| PRESS: I DO! I DO!

• Review: ‘I do! I do! ’ - Time Off, The Princeton Packet
• Review: Bristol Riverside says ‘I do!’ - The Times of Trenton

• Press Release: Broadway Couple to Star in ‘I do! I do!’ at BRT Oct 2-21

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‘I Do! I Do!’

Bristol Riverside Theatre takes a look at love and marriage.

By Stuart Duncan-Time Off, The Princeton Packet

October 10, 2007

I Do! I Do!, the Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt ode to married life, kicks off Bristol Riverside Theatre’s 21st season in magnificent style. More than that, it permits those of us who follow local theater a delicious moment of nostalgia. You see, it was at the very end of BRT’s first season (1987-88) that Brad Little and Barbara McCulloh met while both were playing in the musical The Robber Bridegroom. They were attracted to each other and began to date.

But neither wanted the other members of the company to know that they were seeing each other. And so, after each evening performance, Little would sneak out of his room, climb up a fire escape, and cross the rooftops until he reached McCulloh’s dormitory-like building. Of course the rest of the company knew perfectly well what was going on, but never said anything.

The romance continued, sometimes at long distances for a few years, with both performers achieving success, but on Labor Day of 1992, at sunset on the beach in Cape May, the two were married. Little’s father, a minister, performed the honors.

Both have warm feelings for Bristol and both have returned several times. The last time was during Baby in the spring of 2006, but McCulloh stayed only a week as a Broadway show called for her. Meanwhile, Little has been touring, mostly in Asia, playing the title role in Phantom of the Opera in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Japan. In fact he has logged more than 2,100 performances in the role. McCulloh has been on Broadway, off-Broadway, had lots of TV appearances and more than 50 audio books.

But I Do! I Do! gives them that rare opportunity to be on stage together, and the material is both poignant and challenging. They have performed in many concerts together and their voices blend beautifully. Both are strong actors as well so that they find insights in the material often missed. In this production, for example, they make the moments of sarcasm and anger ring as true as the moments of tenderness.

The titles of the songs give us a clue as to the simple plot line: “I Love My Wife” (the early years); “Something Has Happened” (the first pregnancy); “Nobody’s Perfect” (a bit of strain in the relationship); “The Honeymoon is Over”(more strain, more pain); “When The Kids Get Married” (Oh, boy, we’ll be free then); “Someone Needs Me” (despite all the hassles, this marriage is firm); and, finally, “This House” (it all has been worth it, after all).

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Bristol Riverside says 'I do'

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

BY ANITA DONOVAN

Special to the Times

THEATER REVIEW

The Bristol Riverside Theatre has opened its 21st season with "I Do! I Do!" a lively two-character musical with a distinguished history.

As Jan de Hartog's "The Fourposter," winner of a 1952 Tony Award for best play, it was transformed in 1966 into a musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, the team that brought us the Off-Broadway hit "The Fantasticks."

"I Do! I Do!" was nominated for six Tony awards, delivered one for Mary Martin's co-star Robert Preston as best actor in a musical, and gave the world the timeless love song, "My Cup Runneth Over."

The current production, running through Oct. 21, is a nod to BRT history as well, starring two of the theater's favorite players, Barbara McCulloh and Brad Little. They met on stage 20 years ago in "The Robber Bridegroom" and went on to marry and establish home base in the area. McCulloh has been serving Broadway duty, while Little has been touring internationally as the "Phantom of the Opera." With their talent and verve -- and perseverance -- they are eminently qualified to hold forth on matrimony.

Michael and Agnes start out early last century as starry-eyed innocents at their wedding, idealistic and sure they will be "Together Forever." Over 50 years, they make it through financial struggles, personality quirks, child rearing, career demands and boredom. Michael becomes a successful author, Agnes gives birth to a son and a daughter, and times get easier. Husband and wife get to know each other almost too well and begin to worry about losing their spark.

"It's a Well Known Fact," sings hubby, that men get just get better as they get older, while Agnes counters that there is still a lot of juice left in "Flaming Agnes."

After worrying over their teenagers, the couple looks forward to the time the kids will leave the nest in "When the Kids Get Married," but Michael is not so sanguine when he later confesses "My daughter is marrying an idiot!"

The issues are mundane, but not trivial; playgoers who have survived marriage for any length of time will find themselves smiling and nodding. The Jones-Schmidt score is bouncy, hummable and sweet, and McCulloh and Little are right at home in its intimate style.

Little is a big guy with a big voice and expressive body language; McCulloh is a petite dynamo with a big vocal range. Under director Keith Baker, they age realistically and change subtly, while retaining their energy. Louis F. Goldberg provides a rich piano accompaniment.

Scott Pinkney lights Nels Anderson's versatile single set and Lisa Zinni provides dazzling costumes that span the decades. Matthew Ward is musical director and Gregory Daniels choreographs a few cakewalks for the marrieds.

Whether one has made it through 50 years of matrimony or is just starting out, "I Do! I Do!" persuades us through its wit and generosity that there is still hope for the venerable "institution" and perhaps there can be a happy ever after.

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Broadway Couple to Star in ‘I do! I do!’ at BRT Oct 2-21

Real-life husband and wife take the stage in musical by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt

For Immediate Release: September 4, 2007

Contact: Chuck Reece, Marketing Manager

215-785-0100, chuck@BRTstage.org

**Photos available upon request**

Bristol Riverside Theatre kicks off its twenty-first Mainstage season with I do! I do! running October 2-21, 2007.  The production will star a real-life married couple, both Broadway veterans in their own right.  Barbara McCulloh has entertained audiences far and wide including Broadway’s The King and I and Peter Pan.  Brad Little has electrified theatres worldwide in the title role of Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera.  The production will be directed by BRT Artistic Director Edward Keith Baker.

Not only is the production an opportunity for the couple, who both travel extensively for work, to perform together, but it is also homecoming of sorts.  McCulloh and Little actually met when working on the BRT stage, in The Robber Bridegroom (1987).  They have both returned individually, McCulloh in Jones and Schmidt’s 110 in the Shade, for which she earned a 1997 Philadelphia Barrymore Award Nomination, as well as appearing in Irma La Douce, Blithe Spirit, and The Skin of Our Teeth.  Little played the role of Che in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Evita at BRT, earning him the prestigious Leading Actor in a Musical Barrymore in 2001, as well as also appearing in Irma La Douce.  The couple last teamed up briefly in BRT’s 2006 mounting of Baby, before McCulloh was called away to take the stage in a Broadway production.

Equally at home in musical or dramatic productions, Broadway audiences enjoyed Barbara McCulloh playing and covering the role of Anna in The King and I with Lou Diamond Phillips for well over a year. Peter Pan fans will remember her as Mrs. Darling in both the long successful Broadway run and the A&E film starring Cathy Rigby. More recently, she was in Richard Greenberg’s The House In Town at Lincoln Center and national audiences saw her as Blanche in the tour of Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs.  Her creation of Pauline in the world premiere of The Sweet Revenge of Louisa May won her a Helen Hayes nomination, again for best actress.  Not only a theatrical actress, Barbara has had featured roles on television and has starred in two new independent films; both films are currently in the renowned Los Angeles International Film Festival.  As a narrator for audio books, she has recorded over fifty titles.

For the past two years Brad Little has been in Asia on the International tour of Phantom of the Opera playing China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. Little celebrated his 2,100th performance of playing the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera this last this year, which also included his performances on Broadway and the US National Tour. Other Broadway and National tour credits include: Cyrano, the Musical, Fiddler on the Roof, with Topol, Anything Goes directed by Jerry Zaks. Brad won international acclaim for his portrayal of Jesus in the European Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar, and Tony in West Side Story. He has recorded a Broadway CD called Brad Little UnMasked that includes songs from Phantom of the Opera, and a song he sings with McCulloh from the musical Beauty and the Beast.

I do! I do! was the first two-person musical ever performed on Broadway, written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, the creative duo behind The Fantasticks and 110 In the Shade.  This remarkably intimate, thoroughly romantic piece, allows us into the bedroom of Agnes and Michael, as they try to maintain passion and devotion through the joys and pains, trials and tribulations, setbacks and celebrations of their fifty year marital odyssey.