[Originally published June 5, 2008 in the News-Sentinel]
By S.T. Boyer
nsfeatures@news-sentinel.com
Typical romantic comedies take the audience through the courtship and end with a wedding, saying the couple will live happily ever after. The classic Broadway musical “I Do! I Do!,” which opens Friday at the Arena Dinner Theatre, is about everything that comes after the wedding, whether happy or not.
In a case of life imitating art, lead actors Melissa Junkin and Curtis J.D. Shaw are actually engaged and will be married in October.
Junkin and Shaw have acted in numerous plays together, and according to their figures, this will be the 36th time they have played a married couple.
Director and choreographer Gary Lanier said he was attracted to the “I Do! I Do!” story immediately. The musical is a cast of just two people, Agnes and Michael, and the events that transpire in their marriage. Lanier explained how audiences relate to the story because it chronicles the realistic roller coaster of a couple's relationship.
“There are good times and bad times,” Lanier said
The play begins at the turn of the 20th century and continues over the next 50 years of the couple's marriage. “There are many things in the show that transcend all time periods,” Lanier said.
Lanier said he likes directing two people because they have been able to focus on specific details of the performances. “My concentration is totally on them.”
During the play, there is very little stage time when either character is without the other. There are 22 songs in the play, and each character has just two solos.
Lanier described the show as having an intimate quality because the action is focused on the two characters' interactions in their master bedroom. The original story came from a play called “The Fourposter” that opened in 1951. “I Do! I Do!,” the musical adaptation, opened in 1966.
Lanier said the audiences get involved in the story because of the closeness of the staging and watching the actors go through the rituals of putting on makeup. “You see them transitioning through the show.”
The story opens just before the wedding of Agnes and Michael Snow. Junkin, who plays Agnes, and Shaw, who plays Michael, just finished playing another married couple, Mr. and Mrs. Irving Berlin, in “The Melody Lingers On” at the Civic Theatre.
Lanier said he was confident Junkin and Shaw could perform the roles well. “They have been working so hard, and I knew they could do it.”
Junkin and Shaw are both excited about tying the knot in the show and in real life, but there are many differences Junkin sees in her character compared to her personal life. Specifically, the ways Agnes reacts to Michael's transgressions are definitely incompatible with Junkin's feelings.
Junkin also is enjoying the chance to play an older character, something she hasn't done before.
The challenge for Junkin and Shaw was not to play the older characters as cartoons or stereotypes. “It's way too easy to make them caricatures,” Shaw said.
Junkin said she likes the chance for Agnes and Michael to fight.
Shaw said he was happy he landed the role because all of the practice has made him less nervous for his real wedding.
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Marriage musical
What: “I Do! I Do!,” a musical about the not-always happily-ever-after life of a married couple.
When: Friday, Saturday and June 13-14, 20-21, and 27-28. Dinner will be served at 7 p.m. and shows will begin at 8 p.m.
Where: Arena Dinner Theatre, 719 Rockhill St.
Cost: Tickets are $30 and include dinner and performance. Call 424-5622 to purchase tickets. For more information, go to www.arena [www.arenadinnertheatre.org]on the Web.
Sunday, June 8, 2008
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