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Video: Calhoun on His Most Personal Project- A COMPLICATED WOMAN
May 15, 2024
John Kenley was a theatre impresario who brought Hollywood stars like Gene Kelly and Ann Miller to Ohio's summer stock stages. But when summer ended, he wintered in Florida where John disappeared… and Jean came to life. A Complicated Woman is a new musical that features a Golden Age score and a gender-diverse cast. Watch as Jeff Calhoun chats more about the exciting new project in this video!
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Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge. A Complicated Woman is the new musical that features a golden age score and a gender diverse cast
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It tells the story of John Kenley, who was a theater impresario who brought Hollywood stars
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like Anne Miller and Paul Lynde to Ohio's summer stock stages. But when summer ended, he wintered in Florida, where John disappeared and Jean came to life
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It will play from May 10th to June 2nd as part of Goodspeed Musicals 2024 season
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at the Terrace Theater in Chester. So please welcome my guest and my friend, the show's director and choreographer, Jeff Calhoun
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Hey, Richie. How are you? How are you, my friend? Are you in the last minutes of tech into your dress rehearsal? Tell us
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Yeah, tonight's going to be our first audience, so things are frantic. I'm in the lobby now, so you may have ambient noise and people coming and going as the cast arrives
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So it's kind of thrilling because it was 28 years ago that Mr. Kenley asked me to tell his story
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and it's finally being realized all this time later. So, first of all, it's great to see you. I know you're about to open the show
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Tell me how personal this musical is to you and why you wanted to direct and choreograph
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Well, certainly it's the most personal project that I've had thus far in my career
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because my career started when I was 16 years old tap dancing with Ann Miller at the Kenley Players
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It's also at the Kenley Players where I met Tommy Tune. And so Mr. Kenley and Tommy Tune obviously changed my career dramatically
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And on Mr. Kenley's 90th birthday party, we were together and I asked him if all the rumors were true
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And he proceeded to tell me a lot about his life and asked me to tell his story
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And that was 28 years ago. So here we are now. So did you put the team together
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I mean, talk about this new musical and how it all came about
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Well, Richie, after that birthday party, after Mr. Kenley's 90th birthday party
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I thought I was going to tell his story via a documentary. So I went to film school. I hired an Academy-nominated documentary director
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We got a crew together. And the day we were to fly to Cleveland, Ohio, to actually capture Mr. Kenley on film
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the family called and said that they had reservations and did not want John's story to be told
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which completely contradicted what Mr. Kenley had asked me to do. So that put a kibosh on the documentary
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But some 10 years ago, John Brielle saw the documentary and called me and said he thought it would be a great musical
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And so that's how we got here. And we were lucky enough to find a wonderful young black trans librettist
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Ian, who has really transformed this because there are a lot of holes in the story
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So we do take some theatrical license. As well as I know Mr. Kenley, he was more vague about Gene in his second life
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And so we had to do some creative license there. So it's not an actual biography, but it's greatly inspired by everything Mr. Kenley told me
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and a lot of the rumors that surrounded Mr. Kenley. So I had gotten to meet and get to know John a little bit in the late 70s
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through Dolores Gray and everything else and when I worked for Ted Hooks Backstage
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So I sort of got to know John. I never got to meet Gene
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So I was wondering how much of a story are you telling or have you based on his life in this new musical
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Like what years of his life? Well, we really go from the 20s up until the 80s
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And we don't include, you know, he was a merchant marine. He had a spectacular career
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He was an acrobat, worked with Al Jolson. I mean, he was in the Greenwich Village Follies in New York
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So he had a very eclectic career, but he was very forthcoming that night
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And I asked him where Gene was and he kind of laughed at me and said
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she's in the closet in the trunk. And I asked why naively
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And he said, given how Gene made a living, there was not a lot of work these days for her
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So he was pretty direct in his own sort of circuitous way
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And, you know, no one had a better sense of humor than Mr. Kenley. And so this show is really funny
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It's got a great score by Jonathan, but it's a comedy. And it's unlike anything you've ever seen
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Five of our 10 actors are trans actors and performers. And they're amazing
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Nora Bridget Monaghan plays John and Gene. And she is spectacular. And of course, we all know L. Morgan Lee
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the Tony nominated L. Morgan Lee from Strange Loop. She's also wonderful
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Richie, it's been not only I think has it been inspiration for me professionally
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but I have evolved greatly just personally being around this subject matter
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and being around so many trans performers. It's been a remarkable experience, both professionally and personally for me
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Yeah. Well, let's talk about Nora, who plays Jay. What was the audition process like
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What did you look for and why did you say yes? Perfect for Jay
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You know what, she's been attached to this project for a long time. She did our very first reading over 10 years ago
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And so she's sort of just been part of the process. And when you find someone as facile and who is willing to explore
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both the masculine and feminine side of themselves as an actor, which is not easy to find
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you grab onto them and you work with them. And we've really tailored the show to be a real tour de force for her
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Why do you think this musical is so perfect for right now
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Well, it's a musical sort of in the trend of the golden age of Broadway
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at the best. I mean that only as a compliment, but yet with a subject matter that feels like it really has its finger on the pulse
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of what's going on today. So it's not that we've softened the subject matter
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but I think that we've made it accessible. You know, I'm interested in commercial theater
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I don't necessarily just want to preach to the choir. And so I think we have something that does real justice to Mr
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Kenley's story while at the same time, I think entertaining the masses with this amazing score and libretto by Deanne
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And talk about it being a part of Goodspeed Musicals 2024, the importance of doing it at Goodspeed at the Terrace Theater
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what that has meant to you and the undertaking of this. Yeah, it's remarkable
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The hardest thing to go from page to stage is to find a venue willing to
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explore new material because a lot of regional theaters have bottom lines
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And so, you know, they do South Pacific and Music Man and The Sound of Music
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So to find a place like this, this we're part of a program that is specifically for developmental
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development of new musicals. That's what they're doing here this season at the Terrace Theater
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unlike what they're doing at their main stage at the Opera House. So I'm really grateful to Donna Lynn and the folks at Goodspeed for being
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brave enough to tackle new material. What have you learned the most? Like you said, you knew John Kenley
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This is something you wanted to bring into the forefront. What have you learned about yourself creating this type of musical
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I mean, things you've taken away personally from this as an artist, Jeff
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Well, it's fulfilling in the sense that he's always been a hero and I've been able
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to keep my promise that I made to him 28 years ago. But I've also realized I had prejudice that I was not even aware of
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It was, it was subconscious prejudice. And that has brought those, this process has brought those prejudice to the foreground and has forced me
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to deal with them and tackle them. And you either educate and evolve or you maintain your ignorance
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And I think I've, I'm hoping that I'm continuing to evolve. And I hope the audiences leave
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they feel differently than they did when they came in, but through the arts, right? That's the beauty of art
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It can tackle all these kinds of subject matters in an entertaining way. Cause that's what I was going to ask you
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What do you hope audiences take away as a creative? And you just answered that primarily, but that's the great thing about the arts
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People can learn about history, about life changing facts through creativeness. Oh yeah. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. I mean, art is best when it
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when it's a, you know, a window, a sliding door and a mirror mirror, right
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It's a window into other people's lives. It's a sliding glass door that you can step into another experience and it's a
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mirror for self-reflection. And I think we do all three. Now I know you're working with a lot of the same creatives you worked with in
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the past with sex and everything else. I mean, what, what has it been like the past week putting this all up? Cause like I said
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your first performance is tonight. What is this whole week been like for you all
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Well, given that it is a developmental production, I thought it would be pretty simple because we have a minimal set
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minimal costumes. Well, there's no such thing as simple in the theater as you know
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It's bigger than I thought it was going to be. It's more realized than I thought it was going to be
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So it's been really, really challenging, but we have the whole month to figure it out. We preview tonight
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but we don't really officially open until June 29th with a closing on June 2nd
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No, May 29th with a closing on June 2nd. So we have this whole month to keep refining and it's great for writers to
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have. It's a luxury. What Donna Lynn and the folks here at Goodspeed have done is a real luxury for
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developing new work. Is there anything you'd like to add about this entire process before we
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we shut down about what it's been like and just, you know, the wonderful audiences up there at the terrace, because people expect
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you know, the nice thing about Goodspeed, especially the terrace theater is people know that they're developmental
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musicals with all different, you know, genres and everything else. I mean, the audience up there is very smart
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isn't it? Well, I'll let you know. That's what I'm hoping on
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I'm told that the audience that goes to the opera house is very different than
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the folks here in Chester that come to the Norah Terrace. So I will let you know, but Richie
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I also want to thank you because I can't think of anyone more supportive of
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the arts. Here you are in the middle of Tony nominations. You're probably 24 seven
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but yet you're fitting in time to talk about a new musical that no one's ever heard of. And I'm really grateful to you for that
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You're one of a kind Richie. Well, I've known you for a long time, my friend, and I know what today is going to be like for you
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So I want you to get back to rehearsals and just finalizing everything. Have a wonderful run
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I will come up and once again, a complicated woman will play from May 10th to June 2nd as part of the
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Goodspeed musicals, 2024 season at the Terrace Theater in Chester for tickets
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go to goodspeed.org. Jeff, it's always a pleasure to see you, my friend
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Thank you, Richie
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