The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • Page 46

E6 THEATER neck at any point, you are probably seeing something in the show that you will never see he says pleasantly. here. Let the opening number, begin. At this point in the rehearsal period just over a week before the first preview performance it would be incorrect to say that Holmes wrote the book for Wives Rather, Holmes is still writing the book. Just as the former Motown songwriting team of Brian Holland, LamontDozi- erand Eddie Hollandremain in the middle of rewriting the music and lyrics been polishing for two years, and choreographer Lisa High School Musical 1 and in West End and on tour; is working up a sweat crafting the energetic dance moves.

Even this close to unveiling Wives to the public, the phrase in remains an understatement for this Broadway-bound production getting its first outing at the Old Globe. The show opens Friday. And right now, the vein in neck is probably as good an indicator as any as to which way the creative wind is blowing. Steady at the helm is Zambello, who is crossing out dialogue, moving things around, monitoring the emotional temperatures of the cast and pulling it all together. Although she remains deeply involved with opera, serving as artistic advisor to San Francisco Opera, where she is direct- cycle, she has come to prefer directing more populist entertainment.

Her last high-profile musical was Little on Broadway. be easier next time While the rehearsal process for any production is essentially the same, the creation of a new musical has more moving parts than presenting a revival. always easier to do the second jokes Old Globe artistic director Louis Spisto. Spisto says the budget for the Old Globe production is about $2.5 million fraction of what the show will cost to produce on Broadway, where budgets for musicals routinely pass the $10- million mark. Old Globe audiences will see a fully staged show, but with perhaps a slightly smaller ensemble and fewer musicians in the pit.

Andalthough Wives has a commercial future, the Old Globe is a nonprofit theater, so the performers trade lower-than-Broadway salaries for the chance to be part of something new. While the Old Globe does not share producer credit with Paul Lambertand Jonas Neilson show is being presented by the Broadway producers the Old Globe will be a profit participant through the life of the Broadway production as well as major touring productions of the show, as the regional theater originating the show. For those who missed the novel and movie, Wives tells the story of three well-off, middle-aged New York City women whose perfect marriages crumble when their husbands indulge their midlife crises by hopping into bed with younger women. In the Old Globe production, all three of the girlfriends are played by the same actress, SaraChase. The philandering husbands are portrayed by Brad Oscar, John Dossettand Kevyn Morrow.

Zambello get her most reliable input until the two weeks of previews that follow the five-week rehearsal period when the laughs, fidgets and silences of the audience begin to shape the show. Audience reaction, Zambello says, provides needed perspective after actors have heard the comic lines so often that they just seem funny anymore. generally do a lot of work the day and afternoon before each she says. generally can only work on one scene, or one dance always a race against the The Old Globe has established something of a reputation for shepherding new musicals to Broadway: Rotten Full Catered a revival Creating a new musical in temperate, beachy San Diego, say those involved, is like being at a summer camp a scary, vein- popping kind of summer camp that offers nonstop rehearsals instead of archery and crafts, and evenings of Shakespeare at the Old outdoor amphitheater instead of campfires and The process, Holmes says, is always easier away from the distractions of New York. He arrived from the Big Apple about midway through the rehearsal period after keeping in touch with choreographer and director via video conferencing I could see the expressions on their faces when they said: scene needs to be Holmes says.

of the time I write brand new he says. always exciting to write a musical or play of something that has existed in another medium. I get to write scenes that might have happened in the film, or the play version of a musical but For Wives the idea was to take a deliberate detour from, well, the first Unlike another recent show about empowerment based on a movie that would be to 5: The which premiered at the Ahmanson last year Wives is not a period piece. While the musical to is set in the 1980 pre-Internet era, Wives is updated from the to 2009. The author, Goldsmith, died in 2004 at age 54 ironically, of complications from cosmetic surgery.

And Holmes says he never considered contacting the screenwriter for input. knew from the beginning we were going to make huge, fundamental changes in the story, including having Elyse be a black he says. Both Holmes and Zambello thought that racially integrating the cast would give the story a more contemporary feel. Adds Holmes: wanted to make sure there was one vocal timbre in our cast that would be the kind of sound that we associated with so much of the music of Holland- But Holland-Dozier-Holland, also known as HDH, most associated with Motown hits of the 1960s, writing for the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops and others? Zambello says that, even though these songs hail from a bygone era, the women would have grown up with those tunes, whose popularity continued for decades after their release on vinyl. songs gone Holmes says.

knows you hurry love everybody knows to stop in the name of love for gosh sakes, before you break my heart Our were hearing these songs when they were 5, 6 or 7 years old and started wondering what dating would be like, what boys would be like. And here are these women who now are seeing that maybe not all as simple as One thing about portraying the complicated lives of complicated women is very, very simple: Even in 2009, opportunities to play multifaceted lead roles are hard to come by for actresses on the up-side of 50. All three jumped at the chance. The decision required some quick schedule changesfor Ralph, had already booked a tour for her one- woman show, I Cry: The Lives, Loves and Losses of Women With when the chance to step into the role of Elyse came up. still playing catch-up.

it was like rolling a big snowball uphill, and then suddenly you turn around and rolling down she says. the first 10 days, I lost five pounds. If I were 22 and doing bring it on! But that was a long time But Ralph is proud of what Elyse represents. say the Michelle Obama effect; the black girl is coming into her she says. the smartest of the group, the wealthiest of the group, and I was the one who graduated at the top of her Recent Broadway credits for Walsh, 54, include a Tony-nominated turn as Joanne in the 2007 revival of Stephen and aTony-nominated performance as Trina in my age, honey, to originate a role in a musical? It is always a lifelong Walsh says.

She finds her character no-nonsense, earth mother Brenda a refreshing change from the brittle roles she finds herself offered of late. Everywoman; something about her that is Walsh says. Ziemba, 51, a Tony winner for her role in the musical says of her character, Annie the pleaser: not the kind of woman that we want to feel that we are, but inherently women are caretakers, whether they are the CEO of a companyor a nurse. I feel like people are with me; we all know people like All the women believe that the story will have special appeal to middle-aged women demographically a large part of the theater-going public already. going to be great for young people to Ralph says.

they see us onstage, they are going to say: are 50 Ooooh, they are Not the same old song While the musical is about a sort of midlife girl group, Wives also represents a comeback for a senior boy band: HDH. The Holland brothers and Dozier, who are allin their late 60s, ended their musical partnership in the mid-1970s. With one foot out the door on his way from L.A. to San Diego to watch a rehearsal, an enthusiastic Brian Holland coined a word for the reunited first experience with a stage musical: Wives is not a jukebox musical. The hit makers are writing new songs for the show, borrowing from Motown tradition.

Dozier credits his experience growing up in Detroit, listening to the gossip at his in-home beauty shop while he swept the floors, for his insight into the pain of women done wrong by their men. would all sink in, like a Dozier reminisces. it came time for me to look for ideas and subject matter, I went back to this place. This raises similar issues to some of the things we wrote in the 1960s, that really championed The issues may be timeless, but the team acknowledges that writing songs that illuminate story and character is adifferent process from trying to top the billboard charts. you write a song, you have to get used to the book writer saying: want to change that Oh my God, all that time and work, and like for Eddie Holland exclaims.

have to get used to that emotional Holmes cut his creative teeth as a pop songwriter he wrote one of the biggest hits of the late 1970s, (The Colada experience helped him in translating the requirements of a theatrical musical to HDH. had to describe what an is to pop writers who never had the necessity to know the he says. And what is an the show were an hour on the face of the clock, the 11 song is the one you do just before the end of Act 2 that blows everyone out of the Holmes says. is the last big number going to get. the bump big In Wives that exuberating 11 song is probably the finale to the by which point each wife has, in true musical theater tradition, found herself, found someone else, found the truth or spread her wings and flown.

But way too early to tell which HDH song, or songs, will be the one that people will ultimately walk out singing. We know until opening night or maybe until Broadway. As this creative team knows, you hurry musicals; you just have to wait. diane.haithman@latimes.com Prepping for their run from Don Bartletti Los Angeles Times ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN, GUYS: Brad Oscar, left, Kevyn Morrowand John Dossettplay husbands who get coming to them. Sean Masterson For The Times IN CHARGE: Zambello directed on Broadway.

Los Angeles Times PERFECT PITCH: Lamont Dozier, left, Eddie and Brian Holland, who co-wrote songs for Motown greats, collaborate on something new here. Sean Masterson For The Times THE PLAYERS: Ralph, left, Walsh and Ziemba discuss their characters. Ralph plays a pop diva, Walsh is a Jewish mom (Bette role in the movie) and Ziemba is the apologetic Annie (Diane Keaton onscreen). CMYK.