"Once Upon a Time in the City of New York" -- An Interview with Cynthia Mitchell
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York" -- An Interview with Cynthia Mitchell |
| Interviewer: | Teri Milliman |
| Interviewee: | Cynthia Mitchell |
| Date(s): | 1995 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom(s): | Beauty and the Beast (TV) |
| External Links: | |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
"Once Upon a Time in the City of New York" -- An Interview with Cynthia Mitchell is an interview with a fan who was the lyricist for a Broadway play that was a transformative take on Beauty and the Beast (TV). This play, while far along in production, was never presented in full.
See Once Upon a Time in the City of New York.
The interview was conducted by Teri Milliman and printed in Soulmates - A Neverending Dream #5 in March 1995.
Excerpts
Of course, we have all re-written and expanded on certain episodes of "B&B" (sometimes even entire seasons) in our minds, if not on paper. We have published 'zines, written poetry, and tried our hand at art, but I believe you are the first to try for a Broadway musical. What inspired you so to devote so much time and effort to a project, that without permission from the creators, can never become a stage production?
My inspiration to write this musical came from several sources. First and foremost, I wanted to write a musical. Many great writers of musical theatre, including Rodgers & Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim, etc., began writing musicals which were adapted from other mediums. So, in the back of my mind, I had this desire to write a musical. Then, one night, as I sat watching an old "B&B" episode late on a Sunday night, it suddenly hit me that the T.V. show was ripe to be developed into a Broadway musical. It had everything needed for a musical: great costumes & sets (always give the audience something pretty to look at during a musical), great (timeless) love story, and a built-in audience (the fans). Additionally, the style of the music that Bill (Whitefield, the composer) writes, fits in perfectly with this love story, as his music is romantic and airy. Do I think the effort was wasted if the show never makes it to Broadway? Certainly not! Bill and I still have this musical that we have written on the shelf, and it has served as a wonderful learning experience as well. Writing and producing the musical was in itself fulfilling, and if it makes it to Broadway, that's just another added plus.
From every report I have heard from those who attended the reading at Lincoln Center, the play was written with great love and respect for the characters and the story. At what point did you become interested in "B&B" and what elements of this particular telling of the old fairy tale drew you to do it?
Well, I have been a fan of "B&B" since it originally aired. As far as what it is about this version of "B&B" that I particularly like, I guess you could ask any fan that question, but for me it is the strength of the characters. I think the characters in Koslow's "B&B" are the best written, most well-defined characters of any of the "B&B" treatments which I have read, although I am partial to the French stage play version, which is also extremely well-written.
Have you had contact with any of the fan groups around the country?
Yes. Everyone in the fan clubs have been so helpful! Among some of the wonderful people I've been in contact with inclucte Nan Dibble in Ohio, and Ben Bock in California, who is the man who first put me in touch with all of the fans. Some wonderful fans attended the reading, including Pam Tuck of New York, Patricia Kehoe of Massachusetts, Lynette Combs and Laurie Wittenburg of Virginia and Roseann Baundadies of New Jersey. It was such a wonderful boost to have the fans attend the reading!
Did you ask the actors to portray the characters as, for example Hamilton and Perlman did, or to put their own spin on the roles?
I'm really glad you asked this question. This is one of the most important points for me to make. While I'm a big fan of the series, absolutely no one else involved mith this project mas a fan. None of them had ever seen the series until I started loaning out my "B&B" tapes.
So, Stephanie and Michael (our Catherine and Vincent) had never seen the T.V. show! Nor had Martin Epstein, who was portraying Father, or James Eric Anzalone, who was portraying Elliot Burch. What I learned while matching the actors rehearse was that the characters in Koslow's "B&B" are so well-written that they can be interpreted in many different mays. It was absolutely fascinating for me to see how these actors, who had never seen the show, interpreted their lines. I mas so pleased! Michael, especially, had a lot of latitude to work with, and he seemed to interpret Vincent a little angrier and more volatile than Perlman had played him. For me it was much more fulfilling to let my actors interpret their characters as they saw them (with a little help from me, of course), rather than try to make them mimic an interpretation which had already been made by the television series actors. (It is worthy to note that acting for television greatly differs from acting for the stage, for example, on stage the actor must play much, much larger and bigger than (s)he would for television.
Fans aside, what was the general audience reaction to the reading?
Well, John McMartin (Charles Chandler) attended the reading, which was a special treat for me. He really liked it, he said it brought back wonderful memories for him. I had many audience metitoers who had never seen the T.V. series, yet were completely in love with the musical, which proves my point about the integrity of the characters as written. The reaction from the audience was very, very favorable! We were all very pleased.
Will we be able to see your musical performed at the '95 convention?
We would absolutely love to perform at the convention with Michael and Stephanie in the lead roles. We are negotiating with the convention personnel at this time, but time is running short!
It was mentioned on The Helper's Network Hotline that you would be making audio tapes available to the fandom. Is this still the plan?
Yes. The hold up at this point is that we are still in the studio tracking the songs from theshow. But assoonas that tape is complete, we do plan on making it available to the fans!
Do you feel that it could be a problem to have all original music when the Lee Holdridge/Don Davis music is so closely associated with "B&B"?
Well, at first I was concerned. Of course, for all of us fans, we immediately hear that Holdridge theme in our heads whenever we think of "B&B." But you know what the interesting thing is? Now when I think of "B&B" I hear our songs from the musical — Vincent and Catherine's "Escape Away," "As If We Were One," and "The Price of Love." — Vincent's beautiful songs," A Life That Can Never Be" and "Heart of Discontent." Once you hear the music from "Once Upon A Time . . ." it will take a special place in your heart. I think once you hear those songs, whenever you think of "B&B" you will hear two scores: Holdridge's and Whitefield/Mitchell's — at least I hope you do!
How many and which episodes did you use for source material?
Let me see if I can remember the mall. The pilot, "Once Upon A Time...," "A Happy Life" and "Siege" comprised the core of the musical. I also pulled material from "A Kingdom By the Sea," "A Distant Shore," "When the Bluebird Sings," "Song of Orpheus" and two episodes toward the end of the series where Vincent begins his descent into darkness (these titles were . . . ???? HELP! One was the episode where Catherine nursed Vincent back to health in her apartment, and the Dark Twin appeared; the other episode was where Father and Catherine had a talk in Father's chamber (Linda was pregnant at the time, wearing a blue velvet dress with blue gem earrings) about Vincent's darker side and about how, in the past, Father had had to restrain Vincent, etc. — this may have been one episode). I took little bits and pieces from many episodes, and I think all in all, I took from about ten or twelve episodes.
We have all heard that "your" story ends with a big kiss. It is implied that this time around, Catherine and Vincent will have their "Happy Life." Please tell us your feelings on this and why you chose this path. And thank you so much for choosing it!
I'll tell you why! Because every"B&B" fan in the world absolutely SCREAMS for the big kiss at the end! My musical ends with the last scene in "A Happy Life," where Catherine says,"Forgive me for doubting. What we have is worth everything." Vincent answers, "Everything!" and then, as we all know, the T.V. series gave us that (blech!) superimposed kiss! Hey! That's cheating!
That's no good, is it?!? So, the big kiss was put in at the end as a "valentine" for all the fans of the series. I was sure that the kiss was put off in the T.V. series to keep us tuned in to next week, but for the musical I already have you in the theatre, so I'm going to give you what you want! And let me tell you, to see Catherine and Vincent have a romantic "big kiss" at the end of the show is absolutely cathartic! The fans in the audience (and myself included) all cheered! They finally kiss BIG! Yea!!!