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Wanda's World - The Making of an Off-Broadway MusicalDateline: 13th January, 2008As the New York City authorities were preparing the New Year's Eve ball in Times Square for its drop at the end of 2007, the British Theatre Guide was given a unique opportunity to get a look behind the scenes at the making of an Off-Broadway musical. Chief London editor Philip Fisher and New York correspondent Catherine Lamm were invited to attend a run through of Wanda's World at the luxurious Ripley Grier Studios on New York's 8th Ave, a few blocks from Times Square and the 45th St Theatre where the play opens in mid-January 2008. Subsequently Philip also met several cast members and behind-the-scenes staff and interviewed the main players in the creative team, Book writer Eric Weinberger, his collaborator on Music and Lyrics Beth Falcone and the director whom they chose to bring the project to the stage, Lynne Taylor-Corbett. This was a very enjoyable experience, as everybody in a twenty strong team behind this tween musical seemed enthusiastic about the project and made it clear that they loved working together. For English readers a little explanation is required. Tweens are youngsters in the eight to 14 age group, bridging the gap between childhood and the teenage years. The theatre in which they are playing has 99 seats and the run is four weeks long with eight performances each week, including two that are subsidised for school audiences. What that means is that something that has taken three years to come to fruition will do very well to recover even 50% of the $200,000 that it will have cost by the end of the initial run. The hope for the future is that either this booking extends, there is a transfer ideally to Broadway; someone buys the TV or film rights, or, perhaps more realistically, it becomes a slow burning hit, playing up and down the country both to schools and adult audiences. In any event, the people behind Wanda's World, who also include a brave producer, Donna Trinkoff from Amas Musical Theatre, are taking a massive leap into the unknown quite unlike anything that would be required to do the equivalent in the UK, where the same kind of production might only cost 20 to 30% of the US budget. The run-through was taking place about two weeks before opening night but contained most of the material that will end up in the final version and most of the cast. The leading man is currently playing in another show out of town and his place was taken by a colleague who had been with the show from its early days but will miss this opportunity to take on the role as he has Broadway commitments. The musical itself gives off aura of goodwill but that does not mean that the schoolchildren at Cheese Valley High are all sweetness and light. The central character in this tween musical suffers a severe dichotomy between her fantasy world as a cool, TV anchorwoman and the reality of teenage insecurity when you start a new school while falling short on both physical perfection and confidence. The tiny Sandie Rosa is well cast as Wanda Butternut, a girl in her early teens whose best friend is her lovable almost human dog, Spangles. She both sings and acts capably and knows how to move from vulnerability towards an inevitable happy ending. Before she gets there though, she has to prove herself not only to the rather catty trio of girls who take every opportunity to do her down but also a group of gormless boys who go out of the way to make her life hell. With the support of her helpful teacher and the school principal, she eventually plucks up courage to take on the world and, more particularly, get closer to her Mr Perfect, Ti. He is the kind of boy whom you love to hate, top of the class, captain of the team and all-round nice guy. The 90 minute performance is filled with catchy songs, especially the theme tune, that one is happy enough to keep in the head from a few days. These combine with a storyline that ably mixes comedy and pathos without ever feeling artificial or becoming twee. As a consequence, Wanda's World is a real feelgood production that owes an awful lot to a very young but extremely talented cast, some of whom, notably Jennifer Bowles who plays Ti's stuck up girlfriend, have been with the show ever since its earliest public try out in Toronto during 2004. Eric Weinberger, Beth Falcone and Lynne Taylor-Corbett have now been working on this project together for so long that they practically finish each other's sentences. Their backgrounds differ immensely as Weinberger has had a previous off-Broadway hit with Class Mothers '68 as well as touring other plays, Falcone is new to writing music and lyrics for musicals but following classical training has worked as a musical director, while Taylor-Corbett is best known as a choreographer of both ballets and musicals. In that capacity, she worked on the film of Footloose, on the Broadway productions of Chess and Titanic and has also been involved with productions of The Lion King overseas. In addition, she received two Tony nominations for her work as director/choreographer on the musical Swing. The long road to a production in 2008 started in the head of Eric Weinberger the best part of five years ago. He was really keen to write a play or musical for the tween age group. "I wanted to write about that period as it was the most tortuous time of my life." Having come up with what he thought was a good storyline, he then cast around for somebody with the musical and lyrical skills to turn the book into a fully staged production. He met and immediately felt comfortable working with Beth Falcone and the collaboration began. This pair form a kind of mutual appreciation society so that she happily claims "without a good book it doesn't matter how good the music is." Weinberger adds that "We invented the story together - a lot of trial and error." As Falcone describes the creation from her perspective, "It was song by song. We wrote the story together by trying to get inside these characters' heads". Despite having something that they both liked, it took some time for all of the pieces to fall into place and it was the idea of a TV show as an outlet for Wanda's creativity that made all the difference. The third person who has made such a difference is Lynne Taylor-Corbett. She helped the writing duo both to refine the script and stage it. She has been delighted with the development made by her young cast: "It's been a really fun time watching how the cast have bonded". She also loves the final product, having been connected to it for so long. "Eric brought me the project three years ago and on and off we continue to talk and develop it". She can hardly hide her delight as she explains the pleasure that all three of them felt when, at long last, "we realised we had something extremely special". Taylor-Corbett has given the same commitment to Wanda's World as she does to everything on which she works. As she puts it: "The work is the work but the size doesn't change how you connect with the show". That attitude could readily be seen in the run-through and anybody who is in New York in the period from the 16th of January to 10th February would be well advised to get down to the 45th St Theatre and see for themselves. It has been lovingly produced by everybody concerned and their sense of fun conveyed itself to the audience throughout. Some information about the production and samples of the music are available on the Wanda's World website. Philip Fisher
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