INTERVIEW: Andrew Lloyd Webber is ‘Unmasked’ in new Paper Mill show
Photo: Courtesy of Paper Mill Playhouse / Provided by Richard Hillman PR with permission.
JoAnn M. Hunter has been listening to the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber nonstop for months, and she’s not tuning out the songs anytime soon. That’s because the director and choreographer is at the helm of Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, a new world-premiere musical at Paper Mill Playhouse that celebrates the famous British composer and his many shows over the years.
Fans who catch the show in Millburn, New Jersey, where it plays through March 1, can expect to hear selections from Webber’s most famous works, including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunset Boulevard and Evita, among many others.
“It’s going to be fun,” Hunter said in a recent phone interview. “It’s a revue. … It’s about his music and what inspired him to write. … I find his music to be incredibly appealing and incredibly tuneful. I find his music so easy to listen to.”
Hunter actually worked with Webber once before when she choreographed School of Rock on Broadway and in London’s West End; this relatively recent show is also represented in Unmasked. “It was fun to do a show that was a rock ‘n’ roll piece,” she said. “It was a great, great show.”
During rehearsals for this Paper Mill production, Hunter found that Unmasked had more music than any other show she has worked on, and that’s saying something because she’s a Broadway veteran, having performed in, choreographed or assistant choreographed Disaster!, Curtains, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever and The Wedding Singer, among others.
On this long journey, Webber has been with Hunter every step of the way. “He’s very involved,” she said. “He’s very accessible. I just shoot him an email.”
Over her career, Hunter has come to respect Webber’s versatility as a composer. For one show, such as School of Rock, he will write music for a rock band, while another show, like Sunset Boulevard, he will compose sweeping melodies for a 40-person orchestra.
For Unmasked, many of the numbers are recognizable hits, but a few of them have been given new interpretations. No worries though — the classics are there and untouched, for the most part. A few selections are rare deep tracks for the true Webber aficionados and new converts.
“There’s one number from a show most people won’t know,” Hunter promised. “But you will hear things most people will know.”
In directing the revue, Hunter was determined not to present a simple concert version, almost like a round-robin of the compositional selections. For example, singers don’t simply walk to a microphone and play the karaoke game. Instead, she stages the work as if there’s a carousel of snippets, absent of story and context, but still transportive and authentic.
Luckily she had seen most of the Webber shows before helming Unmasked, but there were a few musicals she needed to brush up on, including Aspects of Love and By Jeeves. “I had to do research to understand the material,” she said.
Helping her realize her directorial and choreographic vision is a nine-piece band and a dozen or so cast members, all of them impressive singers. Amongst the ensemble are Nicholas Edwards, Alex Finke, Angel Lozada and Mamie Parris, among others.
“Their strengths are that they can sing like nobody’s business,” Hunter said. “It’s a heavy sing show. The voices are phenomenal, and each bring so much to each individual role.”
While she was dancing professionally in the early part of her career, Hunter was recognized as a possible burgeoning talent in the choreographic field. However, there was one issue: she fully admitted that she had no aspiration to be a choreographer, mostly because her performing days were filled with so much fun.
“But I said to myself I might as well try it,” she remembers. “It was so much more thrilling and scary than I imagined. I was exhilarated in a way I had not been exhilarated before. As a creator, your vision is there, and then you have to hand it over. Once you give it to them, that’s it.”
Now she has taken those early choreographic lessons to new heights and is interpreting the works of arguably the most successful composer of all time. “I knew he was funny,” Hunter said of her exploration of Webber’s biography. “He is so witty, clever and smart, but what I found interesting is his inspiration, how things came to him.”
And now audience members can also appreciate how inspiration comes to her.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Unmasked: The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, directed and choreographed by JoAnn M. Hunter, features the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber. The production plays through March 1 at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Click here for more information and tickets.
