The production, which features music from Crow, was a three-and-a-half year project seeking to adapt the 1982 film of the same name to the stage in a first-ever experience for the songwriter.
The task of creating a theater production was uncharted territory, explained Crow and Levinson, but the artists were eager to attempt to bring the comedy, set in 1959, to the D.C. area.
“There is something about a learning experience that I think is really exciting,” Crow said at the forum. “You’re suddenly stepping into somewhere you haven’t been, and you go, alright, lets see.”
For Crow, a singer whose work has dominated the charts since her first album in 1993, working on a stage production was refreshing “because when you’ve been doing what you know best for 25 years, it’s great to do something you’re not really exactly sure how to do.”
In response to a question from Marks regarding the difficulties of navigating the theater landscape, Levinson replied, “All I know is that we put something together, something that was very different from the way I work…it’s all very new, and that in itself is worthwhile.”
Marks, often provoking laughs in the crowd of the sold-out event, elicited the personal aspects of Crow and Levinson’s experience working on the show. At one point, Crow described late-night conversations between her and Levinson to fine-tune pieces. Her intermittent bursts of song, which offered the audience a window into the show, were met with fervent applause from the crowd.
Following the event, Crow said in an interview, “I love the people and these characters, and I’m excited about the possibility that the music that I’ve written will move people and leave them humming a song as they leave the theater.”
Marks, who moderated the event, noted the show’s contribution to the D.C.-area theater scene. “The theater needs more of this kind of creative energy, and accomplished, skillful artists who want to try their hand at it,” he said. “So it’s very exciting to have this caliber of artist working locally and unveiling this piece to the world through Signature Theatre.”
The event was the final Post POV event of the season, but the first for Marks:
“If the conversation can go on, with people who love theater, it’s an extension of my job and it does me a world of good to have people engaged, so we can actually have a dialogue with people in the arts,” he said.
Disclaimer: This article was written by a YJDP Student Correspondent and edited by a mentor from The Washington Post prior to publishing.