Why the Old Globe Decided to Use ‘Suds’ on Its Boards

Behind every play there is a backstage drama, sometimes one that competes in theatricality with the play it shadows. Remember the story about the big star who breaks his leg, leaving an opening for the hometown chorus kid to become the next major star?

It may be as old as “42nd Street,” but it is also as new as, well, the story behind the premiere today of “Suds” at the Old Globe Theatre.

It all started when Neil Simon postponed his much-publicized Old Globe debut of “A Foggy Day,” the lavishly conceived musical based on George and Ira Gershwin show tunes that turned out to be a bit more time-consuming than the hit playwright had anticipated.

Simon is now scheduled to do a straight play, “Jake’s Women,” at the end of the season.

But his initial cancellation sent the Old Globe’s artistic director, Jack O’Brien, hunting for a show to fill the void. After mulling five or six possibilities, O’Brien found himself sitting in the San Diego Repertory Theatre’s Lyceum Space, tapping his toes to an original show put together by young San Diego talent--mostly people he knew--and thinking that this musical takeoff on ‘60s tunes, set in a Laundromat, could go places.

Then the thought struck him. Why shouldn’t one of those places be the main stage of the Old Globe?

Why not, indeed? Just because the Tony-award winning Globe is a nationally recognized company that had never before staged a locally developed show?

Just because the 12-person team that put together “Suds” has never starred or had full producing or directing credit in a major show here?

Just because moving from Simon to “Suds” in a season packed with heavyweights like “Coriolanus” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” has made some people wonder if the Old Globe has succumbed to that small-musical fever called “Brain Death,” after the wildly successful “Six Women with Brain Death” now playing at the San Diego Rep?

Such questions are the kind that exasperate O’Brien.

“I think it’s very interesting to hear about what we should or shouldn’t be doing. The Globe must do what it wants to do,” he said as he poked forcefully into a fruit salad in his office. “For what it wants to do, it will do well.”

One of the things the Globe intends to do with this show, O’Brien said, is give a leg up to a group of young artists who got their training in this community.

All are under 30 years old and mostly old friends: Will Roberson, the director, worked previously as O’Brien’s assistant director on several shows, including last year’s international tour of “Porgy and Bess”; Bryan Scott, one of the writers, once wrote advertising copy for the Old Globe; actors and co-writers Melinda Gilb and Steve Gunderson (best known for “The Melinda & Steve Show” in New York and San Diego) had parts in Globe shows years ago; and actress Christine Sevec is a former member of the Young Globe Company and Susan Mosher had a part in the Globe’s “Godspell” years ago. Both Mosher and Sevec will get their Equity cards with this show.

O’Brien was willing to take on the whole show--actors, design crew and all--on the condition that major writing changes were made, particularly in the second act.

It was an offer the group not only couldn’t refuse but was delighted to accept. Some of the members used words like shocked; others used thrilled.

Gunderson, whose last experience with the Globe occurred when he auditioned for a part and didn’t get it, shook his head and grinned. “I was surprised,” he said simply.

“When Jack O’Brien said you can keep everyone from the original show, it showed a real faith not only with the product but with the collaboration,” Gunderson said during a brief time out from a rehearsal. “It’s a big break.”

Roberson, a longtime protege of O’Brien’s, also acknowledged the risk involved for the Globe.

“They’re taking an enormous chance. It’s not typical Globe material. We’re not names; we’re not Sondheim. It was done downtown at the Rep” in what is now called a “workshop” production.

So why is the Globe doing it? According to Roberson, “It shows that they have faith in their organization that they can deliver, and they have faith in us as artists.”

According to O’Brien: “Two things were haunting me. One is that these basically are our kids. They were knocking at the door with a respectful piece, beautifully sung and elegantly represented, but clearly not finished. Why shouldn’t we consider these kids over someone we don’t know?

“It seemed like time to look at our own community. I love the fact that the Globe has a national profile, but we must not get to the point where we are not a viable place for people to grow. We started as a community theater, and I hear people saying, ‘Why aren’t you that any longer?’

“We have grown, and instead of being a community theater, we are a community of artists,” he said. “But it doesn’t mean that we aren’t cognizant of and responsive to our roots.”

O’Brien is also cognizant of the moneymaking potential of the piece--something the Rep clued into with its “Six Women With Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know.” The Gaslamp Quarter Theatre did the same with “The Wonder Years: The Baby Boom Musical” and “Nite Club Confidential.”

“Everyone in the country is looking for irresistible small musicals,” O’Brien said. “If you get an irresistible small musical, you get a moneymaker. This is enormously appealing. It is sassy, fresh and has impeccable musical manners. There’s every possibility that this is going to gather momentum and go on.

“If you spend money on Shakespeare, you’ve got to make it somewhere. A commercial hit that you develop in your own backyard can pay for ‘Coriolanus.’ If we could have kept ‘Pump Boys and Dinettes’ (a popular Old Globe revue from two years ago), it could be running today.”

The economical aspect of a small musical like “Suds” is undoubtedly an issue. The managing director of the Old Globe, Thomas Hall, estimated that at $300,000 to $350,000, the show is costing about half what “A Foggy Day” would have.

The difference lies simply in the size of the production. Where “Suds” requires supporting a total of 10 people for 11 weeks, “A Foggy Day”--which Hall guessed would have been comparable to last December’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods”--might have entailed a crew of 30 for the same amount of time.

And it doesn’t hurt that there are already off-Broadway rumors in the air, something O’Brien said he is too “superstitious” to talk about. But Scott, who just returned from meetings with producers in New York, confirmed that interested parties will be flying in to check out the show.

Still, O’Brien would rather wave aside the money aspect of the production. He prefers to talk about “Suds” providing a balance in the weightiness of this Globe season. And he prefers to talk about the people.

Certainly, it is clear in talking to O’Brien that the music of “Suds” is not the only thing that harks back to the ‘60s. Seeing the work of Roberson, whom O’Brien refers to as a son, took O’Brien back to 1969 when Craig Noel gave him the opportunity to direct “A Comedy of Errors” at the Old Globe.

“It was a huge success,” O’Brien recalled, his face relaxing into a dreamy, soft-focus smile. “That’s why he asked me back. That’s why I’m sitting here today.”

Then the fork plunged forcefully back into the remains of his salad.

“I won’t forget that someone took the trouble to encourage me, to nourish me, to listen to me, to help me. We’re not only producing plays, we’re producing artists and putting them in the mainstream.”

“I don’t care what happens to ‘Suds.’ It’s already a success as far as I’m concerned.”

The sentiment has not been lost on Roberson, who refers to O’Brien as both father and mentor.

“If I amount to anything, it will be because of the work he’s done for me. I hope someday I can do it for someone else.”