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There are two kinds of magic in the theater world: those sublime moments when script, actors, direction and technical elements all hum in perfect harmony, sending shivers of inspiration rippling through the audience; and when, for instance, a telephone lights up and starts spewing smoke.
Abracadabra!
The cast and crew at Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor plan to produce copious amounts of both this month, as they present the romantic comedy “Bell, Book and Candle” by John Van Druten—the play that inspired the television series “Bewitched”—which will run from June 3 to June 28.
Last weekend, the entire Bay Street team spent 24 feverish hours (over two days, of course: union rules) figuring out exactly how to make that phone smoke, how to make that painting disappear and how to make the spark of romance between a witch on Manhattan’s East Side and the object of her mischief, her straight-laced upstairs neighbor, seem magical. The urban sorceress is played by Arija Bareikis, of the hit TV series “Southland” and “Grey’s Anatomy”; Sam Robards, of Broadway’s “The 39 Steps” and TV’s “Gossip Girl.”
“When you’re talking about inspiration or magic, that’s a big part of why we do what we do,” says Murphy Davis, one of Bay Street’s artistic directors. “Whether it’s theater, movies, TV, art, sculpture … you want that piece to have emotional impact. That’s the goal. It’s always the challenge.”
Even for stage veterans like Mr. Davis, producing theatrical magic can seem like an elusive dark art.
“When you really want something to work and you’re almost there but you haven’t quite achieved it, your nerves can get frayed,” he said in an interview this week. Producing the right special effect isn’t simply a matter of textbook stagecraft; there usually are multiple ways to pull off the desired result. The trick is to use technical elements that are appropriate for that moment, with those actors, on that particular stage. “We may go in there with ideas and say, ‘That looks terrible. That’s not magic,’” Mr. Davis said. “That’s part of the process.”
Perhaps out of superstition, perhaps to avoid the publication of spoilers, Mr. Davis is tight-lipped about most of the special effects in the show. “We’re focused on the whole sense of love and bringing to life the transformative nature of love,” he said, coyly. “That in itself is what human beings experience as magic.”
“Bell, Book and Candle,” written by Mr. Van Druten in 1950, spins the wacky tale of Gillian Holyroyd, a witch who meddles with the engagement of her neighbor Shepherd Henderson, who detests his fiancée. Supposedly witches can’t fall in love, but love proves a powerful tonic and Gillian’s scheme doesn’t go exactly as planned.
“It’s interesting: this doesn’t get produced that much,” Mr. Davis said. But the idea of mounting a production has been in the back of artistic director and Bay Street co-founder Sybil Christopher’s mind ever since she saw the original production with Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. (The play was made into a movie with Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in 1958, the same year the pair starred in a slightly more celebrated film, Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.”)
For Ms. Christopher, the “Bell, Book and Candle” script seemed to hold more potential than the “grounded” production she saw, and the Bay Street team thought it could help the script soar with a few more bells and whistles (and candles).
Mr. Davis said that sense often informs play selection at Bay Street: When not premiering new work, the artistic directors are looking for plays that they feel deserve better productions than the ones the shows have received.
Ms. Christopher and Mr. Davis have assembled a talented team to take on that mission, led by director Jack Hofsiss, who earned a Tony Award (and a slew of other honors) for his direction of “The Elephant Man” in 1979 and who also directed Jessica Lange and Tommy Lee Jones in a television movie of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.”
Every cast member is a Bay Street veteran, including Ms. Bareikis, who last appeared on stage in Sag Harbor in 1996 in the world premiere of Lanford Wilson’s “Virgil Is Still the Frogboy.” Rounding out the cast are Matt McGrath (“Boys Don’t Cry”), Gordana Rashovich (“The Wire,” “Mad Men”) and Jarlath Conroy (Broadway’s “On the Waterfront,” “The Iceman Cometh”).
“Bell, Book and Candle” by John Van Druten will be presented at Bay Street Theatre on the Long Wharf in Sag Harbor through Sunday, June 28. For ticket information or reservations, call the Bay Street box office at 725-9500, or visit www.BayStreet.org.
on Jun 2, 2009