PhotosPHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "This Job Is Not to Be Believed!" Behind the Scenes at Goodspeed's City of AngelsCast member Robert J. Townsend is a man of many hats in Goodspeed's new production of the film noir musical comedy City of Angels. With help from castmates Michael Keyloun, Laurie Wells and Kathleen Rooney, he offers Playbill.com an exclusive look backstage at the production.
By
Matthew Blank
November 09, 2011
Meet the cast and crew, get a glimpse of the intricate technical setup, and see how everyone got through the freak October Snowstorm of 2011.
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PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "This Job Is Not to Be Believed!" Behind the Scenes at Goodspeed's City of Angels
PHOTO EXCLUSIVE: "This Job Is Not to Be Believed!" Behind the Scenes at Goodspeed's City of Angels
Cast member Robert J. Townsend is a man of many hats in Goodspeed's new production of the film noir musical comedy City of Angels. With help from castmates Michael Keyloun, Laurie Wells and Kathleen Rooney, he offers an exclusive look backstage at the production. Read the Playbill...
60 PHOTOS
It's a day like any other at the Goodspeed Opera House... well, except for the freak October snow storm that hit! The boys in blue slip and slide their way to the show.
Robert J. Townsend
The Opera House looks like a snowglobe today, making it even more beautiful than on normal days.
Robert J. Townsend
Make sure you sign in before the half hour call, or else you get the circle of shame around your initials from Brad, our stage manager.
Robert J. Townsend
Emma, our wig girl, prepares for the day. Although there aren't a lot of girls in the show, we've got a ton of wigs to maintain... some for the guys too.
Robert J. Townsend
Here's my finale wig and moustache, part of the aforementioned wig prep. Just a little teaser to what is to come for me in just a couple hours...
Here's the wall o' joe. All our coffee cups with name tags and all... just in case we've forgotten our names on a matinee.
Robert J. Townsend
Michael Keyloun gets his caffeine on to prepare for his evil doings later.
Robert J. Townsend
The green room downstairs, where cast, crew and orchestra hang until the show begins. Also our main hang when, just two months ago, we were hit by another freak storm: Hurricane Irene.
Robert J. Townsend
A view of the stairs in the Opera House. Level One is the green room, Level Two are the offices, Level Three is the dressing room level and Level Four is the stage itself. Always a good quad workout!
Robert J. Townsend
A stage level view of part of our set. The design calls for venetian blinds, iconic from film noir movies. Four massive panels of blinds allow for different playing spaces on the tiny Goodspeed stage.
Robert J. Townsend
Here's a look at the very little space our incredible crew has to work with to run one of the 40, yes, count them, 40 scene shifts throughout the show.
Robert J. Townsend
A little shot of our "snow day show" audience, as our producer Michael Price instructs them to move to seats as close as they would like.
Robert J. Townsend
Call me a man who wears many hats. Actually, we all do! Going back to the style of the '30s, each of us needs to look dapper in our cappers! I alone have 5 different hats.
Robert J. Townsend
A pre-show ritual for our Angel City 4, they sing through the harmonies of the opening number to make sure they are tight and sizzling. Well, at least 1/2 of the Angel City 4 are in this shot!
Robert J. Townsend
In the moments before the curtain rises and they start scatting away, the AC4 take a moment to mug for yours truly.
Robert J. Townsend
In what my mom will surely agree is one of my finest characters to date, I leave the stage and find it hard to break free from the character we lovingly call "The Heavy Breather."
Robert J. Townsend
Above the stage hangs the iron lung, quite possibly one of the largest onstage props the Goodspeed has ever seen. It takes up almost a third of the stage when it gets wheeled out in the finale.
Robert J. Townsend
In the stage left box, we all wait to enter for our first entrance, darting and dancing as detectives searching for clues.
Robert J. Townsend
My darling dresser Alina prepares my quick change area, where I go from dark detective to pristine orderly in about thirty seconds.
Robert J. Townsend
Starring as Stine, the incredible and sweethearted D.B. Bonds attempts to keep the cold at bay and his voice warm as he huddles around the radiator in his dressing room.
Robert J. Townsend
The classy and sassy Nancy Anderson shows some leg after being accosted by the creepy Heavy Breather.
Robert J. Townsend
Laurie Wells blushes with abandon, as she prepares to take her feisty and sultry characters Gabby/Bobbi to the stage.
Robert J. Townsend
Gregor looks on in shock as I inform him that the beautiful roses in his space are not, in fact, for him. I promise to deliver a fresh bouquet upon the morrow.
Robert J. Townsend
Laurie Wells hugging producer Michael Price upon his announcement that, as a result of the snow day in East Haddam, the evening's performance would be canceled and we would have a night off of relaxation and snow!
Robert J. Townsend
Two lovely ladies from different worlds who never meet onstage... Laurie Wells hugs it out with Liz Pearce, our alluring femme fatale Alaura Kingsley.
Robert J. Townsend
Men's dressing room wardrobe master John Riccuci takes a much needed break from the demands of the ten men in our dressing room. Catching up with previous cast members of other shows? Or just calling his "daddy"??
Robert J. Townsend
Jeff Sears, aka Jimmy Powers, shows us just how much power he brings to the role as our resident crooner. And he learned how to tie his bowtie all by himself!
Robert J. Townsend
Danny Bolero sports his suave 'stache and suit as he prepares to put Stone away for life... or worse...
Robert J. Townsend
Jay Russell, playing Stone's interloping movie director/producer Buddy Fidler, gets ready to tell me what to do as we open Act Two.
Robert J. Townsend
D.B. and Nancy get close as their illicit onstage romance trickles backstage to friendly hugs.
Robert J. Townsend
Sierra Reins helps our conductor Michael O'Flaherty with our bit of offstage singing for Alaura's theme.
Robert J. Townsend
With director Darko Tresnjak's specific and artistic choices, every gesture, turn of the head, and tilt of the hat is imperative, as the whole show is a beautiful homage to film noir.
Robert J. Townsend
Exiting stage right, and crossing (actually ducking) down the stairs, lies a small box directly under the stage deck filled with the props from scenes past.
Robert J. Townsend
A backstage glimpse of Jeff Sears and the Angel City 4 smoothly singing "Stay With Me" from the second level of our set. With limited space, this was a clever way to create an entirely separate playing space.
Robert J. Townsend
Boggle has taken over the greenroom on many occasions... lots of wordsmiths in this cast!
Robert J. Townsend
A glimpse of Jay Russell as he lords over his domain as Buddy, producer extraordinaire. Also a look at the only access to the 2nd level platform, a small circular staircase that the cast and crew has learned how to navigate quickly and with panache!
Robert J. Townsend
No glove, no love! One of the many characters I play is an assistant to the county mortician, and we need to make sure all that messy stuff doesn't get on the costumes!
Robert J. Townsend
Spencer Rowe, our mortician, dance captain, resident gangster and much more, improves his mind and often can be found reading plays to enrich his next audition.
Robert J. Townsend
Emma assists Michael transforming into the evil and questionably-intentioned Dr. Mandril.
Robert J. Townsend
Vanessa Parvin and Sierra Rein prepare to help Detective Stone search for Mallory.
Robert J. Townsend
Michael Keyloun and Laurie Wells find some time to plot for monetary gain and personal happiness.
Robert J. Townsend
Myself, Robert J. Townsend as I head into the chilly mouth of the morgue, where my compatriots and I literally play the bones of our previous clients.
Robert J. Townsend
Burke Moses, looking dashing as he dashes off to solve the mysteries of the film noir world.
Robert J. Townsend
A brief moment onstage before act two. Christina Morrell, Jay Russell and Michael Keyloun get ready to wow the audience.
Robert J. Townsend
I'm ready at my post for Act 2. A man of many hats, literally and figuratively.
Robert J. Townsend
Stone's been thrown in jail on suspicion of murder, but it's our amazing backstage crew, headed up by Ingrid and Derrick, that we've found incarcerated for being too good at their jobs.
Robert J. Townsend
A secretive glance at the women's dressing room, which is also connected to Emma's wig domain... and her Justin Bieber fan wall.
Robert J. Townsend
The Kingsley siblings, Kathleen Rooney and Allen E. Read, pose and show off their perfect skin and smiles.
Robert J. Townsend
D.B. Bonds takes some time out with the ladies of the night he usually just writes about.
Robert J. Townsend
A stolen look at Bootsie (Christina Morrell) as she tries to turn her misfortune into cash.
Robert J. Townsend
A better look at some of the small backstage area, this is the middle entrance where the slimy denizens of the noir world can creep and slither in.
Robert J. Townsend
Our offstage moment where we collect ourselves in the stairway to sing the glorious strains of Alaura's Theme, fresh from our mimosas at Buddy's party. Look ma, another hat!
Robert J. Townsend
Josh Powell making the most of his props, as he tinkles the 18 keys on his tiny pink piano. An example of how small the stage can be at times, and how the production team gets creative in solving space issues.
Robert J. Townsend
Continuing to wrap around and see the entire cast in the stairway singing about our evil seductress.
Robert J. Townsend
One of these things is not like the other! We play "Where's Waldo?" with Buddy's nephew.
Robert J. Townsend
Emma gets me set for the finale of the show...
Robert J. Townsend
The transformation is complete and I'm ready to tear up the stage as "Bill, Studio Sound Man!"
Robert J. Townsend
One final glimpse of myself and Mick Bleyer backstage before the final scene, where the drama comes to a head and Stine learns he has power he never dreamed of.
Robert J. Townsend
The show is over, and I've returned to my normal self. Thank goodness, cause the 'stache is a little itchy!
Robert J. Townsend
So there you have it! A little backstage look at our adventures with the cast and crew of City of Angels. Thanks for coming along!
The jazz-inflected, 1989 Tony Award-winning show with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel and book by Larry Gelbart plays Goodspeed Opera House to Nov. 27. Previews began Sept. 23.
City of Angels is directed by Darko Tresnjak, the new artistic director of Hartford Stage. Tresnjak returns to Goodspeed where he directed Carnival!, Amour and A Little Night Music.
Worlds collide side by side as we see fiction writer Stine (played by D.B. Bonds, of Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables) trying to adapt his book for a Hollywood screenplay, and private eye Stone (played by Burke Moses, of Broadway's The Frogs and Beauty and the Beast) trying to solve a crime in the story within the story. Laurie Wells (Broadway's Mamma Mia!) plays Bobbi and Gabby; Liz Pearce (Broadway's Billy Elliot) plays Alaura Kingsley and Carla Haywood; Nancy Anderson (Broadway's Wonderful Town, A Class Act) plays Girl Fridays Donna and Oolie; Jay Russell (who appeared in The Play What I Wrote on Broadway) plays Buddy Fidler and Irwin Irving; Jeffrey David Sears plays Jimmy Powers; Gregor Paslawsky plays Luther Kingsley and Werner Krieger; Danny Bolero (of Broadway's In the Heights) plays Lt. Muñoz and Pancho Vargas; Allen E. Read plays Peter Kinglsey and Gerald Pierce; Kathleen Rooney plays Mallory Kinglsey and Avril Reins; Michael Keyloun plays Dr. Mandril and Gilbert; Jerry Gallagher plays Big Six; Spencer Rowe plays Sonny; Josh Powell plays Officer Pasco, Del Dacosta and Gene. Robert J. Townsend plays Mahoney. Christina Morrell plays Margaret and Anna.
The "Angel City 4" — a harmonic vocal group — is played by Mick Bleyer, Vanessa Parvin, Sierra Rein and Adam West Hemming. All four actors are members of the 2010 Manhattan Association of Cabarets and Clubs (MAC) award-winning vocal group, Marquee Five. The swings are Becca Pesce and Adam Bastien.
The creative team also includes choreographer Jennifer Paulson Lee; scenic designer David P. Gordon; costume designer Tracy Christensen; lighting designer John Lasiter; projection designer Shawn Boyle; sound designer Jay Hilton; music director Michael O'Flaherty, assistant music director William J. Thomas; and orchestrator Dan DeLange.
City of Angels is produced for Goodspeed Musicals by Michael P. Price.
For tickets and information about the two-time Tony Award-winning Goodspeed Musicals, call (860) 873-8668 or visit goodspeed.org.
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