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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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The Vineyard Theatre presents the world premiere of The Beast in the Jungle
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which features music by John Kander, a book by David Thompson, and direction and choreography by Susan Stroman
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It will begin performances on May 4th, and we drop by New 42 to meet the company
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Well, The Beast in the Jungle is actually a cautionary tale, and it's done with dance and narration and wonderful John Kander music
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John has written an entire score in three-quarter time, and it's about a man who waltzes through life
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And we all know people like this who sort of waltz through life, and they miss all the cues of how to really live their life
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And so Kander's brought this incredible idea of this waltz music and into this man's world
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And it's three chapters of this man's life, and a woman who actually he sees in each chapter of his life
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and a wonderful Peter Friedman. It's his story. And we see him at a younger age played by Tony Yazbek
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And the beautiful Irina Diverenko, a wonderful ballerina, a wonderful actress, is that woman who is in Peter's three chapters of his life
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And you know it about how people miss the cues and don really understand how life is short
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And you must seize these moments. Well, it's really exciting because we've been working on this piece
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for, I think, at least two years. And we've been having really nice times at Stroh's studio
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and we've had a couple of workshops. And all of a sudden, we're really doing this
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and it's thrilling and scary. Scary and thrilling all at the same time
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It never gets unscary, does it? No, it doesn't. You never do anything that you think you can do
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It's a weird thing. And it doesn't. I mean, I'm a very old person and it never goes away
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Working with John Kanner and Susan Stroman is wonderful because it's always so safe
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You can come up with any crazy idea. You throw an idea out, and it will only help get to the next idea
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So that feeling of a very safe collaboration is thrilling. We started this idea, The Beast in the Jungle, by Stroh throw a title out
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And she said, what would you do if I suggested a title called Waltzing Through Life
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And could we do something with that? And this is even before we got to Henry James
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And we were well down a path with music and ideas and discussions but it was just based on three words waltzing through life Can you do a musical on that That fun It just about the fun of it
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Kander's there because he loves the sandwiches and the cookies, and it's all about the conversation
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You spend 30 minutes gossiping, and then finally you get to work, and the conversations are intense
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and then you can't wait to get into the room again. So it's actually the most fun, I think
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you can possibly have in the theater. A lot of your sketches are behind us
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What attracted you to this project and what excites you the most? Well, John Kander and Susan Stroman, clearly, but also the material is fantastic
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I love memory and dream worlds. It's something that I tap into quite a lot in design
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And this piece takes us into four different times of a man's life
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It's a wonderful duality. I love the sort of contrast of an older character reminiscing about a younger character
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So it had already the ingredients. And plus, it was about Matisse
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And my background is in painting. So I was in love with the subject matter
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Everything was ticked off on the boxes that I enjoy for subject matter
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Well, here's our first day of rehearsal. How excited are you two? I'm super thrilled
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I could not wait because it was the greatest experience for me when we did the previous War Club
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and now I so happy to be with so many wonderful actors and men again I need to be in love and beautiful cast And yes fantastic
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We've been working on this for the last two years, workshopping, creating, collaborating with the best of the best
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Susan Stroman, John Kander, Tommy Thompson. And, you know, to be able to finally do it is really exciting to have an audience
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and see it all come together. And we don't even know what it's going to look like yet
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We're going to be surprised today with all the Michael Curry designs
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with the sets and the costumes. So it's a really exciting day for us
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It's not a musical. It's a play. I would say it's a play
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It's a play. I would say it's kind of a new form in which a lot of people may be exploring
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but I think it's a fresh new way of doing something where it's a theatrical piece
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with this beautiful John Kander music scored the entire play. Waltzing, waltzing, waltzing
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Yes, the three-quarter time, the entire show. And there's ballet and contemporary, I'd say modern
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it sort of fuses it all together. Character dance, you know, folk, so it's really amazing, I think
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Right, right. Being here at the Vineyard, what it means to you? Ah, Vineyard
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It's one of the treasured non-profits of the city. I've worked here once before, and I'm glad to be here again
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And again, first time, again, working at the Vineyard. And it's a theater that, of course, I've been aware of
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known, gone, seen plays there my whole life. So I'm pleased to be here finally
