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INTERVIEW WITH SPOTLIGHT GALA HONOREE & Board president, EMILY SOELL

INTERVIEW BY CARL ANDRESS | FILMED & EDITED BY ALY MORRISSEY

Spring is Here! And that means it is just a few short weeks to the start of the 2025 Season at The Sharon Playhouse

AND NOW....ON WITH THE SHOWS!

The first two productions of the 2025 Season at The Sharon Playhouse are rock ‘n roll favorite Million Dollar Quartet and crowd-pleasing Annie. While we profiled these award-winning shows in our Winter Newsletter, here we share some little-known facts of each show that will enhance your theater-going experience.

The musical Million Dollar Quartet tells the story of a legendary, impromptu jam session at Sun Records in 1956, where Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins came together, and the show captures the energy, spontaneity, and raw talent of that day.

What started out to be a regular recording session at Sun Records turned into one of the most exciting musical events of the young rock and roll era. On that December 4, 1956 afternoon Sam Phillips, head of Sun Records, had hired backup musicians for the newly established country singer Carl Perkins. In that group was an up-and-coming star pianist-singer-rocker named Jerry Lee Lewis.

As the afternoon went on, Elvis Presley, with a girlfriend, stopped by for a visit, followed by Johnny Cash, all budding artists who had recorded for Sun Records. Luckily the recording engineer kept the tape running to capture this magical moment in music history. Phillips called a reporter friend, Bob Johnson, the entertainment editor of The Memphis Press-Scimitar, who wrote an article about the session the following day. It was supposedly Johnson’s enthusiasm for this group’s performance that prompted him to exclaim “that quartet could sell a million.” Hence, the title The Million Dollar Quartet.  

Further insights: 

• When Elvis moved so Jerry Lee could take over at the piano, Elvis quipped, “The wrong man's been sitting here at this piano” to which Jerry Lee replied, “Well, I been wanting to tell you that all along.”

• The tapes of the session sat in the Sun vaults for many years, and a chunk of the sessions – 17 tracks – were first released in 1981 under the title The Million Dollar Quartet.

• Johnny Cash later claimed that they had laid down versions of Elvis singing This Train is Bound for Glory and Vacation in Heaven, but even if they exist, neither recording has been found.

• The girlfriend of Elvis at the time, Marilyn Evans (now Riehl), was also present at the session and is mentioned in some accounts.

• While Roy Orbison, another Sun Records alumnus, wasn't there in 1956, he did later participate in a Million Dollar Quartet reunion in 1977, performing This Train is Bound for Glory, in tribute to Elvis (who had passed), on the televised Johnny Cash Christmas Special. Orbison joined the group again in 1986 alongside Cash, Lewis, and Perkins, for the album Class of '55: Memphis Rock & Roll Homecoming.

Don’t miss this remarkable once-in-a-lifetime event! DATES: June 20 – July 6 in the Bobbie Olsen MainStage

The musical Annie has a rich history with fascinating anecdotes, including its origins in a comic strip, creator Martin Charnin's dislike of the 1982 film adaptation, and the “longest running dog on Broadway” who played Sandy.  Here’s a bit of the show’s journey to Broadway legend:

• The musical is based on Harold Gray's comic strip Little Orphan Annie, which itself was based on an 1885 poem originally titled The Elf Child. Gray was allegedly further inspired by a young girl he met on the streets of Chicago.

• In 1970, lyricist-director Martin Charnin bought a coffee table book called The Life and Hard Times of Little Orphan Annie as a Christmas gift for a friend. When he took the book home, instead of gift wrapping it, he read it and fell in love with the story. He then set out to secure the rights the week of Christmas that same year. The friend never got the book.

• After setting his sights on bringing Annie to life, Charnin pitched the idea to colleagues Charles Strouse—a two-time Tony-winning composer—and Thomas Meehan, a short story writer for The New Yorker. They both thought it was a terrible idea. They ultimately were sold on the idea by the strength of Charnin's convictions. Charnin was drawn to, as Meehan later said, “the richness of the character of Annie herself – the lost, wandering, brave, indomitable child, a mythic figure in the annals of popular American culture.” The team was started to write the musical in 1971. Annie finally premiered in 1977.

• Meehan decided to set the story in the 1930s, partially because all three writers had lived their childhood in the decade and would enjoy re-creating the feeling and language of that time.

• However, there was another more interesting reason for Meehan’s choice of setting. In the spring of 1972 when Annie was beginning to be written, the Vietnam War was ongoing, Richard Nixon was President and the country was in an economic recession. As Meehan wrote in The New York Times shortly before Annie debuted on Broadway, “there was a growing sense of cynicism and hopelessness among millions of Americans, including me. And it struck me that Annie the musical could become a metaphorical figure who stood for innate decency, courage and optimism in the face of hard times, pessimism and despair.”

• By the time Annie made it to Broadway, times had gotten better for America at large, and the musical became, in Meehan's words, “a reflection of the current spirit of the country.” One can see how this inspiration brought about the musical's most successful song, the optimistic and hopeful Tomorrow.

• While Charnin, Meehan and Strouse were working on the show, they began auditioning it for Broadway producers, none of whom decided to invest. Charnin decided to pitch it to a theatre in Connecticut that produced musicals, The Goodspeed Opera House.

• The creators used the performances in Connecticut to focus the plot and work on the score. Many songs were removed and moved during the production, while new ones were also written. For instance, the spot ultimately filled by Easy Street was originally a song titled That's The Way It Goes. Miss Hannigan's Little Girls was originally a duet with Annie, featuring completely different lyrics. It was called  Just Wait.

• By the end of the run in Connecticut, the song list was beginning to look like the version of Annie that we are familiar with today. The original opening number, Apples, was replaced with Maybe, which had initially come a few songs into the evening. A new song was written for the Hooverville residents, We'd Like to Thank You. Little Girls and Easy Street both made it into the show by this point as well.

• Sarah Jessica Parker notably replaced Andrea Mc Ardle later in the Broadway run. Tony-winner Dorothy Louden was later replaced by Alice Ghostley, Betty Hutton, June Havoc and Marcia Lewis.

• The original dog that portrayed Sandy was a rescue and his real name was Sunny. He was trained by William Berloni and became known as the “longest running dog on Broadway” for never missing a performance. Replacement dogs included Addison, another rescue, Georgie who almost ended up in a kill shelter in Pennsylvania and Kevin, a 7 year old Labradoodle who also appeared on TV and in film roles.

• Martin Charnin, the creator of the musical, expressed strong disapproval of the 1982 film adaptation, criticizing the casting choices (Albert Finney, Carol Burnett, Aileen Quinn) and their portrayal of key characters, as well as the emotional relationship between Annie and Warbucks.

Annie is a story about hope and optimism, and the lessons from the musical remind us that leadership can come from unexpected places and that qualities like those displayed by Annie can shape a team. Join us for this heartwarming family show!

DATES: July 25 – August 10 in the Bobbie Olsen MainStage 

AND THAT'S NOT ALL!!!

Other major 2025 Summer productions to follow are A.R. Gurney’s Sylvia (August 29 – September 7) and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap (September 26 – October 5).

Summer YouthStage productions include:

• Once Upon a Mattress

• Finding Nemo, Jr.

• Kids’ Cabaret

• The Great Amusement Park Mystery!

• 101 Dalmatians, Kids

• Sharon Playhouse Stars

The 2025 Sharon Playhouse Gala takes place on May 31 in The Bok Gallery, on The Patio and on The Olsen MainStage. Mark your calendars!

DOUBLE ACT: BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THE SHARON PLAYHOUSE'S TWIN SET DESIGNERS

By John Christian Lange

Justin and Christopher’s connection with The Sharon Playhouse actually began from afar. "We designed a Beauty and the Beast set that was for The Playhouse," Justin explained. "We weren't actually able to go and see it, but the design went and was altered to fit the space." Their direct involvement came through Artistic Director, Carl Andress, whom they'd previously collaborated with in Miami. "When Carl reached out about the possibility of the two of us coming on board last season to design, we were just thrilled to get the opportunity to work with him again," Christopher said.

What drew them to Sharon was more than just the opportunity—it was The Playhouse itself. Justin said. "We were just excited by the rustic sense of the space, and how sometimes you really forget you're in a barn. I think that's exciting—to see that space transform, especially from show to show." Their presence at The Playhouse last summer was frequent, especially around tech rehearsals. "We arrived a couple days before the tech rehearsal started," Justin shared. "We felt supported, and it was great to be able to come back multiple times throughout the summer to see how things progressed."

Looking ahead, the twins are particularly excited about Annie. Christopher explained, "We've designed that musical before, so we're looking forward to revisiting it through the lens of The Playhouse. Carl has just a fun way of taking a musical that's fairly recognizable and telling the story with a really fresh approach."

Working together as twins brings unique advantages. Justin explained, "We've always naturally collaborated since we were younger. One person would start drawing something and then the other would continue. Now, it's through drafting programs and Photoshop where he'll start something and I'll add to it. At the end, it's very organic and kind of blurry to know where one idea started and where one ended." When reflecting on standout past projects, two came to mind: Dig a hyper-realistic play set in a plant shop filled with real plants, and The Tempest, featuring an imaginative, theatrical shipwreck. They also embrace seemingly impossible challenges—like a recent project that required thousands of buttons raining from the ceiling.

With Justin and Christopher back for another season, Sharon Playhouse audiences can look forward to more creative magic on our stage.                                                      

SOME NEWS FROM OUR NEIGHBORS...

MEET THE TEAM BEHIND CURTAIN UP!

Publisher: The Sharon Playhouse Editor-in-Chief: Emily Soell, President of the Board of Directors*
Editor/Reporter: Jacqueline Markham-Priaulx*
Design Director: Justin Boccitto
Video & Photography: Aly Morrissey
Reporters: Lee Davies,* John Christian Lange*
Advisors: Carl Andress, Artistic Director; Michael Kevin Baldwin, Associate Artistic Director/Director of Education; Sarah Cuoco, Education & Company Manager & Wendy Prause, Business Manager

*Members of the Board of Directors

All of us at Curtain Up! thank you for reading our newsletter.

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