A Toast to Connie Champagne

Connie Champagne is currently starring as Frenchy in 42nd Street Moon's production of Harold Rome's Destry Rides Again. Connie and I sat down for an interview after a performance of Destry.  Find out how she got her start, how she's connected to Molly Ringwald (six-degrees of Kevin Bacon... I think not), and where her fabulous nom de plume comes from.

Enjoy the interview!

Destry Rides Again runs through November 15th at the Eureka Theatre. For tickets click here or call (415) 255-8207.

The Tale of a Black Hat: Destry Rides Again From a Different Perspective

We all have our own particular paradigm for how we view things... life, work, musical plots...

Michael Cassidy plays the evil Saloon owner Kent in 42nd Street Moon's production of Destry Rides Again. Hear his take on the Destry story... from the perspective of Kent that is:

Destry Rides Again runs through November 15th at the Eureka Theatre. For tickets click here or call (415) 255-8207.

Destry Rides Again... and Again... and Again

 I found it very interesting in reading Artistic Director Greg MacKellan's program notes that Destry Rides Again is one of the most adapted western stories of our time!

The brain child of author Max Brand*, Destry was first adapted in 1932 by Universal and starred Tom Mix (this is when and how Harry Destry became "Tom" Destry - Tom Mix is pictured left).

While James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich get top honors for immortalizing the characters of Tom Destry and Frenchy in the 1939 version of Destry Rides Again, Audie Murphy and Thomas Mitchell would star in the 1954 remake entitled simply Destry (which would also star Mary Wickes!).

The most interesting remake however has to be the 1951 version entitled Frenchie starring Shelley Winters.

Greg discussed Frenchie during the "talk back" on Sunday, Nov. 1 , here's what he had to say:

The final screen version of the Destry story was a television series also entitled Destry, staring John Gavin (Right). However the character was not Harry or Tom, but Harrison Destry. Harrison, Tom Destry's son, was wrongfully imprisoned and, after he was released, sought justice from those who framed him. Just like his dad, he eschewed guns and violence whenever possible.

Destry didn't make it to the stage until David Merrick (in his debut on Broadway) brought him to the Great White Way in 1959 with the tremendous talent of Harold Rome and Leonard Gershe. The only other major production of the Musical was a London production in 1982 starring Alfred Molina.

Don't miss your chance to catch a truly rare musical, Destry Rides Again stars San Francisco's favorite chanteuse Connie Champagne, and runs until November 15 at the Eureka Theatre. For tickets click here or call (415) 255-8207.

*Max Brand was actually the acclaimed poet Fredrick Schiller Faust. He was one of the most prolific writers of all time having written nearly 30,000,000 words under 19 different pseudonyms. He is most famous for his characters Tom Destry and Dr. James Kildare.

A Look Behind Bottleneck: Destry Rehearsals

When Connie Champagne takes the stage at 42nd Street Moon, she transports us to the Wild West, to the small town of Bottleneck where the bad guys is bad, and the good guys is good. And Connie should know from bad guys and good guys of the Wild West, she shares a birthday with Billy the Kid! 

(Connie Champagne and Steve Rhyne)

One of the great perks of writing this blog is that I get to go into rehearsal and see the show taking shape.  I get to see the bad guys and good guys forming their characters and their relationships.  As we enter our last preview, I thought I'd give you a glimpse of what I saw.

Many of you have probably already seen my footage of "Are You Ready, Gyp Watson?"  It was a really interesting experience to watch the actors just practicing around the piano. It felt like a good ol' fashioned piano sing-along.  More like friends coming together and have fun than a "rehearsal". 

If you didn't get a chance to see the video, well here ya go!

I also took some snapshots of various moments.  Below the boys are having a barbershop-sextet moment with "Not Guilty."

(Clockwise: Ernie Tovar, Wendell H. Wilson, Michael Cassidy, Jeremy Vik, Tom Orr, Coley Grundman)

Moon productions don't get weeks of rehearsals, so whenever possible, double duty is done! While most of the cast is rehearsing the second act, Robbie Cowan and Louise Jarmilowicz work on costuming in back.

From This....

(Robbie Cowan and Louise Jarmilowicz)

To this...

(Robbie Cowan)

Pretty snazzy Louise!

Come check out all the hard work the Destry company has done! Destry Rides Again opens tomorrow, October 31st and runs through November 15th. Opening Night Champagne and hors d'oeuvres reception included with your Opening Night ticket. Come in costume and get a coupon good for a half-off ticket for our next show Jubilee! For Tickets click here or call (415) 255-8207.

Destry Rides Where the Buffalo Rome

Gershwin, Kern, Porter, and Berlin, these are some of the best-known contributors to the Great American Songbook canon and of Broadway's history. However this season's fifth composer, Harold Rome (b. 1908), may not be as familiar.

Although you'll soon be familiar with Destry Rides Again, you may not know that, coincidental to our just completed production, one of his early successes was entitled Call Me Mister (1946) about service men returning home from war.

Rome had a number of hit shows however, with I Can Get It For You Wholesale (1962), Pins and Needles (1934), and of course Fanny (1954) - the hit show starring Florence Henderson and Ezio Pinza that would debut David Merrick's talents as a Broadway producer.

Rome also introduced the world to a new ingénue in Wholesale, it’s such a shame she was lost to obscurity. I doubt any of you have ever heard of her, Barbra Streisand?

But I digress.

Rome was actually a Yale-educated architect who showed promise as a painter as well. He said, "I was an architect with no buildings to build, a painter with no patrons." So of course, he felt musical theatre would be an easier life.

Rome's music career was highlighted by truly satirical songs. He often used his musical talents to campaign against social injustice; one critic of the 1930's hailed him "Noel Coward, with a social conscience." An example is "Four Angels of Peace", which was written as a quartet for Neville Chamberlin, Tojo, Benito Mussolini and Adolph Hitler to sing in Pins and Needles. It seems the relevance of his lyrics has not been lost to time:

Four little angels of peace are we
Loving our neighbors so peacefully
There's really no harm if we do not disarm
For we always in close harmony

He was also fond of singing "Sing Me a Song With Social Significance" when he made public appearances throughout his life:

Sing me a song with social significance
Or you can sing 'til you're blue
Let meaning shine from ev'ry line
Or I won't love you

Rome left us relatively recently, in 1993, but his vibrant music and wonderful adaption of the western comedy spoof, Destry Rides Again will live on at the Eureka Theatre beginning October 28th.  For tickets click here or call (415) 255-8207.