![Tom Fedor/The Gazette
Fredericktowne Players rehearse for \"Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)\" on Monday night, at Frederick Community College\'s Jack B. Kussmaul Theater in Frederick. Pictured from the left are, Jessica Billones as \"June,\" Steve Steele as the hero, \"Billy,\" with the matron, \"Abby,\" played by Jeanine Collins and Chris Steele is \"Jitter,\" the villain.](/storyimage/PN/20120126/ENTERTAINMENT/701269975/AR/0/AR-701269975.jpg "Tom Fedor/The Gazette
Fredericktowne Players rehearse for \\"Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)\\" on Monday night, at Frederick Community College\'s Jack B. Kussmaul Theater in Frederick. Pictured from the left are, Jessica Billones as \\"June,\\" Steve Steele as the hero, \\"Billy,\\" with the matron, \\"Abby,\\" played by Jeanine Collins and Chris Steele is \\"Jitter,\\" the villain.")
From revues to revivals, classic musicals have been done and done again, but The Fredericktowne Players will take a satirical approach when “Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)” opens Friday.
The parody marathon spoofs dozens of musicals through five distinct acts, each interpreting a simple plot in the styles of famous playwrights: Andrew Lloyd Webber (“The Phantom of the Opera,” “Evita”) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (“The King and I,” “The Sound of Music”), Jerry Herman (“Mame,” “Hello, Dolly!”), Stephen Sondheim (“Into the Woods,” “Sweeney Todd”) and John Kander and Fred Ebb (“Chicago,” “Cabaret”).
Each act presents the same problem — the character June cannot pay the rent demanded by her landlord, Jitter. June turns to her wise friend Abby for advice, but it is the hero Billy who tries to save the day.
“It’s like the old melodrama where the hero comes to the rescue in five different styles,” director DC Cathro says.
Cathro decided to stage the show with FTP after seeing it performed off-Broadway a few years ago. He found it a challenge to direct each of the five acts in the tone and style of the referenced playwrights while keeping it fresh and funny for the audience with only four actors and a piano player on stage.
“You have to really hearken back to the style of the show that they’re based on physically, vocally,” he says.
While there is some dialogue, the majority of the story is told though songs that pay homage to the originals, especially in the segment inspired by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is known for rock operas like “Phantom of the Opera,” Cathro says.
But the Andrew Lloyd Webber segment also presents another challenge for the show’s actors — a roller skating segment referencing the musical “Starlight Express” in which the actors famously wear roller skates on stage.
“None of us have been on a set of roller skates in 20 years,” actor Chris Steele says. “It is live theater. Everything can and usually does happen. If I fall, so be it.”
Steele, 46, of Monrovia, takes on the role of villainous landlord Jitter.
Although the general plot is repetitive, the overall show is not, Steele says. The comedy comes in seeing the plot of not being able to pay the rent evolve in different ways as the characters interpret each musical style.
“If we do our job correctly it’ll shine though,” he observes.
Playing opposite his brother, Steve Steele plays the hero Billy in “Musical of Musicals.” Both brothers are FTP regulars dating back to shows in the 1970s.
“[Billy is] a mishmash of a lot of different types of leading man roles,” says Steve Steele, 54, of Jefferson.“ There are differences in the characters, nuances.”
Costume elements such as a cowboy hat help set the tone for the “Oklahoma!”-style Rodgers and Hammerstein leading man, while a darker hero has to emerge in the Sondheim act, Steele says.
“In each of these cases, it’s almost a caricature of these characters. You don’t want to be too serious about it” he says. “It’s a lot of thumbs in my belt and popped out chest very stereotypical.”
In previous roles, Steele has played the leading roles of Bobby in “Company” and Cinderella’s Prince in “Into the Woods,” so mimicking them in the musical parody has been fun, he says. But it is the risqué and dance-intensive roles from Kander and Ebb productions like “Chicago” that have been the most challenging to re-create in “Musical of Musicals.”
“I’m not really that kind of guy. I kind of push myself into that mold a little bit and loosen up and be kind of slimy, sleazy, sexy, and that’s really not me,” he says.
The songs in “Musical of Musicals” are new compositions, but pay homage to famous show tunes in style and by borrowing a few lyrics, Cathro says. Part of the fun for musical gurus in the audience will be catching the small references to numerous shows that are slipped into song.
“If you’re a musical fan, you’ll recognize a lot of the styles and the shows,” Cathro says. “Even if you’re not a musical fan, you’re still going to recognize some of the stuff.”
ccalamaio@gazette.net
‘Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)’
When: 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Feb. 3-4, 2 p.m. Feb. 5
Where: Jack B. Kussmaul Theater, Frederick Community College, 7932 Opossumtown Pike, Frederick
Tickets: $22, $16 for students, seniors, and military, $8 for children under 12
For information: 240-315-3855 or www.fredericktowneplayers.org
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