Sweetheart is Mullally's
exploration of relationships, from both male and female perspectives.
Using 12 well-known and obscure story songs, she covers the idea of a
"sweetheart" in moods that range from dark to tongue-in-cheek.
"I have to call it performance art," Mullally said (at the time of the
workshop), as opposed to calling Sweetheart a cabaret or a club act.
The three men in the band and herself as performers "discover" the
theatre space and the audience around them. Mullally sometimes even
serves as sound technician, playing music for her piece on a boom box
or by giving sound cues herself.
For Mullally, who directed and wrote the piece, Sweetheart is a chance
to sing songs she has always loved in a way that she finds
challenging. "I thought, 'How could I perform these songs'? I don't
want to just stand up in a club and sing them. They deserve better
than that," she said.
In fact, she looks more at the singing of the songs as performing them
than actually making them sound pretty. She explains that "it's more
like acting in pitch."
Musical
is not as 'Sweet' as the title suggests
Last
Chance: Ends Sweetheart Stint in Hollywood Nov. 20
2nd & 3rd Photographs:
Morales, Adrian.
Sweetheart: a Musicale. 1999. West Hollywood, CA. Adrian Morales.
Megan's Madams. 14 June 2007 <www.adrianmorales.com>.
Last Chance: Ends
Sweetheart Stint in Hollywood Nov. 20
19 Nov 1999
TV and Broadway star Megan Mullally will be Los Angeles' Sweetheart
no longer. The full-scale production of her one woman show at the Coast
Playhouse in West Hollywood will close Nov. 20. The piece began
performances Oct. 14 with an opening night Oct. 23.
Sweetheart played a few fewer performances than originally
scheduled. Instead of starting the solo show Oct. 7, Mullally had to alter
the run to Oct. 14 due to a scheduling conflict, according to a
spokesperson.
Sweetheart is Mullally's exploration of relationships, from both
male and female perspectives. Using 12 well-known and obscure story songs,
she covers the idea of a "sweetheart" in moods that range from dark to
tongue-in-cheek.
"I have to call it performance art," Mullally said (at the time of the
workshop), as opposed to calling Sweetheart a cabaret or a club
act. The three men in the band and herself as performers "discover" the
theatre space and the audience around them. Mullally sometimes even serves
as sound technician, playing music for her piece on a boom box or by
giving sound cues herself.
For Mullally, who directed and wrote the piece, Sweetheart is a
chance to sing songs she has always loved in a way that she finds
challenging. "I thought, 'How could I perform these songs'? I don't want
to just stand up in a club and sing them. They deserve better than that,"
she said.
In fact, she looks more at the singing of the songs as performing them
than actually making them sound pretty. She explains that "it's more like
acting in pitch."
Part of her "pitch acting" involves taking traditional song
interpretations and twisting them on their ear. One such song, the
near-lullaby "Scarlet Ribbons" starts out like a children's nursery rhyme
as a mother describes hearing her child pray for scarlet ribbons which
miraculously appear on the child's bed the next morning. Mullally, on the
other hand, reduces the mother to a frightened lunatic losing control of
her mind as she suspects the forces of evil have come with the scarlet
ribbons.
Several of Mullally's songs are taken from theatre sources including
Richard Rogers and Lorenzo Hart's "10 Cents a Dance" (Simple Simon,
1930), Kurt Weill and Maxwell Anderson's "It Never Was You" (Knickerbocker
Holiday, 1938), Stephen Sondheim's "Johanna" (Sweeney Todd) and
"I Remember" ("Evening Primrose") and Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "Surubaya
Johnny" (Happy End). Other songs in the evening range from
anonymous ("She is My Slender" and "In the Gloaming") and traditional
American (Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer") to pop with Randy Newman
("Marie," "Guilty") and Tom Waits ("Ruby's Arms").
Currently seen on NBC as Karen Walker in "Will And Grace," Mullally
made her Broadway debut as Marty opposite Rosie O'Donnell in the 1994
revival of Grease. She returned again as Rosemary Pilkington with
the 1995 revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
starring Matthew Broderick. Other television and film credits include
"Seinfeld," "Mad About You," "Frasier," "About Last Night" and "Queen's
Logic."
Also on board are Greg Kuehn (musical director), George Barker
(lighting designer) and John Clemens (sound designer). Kuehn, Mathis and
Berardi serve as the band as well.
Mullaly did a workshop mounting of Sweetheart at the Coast this
past spring.
Tickets are $15-$25 and available by calling Tickets L.A. at (323) 655
TKTS. The Coast Playhouse is located at 8325 Santa Monica Boulevard.
-- By Christine Ehren and
David Lefkowitz
ehren, christine. "Last Chance: Ends Sweetheart Stint in
Hollywood". www.PlayBill.com November 19, 1999:
Center Stage
NBC star Megan Mullally ventures into new territory on stage
By DAVID JAY LASKY
Staff Writer
"Sweetheart," a new musical starring Megan
Mullally of Will and Grace, is a quirky and enjoyable
performance. Mullally explores various aspects of relationships using a
mixed bag of story songs. She has comical as well as musical talent that
is absent from her deadpan line delivery on her NBC show.
Mullally does vocals, Greg
Kuehn plays the keyboard, Stuart Mathis plays the guitar and Joseph
Berardi plays the drums in this impeccable musical ensemble. The
Broadway actress veteran performs songs by classic songwriters to convey
happiness, humor and sadness to The Coast Playhouse audience.
There is a great deal of
teamwork evident between Mullally and her musical accompaniment. They
work well together as if they enjoy creating the new music and
entertaining the crowd, a plus in light of the dim, jazz club atmosphere
and unsettling lyrics.
Randy Newman, Steven Sondheim,
Joni Mitchell and Richard Rodgers provide some of the bittersweet songs
for Mullally's performance. However, her best rendition is that of Roy
Turk and Lou Handman's "Are You Lonesome Tonight?," the song Elvis
Presley immortalized. She delivers the lines of the song with gusto and
charm.
Other songs are done in a
meaningful way. She performs the song "I Remember" as a woman shackled
to the walls of an institution. With the song "Scarlet Ribbons," she is
a woman discovering something about her daughter. The show explores the
aspects of what it means to have a sweetheart. It is angst-ridden, not
sunny or cheerful as one might expect from the title.
The play is somewhat lacking,
however. There are snippets of video footage thrown in the middle of the
show of Mullally and her entourage running around in the street. Coming
out of absolutely nowhere, it makes very little sense in the general
theme of the play and is an irritating distraction. The play ends very
abruptly, making the audience wonder if it is really over.
Mullally, who was the Outer
Critic's Circle nominee for "How To Succeed In Business Without Really
Trying," also directed this combination of wit, art and pop culture. She
is a skillful director who does not resort to staginess and the stiff,
static-prone atmosphere so prevalent in theater. She throws signs around
the stage, moves back and forth on a swing and jumps in front of the
audience attached to a rope and a metal hook. The fact that she goes out
of her way to do these daring stunts makes this show less typical and
more interesting.
It is difficult to recommend
such a downer as "Sweetheart." The mood is so underwhelming and raw that
one begins to miss the tart-tongued one-liners that have a certain
degree of sweetness, but are also missing any sense of romanticism -
they are too bitter to be mistaken for valentines.
As interesting as the show is,
it is not worth the $25 admission price. It is not innovative or
original enough to compensate for the price. Mullally has enough
presence to carry the show but the material is basic and not enough to
carry her.
Theatrically speaking,
"Sweet-heart" is a well-crafted performance. In terms of entertainment
and going out with a group of friends, there is a feeling of "is that
all there is" present throughout the performance. Her upcoming films are
sure to be more exciting and likable, but this is definitely a quiet
success in Mullally's blossoming track to all-star status.
"Sweetheart" will be playing
until Dec. 4 at The Coast Playhouse, located at 8325 Santa Monica Blvd.
Shows are held at 8 p.m. Thursdays and Fridays and at 8 and 10 p.m.
Saturdays. Tickets for the 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday shows are $25, and
tickets for the Thursday show and 10 p.m. Saturday show are $20. Tickets
can be purchased through Tickets L.A. at (323) 655-TKTS. For more
information, call (323) 650-8507.
Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 138, No. 39 (Monday, October 25,
1999), beginning on page 7 and ending on page 11.
