An Interview with the Creator of “A5678: A Musical Revue”: Barbara Epstein
Words by Kristen Fogle
Barbara Epstein will tell you, very humbly and in her own way, that she is a Jill-of-all-trade in the musical theater realm. Known as bringing musical theater to theme parks, she has created, produced, directed, and choreographed shows all over the world; one can still see her work at Universal Studios, both in Florida and Osaka. Her current project, however, is bringing her highly successful, award winning musical revue “A5678” to the Welk Resort Theatre May 24-June 10.
Completely updated, the work will showcase the talent of a whole new cast of young, local thespians. The accomplished but effortlessly kind Epstein discussed the origins of the show with me, including what prompted her to undertake such an ambitious task thirty five years ago, the impetus for redoing the show for the current production, and why “A5678” is a revue like none other.
Kristen Fogle: Tell me a bit about your professional background producing shows.
Barbara Epstein: I fell into a situation right after “A5678” actually. I was hired by the Walt Disney Company to go to Florida, and I was the founder of an entire convention and resort area for them. I produced about 15 shows for them; they had a night club room called Top of the World at the Contemporary Resort Hotel, and I did a Broadway review there called “Broadway at the Top” that was supposed to run three months and ended up running 13 years. I did all the major shows at Universal Studios Hollywood, Florida, and Osaka (Japan), and I still have many shows running in Japan [three] and Florida [two]. At Walt Disney World, if IBM goes for a convention, on their last night, the menu of shows they can choose from is made up of my shows. So I’m kind of known for bringing theater to theme parks. I’m also an associate producer of “Rent” and “Avenue Q” and directed the UK premiere of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas,” which is still running every season there. So I’m a director, a producer, I’m a little bit of everything. I also did a couple of animated films for Nickelodeon. Musical theater has always been my thing.
KF: Can you tell me about the beginnings of “A5678”? What prompted you to put the show together in the first place?
BE: Thirty five years ago I created, produced, and directed the show. We are one of the longest shows running in Los Angeles, and it played at the Beverly Hills Playhouse, the Variety Arts Theatre, on Melrose… I didn’t want to do a book musical, so a musical revue seemed to be the thing… I taught at Cal State Northridge and at two high schools…and wanted to showcase the work of my students. It was the cream of the crop doing the show, with a cast between 16 and 25 years old. I had as few as eight in the show, as many as 20 cast members… A lot of casting directors came…all [the stars of the show] went on to do things in the business. Many became very successful.
KF: What is the idea behind “A5678”?
BE: I came up with this idea pre-“Glee,” pre-“Fame,” pre-“High School Musical,” and we actually opened a month after “A Chorus Line.” We didn’t know about it at the time. Basically, it is about kids putting on a show before putting on a show, so you’re watching last minute rehearsals. The last piece you watch is actually the first number of the show they have been rehearsing for. Some of the numbers in the show are from the actual show they are putting on, and you watch them communicate with the stage manager, etcetera. Some of the songs are about why-can’t-he-find-a-girl-who-wants-to-be-more-than-his-best-friend…that’s in real time… There is also a question and answer portion with the actors and the audience. ‘How old are you?’ ‘What have you done?’ People would find out someone was auditioning for a Coca Cola commercial, and they would come back and see the show the next week to find out if they got it.
KF: And you are reviving the original concept of the show.
BE: I always build the show on the talent we have, and I am using all original material now. It’s important that the people play themselves, because it’s the emotional connection with the cast that you learn about their dreams. Everyone can relate to that… A lot of my original cast will come back for this show—two have written songs for this show. A lot have grown up to be wonderful song writers. There is a lot of heart in this—it’s not your typical production of “Hello Dolly.” The material of the songs is really well done and funny. A lot of show biz references, but not so much that other people won’t get them. A peek into what goes into putting on a show. And a lot of clever, sophisticated, sometimes edgy material.
KF: What else can you tell us about the songs in the show? I know you are currently working with some amazing people.
BE: When I opened the show thirty five years ago, there were a lot of songs from the day. But kids are different now. I have some that were written specifically for this, some done before in a cabaret act but never used elsewhere, for instance, and I approached those songwriters for this. I have a lot of great songwriters now though; Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich are the top young songwriting team in New York. Faye Greenberg and Gerald Sternbach—who was my original musical director and my musical supervisor and arranger on this version of the show. Faye and David Lawrence have a song they’ve written for the show… John Kavanaugh and David Goldsmith, who are probably the premiere writing team in Los Angeles. So they all understand the modern day ‘Let’s put on a show’ today idea, as opposed to the Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney ‘Let’s put on a show’ idea.
KF: Why at the Welk and in San Diego?
BE: Ray Limon, who directed and choreographed a lot in the Orange County area—I’ve only done one show at the Welk and he’s probably done 1,003—he was actually in the cast of “A5678” also… He came to me and said, ‘We need to do this at the Welk, they’ll love it.’ So I said, OK, but only he comes on for it to be my associate director and co-choreographer, and we’ll have a great time, and get Gerry as the original music director. I have to have the heart of the team, because that’s what makes this show. So we got together for this show and will maybe license it to high schools and colleges around the country. Who knows where it will go from here. It’s kind of a premiere and kind of a revival. I think that the whole San Diego/OC area has such talent, such diversity that didn’t used to be there. A wonderful awareness of young people and the arts thanks to everything that is out there now. Kids are looking for that first professional experience and that’s what we’ll be to them.
…That’s what makes this experience so great. It may be someone’s first show. For instance, I had a sixteen year old girl in the first run, and she sings a song at the end of the show. For this production, the person who was that original sixteen year old has come back to write that last song.
KF: Are you still looking for talent for the show?
BE: We are having auditions March 18. We did one audition in November, a pre audition to take a look at what the talent level was in the area. We are only doing this with eight, and they all have to be stars. They don’t all have to have the same strengths, though. They don’t all have to be phenomenal singers, but all have to carry a tune. Everyone has to do a time step, two must be phenomenal dancers; at least four out of the eight have to be great at comedy. It’s a short amount of time to put it on them, so they have to take the ball and run.
KF: Any reservations about doing the show this time around?
BE: My initial fear is that it was absolute magic the first time, and will it be that great [this time]? Like when you go back to a restaurant and you’re afraid it won’t be that good. Sometimes it’s not as great as you remember. I want it to be even better than it was 35 years ago. I’m very excited about it, I really am. Anyone who comes to see it won’t have seen anything like it. It really is a different show. I’m writing some new dialogue that references “Isn’t this a lot like chorus line?” Well, no, in chorus line they are auditioning. They already have the part in this show, and it’s the kids putting it on.
KF: Well, in “Chorus Line,” there has been no updating.
BE: Exactly. Which is why I think there are two, maybe three of the original songs that will be in the show. Besides that, there are all new songs. They will all be songs that people have not heard. That’s the exiting thing that makes things so original.
KF: Is there anything else coming up that you would like to promote?
BE: There is another show that I’m working on getting out called “Twisted TV,” and you can visit www.twisitedtv.org. Basically it’s “Forbidden Broadway” for TV. We will be completing that and showing that to small theaters around the country soon.
To learn more about Barbara Epstein, please go to www.barbaraepstein.com. To book tickets for A5678, please visit www.welktheatre.com.
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