LIVE Magazine #229 February 26 thru March 11, 2016

that! [Lucie Arnaz wins Best Supporting Actress]
Lucie: Well, yes, it was nice. Very, very nice. So it ended up that while I was in
“Pippin”, I was asked to go to NY to do a month of the Broadway production
while the girl who originally did it on Broadway played it in Los Angeles. So I
went and it turns out that was the exact same time where we did the reading
for “Pippin”. Not only was I on Broadway every night doing that show, I was
directing the week-long staged reading of Hazel [a Broadway musical based on
the 1961-66 TV series Hazel] in the few hours that I had off.
Levvy: So tell me a little bit about the play Hazel. Because I always saw the
character Hazel as the parent/manager of the entire Baxter family.
Lucie: Yes, but in the play it starts out with her trying to get the job with the
Baxters. She didn’t already have it. So there is a concept....like, Is it going to
work? Am I going to get the job? And that is amazing because you always think
of Hazel as being a person who always does everything right. Well in this play it
all takes place before Hazel becomes a maid. She had worked for this family for
25 years and the children had grown up and they don’t need her anymore. And
she really walks into a hornets nest with this [Baxter] family. Because it was the
60’s. The mother wants to go back to work and the husband is a very staid sort
of conservative whose wife just needs to stay home. And the kid doesn’t get
enough attention from the dad. And Hazel has to save the mother’s ability to do
something extra outside the house. And fix the kids love for his parents and in
the meantime try to keep her job!
Levvy: A Supernanny!
Lucie: So, it is a really good play and the music is wonderful. And then they
came back to me and said we are going to do a three week workshop which is
full-on choreography, sets, but cheap! You know, $300,000--not millions. And
you do it in a rehearsal space and then they bring people in the hopes of raising
the money for the production. And we did it, and they got the production at the
Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago. I think they start the rehearsals Monday.
Levvy: I can see that going in to a film after the theatre for a while.
Lucie: Maybe. And now they have this wonderful choreographer director taking
it on. There is no way unless I directed a few things more would I want to
shoulder a 1.5 million dollar musical at this point.
Levvy: That’s a lot of pressure. But you could handle it, I’m sure!
Lucie: No, they are my friends. I would want them to be with somebody who
has been down the pike a few times! I get just as much of a thrill knowing we
did what we did with it. I was the teacher coach who got them ready for the
auditions. And they got the work. They got the job. And hopefully they are
going to go to Broadway.
Levvy: Doesn’t that make you feel great that you spurred someone?
Lucie: Great! And I was glad to be able to do that.
Levvy: You are so humble. Don’t you know those kids are going to look back
and say, “Lucie Arnaz spurred me on to Broadway.” You probably don’t grasp
that like a lot of people do. But you are amazing Lucie.
Another thing I want to talk about is ONE NIGHT ONLY. That is coming up. And
Michael Childers is such an amazing guy.
Lucie: Yes. He is a fire-cracker. He just burns at both ends! If there is anyone as
busy as me it is Michael Childers.
Levvy: You know, he was the photographer for my friend Randal Kleiser’s film,
Grease. Randal and I have been friends for about 30 years.
Lucie: I almost did that film!
Levvy: Did you really?
Lucie: Randal and I did an audition for Mike Eisner actually. It was for [Betty]
Rizzo, the Stockard Channing part. I was booked to do another show and Alan
Carr kept saying, “You have the part. You did a great audition. We want you. I’m
the producer. Randal is the director. You have the part.” But I said, you know
I am booked to do this part, Bye Bye Birdie in Milwaukee like a Summer Stock
show. If I am not going to do Bye Bye Birdie then I need to let them know by
a certain time. Otherwise I have to pay $5000 to get out of the contract. And
for me at 19--- whatever that was, that was a lot of money. They said, “no, no,
no, no, no, you have the part.” And I said, well can I just get a contract? I mean
is this done done? Signed sealed and delivered?.....”Well”, they said, “we are
still looking at the other people in the cast and trying to match them up.” So I
said, “So I don’t have it?” It went like that around and around until I had just
one more day and they wouldn’t put it on paper so I finally had to walk away.
Stockard also followed me into ‘They’re Playing Our Song’. She replaced me
after I did it on Broadway. She was the first replacement. So I didn’t do Grease
and she played Rizzo! (laughter) And we were friends before when we did
Vanities together.
Levvy: Also Michael raises hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. So you
are going to be here at the McCallum coming up. And you are directing-again!
Lucie: Well Michael saw the three week workshop of Hazel we did in New York
and immediately said, “Will you direct the show, ONE NIGHT ONLY this year?”
I live in Palm Springs. We moved here permanently almost four years ago
now. And I got to know Michael really well. And I have actually come to Palm
Springs five or six times to be in the show. He would fly me in from New York or
wherever I was. So I know the show and what he wants from it. Having done
the BABALU show and putting together 90 minutes of music and orchestrating
it and having done 28 years of my own club acts and my shows, you know that
putting together a concert show like that, there is a WAY. It is an art. You know,
not too many ballads, get some humor in with stories....Don’t bore the people!
So, I feel obligated to make sure it is not just a cookie cutter of every other year.
I’m trying to do something maybe a little different. I’m hoping to do one off
instead of two. And it is about “Sondheim in Love” this year.
Levvy: Many friends are going this year! And a lot of them are theatre actors!
Lucie: And you know, Sondheim is theatre. It’s not just concert pop music. It
will have to be done with a more theatrical look to it. It is shaping up to be
really amazing. A lot of people are coming down who have been in the show
before. Christine Andreas has said yes again this year, thank you! I like her. She
can sing practically anything in the show as can Liz Callaway. Others are Marilyn
Maye, Lee Roy Reams, and Jason Graae, Howard McGillin, Nancy Dussault,
Brent Barrett, David Engel, Hunter Ryan Herdlicka, Barb Jungr, Millicent Martin,
Karen Ziemba from Broadway, John Barrowman, Julia Murney, Terry Ralston,
and some newer younger people from Broadway, like James Snyder.
Levvy: Those are amazing. And the show always flows so smoothly. That’s what
I love about the show.
Lucie: Yes, I am hoping it will flow along even more smoothly this year. I am
going to do away with a few of the stop and starts. There is so little rehearsal
time. That is the hardest part about doing the show. You have to have it all in
your head. You have to be beyond prepared. And with everything you have to
know exactly what you want because there is only one tech meeting with the
guys two weeks before the show. What it is going to look like, what it’s going
to sound like....the lighting people, the sound people, where they are going
to stand, how many microphones....and then 15 minute chunks of time the
day before and the day of, we run the show once before and that’s it! And the
orchestra hears the music!
Levvy: Isn’t that crazy!?
Lucie: Yes. The people have to be really prepared. And you only want to hire
people who know how to prepare and won’t come in saying, “Well, I didn’t
really have time to prepare”....Oops! Goodbye! They have to come in like a pro
and all of these people are pros who have been in the business a long time. It’s
harder for me. And some folks say it can’t be done, but we’ll see.
Levvy: Well Lucie, I have really enjoyed visiting with you. You have always been
someone I really admire and it has been really awesome to speak with you.