Sci-fi live
By JOHN WOOLEY, 6/17/2005
A NOTE FROM THE NIGHTINGALE:
Although this is neither a Nightingale nor Midwestern Theater Troupe production, it features the puppet-stylings of our Artistic Director, John Cruncleton.
John Riggs (left), Claire Kifer, Kent Williams, Todd Hanlin, Leslie Goshko and Danny Williams in a scene from "Zombies from the Beyond," STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
The perfect B-movie plot hits the stage
The plot of "Zombies from Beyond," as related by director Brad Morris, makes it sound exactly like a black-and-white movie from the golden age of low-budget science-fiction films -- one starring two-fisted Richard Denning, maybe, or the stoic Peter Graves as a no-nonsense heroic scientist.
"Evil queen Zombina comes to earth to steal all the men," Morris synopsized recently, "and it's about all the brave Americans who fight her off."
Surely, it's the quintessential '50s science-fiction movie plot. "Zombies" is, in fact, set in the 1950s. But it's not a film, it's a live musical, making its Tulsa debut at SummerStage.
It has veteran stage actor John Riggs in the stoic-hero role. And it is, Morris noted, impossible to take seriously.
"No, you can't," he said with a smile. "It's a total sendup. It's got all the archetypes: square-jawed scientist, the military man with the beautiful daughter, a brash secretary, a Russian spy. It's even got a tap-dancing soda jerk.
"It'll appeal to people who like those films, or people who've watched (the TV series) 'Mystery Science Theater 3000,' " he added. "But even if you've never seen a 1950s science-fiction picture, you're going to find this hilarious."
Morris -- whose father is music minister at Tulsa's Asbury United Methodist Church -- grew up doing plays in Sunday school, but gave up theatrics in his late teens, turning instead to music. A piano major at Oklahoma Baptist University, he'd play classical music by day and jazz by night.
After graduation, he tested the waters in Nashville for awhile and then returned to Shawnee, where he married into a family that was deeply involved in Shawnee Little Theater.
It wasn't long before Morris was, too.
"A week after I got back from my honeymoon, I was on stage in Shawnee in 'Fiddler on the Roof,' " he recalled. "It had been eight years since I'd acted."
He admitted that he "probably wasn't very good in that role," but he got better in a hurry, becoming friends with Oklahoma City drama teacher Scott Bartley, who was also involved with the Shawnee group.
"We became real good friends," he noted. "He directed, and I directed, and he was the best actor I'd ever seen."
A change in his marital status got Morris out of Shawnee, and a fluke got him into the Tulsa school system.
"I fell into this job at Edison High School," he explained. "Broken Arrow High School booked me to play bass for an event, and I figured I might as well bring my resume with me. I went into Tulsa Public Schools, and they said, 'Well, there's an opening right now.' "
That was in November of 2000. After relocating, he did a little work in Tulsa theater, but he didn't get together with American Theatre Company until the last day of school in 2004, when he took a phone call from Linda Roberts, ATC's managing director.
"I thought she wanted some students to be in a play," he said with a smile, "and I was going to tell her, 'Are you serious? On the last day of school?' "
Instead, she asked him if he wanted to be music director for ATC's upcoming production of the rock opera "Tommy." He'd been recommended by another ATC director, Susie Monger Daugherty.
"We're looking for musicals that appeal to a younger generation, Generation X or Y or whatever," said ATC artistic director Kitty Roberts. "We've found that the high school and college kids know a lot of classic rock, so we're moving into that genre -- and a lot of our music directors, rightly, don't want to touch rock. Susie told us she'd seen a young man working at a contest who was strong musically and related to younger kids, so we went looking for him."
Once they found Morris, he quickly became a familiar presence in ATC productions, doing both music direction and acting. He was also present at a meeting about the current season, when the company made the decision not to do the familiar musical "Ain't Misbehavin."
"They needed a show to go in that slot, and so I went out and found this one," Morris said. "I brought it to Kitty, two months went by, and I heard nothing. Then, one day, she said, 'So you want to direct this 'Zombies from Beyond?'
"All I was trying to do was find her a musical, hoping she would give it to one of her stable of directors and I might be in the show," he added. "But once she asked me, I thought, 'Yeah. This would be a fun thing to do.' "
Morris makes his ATC directing debut with "Zombies," a production that also marks the first time a couple of other noted Tulsa theater figures, Devin Meadows and John Cruncleton, have worked with the company.
Meadows does light and scenic design. Morris drew a veil over the nature of Cruncleton's contributions, except to say, "He's worked very hard, and what he's going to do is wonderful."
In addition to Riggs, the "Zombies" cast includes Kent Williams, Claire Kifer, Leslie Goshko, Danny Williams, Todd Hanlin and Kara Staiger as Zombina.
"I got very lucky with this cast," Morris said. "I worked with 50 people on 'Tommy,' and now we have seven -- and they're all very strong. I really need to mention Kara Staiger. Zombina's weapon is her voice, and Kara is a coloratura soprano. You know, the high C is the holy grail for soprano singers, and she hits high D several times in the show. Her voice is glorious. It's huge. It's super, super high when it needs to be.
"She choreographed the show as well, and it's exactly what I wanted," he added. "She's been absolutely terrific. I think she's really blossomed with this role."
What:
a production by American Theatre Company for Tulsa SummerStage Festival 2005
When:
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, 8 p.m. June 22-25
Where:
Tulsa Performing Arts Center's Liddy Doenges Theatre, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue
Tickets:
Friday and Saturday performances cost $24 for adults, $21 for seniors and groups, $12 for students;
Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday performances cost $20 for adults, $17 for seniors and groups, and $10 for students.
Call the PAC box office at 596-7111, toll-free at (800) 364-7111 or purchase tickets online at tulsapac.com