INTERVIEW: J2 puts spotlight on classic musicals
Photo: The cast of A Class Act is ready to bring the musical to life. Photo courtesy of Tricia Baron / Provided by RRR Creative with permission.
One more sign that the New York theater world is open and ready for audience members: The J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company is back with its much-anticipated season season. The company will premiere its revival of A Class Act Thursday, Feb. 10, with performances running through Feb. 20. Following that first show, J2 will move to the double bill of A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine (Feb. 24 to March 6) and The Baker’s Wife by Stephen Schwartz (March 10-20). All will play at Midtown Manhattan’s Theater Row.
J2 is the brainchild of executive producer and co-founder Jim Jimirro and artistic director and co-founder Robert W. Schneider. They are both excited for the second season, which was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I had been a musical theater aficionado for all of my life, and all through my working years, I always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to do something like this, just to be around musical theater,” Jimirro said in a recent phone interview. “And I wanted to do it in New York, which is the scene of my happiest days in theater. The one day I saw something that Rob had done at 54 Below, which I loved. A friend of mine happened to be in that evening performance. I called him and said, ‘Who did that?’ He said, ‘Rob Schneider.’ So I called Rob, invited him to lunch. We shared our joint passion for musical theater, and at the end of the lunch, we actually had a handshake as to what it is we’re now doing.”
Both Jimirro and Schneider put together a list of shows that they wanted to see revived in New York City. For Schneider, the idea of dusting off a forgotten classic is something special for audience members. In film, they can always catch an old movie. For pieces of art, hundreds of years ago can feel like yesterday. But for live theater, sometimes the only evidence a show existed is found in the memories of those lucky enough to be in the audience. Jimirro and Schneider want to change that.
“We’re trying to find shows that we feel are worthy enough for audiences to see in a full presentation,” Schneider said. “To that end, I think it basically shows that Jim and I feel really, really passionate about this. Obviously, we try not to have two types of the same show in one season, but I think it’s based on what we feel deserves a reexamination in some ways.”
Jimirro remembers that when they started this company, the two sat down and came up with a list of musicals that they wanted to mount. Jimirro’s list numbered 100, while Schneider’s had 200 entries. They have numerous options to pick from, and for this second season, they are working overtime to keep three shows running one right after the other.
“All three shows right now are in various stages of the production process,” Schneider said in early February. “A Class Act is our first show. It’s in rehearsals. It’s almost finished in terms of staging. Monday we’re starting A Day in Hollywood / A Night at the Ukraine, so that’ll go into rehearsal. And this morning I had a meeting with Stephen Schwartz to talk about how we’re going to tackle The Baker’s Wife, so all three are running concurrently. It feels much like a rep company, which is very exciting.”
A Class Act is a special addition to the season because the musical, with music and lyrics by Edward Kleban and a book by Linda Kline and Lonny Price, was meant to be the third show of J2’s inaugural season. But … well, most people know how this story goes.
“I had gone to the dress rehearsal on March 11 of 2020,” Jimirro said. “It went really well. I was very excited. Sitting in my apartment in New York at 4 o’clock opening night, March 12, got the call that the theaters had been shut down. … Rob and I thought, well, we’re just going to hang in here. Probably by the end of it we’ll be back on stage. Well, needless to say that didn’t happen, so we laid low all the rest of the year in 2020. And then it was a no-brainer to have A Class Act, which has already been cast and really set by Rob, to begin the second season, which we like to call Season Two, Year Three.”
Schneider has a personal connection to the piece. When he first moved to New York City, his first job in the theater world was as Price’s assistant. Price, in fact, will take part in a conversation following A Class Act’s performance on Feb. 17. He’ll be joined by Kline, his fellow book writer, and Tony winner Richard Maltby, Jr.
“That was my first job, and Lonny wrote the show and directed the show and starred in the show,” Schneider said. “So from that end it seemed like a no-brainer for me, but also the show is about celebrating the life that you lead and doing what makes you happy because you never know when the clock is going to run out, which we thought was a good message for people to hear before COVID. And now we think it’s an even more important message for people to hear after COVID because for the past two years we had no idea that our lives were going to come to such a halt, so hopefully now we’re all doing things that fulfill us. And so I feel like A Class Act underlines that. It’s become more resonant I think over the past two years.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
J2 Spotlight Musical Theater Company will present A Class Act, A Day in Hollywood / A Night in the Ukraine and The Baker’s Wife from Feb. 10 to March 20 at Theater Row in Midtown Manhattan. Click here for more information and tickets.
