Patti Gardner, Brian Golub, Cassidy Joseph, Franco Kiglies, Kareema Khouri, Jeni Hacker, Annaya Charlicia and Peter Tedeschi in Caroline, or Change at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
Actors’ Playhouse audiences are about to experience a change from what they are maybe used to seeing at the Miracle Theatre.
“It’s almost a fully sung-thru piece,” says Artistic Director David Arisco, referring to the company’s upcoming show. Also, it features several different musical styles, and they change quickly and frequently.
“The score is like no other,” Arisco says.
The show is “Caroline, or Change,” a much-celebrated piece that has garnered positive reviews, played on Broadway twice, and won multiple Tony award nominations. In addition, overseas, it won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical (London’s equivalent of the Tony Awards). The show, which features nearly 20 characters, has also run at regional theaters.
“This is the show I’ve wanted to do for 20 years,” Arisco says, adding it is timely. “The time is right, now.”
“Caroline, or Change,” with music by Jeanine Tesori and a libretto and lyrics by Tony Kushner, will run at Actors’ Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre as the show’s South Florida premiere from March 27-April 14.
The musical features styles such as spirituals, blues, Motown, classical music, Jewish klezmer, folk music, and contemporary Broadway.
“The score reflects the characters (who) are singing the songs,” Arisco says.
“Caroline, or Change” takes place in 1963 in Lake Charles, Louisiana during the American Civil Rights Movement. Kushner (“Angels in America,” among other shows) has set the piece just before, after, and during President John F. Kennedy’s assassination. He has said that “Caroline, or Change,” which had its debut workshop in 1999, and its world premiere in 2003, is loosely based on an incident from his childhood.
Caroline Thibodeaux is a 39-year-old African American maid for a middle-class, Southern Jewish family, the Gellmans. The title character, a divorced mother of four, has been working as a maid for 22 years, which includes many years working for the Gellmans.
During her work, Caroline spends most of her time in the family’s humid basement, where she does laundry. She listens to the radio, washer, and dryer. In fact, these appliances are characters in the play, and they speak.
“They sing in her head,” Arisco says, although the audience can hear them as well.
Meanwhile, the Gellmans’ son, 8-year-old Noah, admires Caroline. The youngster sees her as a strong woman (stronger than his dad) and he even refers to her as The President of the United States.
Noah, whose mother recently died of cancer, shares a special bond with Caroline but Caroline is a bitter woman who is resistant to the sweep of change that she sees around her (the word “Change” carries multiple meanings in the piece.)
Jeni Hacker (Rose Stopnick) and Kareema Khouri (Caroline Thibodeaux) in Caroline, or Change at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu).
Noah’s new stepmother, Rose, struggles to bond with Noah and is unable to give Caroline a raise. Instead, she enlists Caroline’s help in a plan to teach the boy a lesson about leaving change in his pants pockets. Specifically, Rose tells Noah and Caroline that when the titular character does the laundry, she should keep the money she finds in Noah’s pockets.
Although Caroline does not want to take money from a child, she eventually concedes; her own children are desperate for food, clothing, and shoes that she cannot afford with her regular salary. This puts Caroline in an ethical predicament. And when a $20 bill goes missing, it causes a rift between Caroline and the boy.
With occurrences such as Kennedy’s assassination and the strength of the Civil Rights Movement, accompanied by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s inspirational speeches, sweeping change starts affecting Caroline’s life. In the end, she must come to terms with the personal and national transformation.
Arisco says he hopes that Actors’ Playhouse’s production of “Caroline, or Change” attracts different audiences. Most likely, it will prove to be thought provoking and lead to many discussions in the days after people see the show, says Arisco, who is helming the production.
While this country has come “so far” in terms of racial relations, “Caroline, or Change,” makes us realize how much more work we have to do, Arisco says.
Annaya Charlicia (Dotty Moffett) and Cassidy Joseph (Emmie Thibodeaux) in Caroline, or Change at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu).
The musical “captures history through the eyes of these well-defined characters,” he adds. Also, he notes that the show tells a “human interest story.”
Arisco says with the production’s opening approaching, many people are interested because they haven’t heard about the show and wish to know more about it. One thing Arisco will tell you is that, in his many years of directing and performing, “Caroline, or Change” is about as challenging a piece as he’s ever done.
“The music is so difficult that even some of (the) top professional actors (in the cast) are struggling” with the score, Arisco says.
“Everyone’s working very hard,” he adds.
Kareema Khouri and Cassidy Joseph in "Caroline, or Change" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
That includes Brian Golub, who will portray Noah’s father, Stuart.
The show is “so interesting, (but) the music is very complex, says Golub, who has been a professional actor for 26 years.
Golub, who holds a music degree, reads music and experienced both Broadway productions, still has had to repeatedly listen to the score to learn it. About a week into rehearsals, “the score is just starting to sink in,” he says.
Live theater artist Jack Tamburri has written that the show “is packed with recurring themes and motifs. Unlike the traditional Broadway song structure (play a pleasing melody, then play it six more times), Tesori's music is interested in communicating a constant stream of precise emotional events. The score to “Caroline” is always building tension--achingly beautiful melodies surface and submerge, then return transformed, with new orchestrations and new associations to characters and feelings.”
“Caroline, or Change” will mark the sixth show that Golub has performed at Actors’ Playhouse over 21 years. In 2003, he appeared in “Floyd Collins,” in 2004 he performed in “Grease,” in 2005 “The Full Monty” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in 2011.
Golub says the music in “Floyd Collins” is similar to that found in “Caroline, or Change.” He adds that he likes the music in the latter.
“It’s a beautiful, beautiful score,” he says.
“Caroline, or Change” includes themes such as family, freedom, faith, money and, of course, change.
“There’s a chance for everyone to change,” Golub says, referring to the heart of the piece. “Everyone in the show is going through a change.”
Kareema Khouri (Caroline Thibodeaux) and Franco Kiglies (Noah Gellman) star in "Caroline, or Change" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu)
For actor Kareema Khouri, who will portray Caroline, the character is similar to her yet different. Like the titular maid, the veteran actor (over 20 years) has children. Specifically, she is a mother of three, while Caroline has four children. And, as a mother, Caroline does a lot of laundry, she says. However, Caroline is filled with disappointment and regret, which is the opposite of Khouri’s positive outlook. To get into character, Khouri says she has focused on dark instances in her life and how they made her feel.
Kareema Khouri stars as Caroline Thibodeaux in "Caroline, or Change" at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu).
Khouri, who never saw the show in person but heard the soundtrack “about a million times,” says she thinks the show is “amazing.” And its music, while “incredibly beautiful,” is “incredibly difficult.” In fact, she says Caroline has been her most challenging role so far. But Khouri, who performed in “Godspell” and “Escape to Margaritaville” at Actors’ Playhouse, is glad to step into Caroline’s shoes.
“It most definitely is a dream role for me,” she says. She adds that she is “privileged and honored” that Arisco cast her in the role. Indeed, Caroline is one of the most powerful female roles in musical theater.
Khouri says she feels “extremely ready” for the role, thanks, in part, to her husband’s help. Her spouse, Antoine, is the production’s musical director. In fact, this production is a family affair for Khouri. In addition to her husband’s work as musical director, her 7-year-old son, London, plays her character’s son.
Khouri complimented her son and husband on the job they are doing so far. She also commended the actors.
“This cast is amazing,” she says, adding that Arisco did an amazing job directing.
Jeni Hacker (Rose Stopnick), Franco Kiglies (Noah Gellman) and Brian Golub (Stuart Gellman) in Caroline, or Change at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu).
In addition to Golub and Khouri, child actor Franco Kiglies will portray Noah. The young thespian was the star of Actors’ Playhouse Musical Theatre for Young Audiences’ recent productions of “Stuart Little” and “Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”
“Caroline, or Change” will mark Franco’s mainstage debut.
“Caroline, or Change” is a “show that needs to be seen,” Arisco says.
Franco Kiglies stars as Noah Gellman in Caroline, or Change at Actors' Playhouse at the Miracle Theatre. (Photo by Alberto Romeu).
Golub also encourages people to experience the production. Come with open ears, an open mind, and be ready for a different type of experience, he suggests.
In other words, come ready for a change.
Actors’ Playhouse will have a preview performances at 8 p.m. Thurday, March 28. Then, the show will officially open at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 29 through Sunday, April 14. Show times are at 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, with matinees at 3 p.m. Sunday (a special weekday matinee will take place at 2 p.m. April 3. Ticket prices range from $40 to $ 100. Info at(305) 444-9293, visiting www.actorsplayhouse.org, or at the box office, Miracle Theater is located at 280 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables. The theater company offers 10 percent off all weekday performances for seniors and $15 student rish tickets to any performances 15 minutes before curtain with identification. Group discounted rates are offered for 10 patrons or more through the group sales department. Call (305) 444-9293, ext. 2 or go to www.actorsplayhouse.org.
