Arts & Entertainment
Triple triumph at Arena
Gay actor Rodriguez returns to D.C. for ‘My Fair Lady’
Nicholas Rodriguez as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Arena Stage’s production of ‘My Fair Lady.’ (Photo by Richard Anderson; courtesy Arena)
For New York-based actor Nicholas Rodriguez, Washington has become like a second home. After playing in three productions in so many years at Arena Stage, Rodriguez, who is gay, says he experiences D.C. as more than a place to grow professionally. It’s also somewhere he forges new friendships and simply enjoys the city.
“I’m always happy to come back to D.C.,” says the strapping Latino actor who began his collaboration with Arena Stage in 2010 when he was cast as Fabrizio, the lovesick young Italian in Adam Geuttel’s dreamy musical “The Light in the Piazza.” The following season he wowed local audiences as cowboy Curly in Arena’s stellar production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Oklahoma!” for which he won a Helen Hayes Award.
And now Rodriguez is back in town playing Freddy Eynsford-Hill in Arena’s take on Lerner and Loewe’s’ “My Fair Lady.” Set in Edwardian London, young dandy Freddy falls hard for Cockney flower girl turned lady, Eliza Doolittle (Manna Nichols); but sadly it’s an unrequited love. Eliza has her romantic sights set on self-absorbed phoneticist Professor Henry Higgins (Benedict Campbell), who on a bet vows to teach Eliza how to speak, walk and act like an aristocrat.
When Rodriguez was initially approached by Arena to do “My Fair Lady,” his manager advised him to consider carefully. He pointed out that Freddy is a much smaller role than what his client is typically offered. But Rodriguez knew instantly that he wanted the part. “I thought it might be my only chance to do this show. When else will I be cast to play a British gentleman? It was never something that I saw myself playing, but I love a good challenge.”
Since Rodriguez believed he wasn’t a slam dunk as Freddy type wise, he was extra keen to honor all facets of the character including Freddy’s posh accent, so he set to work with two dialect coaches. The gorgeous-voiced tenor was also eager to do justice to his character’s iconic song “On the Street Where You Live.”
“It’s a song that I’ve been singing on some level or another since I was 15, but never in the show,” says Rodriguez, a native Texan who holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees in vocal performance from the University of Texas at Austin. “Now is the first time I’m actually singing it with a British dialect and genuinely acting part. Beautiful songs can fall flat, so there’s no room for autopilot. It has to be acted and all the song’s questions must be answered.”
The other draw that repeatedly brings Rodrigues back to D.C., he says, is the ongoing prospect of working with Molly Smith, Arena’s artistic director who has staged the three Arena musicals in which Rodriguez has appeared.
“She doesn’t tell actors what to do, but rather teaches us to find our own way,” he says. “Under Molly, Arena possesses both artistic integrity and equally important — resources. All of us leave here better artists.”
Rodriguez considers Arena’s non-traditionally cast production of “Oklahoma!” the highlight of his career to date. For him, playing Curly was a magical experience. “It was an emotionally charged time at Arena. Not just opening a show but it was also the christening of the new Mead Center for American Theater. A mediocre show was not an option.” He remains close with much of the multi-racial cast, especially talented D.C. favorite Eleasha Gamble who played Curly’s girlfriend Laurey.
Early in his career, Rodriguez garnered fame playing the third corner of a hot and heavy gay love triangle on ABC’s daytime drama “One Life to Live,” but he mostly works in theater. In addition to originating the role of Tarzan on Broadway, he has appeared off-Broadway and toured in numerous national tours of musicals and sung in concerts internationally. He also serves as artistic director of Broadway Dreams Foundation, a New York-based non-profit national performing arts education program that brings the very best in musical theater training to all parts of the country. (mybroadwaydreams.com)
Will there be more Arena productions in his future? Probably. But next up, Rodriguez returns to New York where he lives with his partner of almost 10 years. In January, he’s slated to be part of a Joni Mitchell tribute at Manhattan’s 54 Below.
“I’m always looking ahead,” Rodriguez says. “I’m always excited to encounter the next lesson that’s coming my way.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary
D.C. LGBTQ political group celebrates milestone at Pepco Edison Place Gallery
The Capital Stonewall Democrats held a 50th anniversary celebration at Pepco Edison Place Gallery on Friday. Rayceen Pendarvis served as the emcee.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
Theater
‘Inherit the Wind’ isn’t about science vs. religion, but the right to think
Holly Twyford on new role and importance of listening to different opinions
‘Inherit the Wind’
Through April 5
Arena Stage
1101 Sixth St., S.W.
Tickets start at $73
Arenastage.org
When “Inherit the Wind” premiered on Broadway in 1955 with a cast of 50, its fictional setting of Hillsboro, an obscure country town described as the buckle on the Bible Belt, was filled with townspeople. And now at Arena Stage, director Ryan Guzzo Purcell has somehow crowded Arena’s large Fichandler space with just 10 actors, five principals and a delightful ensemble of five playing multiple roles.
Inspired by the real-life Scopes Monkey Trial of 1925, Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee’s fictionalized work pits intellectual freedom against McCarthyism via the imagined trial of Bertram Cates (Noah Plomgren), a Tennessee educator charged with teaching evolution. Drawn into the fracas are big shot lawyers, defense attorney Henry Drummond (Billy Eugene Jones), and conservative prosecutor, Matthew Harrison Brady (Dakin Matthew). On hand to cover the closely watched story is wisecracking city slicker and Baltimore reporter E.K. Horneck (played by nonbinary actor Alyssa Keegan).
Out actor Holly Twyford, a four-time Helen Hayes Award winner who has appeared in more than 80 Washington area plays, is part of the ensemble. In jeans and boots, she memorably plays Meeker, the bailiff at the Hillsboro courthouse and the jailer responsible for holding Cates in the days leading to his trial.
Twyford also plays Sillers, a slack jawed earnest employee at the local feed store who’s called to serve on the jury. And more importantly she plays Brady’s quietly strong wife Sarah whom he affectionately calls “Mother.”
When Twyford makes her memorable first entrance as Meeker, she’s wiping shaving cream from her face with a hand towel. With shades of Mayberry R.F.D., the jail is run casually. Meeker says Cates isn’t the criminal type, and he’s not.
“There’s a joke among actors,” says Twyford. “When an actor gets his shoes, they know who their character is. And it’s sort of true. When you put on boots, heels, or flip flops, there’s a different feeling, and you walk differently.”
Similarly, shares Twyford, it goes for clothes too: “When Mother slips a pink coat dress over her cowboy boots, dons a little hat and ties her scarf, or Meeker puts on his work shirt, I know where I am. And all of that is thanks to a remarkable wardrobe crew.
“Additionally, some of the ensemble characters are played broadly which is helpful to the actors and super identifying for the audience too.”
During intermission, an audience member loudly described the production as “a proper play” filled with beautifully written passages. And it’s true. Twyford agrees, adding “That’s all true, and it’s also been was fun for us to be a part of the Arena legacy as well. Arena took ‘Inherit the Wind’ to the Soviet Union in the early ‘70s when the respective governments did a cultural exchange. At the time, the iron curtain was very much in place, and they traveled with a play about a man with his own thoughts.”
When the ensemble was cast, actors didn’t know which tracts exactly they were going to play. “What came together was a cast, diverse in different ways. Some directors, including myself when I direct, are interested in assembling a cast that’s a good group. No time for egos. It’s more about who will make the best group to help me tell this story.”
At one point during rehearsal, ensemble members began to help one another with minor onstage costume changes, like jackets and hats: “We just started doing it and Ryan [Guzzo Purcell] picked up on it, saying things really began to come alive when we helped each other, so we went with that.”
“For me, it was reminiscent of ‘The Laramie Project’ [Ford’s Theatre in 2013] when we played five different parts and we’d help each other with a vest or jacket in a similar way. It worked so well then too,” says Twyford.
“Inherit the Wind” isn’t about science versus religion. It’s about the right to think, playwright Jerome Lawrrence has been quoted as saying. And it’s a quote that makes the play that much more relevant today.
Twford remembers a chat in a hair salon: “I was getting my hair cut and the woman next to me shared that she was tired of message plays. Understandably there are theater makers who believe that message plays are the point, while others think it’s all about entertainment. I feel like ‘Inherit the Wind’ sits in a nice place in the middle.”
She adds “the work is a creative way of showing different opinions and that, I think, is what we should be paying attention to right now. Clearly, it’s not right or wrong to express what you think.”
Out & About
‘How We Survived’ panel set for March 25
‘Living History’ discussion to be held at Spark Social
Friends of Dorothy Cafe will host “Part One, Living History: How We Survived,” will take place on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Spark Social House.
This event will be moderated by Abby Stuckrath, host of the “Queering the District” podcast. Panelists include: Earline Budd, activist, trans rights advocate; TJ Flavell of Go Gay DC; DC LGBTQ+ Center Board Member David Bissette; and Alexa Rodriguez, founder and executive director, Trans-Latinx DMV.
This event is part of a four-part storytelling series called “Living History,” which centers LGBTQ elders, activists, artists, and icons sharing their lived experiences and reflections with younger generations. The conversations explore themes like resilience, community organizing, chosen family, and the lessons earlier generations hope today’s LGBTQ+ and ally communities will carry forward.
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‘How We Survived’ panel set for March 25
Calendar: March 21-26
Small is beautiful: subcompact SUVs
