Heritage Theatre Festival

Helms Theatre

July 21 – August 1, 2015

Directed by:  Renee Dobson

Musical Direction:  Kevin White

Scenic Designer:  Rachel DelGaudio Rauscher

Costume Designer:  Allison Atmore

Lighting Designer:  Matthew J. Ishee

 

 

I Love A Piano is a revue at heart.  It features the timeless music of Irving Berlin, and explores his musical creativity from the turn of the century through the years.  Each year is punctuated by familiar tunes sung by a quartet of talented performers as they chase the piano all across the stage.  We experience the first experimental notes of Berlin’s music in a piano shop, the excitement of the Roaring 20s, the struggle and patriotism of World War 2, and the enduring place of Berlin music in theatre and in love.

 

The performance space was very neutral for this show, with the years of association lighting up around a false proscenium.  The piano itself rolled around the space freely, but fortunately never had to actually be played.  Our clever masterful piano player was concealed behind the set and had to have the cast pumped to him.  This was a bit of a challenge, as we traditionally did not use wireless microphones in that performance venue.  It required careful balance of all the different components of the sound system to achieve the desired result.

 

My research took me through the entire Irving Berlin library, looking at the historical time periods for each song.  This would pave my path to finding the right sounds to enhance particular moments.  Largely, we were able to let the music speak for itself, and I only needed to provide a few sound effects to heighten particular moments.  Adding some comedic bits to the ‘silent movie’ section was my favorite.

 

Revue shows are a bit tricky to approach, because they’re based solely around the music, and only include bits and pieces of dramatic action.  In the case of this show, the music had to seamlessly shift from one song to the next, and each new year of progression needed to follow the arc.  I Love A Piano falls into that category.  Still, with the collaboration of the design team and the director, we were able to navigate this challenge and provide a fully entertaining show.