Simply Charming

A musical set in the Amish country of Pennsylvania, “Plain and Fancy” opens Friday night at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. Its composer, Albert Hague, is scheduled to attend with his wife of 47 years, actress Renee Orin, who appeared in the original 1955 Broadway production--and, she’s quick to point out, “supported him until then.”

Many in Friday’s audience may recognize Hague, now 78, as Mr. Shorofsky, the music professor in the 1980 film “Fame” and the subsequent TV series. They and their children--or grandchildren, for that matter--also may know Hague’s melodies for the songs from Dr. Seuss’ “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

“I played the lead in the first musical Albert ever wrote,” Orin said in a recent three-way telephone conversation. “It was called ‘The Reluctant Virgin,’ until the producers got cold feet and changed the title to ‘The Reluctant Lady.’ In any case, it never left Cleveland.”

Hague was born in Germany (he still speaks with a slight accent), and escaped the Nazis first by attending a music conservatory in Italy, then enrolling in the Cincinnati College of Music.

“I was very lucky,” he allows. “I got out [of Europe] in ’39 and never even saw a broken window.”

While Hague pursued his post-”Virgin” musical career as a free-lance pianist in New York City, Orin appeared as the commercial spokeswoman, the Sealtest (dairy) Sweetheart, in “Big Top,” a circus-themed show telecast nationally on CBS every week from Camden, N.J. Ed McMahon played a roustabout on the program.

Hague auditioned for the producers of “Plain and Fancy,” winning the job of composer for Arnold Horwitt’s lyrics from a field, he recalls, of 200 musicians.

“The fact that he had a German background may have helped him,” Orin notes mischievously, adding that “he was also kind of snotty in those days--they kept him waiting so long on the first audition that he walked out after playing three songs.”

After composing the songs for “Plain and Fancy,” Hague served as pianist at more than 100 backers’ auditions, with Orin singing. “At $25 apiece,” he says, “three auditions a week was enough to live on.”

The show was a moderate hit, running for 461 performances. The song “Young and Foolish” became something of a standard and was later recorded by Tony Bennett, Eddie Fisher, the McGuire Sisters and Nancy Wilson, among many others, in both vocal and instrumental versions.

After “Plain and Fancy,” Hague composed the melodies for “Redhead,” a murder-mystery musical that starred Gwen Verdon and was Bob Fosse’s first directorial credit. The show was revived last year by the Goodspeed Opera Company in Connecticut.

Ever the free-lance musician, Hague auditioned for Theodor Geisel -- Dr. Seuss -- who hired him for the “Grinch” assignment. “You’re a Mean One, Mister Grinch” was the melody he wrote (to Seuss’ lyrics) for the audition. According to Hague, Geisel exclaimed that “any man who slides an octave on the word Grinch gets the job.”

The role in “Fame” came after a casting director saw Hague and Orin’s cabaret act in New York. “[Director] Alan Parker decided he wanted a real musician to play the part of the music teacher. And I had been teaching people how to successfully audition for Broadway shows,” a class he continues to teach, occasionally.

“That really changed my life,” Hague admits. “Being a recognizable character on a television show.”

Hague and Orin’s cabaret act, which they performed last year at the Cultural Arts Center, has recently been released on a compact disc, “Still Young and Foolish.”

Although it is not as well-known as “Oklahoma!” or even “Little Shop of Horrors,” “Plain and Fancy” continues to be produced and is performed year-round at Amish Acres in Indiana.

Hague and Orin have attended early rehearsals of the current Simi Valley production and find it “simply charming.”

Which is appropriate, one would think, for an Amish-themed musical.

“Plain and Fancy” opens Friday night and continues through Feb. 28 at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center, 3050 Los Angeles Ave. Performances are at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. Tickets opening night are $25, with a reception after the performance that Albert Hague and Renee Orin are scheduled to attend. Saturday is Family Day, with all matinee and evening tickets $8; Sunday is Senior Day, with all senior tickets $8. Tickets to all other performances (and to all but seniors on Sunday) are $12; $10, seniors and students; and $8, children 12 and under. For reservations or further information, call 581-9940. On March 12, the production moves to the Santa Paula Theater Center, Fridays-Sundays through March 21; call 525-4645 for reservations or further information.