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'The Witches' of Shirlington
Clockwise from left, Emily Skinner, Marc Kudisch, Christiane Noll and Jacquelyn Piro Donovan in "The Witches of Eastwick," based on the John Updike novel.
(By Scott Suchman -- Signature Theatre)
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"Witches" charts the seduction of the three stifled Eastwick women -- a sculptor, a music teacher and a reporter -- by Darryl, whose interventions unleash their imaginations as well as their libidos. It's a technically demanding show in any space because, among other things, the actors portraying Darryl and his enchanted women have to be suspended on wires and soar above the stage.
"Getting to fly, I've always wanted to do that," says Noll, who did a long stint on Broadway in "Jekyll and Hyde." Sitting with her during a lunch break in the Signature lobby, the gifted Skinner (whose credits range from "Side Show" on Broadway to Agnes Gooch in the Kennedy Center's "Mame") and Piro Donovan (an award-winning Lizzie Curry in Signature's "110 in the Shade") shudder a bit at the prospect of aerial work.
"What I liked about this is that with so many films being musicalized, this was one with a difference -- a fable, but for adults," Skinner says. "It's 'Wicked' times three."
Dempsey and Rowe had made some alterations for the musical's staging in Australia, and the restructuring continued for Signature. The narrative has been reshaped so that Darryl and the women make earlier, more dynamic entrances.
For instance, Dempsey says, the introductory number, "Eastwick Knows," has been absorbed into another song because the original, initial focus had been on the town, rather than the stars.
Even the actors have gotten into the act. A song late in the show for Darryl, "Who's the Man?," was dropped -- at Kudisch's suggestion. He thought that at a crucial juncture, it didn't so much stop the show as the story. "I said, 'You've got to cut it,' " he recalls. So the writers gave him a new piece of music designed to flow more effectively into the accompanying scene.
It has escaped no one's notice that Kudisch, who portrayed van Gogh in Signature's 2004 premiere of Michael John LaChiusa's "The Highest Yellow," has of late been making a specialty of temptation. In the Broadway revival last fall of "The Apple Tree," which sets to music the story of Adam and Eve, he was cast as the Serpent. "I wanted to do this," he says. "Who doesn't want to be the Devil?"
The issue now is how thoroughly the renovated "Witches of Eastwick" can tempt ticket buyers. In Signature's inaugural season in its new headquarters, a successful retooling of this ambitious musical would be both a vindication for its authors and a major coup for the company.
"I believe there's no such thing as the right route for a musical," says Mackintosh, who plans to be at Signature for the new "Witches." "I'm very fond of John and Dana, and I think it's underrated material that deserves a wider audience. If it only has lots of regional productions, I will be thrilled. Anything else is a bonus."
