Paramount offers peek at new Nixon musical
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By STEPHANIE M. PETERS STAFF WRITER - Published: June 26, 2009
Last year, Bruce Bouchard approached his Board of Directors at the Paramount Theatre with a novel way to bring New York City musical theater to Vermont.
His suggestion: Invite talented young composer/lyricists to take their work, presumably a musical in the making, along with a director and a hand-picked cast of actor/singers and get out of the city for a while, come to Vermont on a "working vacation" of sorts, rehearse for 35 hours and then put on a performance, no matter where in the production stage it might be.
"It was a suggestion I floated to the board and they just looked at me like I was out of my mind," Bouchard said.
Yet the concept was given a shot and the developmental theater initiative "30 Center Stage" was born. Several hundred people turned out last August over two workshop performances of "Tales from the Bad Years." This weekend, Bouchard hopes for an even greater turnout for "Room 16," a new American musical from composer/lyricist Stephen Sislen that delves into the events surrounding the infamous Watergate break-in.
After spending the start of the week undergoing the same process at the Palace Theater in Manchester, N.H., cast and crew will arrive in Vermont tonight for a little rest and rehearsal time before staging performances at 8 p.m. Saturday and Monday, according to Bouchard.
Audiences can expect to see a show that tells the story of Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt, two former governmental agents hired by the White House as intelligence officers under President Richard Nixon. Liddy and Hunt together engineered the break-in and burglary of the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate Hotel, an event later covered up by the White House, leading to one of the nation's greatest political scandals and Nixon's resignation.
Broadway veterans Kein Pariseau ("Legally Blonde") and Todd Alan Johnson ("Aida," "It's a Wonderful Life") have been cast as Gordon Liddy and Howard Hunt, respectively, while New York director and casting director Michael Cassara will direct the workshops.
When the house lights come up after each performance, the audience will be invited to share their feedback with the talent.
"Quite frankly, it does need work," Bouchard said. "You'll be seeing very much a work in progress, but the songs are clever and interesting ... but if it was perfect, it would be on Broadway."
While Bouchard notes the concept "30 Center Stage" sets out to achieve does happen elsewhere around the country, he said he believes nowhere are the creative forces given the "loosey-goosey" freedom he encourages them to take in such a developmental stage.
"People are far too addicted to product instead of letting the process be the prize," Bouchard said. "The presentation is just part of what's involved in the prize."
Tickets are $10 and are available at the box office on Center Stage, at paramountlive.org or by calling 775-0903.
stephanie.peters@rutlandherald.com
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