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July 22, 2011
Part of a Vancouver tradition
TUTS’s Birdie has flying phones, circus tricks, Bollywood.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Every summer, Theatre Under the Stars takes two classic musicals and makes them fresh and fun for a whole new generation. And this year is no exception.
Anything Goes, first produced in 1934, and 1960’s Bye Bye Birdie are alternating nights at Stanley Park’s Malkin Bowl until Aug. 20. Jewish community member Erika Babins, assistant choreographer of Birdie, spoke with the Independent about how TUTS made their production of the rock ’n’ roll musical, which is based on Elvis Presley’s being drafted in 1958, unique.
“One of the great things at TUTS, especially working with director Shel Piercy, choreographer Shelley Stewart Hunt and musical director Kevin Micheal Cripps, is that, even though Bye Bye Birdie is a classic, we didn’t want it to be a live version of the movie,” she explained. “Some sequences [in the film], like Ann-Margret’s getting dressed routine in ‘How Lovely to be a Woman,’ have been replicated in every stage production of the show, but we’ve taken great strains to revamp and re-imagine the show to make it accessible to audiences of all ages. We’ve been blessed with a very talented cast and have shamelessly taken advantage of all of them, so this classic now has flying phones, circus tricks, tap dancing and a show-stopping Bollywood number.”
Babins grew up as a dancer in Richmond. She studied at Burke Academy of Dance, as well as at Gateway Academy of Performing Arts, and recently graduated from the musical theatre program at Capilano University.
“Other than dance recitals, my first performance experience was actually at Temple Sholom’s religious school,” she shared. “It was a school-wide performance of the story of Chanukah; my Grade 3 class were the cleaners of the Temple after the Maccabbis won. We sang ‘Whistle While You Work’ from Snow White, but we changed the words to ‘Whistle while you work, Antiochus is a jerk.’”
Since then, Babins’ performance credits have included Cinderella, Footloose and Anything Goes, Exit 22’s The Hobbit, Pipedream’s Nine and Metro Theatre’s Jack and the Beanstalk. “Last summer,” she said, “I had the opportunity to spend a few months in Rossland performing in Gold Fever Follies, an original musical depicting the colorful history of Rossland’s mining community.”
While she has been going to TUTS to see the shows since she was 12 years old, this is her first job with the company. “It has been such an amazing experience working with this group of people,” she said. “There is such a sense of community with the cast, crew, production team, orchestra and board members. I’ve really felt welcomed into this wonderful Vancouver tradition.”
According to its website, TUTS started in 1940, “when a group of local theatre people formed to produce professional quality musicals during the summer.” While the fact that it “provides performers and technical staff an opportunity to work in a real-world theatrical venue alongside seasoned professionals” could be seen as a challenge for the directors, choreographers and others mounting a production, Babins appreciates the amateur-professional mix.
“Although, technically, we ... [have] ‘professional’ actors being paid to perform in this show, every cast member has shown amazing professionalism,” she said. “Their commitment to the integrity of the show has given Shelley and me the leeway to throw some challenging sequences at them because we know they will find the time to make it great. Of course, you can’t choreograph above the abilities of your dancers, but sometimes working around that and featuring the stronger dancers in the group actually makes the texture of the show so much richer.”
Bye Bye Birdie rehearsals – three evenings a week and all day Saturdays – started at Holy Rosary Cathedral in the first week of May, Babins said. “It might seem like a lot, but, when you factor in all the music that needs to be learnt, the scenes that need to be staged and the dances that need to be choreographed, it made for a very tight schedule.
“Things always change from concept to production for myriad reasons, sometimes due to limitations of performers but more commonly because of an unachievable technical requirement, the lack of available actors or the time to really experiment and get it right.
“That is one of the most important lessons I’ve learnt working with Shelley and Shel and watching them as we moved into the theatre,” she continued. “Sometimes things don’t work out as well as they looked in their heads. Sometimes, something that looked amazing up close in the rehearsal hall gets lost in the vast openness of Stanley Park. But I think we’ve managed to adapt and tweak and put together quite a magical experience that’s incorporated not only the musical theatre classics of acting, singing and dancing, but we’ve really used the sound, lighting, costumes, orchestra, set and especially visual projections in order to create Sweet Apple, Ohio, and the Conrad Birdie Fan Club right in Stanley Park.”
For more information about Bye Bye Birdie or Anything Goes, visit tuts.ca.
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