Preview: 'Golf: The Musical"
Foursome tees off Aug. 25 with comedic look at favorite Michigan pastime
Meadow Brook Theatre's managing director John Manfredi has a favorite mantra these days, and it goes something like this: "If I can get you in the door, I've got a pretty good chance of keeping you."
So when the opportunity presented itself to tie into the Ryder Cup this summer with "Golf: The Musical," it was a dream come true!
"It's a really big deal," Manfredi told BTL several weeks back.
It's also the start of what could be a very beautiful relationship between the struggling professional theater company and Palace Sports & Entertainment.
And it all came together thanks to a phone call to David Regal, MBT's artistic director – and a couple of fate-twisting coincidences.
"The producer [of "Golf: The Musical"] called David. He was shopping it around, and he knew the Ryder Cup is coming here. It turns out I know two of the four guys in the show, and one of the producers was a producer of a national tour I did, so we were able to get [the rights to the show] before Nederlander and before Forbes," Manfredi said.
The show, which runs Aug. 25 through Sept. 19, will feature the original, four-person New York cast. It is the most commercial project the theater has yet attempted, Manfredi said, and if successful, "Golf: The Musical" could help subsidize a considerable portion of MBT's 2004/05 season.
But that's a big "if."
Summer theater
"Having done theater in this town for 30-plus years, summer theater just doesn't work," said Regal. "But it seems to me that with millions of golfers around, this one has a chance."
In fact it has an excellent chance to succeed – especially if the surprising upsurge in attendance experienced by other local theaters this summer continues into August and September.
What will also help is this, Regal – who doesn't golf – points out: You don't even have to like the sport in order to love "Golf: The Musical!"
"It's not a bunch of good ol' boys around the putting green," Regal said.
Instead, it's a 90-minute series of vignettes and musical numbers that the New York Times called during its recent off-Broadway run, "a hilarious revue that turns mindlessness and predictability into art forms."
In other words, there's no sacred cow that won't be skewered at some point during the performance. (And if you've been wondering what Der Bingle was doing all those years following his death in 1977, you're about to find out!)
The musical is not part of MBT's 2004/05 season, Manfredi points out, and even with more than a thousand gold courses scattered throughout the state, they are not leaving any potential customer untouched; it is being heavily promoted by Palace Sports & Entertainment throughout the area, and it is part of the official Ryder Cup entertainment package.
Which brings Manfredi back to his mantra.
The managing director sees nothing but an upside to "Golf: The Musical," especially if it brings new faces into his theater. Because if they like what they see, he's sure they'll be back to sample some of the other shows his theater will stage this season.
"It's a way for us to put money in the bank so we can put more Michigan actors to work," Manfredi concluded.
"Golf: The Musical" will be performed Wednesday through Sunday at Meadow Brook Theatre, Rochester, Aug. 25 – Sept. 19. For tickets – or for season subscriptions – call 248-377-3300 or go online to www.mbtheatre.com.
