is very talented and I can see why it is a big hit.
I’m in an episode called “Queen of Mean,” airing August 1. It stars Cybill Shepherd. She plays Ellie Tannen, head of a fashion line, and I’m her former assistant who has written a tell-all book, and she’s suing me now. Then you see there’s a few other things that happen and I may not be as innocent as I seem. The character is a lot of fun, and one of the things I am most thrilled about is that I got to sit on a witness stand. I don’t know if I’d ever want to do that in real life, but I’d never done it in a show and there’s something about sitting in that box! They have built most of their sets on a soundstage and they replicated a courthouse that they used in the first season, down to the last detail, so it felt very much like a courtroom.
What did it feel like to be cross-examined?
It was fun but not so fun at the same time. She is good! What I think Brooke does so well is that she will be the smart lawyer Jane and then have a flash of Deb, the model. She balances it so well and I think she lights up the screen. She’s just like that in the room. So she looks at me and I think, “Oh, no, she’s got me!” It was easy to play rattled in the scene. She is a great scene partner because she has a theater background so she is always very present, very there. She’s so talented.
Another thing that was fun was the scene where we all enter. Because Cybill Shepherd’s character is such a famous person we are surrounded by paparazzi, all these photographers. There were a lot of people involved, and a lot of components to the scene, so everyone had to coordinate and work together. It was the first scene I shot, and it gave me a chance to meet everyone and get into the flow. There was so much happening it was exciting, and I felt so lucky to be there. It reminded me how much I love being on set, where all the various parts of a show come together.
How long did it take to shoot the episode?
It took eight days. After I got the job I found out that shooting began on the day before my last exam. They were really accommodating and worked out the schedule so I could go to Atlanta, where they film, right after my last exam. It was nice to finish my exam and go right to work. We were in Peachtree City, Georgia, which is about 40 minutes outside of Atlanta. It is a planned community with 90 miles of golf cart trails. There are cars on the main road but everything in the city is attached by golf cart paths. So there was something relaxing about traveling around the town in the golf carts.
Did you have to go to Atlanta to audition?
I did it in New York. Most agencies have tape rooms, a teeny room with a camera, where you can do an audition on tape. The benefit is that you can do it over if you want to, but the drawback is that the casting director is not there to give you feedback. I did an audition for an earlier episode, and then they asked me to come back and do another one for this one.
Tell me about working with Cybill Shepherd.
Cybill is so knowledgeable. It’s not just that she’s been doing it for a long time. She is very observant. She knows eye-lines as well as any director of photography. She understands camera angles, knows where she needs to be, she just knows it all, so just watching her was amazing. And she is very sweet and very lovely to work with. When she was doing her scene on the witness stand it was amazing to watch; she was just so good.
I know the schedule for shooting television is very fast. How do you coordinate with the other actors?
With TV, there’s no overall rehearsal. You have a blocking rehearsal and then back in hair and make-up or on the set after the wide shot is when you have a chance to talk. There’s definitely a collaborative aspect, but it’s more on the moment.
You had quite a contrast this summer because you did a big budget scripted television series and you also did a microscopic budget 24 Hour Plays in New York. What was that like?
A friend told me it was the most amazing, thrilling, frightening experience of her life — and it’s true. You meet at 9 pm and everyone brings a costume and a prop and contribute it to a pile. There are six writers and they pick the actors, costumes, and props they want. They write until 6 or 7 am. The directors show up and pick their plays. And then the actors show up and you have 12 hours to rehearse and memorize. You’re going on instinct so sometimes things happen on stage and you just go with it. It’s a wonderful experience, very collaborative, all of us just holding hands and diving in and hoping for the best.
I did it last year, and was so happy to be invited back, because I loved the experience. This year I did a play called “Hero Dad,” about three different dads. I played three different versions of the same type of girl, to come into these dads’ lives and remind them of their responsibility, going from kind of funny to very serious. It was an intense and challenging play to learn in twelve hours, but that type of experience is always the most thrilling and enjoyable. 24 Hour Plays really re-awakens your instincts and helps remind you to rely on your fellow actors, use their energy and act off of it.
It sounds like theater is your favorite.
I really do love all three. I like the challenge of different ways of working. I value rehearsal time and the energy of live theater, where it’s different every night. Sometimes the audience does not know it, but they are a part of the performance. They bring the final piece to it, and every audience is different. I will always love theater, but it is hard to pick a favorite. With film and TV you are able to capture things that happen in one specific moment, and because they are filmed, they are captured forever. The challenge in film and TV is to find the precise moments right there and then, with only the energy of your fellow actors to help you. Once the scene is done, it’s done; it won’t change as it can in theater. What I love about TV is it’s constantly evolving and you’re evolving with it. TV characters feel like they’re in our lives, not just because they are in our living rooms every week but because we get to see them grow and develop and you get to see how the same character takes on new challenges and new perspectives. I feel fortunate to have had experiences in theater, film and TV, and I hope that I will have a career that balances all three.

Drop Dead Diva

Little Orphan Annie Says Goodbye

Posted on June 13, 2010 at 4:20 pm

The sun’ll come out tomorrow, but Little Orphan Annie won’t be there to see it come up in the morning. After 86 years, the daily comic strip about the plucky redhead and her dog, Sandy has come to an end.

Harold Gray created the strip and was its writer and artist from 1924 to 1968. During the Depression, the story of the feisty, independent-spirited orphan captivated newspaper readers. It became a popular radio show and Annie merchandise included everything from books and dolls to piggy banks, tea sets, board games, and, as anyone who has ever watched “A Christmas Story” knows, a decoder ring. Decades later, a musical based on the comic strip was one of the biggest box office hits in Broadway history. Several of its young stars went on to careers in show business including Sarah Jessica Parker. There is even a documentary called Life After Tomorrow about the girls who played Annie and the orphans and what happened to them while they were in the show and after they outgrew the role.

The musical later became a movie with Albert Finney as Annie’s adoptive father Daddy Warbucks and Carol Burnett as the cruel Miss Hannigan, and was remade for television. In 1977, Leonard Starr of “On Stage” took over the strip, retitled “Annie.” Under his direction, it received the National Cartoonist Society’s Story Comic Strip Award in 1983 and 1984. Starr retired in 2000 and the cartoonists who followed were not able to continue at his level. The fading appeal of comic strips and the struggles of print newspapers led the syndicate to announce its cancellation.

Little Orphan Annie survived the Depression, WWII, the Cold War, Watergate, and the dot.com bubble. She began just four years after American women got the vote and six years after the end of World War I. Gray, Starr, and all those who worked on the strip created a cultural touchstone that will continue through future generations. A junior version of the musical is performed frequently in elementary schools. Somewhere, someone is singing “Tomorrow.”

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