BWW Interviews: Spotlight on David Edward Hughes & Harry Turpin from SMT’s PAJAMA GAME

Seattle Musical Theatre is not only bringing back a "humdinger" of an old classic but also has two local theater veterans at the helm.  Theater Critic/Actor/Producer/Director David Edward Hughes and Actor/Choreographer Harry Turpin take on this fun and frothy charmer.  Add to that two up and coming local powerhouses, Derek Hansen and Kirsten Delohr Helland in the leads of Sid, the pajama factory's new  foreman and Babe, the union leader who's just looking for another seven and a half cents an hour and there's bound to be some "Steam Heat" with this show.

I recently sat down with director Hughes and choreographer Turpin to take a look as their careers, lives and of course how it is playing "The Pajama Game".

David, you've had a lot of experience in the community over the years, specifically-- you had a lot of experience with "Showtunes".  Can you talk to me about your experience with "Showtunes" and how that all came about?

DEH

It came about because of a show I was doing.  A revue that I did in the Fringe Festival, which now no longer sadly exists, at Re-Bar called "Broadway Maladies" which was all great songs from forgotten shows and forgotten songs from great shows.  And I actually did several versions of that along the way.

And one day, Maggie Pehrson and I were sitting and talking over lunch.  And we both kind of hit on, wouldn't it be fun to do full-length shows that had gone away.  We sat and decided oh, let's give it a spin.  Let's do one and see how it goes.  And it was "Anyone Can Whistle".  And it had never been done here before.  And everybody went "ooh, aah".  And we had no-- no-- no advanced ticket sales.  And by the time the show came around, again-- right before the show, the line was around the block, and the Town Hall filled up with about 600 to 700 people.

And that was a one-nighter, but it had the A-list cast of town like Timothy Piggee and Fran King, and, and, and.  Down the line.  I mean, it was really the best people.  And Victor Pappas directed it.  And then from there we just decided, oh-- this is easy.  Let's do some more.  And then we found out just how hard it is to do some more.  But, you know, we did a lot more.  And I co-produced them, and directed several of them for a ten-year period.  And then just finally went, enough.  Time to go back to doing other things like having the rest of my life to do what I want to do.  You know, that was enough.  But it was great being able to bring back shows like "Promises, Promises" and "Out of This World", and "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman" and get to meet people like Martin Charnin and Charles Strouse from Broadway along the way.

And Harry, tell me about your recent experiences with "Annie".

HT

Oh goodness.  Where to start?  It was two years.  And it was probably one of the best experiences of my life in just the opportunity to be able to travel the country, and do what I love to do, which is perform, and yet see the country and get paid for it.  And it was magical.  You know, I hate to throw that word out just so easily but it really was.  There's only one way to sum that up.  Everything from performing in L.A. to doing a month-long stint at Madison Square Garden and just all around the country and up into Canada a little bit, it was amazing.  It was a fantastic experience.

And who were some of the folks in the cast that you worked with?

HT

John Schuck, who is a kind of a veteran Daddy Warbucks.  He's done it on Broadway.  And he was our Daddy Warbucks.  And Alene Robertson who also played one of the "Annie" sequels-- unfortunately.  (LAUGHS) She was our Hannigan.  And then when we played at Madison Square Garden, Kathie Lee Gifford took over for the month.  And so it was fun to be able to work with a wide variety.  And Mackenzie Phillips, we had her in the show as well.

As Miss Hannigan?

HT

No.  As Lily St. Regis. 

So onto the current show.  Do either of you have a special affinity or attachment to Pajama Game?  Has this been like a dream show or anything?

DEH

I never thought of it as a dream show to do quite honestly, but it was certainly a favorite of mine from being a tiny tot.  I mean, I saw it when I was five and would walk around the house (SINGS) "I'm not at all in love".  I loved Hernando's.  I loved the score.  And so when I heard they were going to do it, I thought, "Oh, well, that would be a fun one I think to see it brought back."  Because, you know, until the fairly recent revival on Broadway it had languished for a number of years.

HT

It is actually the first show that I did-- outside of high school theatre.  So I got to be one of the "Steam Heat" dancers.  And, you know, all the stuff through the chorus, and all that fun stuff.  But I mean, it was just so much fun to have a great feature like that with me and two other people.  So it's always kind of held a special place in my heart just for that reason alone.

And what would you say your main take on the show is?  What's the crux of it?  What is the main thing you want to get across from the show to the audience?

DEH

That musicals can be entertaining and not about people flagellating on stage.

HT

I don't know if I would go so far as flagellation.  (LAUGHING)  But probably more of the youthful and exuberant energy that comes across in every aspect of the show.  From the book scenes, there's some really great moments in each of them, as well as all of the music.  "Once a Year Day" particularly which is just big, fun and energetic.  And so that that would be my take on it.  Is just really that track of energy.

DEH

And celebrating the innocence of the era that it's portrayed in.  I mean, it's sort of like Happy Days-ish era.  And still relatively innocent America but with the added little dramatic turn of the background of the strike impending.

Okay so that kind of answers my next question.  So there are shows that are kind of important works out there.  And there are shows that are just plain fun.  In which camp do you see this one?

DEH

Well this is just plain fun with an edge I would say.  I mean, it was always mostly just entertainment, but again, because it was dealing with the romance and against a union strike background.  I mean there's always star-crossed lovers.  But they're star-crossed because one is union and one is management.

HT

I just find the relevance of the show to be, particularly now with all of the union stuff that's happening in Wisconsin and across the country, and kind of the back and forth between those who believe in the union and those who are against it.  You know, it's so interesting-- to kind of piggyback off what David had said, that it was an entertainment pure and flat out, first and foremost.  But yet it has now got a different type of importance in this day and age.  As history starts to repeat itself a little bit, which is really fascinating.

Putting on a show like this is definitely time consuming and stressful.  What's your Zen thing that you do to unwind when you get home?

HT

Actually for me, because as soon as I start working on a project, my brain becomes consumed with it.  From the moment I wake up to the moment I go to sleep, and even in my dreams.  I was actually told by my partner recently that I was counting in my sleep.  So it is-- (LAUGHS) it is an all-consuming thing for me.  And so my Zen moment is actually to just sit and put on a piece of music that has nothing related to do with pajamas or anything to do with the project at hand, and just let myself focus on that for a few moments.  And just kind of listen to those melodies, and be like, yes, there is a world outside of the one that I am currently enmeshed in.

DEH

Okay, I'll out myself.  I mean, everybody who knows me, knows this pretty much anyway.  I tape and then later watch, when I have those Zen moments, "One Life to Live" and "All My Children".   I had kind of stopped watching them, and then they decided to cancel them.  And it's like your friends for 40 years are going, moving to the twilight zone.  And I just started watching them again.  And they're doing a lot of goodbyes.  So it's all very sentimental.

And finally.  Everyone has the thing that they geek out about.  What's your geekdom?

HT

All right-- since David Outed himself with soaps, I am going to go on the record.  I love Disney pins.  That is my geekdom.  The little lapel pins.  I love them.  I collect them.  I admit it.  And that's what I geek out about.

And how many do you have?

HT

We are not going to discuss that.  (LAUGHS) But let's just say that it's a number somewhere between one and (MUMBLES).

DEH

Well it would just have to be anything Broadaway-anna.  And it has been that since I was five.  And it just got more and more and more.  And like someone else I know, my house is largely decorated with Broadway-anna.  So, you know.  That's it.

Thanks guys and best of luck with the show!

"The Pajama Game" plays at Seattle Musical Theatre from September 9^th through October 2^nd.  For tickets or information contact the SMT box office at 206-363-2809 or visit them online at www.seattlemusicaltheatre.org.

Production photo credit: Stewart Hopkins