This summer is already turning out to be a real scorcher in the cozy mountain town of Highlands. Especially if you happen to step inside the Highlands Playhouse where the first show of the 2001 summer season sizzles with a glorious musical tribute honoring one of America’s most talented composers, Harold Arlen.

“Sweet & Hot: The Songs of Harold Arlen” features a talented six-member cast (three pairs of lovely ladies and handsome gents) and a live band that deliver a flawless performance in two acts. If you haven’t seen the show, you don’t have much longer. Its three-week run ends July 8. Performances are each night at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday with a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20 for adults, $9 for students (18 and under) and $15 for matinees. Group rates are available for parties of 12 or more.

Director Harold Leaver took on the unenviable task of showcasing three dozen of Arlen’s songs from as far back as the 1930s and ‘40s, and arranges them in classy scenes you’d expect to see on Broadway. This cast was up to the task, strutting their stuff and hamming it up as they belted out the big numbers, crooned the blues, shoobie-doo-wopped to jazz and grooved to gospel. It’s hard to tell which were better  the singers or the musicians (live trumpet, drums, bass, guitar, woodwinds and accompanist performing just visible in the back of the stage).

Over the course of the show, you fall in love with each performer - any one of which could easily lead a musical - though my personal favorites were Amanda Adair Brown and Amanda Lee Williams who were as captivating to watch as they were to hear.

The composer Harold Arlen might not be a name that comes to mind as a show tunes legend, but Arlen was a Broadway and Hollywood composer who collaborated with Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter among others. His compositions included “Over the Rainbow” and “Accentuate the Positive.”

Each song seems to have its own interesting story, as Leaver explained after a Sunday show. “Stormy Weather,” for example, was originally written for Cab Callaway, but at the last minute Callaway got a Broadway gig and had to turn down the song, so in stepped Lena Horne. It became her signature piece. “Lydia the Tattooed Lady,” another song in the show, was originally written for a Marx Brothers movie and fell under the censoring eye of the Hayes Office which deemed the song too risqué until a few lyrics were inserted at the end to mention that Lydia got married (all’s well that end’s well, as long as there’s a legitimate ending).

Other songs featured in “Sweet & Hot” were written particularly for certain singers or entertainers — “Over the Rainbow” for Judy Garland, “One For My Baby” for Fred Astaire and “Accentuate the Positive” for Bing Crosby. There’s even a song from a musical based on a Truman Capote story called “House of Flowers.” Over the two and half weeks of rehearsal, Leaver said he and the cast took a lot of time talking about the origins of the songs and how to personalize them for a contemporary audience.
“This show travels from radio to black and white films to Technicolor to today,” Leaver said.

And the sets and costumes take the audience down memory lane as well - from the art deco of the 1930s when Arlen was a resident composer at the Cotton Club in Harlem to the ‘40s and ‘50s when Arlen took work in Hollywood and Broadway until the present. Harold Arlen died in 1986 after a long and prolific career, and though the history books may not remember him as well as the singers who made his work famous, “Sweet & Hot” pays a fitting tribute to this musical genius.

For information about shows or tickets, contact the Highlands Playhouse at 828.526.2695
The Highlands Playhouse sports a new look as it opens its 61st summer season. In addition to having its lighting and sound systems upgraded and an extra room added to its box office, the Playhouse now has two new directors.

When August Staub, the former head of the Playhouse, retired last year, the theatre’s board of directors decided to split that position into two jobs. Harold Leaver was named artistic director and Stacy Shaw became managing director. Hired in January, both had to hit the ground running, and so far, they say, it’s been an exciting ride offering opportunities for regional and national performers and developing a better relationship with the community.

Shaw was formerly the director of the Arts Management Program at the College of Charleston and is currently an assistant professor and director of the Master’s of Fine Arts program in Theatre Management Arts Administration at the University of Alabama.

While she directs the day-to-day business operations of the Playhouse, Leaver directs three of the four summer shows, manages the cast and crew members and conducts auditions throughout the South and East Coast (about 500 auditioned between January and April). Leaver has been a familiar face on the Highlands Playhouse stage in various roles — mostly as the befuddled everyman, he says. Look for him in August as a member of the hilarious trio in the comedy “The Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged).”

Making the transition from actor to artistic director has been an evolution in his public persona since more people know him by his stage personalities than as the “real” Howard Leaver. But as a working actor, he says he can relate to his actors. Formerly the director of Actor’s Express in Atlanta and an administrator with the Georgia Shakespeare Festival, Leaver can also draw on his experience in artistic leadership roles.

Keeping the theatre running on a budget that’s a little under $300,000 is no small task. Ticket sales, playbill advertisements, generous contributions and on-going fundraising efforts such as raffles and the annual Highlands Cove Golf Tournament help to defer the costs of housing and paying the salaries of actors, directors, technicians and other crew members as well as the up-keep of the facility.

Most everyone goes home over the winter months. Cast and crew members come from all over the country, state and local areas. The challenge is to open auditions to local actors and crew members and bring in talents from Atlanta, New York City and Los Angeles.

As a way to reach out to the community, the Playhouse is offering a “Pay What You Can Night” on the dress rehearsal Wednesday night before the opening night of each summer show. Audience members basically pay whatever they can to see the show. For those who can’t afford the regular $20 price of a ticket, it’s a way to see theatre at a discount.

The Playhouse is also offering summer classes for youth and adults to hone their theatrical skills.
A few days before a Fourth of July program saluting veterans, the Playhouse gets a visit from Highlands Mayor Buck Trott, a retired Air Force and Coca Cola pilot.

Trott is a big fan of the arts scene in Highlands. You can see him at the opening night of Playhouse shows, and he doesn’t miss a chance to advertise the entertainment of his town.

“It’s a wonderful thing to have,” he says. The town’s year-round population of 1,200 nearly doubles in the summer with out-of-state visitors from Florida, Georgia and the Midwest eager to take in the scenic views local galleries and antique shops. There’s a delicate balance of catering to the tourists while respecting the values of the residents who were born and raised here. “And that’s not as simple as it seems,” Trott says.

Shaw and Leaver have made it their mission to maintain that balance of welcoming both visitors and hometown residents, young and old, rich and those who pay what they can.

“This theatre really belongs to Highlands,” Shaw said. “It’s been a priority for both of us and our board.”

The Playhouse is calling this season “The Year of the Entertainer,” a catchy theme Shaw and Leaver are using to fill those 229 glossy red seats. It begins with “Sweet & Hot”(June 21-July 8), a musical revue honoring the songs of Broadway and Hollywood composer Harold Arlen. Next up is a Terrence McNally comedy, “It’s Only a Play” (July 12-22), which centers around a group of actors who are forced to come to terms with the bad reviews of their play. Then it’s “Bye Bye Birdie”(July 26-Aug. 12), the story of a handsome hunk who plans one last kiss before entering the U.S. Army. Rounding out the season is the outrageously funny “Compleat Works of Wllm Shkspr (abridged)” (Aug. 16-26), which seeks to cover all 37 of the Bard’s plays in less than two hours.

For more information about this season, contact the Highlands Playhouse at 828.526.2695.

 

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