Harlequin to produce 4 fall shows in rotation as it reopens live theater
Singers are in the spotlight at Harlequin Productions, reopening after 19 dark months with its first rotating repertory season.
“Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical” opens Friday, Oct. 22, followed a week later by “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” about Billie Holiday.
Both productions are song-studded autobiographies, with “Tenderly” structured as a series of conversations between Clooney (Meg McLynn) and a doctor, and “Lady Day” based on one of the last concerts given by Holiday (Alexandria J. Henderson).
The musicals will be joined Nov. 5 by “Until the Flood,” about the aftermath of the Ferguson, Missouri police shooting of Michael Brown, and Nov. 28 by a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol.”
The rotating plays will give audiences the chance to see as many as three shows in a week and two in a day. The theater’s fall calendar offers more weekday performances and more matinees than Olympia audiences have come to expect.
Artistic director Aaron Lamb said he decided on a repertory season for 2021 to give audiences more shows to see once the theater reopened.
“People are eager to participate in live events,” he said. “That said, this is probably a one-time-only experience at Harlequin.”
‘Tenderly’
The diva: Clooney (1928-2002) was a pop singer and actress with a deep voice and seemingly ever-present smile. She’s probably best known for her role in the 1954 musical “White Christmas,” in which she starred opposite Bing Crosby. “She was America’s girl next door,” McLynn of Seattle told The Olympian.
The show: “Tenderly” tells the story of Clooney’s life through conversations with a doctor (Harlequin regular Bruce Haasl, who also plays several significant figures in the singer’s life). Songs including “Come On-a My House” and “It’s Only a Paper Moon” are integrated into the memories.
“When you look at her or listen to her records, she always seems so happy,” McLynn said. “There was a glow about her that belied what she was actually living through. I’d like people to see the truth behind the façade and be able to empathize with her story.”
The star: McLynn, making her Harlequin debut, has sung the National Anthem for the Seahawks and has a recurring role on the young-adult horror show “The Girl in the Woods,” which premieres this week on Peacock.
Though she’s both an actor and a vocalist, she rarely works in musical theater. “My voice is a lower voice,” she said, “and there aren’t many musical parts written for women who have lower voices. Rosie’s range is perfect.”
When she was offered “Tenderly,” McLynn hesitated at first.
“I thought, ‘No way. My schedule is way too crazy,’ and then I looked at the show, and for the next four days I could not get Rosemary Clooney songs out of my head,” she said. “So I decided to trust my heart. It was saying, ‘You have to do this show.’ ”
‘Lady Day’
The diva: Holiday (1915-1959), known for her expressive and unusual voice, is widely considered to be one of the most influential jazz singers of all time. Her biggest hits include “Strange Fruit,” about a lynching, and “God Bless the Child.” Her fame continued to grow even after her death of cirrhosis. She’s been the subject of several films, and in 2000, she was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
The show: “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” which opened on Broadway in 2014 and won two Tony Awards that year, is set in March 1959 at a run-down Philadelphia bar. “It will be as if the audience has paid for a ticket to a Billie Holiday cabaret,” Henderson told The Olympian. “She sings the hits and tells stories about her life, and I am certain the audience will learn something about her they didn’t know before.”
The star: Henderson of Tacoma, previously seen in Harlequin’s 2016 “The Stardust Christmas Enchantment,” received a 2017 Gregory Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Musical for the Village Theatre’s “Dreamgirls.” She’s also sung with the Seattle Symphony and performed with The 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle, the Seattle Shakespeare Co., Tacoma Musical Playhouse and (before joining the Actors’ Equity Association) Tacoma Little Theatre.
Though she’s always liked Holiday’s music and had watched a recording of “Lady Day” a few years ago, Henderson said she’s learned a lot more about the jazz singer as a person since taking the role.
“She and I have similar senses of humor — very dark, crass, just this side of inappropriate,” Henderson said. “I think it was her way of playing the hand she was dealt and not letting it take her all the way into the dark places.”
Having seen Tony winner Audra McDonald’s performance in the role left Henderson feeling more than a little intimidated.
“I was floored by her embodiment of Billie,” she said. “When I signed up for (the role), I was terrified. But I try to take on the roles that scare me, knowing that I will ultimately be better for it.”
‘Tenderly: The Rosemary Clooney Musical’
- When: Oct. 22-Nov. 20, with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 2 p.m.
- Where: State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
- Tickets: $42, $38 for seniors and military, $25 for students and youth
- More information: 360-786-0151, https://harlequinproductions.org
- Preview: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 21; $20
- COVID protocol: Proof of vaccination or negative COVID PCR tests will be checked at the doorsy. Masking is required inside the venue.
‘Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill’
- When: Oct. 29-Nov. 27 with evening performances at 7:30 p.m. and matinees at 2 p.m.
- Where: State Theater, 202 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia
- Tickets: $42, $38 for seniors and military, $25 for students and youth
- More information: 360-786-0151, https://harlequinproductions.org
- Preview: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28; $20
COVID protocol: Proof of vaccination or negative COVID PCR tests will be checked at the doorsy. Masking is required inside the venue.