Musical Theater Project to feature the comedy of musical theater

What do “Avenue Q,” “Spamalot,” “Something Rotten” and “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum?” have in common?  They are all American Musical Theater comedies, meant to entertain and evoke laughter.

In addition to entire shows, there are songs within musicals that are intended for pure enjoyment.  “Springtime for Hitler” in “The Producers,” “Make an Omelette” in “Something Rotten,” “Putting on the Ritz” in “Young Frankenstein,” and “When You’re an Addams” from “The Addams Family,” come to mind.

Interested in learning more about the outrageous in musicals? To find out why we laugh at the performances or the material itself?

What better source to learn about the wonder of musicals than from The Musical Theater Project which was founded in 2000, and built on the principal that “Americans have an enduring love affair with Broadway and Hollywood musicals. It’s our very own art form, combining song and dance to express what we can be at our best.”

It is the purpose of Bill Rudman, the organization’s founder, and his merry bunch of entertainers, to “create personal connections with the songs, characters and themes of the American musical, document the lives of important American musical theater artists, explore the connections between the musical and the rich diversity of the American experience, and examine the relevance of musical theater in contemporary society.”

For this concert, TMTP will feature live performances and video clips as they present “Just for Laughs Comedy Songs from Musicals.” You’ll learn how, when we are exposed to comedy “we connect more deeply with our dreams, joys and frustrations. In short, our laughter brings us closer to ourselves.” 

The concert, which will be hosted by Rudman and Nancy Maier, will explore great comedy songs going back as far as Eddie Cantor's "Makin' Whoopee" (1928) and as far forward as John Cullum's "Don't Be the Bunny," written 83 years later for “Urinetown,” while featuring singers Douglas F. Bailey II, Ursula Cataan and Sheri Gross

The concerts will be @ The Solon Center for the Arts on November 14 @ 7 pm.  For tickets call 800-838-3006 or go on-line to www.MusicalTheaterProject.org.  A second performance will be at 3 pm on November 18 in the Hanna Theatre in Playhouse Square.  For tickets call 216-241-6000 or go on-line to www.PlayhouseSquare.org

The Musical Theater Project and Jewish Federation put the spotlight on Israeli’s 70th anniversary with “Milk and Honey”

Many know Cantor Kathy Wolfe Sebo as a superlative cantor.  Few know, however, that she didn’t start out to make the religious life her career.

Sebo, a “University Heights girl” (Belvoir and Wiley before going to Hathaway Brown), graduated from the Cincinnati’s Conservatory of Music with a major in Voice Performance.  Her goal was “to become a star!”

How did she wind up at The Temple-Tifereth Israel?  As Sebo states, “I tripped into it.  It was definitely not on the radar.”

After a loss in the family, and the desire to come “home,” she was asked to do some cantorial work.  After marriage, children, and a fourteen years as being one of the first female cantors in the Conservative movement, she was offered her present job where she has served for the last 19 years.  Thirty-three years later, “Cantor Kathy,” she is!

She still has her heart in musical theatre and, she will soon again be treading the boards, as she will appear on stage with the cast of The Musical Theatre Project’s concert presentation of “Milk and Honey.”  The program is co-sponsored by The Cleveland Israel Arts Connection, a program of The Jewish Federation of Cleveland.

In 1961, “Milk and Honey,” Jerry Herman’s first Broadway show, premiered.   It opened the door for the such Herman hits as “Hello Dolly!,” “Mame” and “La Cage aux Follies.”

Herman, crafted a show that highlighted the State of Israel, which was only 13 years old at the time.  He built the score on the tale of Zionistic zeal, turning the desert into fields of green, and creating the “land of milk and honey.”  It has a book by Don Appell.

The story centers on a busload of  American widows hoping to catch husbands while touring Israel.  It is set against the backdrop of the country's struggle for recognition as an independent nation and what it could and should become.

The program will be hosted by Bill Rudman and Nancy Maier, with musical arrangements by Ty Emerson. 

Besides Sebo, members of the singing cast are Sheri Gross, Michael Snider, and Greg Violand.

As a child, Sebo’s father encouraged her to sing “Milk and Honey” and “Shalom,” two of the songs from “Milk and Honey.”  This lead to her appreciation for the music which she feels is “emotional and has an earthiness to it.  The songs are filled with Jewish motifs, has gorgeous writing and, in many ways is “magical.”  She adds, “It’s not just a show for Jews, but all people.”

As is true of the arts, the show represents the era from which it comes.  “It works best if you realize what Israel was then a land of pioneering drive.  It was that attitude that has led to the small country now being a world leader in medicine, rescue operations, draught relief, and is a light onto nations.”

Sebo, a proud former Singing Angel, has great enthusiasm for the project.  She is finding the experience “exciting,” and feels “privileged.”  “Watching Bill, Nancy, Ty, the orchestra and the cast is like sitting in on a master class.”

The one-time-only concert will be held at Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus on Sunday, May 6 at 3 PM.  General admission tickets are $35 and are available by calling 1-800-838-3006.  For more information about the program or to reserve group tickets, call 216-245-8687 or email info@musicaltheaterproject.org.

Kent State’s Musical Theatre program joins Musical Theater Project for ZORBA!

“I believe in grabbing at life.”  “Every minute is a new minute.”  Thus states Zorba, the lead character in ZORBA!, a musical that “captures of the spirit of Greece and celebrates a people who embrace love, life and death with equal passion.”

As a follow-up to its PERFECTLY MARVELOUS:  THE SONGS OF JOHN KANDER, the Musical Theater Project will be present an in-concert version of Kander’s ZORBA!, in coordination with Kent State University’s Musical Theatre program.

An adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel “Zorba The Greek” and the 1964 movie based on the book, the musical is set in Crete in 1924.   It centers on Zorba, a Greek who has a life-embracing philosophy, which he intends to share with Nikos, an uptight young student.  Nikos has inherited an abandoned mine in Crete which he wants to reopen.  A friendship develops between the very opposite men, and romantic relationships develop between the duo, a French woman and a local widow. 

The show, which premiered on Broadway in 1968, was nominated for Best Musical.  It has music by Kander, lyrics by his longtime writing partner Fred Ebb, and book by Joseph Stein. 

An interview with Terri Kent, Head of the Musical Theatre Program at KSU and Producing Artistic Director of Porthouse Theatre, who will direct the concert, revealed that she and Bill Rudman, the Artistic Director of MTP, have developed a partnership to produce shows for TMTP using Kent State students.  Last year, they staged BABES IN ARMS.

In order to prepare for working with ZORBA!, which will focus on the text and music rather than the traditional staging, Kent probed into Greek culture, traditions and dancing.   Fortunately, she had a built-in resource in Effie Tsengas, the KSU College of the Art’s Communication and Marketing Director, who is Greek and is involved as both a Greek folk dancer and instructor at several Greek churches.  Kent also watched the movie, which starred Anthony Quinn. 

Kent indicated that since this isn’t a traditional production, the four dance numbers written into the show, which move the story along, will have to be creatively dealt with. 

The director is aware that when the show originally opened, reviewers commented that the “material was too dark,” and the “book was too heavy” for a Broadway musical.  She states, “Yes it is dark, but it is also a celebration.  The tone is set by the exquisite music.” 

Kent explains, “ZORBA! is hopeful.  It is about finding the joy in life.”   As philosophized by the lead character, “you can live life as if you are going to die tomorrow or you can live like you are going to live forever.  The latter makes you free.” “Zorba accepts things that are unacceptable . . . he takes ownership for what he does.  He is honest.  He is likeable.”   “Many people can’t live life being a Zorba, but it sure offers a lot to be admired.”

She also indicated, “When the musical opened in 1968 there had been few musical dramas.  Since then the likes of SWEENEY TODD [and other Sondheim musicals] have changed the musical theatre landscape.” 

The show is being developed on the Kent campus where tryouts were held earlier this fall.  Jennifer Korecki, an Assistant Professor of Musical Theatre, is preparing the music with the cast.  Nancy Maier, MTP’s musical director, will come in close to the production dates and the duo will polish the musical aspects of the performances.

The cast will include 17 people playing 53 roles, standing behind podiums with microphones.   KSU faculty member Fabio Polanco will portray Zorba and Jess Tanner, an MFA graduate student, will portray Hortense.

ZORBA! In-Concert Musical, will be presented Saturday, December 5 at 2 PM in the E. Turner Stump Theatre on the campus of Kent State University (tickets—General admission $18, Seniors/TMTP members $14):  330-672-2787 or kent.edu/theatredance) and Wednesday, December 9 at 7:30 PM in the Mackey Main Stage Beck Center for the Arts (tickets—General admission $26, Seniors/TMTP members $21, Children 12 and under $10):  216-245-8687 or online at musicaltheaterproject.org) 

There will be post-show discussions with the performers, director Terri Kent and Bill Rudman.

Broadway legend John Kander to attended Musical Theater Project’s PERFECTLY MARVELOUS @ Allen Theatre

Liza Minnelli once said, “The greatest thing about [John] Kander and [Fred] Ebb is you sing their songs and you feel good.”  She was referring to the multi-award winning Broadway writing team who gave the world such songs as, “How Lucky Can You Get?,” “Maybe This Time,” “All That Jazz,” “Cabaret,” and “But The World Goes Round.”

These, and other compositions, came from such Broadway shows as CABARET, THE RINK, THE ACT, WOMEN OF THE YEAR, AND THE WORLD GOES ROUND, KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, FOSSE, CURTAINS, and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS.  The duo also contributed to such movies as FUNNY LADY and NEW YORK, NEW YORK.

Kander and Ebb met in 1964.  Though it had a short-run, their first collaboration, FLORA THE RED MENACE, created a bond between the writers and Liza Minelli.  At age 19, she not only made her first Broadway appearance in the show, but was the youngest person, to that date, to win a Tony Award.

In 1966 the duo transformed the play I AM A CAMERA into CABARET, which went on to win seven Tony Awards.   The musical, about the decadence in Germany that helped lead to the rise of Hitler, was later turned into a movie, which again reunited Liza Minelli with Kander and Ebb.  She won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Sally Bowles.

The Broadway show and film CABARET also starred Tony and Academy Award winning Cleveland-born Joel Grey, who will appear on October 24 & 25 at the Allen Theatre in JOEL GREY UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, as part of Cleveland Play House’s Centennial Celebration Weekend. 

Shows like THE HAPPY TIME, ZORBA, 70 GIRLS 70, and CHICAGO followed, and led to Kander and Ebb being anointed Broadway royalty.

Besides their three Tony Awards, the duo were recognized for their contributions to theater and music with the prestigious Kennedy Center Honors.

Ebb died in 2004, but Kander continues to create.  Last season THE VISIT, a work that the duo started in 1998, starred Chita Rivera on Broadway.

The 88-year old Kander will be the subject of The Musical Theater Project’s PERFECTLY MARVELOUS:  THE SONGS OF JOHN KANDER, which will be performed at the Allen Theatre on October 31 @ 8 PM and November 1 @ 2 PM.  

The TMTP concert will feature Tony Award winner Karen Ziemba, who attended the University of Akron, danced with the Ohio Ballet, and performed on the Great White Way in three Kander and Ebb’s shows.

Others in the TMTP multimedia concert will be Bill Rudman, The Musical Theater Project’s Artistic Director, musical director Nancy Maier, and performers Derrick Cobey, Katherine DeBoer and Matthew Wright.

For tickets to PERFECTLY MARVELOUS;  THE SONGS OF JOHN KANDER call 216-241-6000 or go online http://www.playhousesquare.org

On October 29, two days before Kander attends the PlayhouseSquare concert, he will be at Oberlin College, his alma mater, for a production of his 2011 musical, THE LANDING, which he wrote with Greg Pierce (nephew of David Hyde Pierce).  The script will be staged at the Apollo Theatre, 19 E. College Street.  Admission is free, but tickets are required.  To obtain tickets, call the Oberlin Central Ticket Service Box Office at 440-775-8169. 
JOHN KANDER: HIDDEN TREASURES, 1959-2015, a 2-CD deluxe collection with a 70-page booklet, including written notes by Jesse, Green, theater critic of “New York” magazine, and dozens of production shots and behind-the scenes photos of Kander’s musicals, will be released shortly.  Produced by Ken Bloom and Bill Rudman, the 49-tracks will include recordings from Kander’s student compositions at Oberlin, songs cut from CABARET, CHICAGO, and tunes released for the first time from Kander’s archives, as well as new recordings by Anita Gillete and Karen Ziemba.  It can be pre-ordered at http://www.MusicalTheaterProject.org

A preview: Gays, Lesbians, Transgenders and the American Musical: Musical Theater Project

What do “Avenue Q,” “La Cage aux Folles,” “A Chorus Line,” “Fun Home,” “The Color Purple,” “Kinky Boots,” “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” “A Man of No Importance,” “The Rocky Horror Show,” “Spring Awakening,” and “Victor/Victoria” have in common?  Yes, they are all musicals.  They also  contain Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or Transgendered characters or themes.

William Goldman in his book, “The Season,” states that “the Broadway musical would not exist without LGBT involvement.”  Yes, themes about those various lifestyles abound.  And people who identify themselves LGBT have had strong influences and involvement in the musical theatre art form.  From composers like Cole Porter, Leonard Bernstein and Jerry Herman, to performers such as Harvey Fierstein, Nathan Lane, Lea DeLaria, Neil Patrick Harris,  Jane Lynch, and Lilly Tomlin, the LGBT community has been a power in musical theater.

The field probably attracted and still attracts so many LGBTs because it provides a safe place for participation.  Rather than entering a hostile corporate world, the choice is to go into a theater community which is more accepting, less prejudiced, allowing talent rather than sexual orientation to be the evaluator of who is successful.  The rainbow ceiling tends to be porous in the wonderful world of show business.

As an art form, the Broadway musical probably “came out” in 1983 with the opening of Jerry Herman’s “La Cage aux Folles,” which contained not only a love story between two mature gay men, but bisexuality, cross-dressing, a drag queen, confronting of homosexual prejudice, and the song, “I Am What I Am,” considered to be the “national anthem” of gay men.

The newest “LGBT” musical hit is the multi-Tony and Drama Desk winning “Fun Home,” the adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s graphic memoir about herself (a lesbian) and her father (a closeted gay man).  It’s the first mainstream musical about a young lesbian.

The Musical Theater Project will, on August 13, present, “I Am What I Am:  Gays, Lesbians, and the American Musical,” at 7 pm in the Alma Theater of Cain Park.  It will look at the “coded” songs of Cole Porter and Lorenz Hart in the 1920s to the breakout musicals of the post-Stonewall 1970s.  The performance will be co-hosted by Scott Plate and Bill Rudman, and feature Molly Andrews-Hinders, Katherine DeBoer and Jared Leal.

For tickets call 216-245-8687 or go online to musicaltheaterproject.org or to Cain Park, 216-371-3000 or go to http://www.cainpark.com/

(Footnote:  some material in this article is based on “Musical Theater” http://www..glbtq.com/literature/musical_theater.html)

Sheri Gross to perform in Musical Theater Project’s “Behind the Musical: Hello, Dolly!”

Combine the talents of Bill Rudman, Artistic Director of The Musical Theater Project (TMTP), music director Nancy Maier, singers Ann Gilbert, Jared Leal, Jessica Cope Miller, Shane Patrick O’Neill, and the talents of Sheri Gross, with composer-lyricist Jerry Herman’s marvelous score.  The results?  “Behind the Musical:  Hello, Dolly!”  The production, co-sponsored by Chagrin Arts, will be staged on April 26 at 3 at Chagrin Falls High School Performing Arts Center.

As Rudman says, “We’ll be telling a darn good story,” which may surprise many because, in the words of Herman, “doing that musical [“Hello Dolly”]was the most difficult time in my career.”

Former New York actress Sheri Gross is the Artistic Director of Playmakers Youth Theatre, the award winning inclusive theater program sponsored by the Jewish Community Center.   The Rochester, New York native became involved in Playmakers in a serendipitous manner.  She came to the area when a fellow actor asked her to come with him while he did an acting gig at JCC.

She became friends with Elaine Rembrandt, then-JCC cultural arts director, who asked her to stay and help with the organization’s day camp.  Gross agreed, and the rest is history.  Now, almost twenty years later, married, with three children, she is “here to stay.”

Though noted locally as a director, she says, “My strength as a director is developing characters.  Staging was never my strength.”

She looks forward to her stint performing Dolly. “I haven’t done a lot of performing lately. Coming back to perform and also educate at the same time, is great!”

Gross, who has never performed as Dolly before, became involved in the project when Rudman called and offered her the role. 

Is she concerned that the audience will expect a Carol Channing characterization as Dolly?  In a recent interview she said, “hopefully audiences would understand that I am not Channing.”  In addition, she notes that this is not a fully blocked show, “it is a concert version and a testimony to some of the creative team.  There is talking about the show and its conceiver.”  “This is an opportunity to not only “see” the play, but to learn about it.”  “That somewhat takes the focus off Dolly.”

As for her favorite song in the score, “I really like ‘Before the Parade Passes By.’  It’s a great song for a belter.”  She also likes “Love is Only Love,” a ballad that was added to the movie version.

After so many years of being a director, is the switch to being a performer going to be a challenge for Gross?    She stated, “Bill uses multi-media, little staging, he stresses a lot of character development.  That lets me work on my own vocal and facial expression.”

If one of her students was playing the role of Dolly Levi, what advice would Gross give her?  “I think that the character has a lot of layers.  She’s not only comedic but filled with vulnerability.  She would have to dig for the emotions to play.  The character isn’t just a funny belter, there is a lot more to her.”

The Musical Theater Project is partnering with The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage which will offer a free screening of “Words & Music by Jerry Herman,” a PBS documentary on Sunday, March 29 at The Maltz.  (Call 216-595-0575 or visit MaltzMuseum.org for details.  The Mandel Jewish Community Center will present a free screening of the 1969 “Hello Dolly,” featuring Barbara Streisand on Sunday April 19 @ 2 pm in the Stonehill Auditorium.  Call 216-831-0700 X 1348 or email ideas@maddeljcc.org, for tickets.

To see Sheri Gross in “Behind the Musical:  Hello, Dolly!” on Sunday April 26 @ 3 call 216-245-8687 or go online to musicaltheaterproject.org.

KSU + Musical Theatre Project = "Babes in Arms"

There’s a new couple in town.  The musical Theatre Project and Kent State’s Musical Theatre program are joining forces to do a staged reading/sing-through of the musical “Babes in Arms.”

People familiar with “Babes in Arms” usually think of it as the “hey let’s us kids, put on a play.”  The 1939 wholesome movie starred Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney.  What might surprises many is that a 1937 theatre version preceded the film. 

To add to the surprise, the original play had political overtones which delved into the concept of Nietzscheism, had a Communist character, and showcased two African-American youths who were victims of racism.   The play was redone in 1959 and was, as the publicity heralded, a “sanitized, depoliticized rewrite.” The script was again adapted in 1999 by John Guare. 

The score includes such classics as “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “Johnny One Note,” “I Wish I Were in Love Again,” and “My Funny Valentine.” 

An interview with Terri Kent, chair of the musical theatre program at Kent State shared some interesting information about the “Babes in Arms” production and the KSU program.

Kent State got involved in this project when Terri was contacted by Bill Rudman, Artistic Director of the musical Theatre Project.  The duo discussed several shows and honed in on “Babes In Arms” because many of the roles are populated by characters the ages of the University’s student body.  Besides the age parallel, Kent liked the idea that the show was set in the mid-thirties and “allows students to gain an understanding of the society of that time.”

Though Kent and Rudman had never worked together, she knew his work and “admires him as a musical theatre historian.”

The twelve students selected for the production tried out in three days of auditions which the KSU musical theatre program holds for all their main stage shows.  In addition to the students, four adults were cast to play the “mature” members of the story.  These are MaryAnn Black, Ron Thomas, Rudman and Kent.  The cast will be supported by musical director, Nancy Maier.

Kent has 85 musical theatre students.  This addition to the regular on-campus productions, and Porthouse Theatre’s summer program, the MTP involvement gives the future “professional theatre stars” a chance for more roles.  KSU grads have gone on to star on and off-Broadway, in cruise ship productions, work at such entertainment venues as Disneyworld, and have become school and college drama teachers and professors.

One of the emerging aspects of the KSU theatre offerings is the Returning Professional Program, in which college graduates, who have been involved in theatre productions, return to campus to finish their advanced degree. Ken Howard, Broadway  (“1776,” “Promises, Promises,” and “See Saw”), film (“The Country Girl,” “Strange Interlude, and “J. Edgar” and television  (“The White Shadow” and “The Thornbirds”), who went on to be president of the Screen Actors Guild, was the first participant in the degree program.  Graduates include Cleveland area performers Tracy Patterson, Greg Violand, and Mark Moritz.  Paul Floriano is now a student.

Kent is looking forward to staging the first student production of the new musical, “My Heart Is The Drum,” in February, 2015.    The show, which has an all Black cast, takes place in Ghana, and centers on Efua Kuti who flees her village when she is forced to marry, but wants to get an education.  It is filled with driving rhythms and rich vocal harmonies.  http://www.myheartisthedrum.com.     

“Babes In Arms” will be presented on September 18 @ Beck Center for the Arts, 8 PM and September 21 @ Stump Theatre, Kent State University, 2 PM.  For tickets call (Beck) 216-521-2540 X10 or visit http://www.beckcenter.org or KSU 330-672-2787, http://www.kent/edu/artscollege/

The Musical Theater Project presents "Deconstructing Kurt Weill"

The wording on the gravestone of Kurt Weill comes from the song “A Bird of Passage” from his musical, “Lost in the Stars.”  It reads:  “This is the life of men on earth:  Out of darkness we come at birth.  Into a lamplit room, and then—Go forward into dark again.”

Weill’s life epitomizes that Maxwell Anderson poem.  Born into a secure Jewish-  German family in 1900, he grew to be one of the country’s more prominent and popular composers.  He, along with his equally well-know wife, singer Lotte Lenya, were forced into exile by the Nazis in 1933 because, not only were they Jewish, but held and espoused populist views. 

He emerged from the dark when he arrived in America, and assumed his place in American composing nobility by producing many well known works.

He felt so strongly about his expulsion from Deutschland, that he and wife, Lottie Lenya, decided not to speak German again, except in letters and conversations with his parents who had escaped to Palestine (now Israel).  They also Americanized the pronunciation of their name, using the “W,” rather than the Germanic “V” sound at the start of their last name.

His “American” compositions were a departure from his former work.  He wrote with an immediacy theme.  As he said, “I am writing for the masses.  Music they can sing, and music that deals with their problems.  That is the only significant form of composition nowadays.”

His massive music portfolio included stage and film works, cantatas, chamber music, piano music, orchestral works, and Lieder cycles/songs/chansons.  He is probably best known by the general public for “Mack the Knife,” from his “The Threepenny Opera,” which became a jazz standard via the Louis Armstrong and Bobby Darin recording. 

The Musical Theater Project will present “Deconstructing Kurt Weill: The American Songs,” featuring narration by TMTP Executive Director Heather Meeker , input from Cleveland composer-arranger, Ty Alan Emerson, as sung by Fabio Polanco and Christine Fader, with music by guitarist Jake Fader and the instrumental trio “No Exit.”  

The concert centers on the theme, “How might Weill’s music sound if it were arranged and performed by contemporary artists?”   Emerson’s concept in arranging the music centered on his belief that “Weill became jaded by the Old World and wonderfully excited about becoming an American artist.  Where ever you turn in the songs, that colors his musical and dramatic choices.” 

“This composer embraced whatever sound he heard swirling around him—and in New York in the 1930s and 40s, those sounds included jazz, swing, the blues and pure Broadway ballads.”

Emerson also notes, in regard to Weill’s work, “I found that whether you’re a musical theater fan, opera or jazz musician, glam-rocker or indie-punk all-star, you can make Weill your own.”

Audiences will get their chance to experience Emerson’s interpretations of Weill on May 2 and 3 at 7 PM in the James Levine Theatre of Cleveland Public Theatre.  For tickets call 216-631-2727 or visit cptonline.org.

Winsor French, Cleveland legend, to come to alive at Beck Center

On Friday, August 23 and Saturday, August 24, WINSOR! A FEISTY CABARET, will be produced by The Musical Theatre Project and performed at the Studio Theater in the Beck Center for the Arts.  The cabaret, with the performers seated on stools, will star Scott Plate and be directed by Victoria Bussert.  The topic of the cabaret will be Winsor French.

Who is Winsor French?   From the early 1930s until the late 1960s, Winsor French, an about-town columnist for the Cleveland News and later the Cleveland Press, and founder of PARADE magazine, was the darling of Cleveland society.

French was friends with the likes of Marlene Dietrich, Carole Lombard, Noel Coward, Somerset Maugham, Alfred Lunt, Lynn Fontanne and John Steinbeck. He was a constant house guest of Cole and Linda Porter.  He travelled with them, and wrote articles about his world adventures, and the people he hobnobbed with, in the local newspapers.

The person most influential in getting French accepted by Cleveland’s elite was
Leonard Hanna, Junior.  Hanna was a philanthropist, art collector, theatergoer, patron of the arts, director of the M. A. Hanna Company, and one of the most powerful movers and shakers in Cleveland until his death in 1957.

Hanna, like French, was gay, but not as openly out.  French often stayed at the Hanna farm in Mentor, accompanied by Roger Stearns, a well-known local pianist, his long time companion.

In a time rampant against homosexuality, French was liked and respected.  He had good looks, a remarkable ability to tell stories in his resonant Baritone voice, most commonly starting his oral tales with his column’s opening phrase, “You won’t believe this . . . ”.

French, though not a member of their religious faith, was “in” with the “Jewish Jolly Set,” the most influential Jews in Cleveland.  It was that group which is credited with showing French the value of philanthropy.  Here was another instance that, in an era of strong anti-Semitism, French was able to breach the gap, hold his influential position, espouse Jewish causes due to his connections not only with Hanna, but with Cleveland Indian’s owner Bill Veeck.

In an era of racism, French often wrote about local Black night clubs and, in the age of prohibition, told about illegal speakeasies, and even commented on the cost of their booze.

French was born in Saratoga Springs, NY.  His father, a military man, died when he was five.  His mother remarried and Winsor became the step-son of Joseph O. Eaton, founder of Cleveland’s Eaton Corporation.  He was, for a short time, married to Margaret Frueauff, whose stage name was Margaret Perry.  The Tony Awards, given for professional theatrical merit, are named after her mother,  Antoinette Perry, who was the co-founder of the Theatre Wing, which originated the awards.

The bon vivant French will long be remembered, not only for his writing about “’sepia’ entertainers, Jewish socialites, school children in wheelchairs, and men who found males more exciting than females,” but for tooling around the city in a Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud.

How did James Wood, the author of four books on the social history of Cleveland, and a long time CLEVELAND MAGAZINE columnist, come to write a book about French?

He credits the idea for OUT AND ABOUT WITH WINSOR FRENCH to “Margaret Halle Sherwin, who loved Winsor French and for a short time—not more than an hour or two—was engaged to marry this remarkable man.”

As Wood related in a conference call interview, “long time friend, Margaret, met me for lunch.”  She said, “After you finish the Halle book [HALLE’S: MEMOIRS OF A FAMILY DEPARTMENT STORE] you need to do Winsor French.  She kept after me.  The task was daunting.  There appeared to be no correspondence and archival materials.  One of his sisters eventually produced a letter file.”  Wood then related that he went back into the many years of columns and found a treasure-trove of information.  He realized that what he had was information about “a clever guy, writing with gay subtext.”  He was fascinated by “what French could do when, as a homosexual man he should have been in the closet.”

Though the suggestion for the book came in 1985, it took Wood until 2011 to get it published.

How did the staged version come into existence?  While Wood was interviewing Winsor’s sister, Martha Hickox, she said, “I wish you were writing a play, rather than a book.  An actor could portray Winsor better than a biographer.”

“Eventually, I gave a list of Winsor’s favorite songs to Bill Rudman, contemporary Cleveland’s connoisseur of musical theatre and cabaret.  I asked him if he thought they might be the basis for a show.  He said, ‘Maybe, if you would write the script.’”

Though there are no definite plans for anything other than the local staged readings, Wood, who will be in attendance at all three performances, and available for post-production talk backs, is interested in hearing how audiences react.  After that, he states, “Who knows?”

Only time will tell whether Wood, Rudman, Bussert and Plate will “fulfill Martha’s observation and give life to Winsor through a live theatrical performance of his favorite music.”

You can be part of history by attending one of the performances.  For $22 tickets call 216-245-8687 or visit musicaltheaterproject.org.

Post note:  My appreciation to James M. Wood and Bill Rudman for participating in a conference call on August 4, 2013, which is the basis for much of this article.  RMB