BY ALISE CHAFFINS
West Virginia Public Theatre has an “Urgent” message for local residents: This Saturday, it will offer a staged reading of the new musical, “I Want to Know What Love Is,” based on the music of Foreigner.
The show will be at 7 p.m. Saturday in the Gladys G. Davis Theatre. Tickets can be reserved at the WVPT website, wvpublictheatre.org
This is the fourth time WVPT has partnered with Broadway Licensing to bring a work in progress to the stage.
These shows offer a unique opportunity for both actors and musicians to have the chance to work with writers, composers and directors as they craft what the production will look like when staged.
“This show is completely written and completely orchestrated, but you never know if what you have on the page actually works until you do some version of it,” Jerry McGonigle, artistic director for WVPT, explained. “So, a developmental workshop reading is where you get to test the play that you’ve written. You get an opportunity through the week to rewrite, to recompose. You have a full company of actors that you can direct. It’s a great opportunity to develop new work.”
McGonigle said a previous collaboration with Broadway Licensing ran nearly four hours — and between that performance and one the next night, they were able to take almost 90 minutes of material out to clean up the run time. It may seem cold as ice — see what we did there? — to make these kinds of cuts, but McGonigle assured it’s thrilling for everyone to see a show come together in this way.
In this musical, the audience will visit Sugar Pine, Pa., where local musician turned pro, Starrider, has returned home for a benefit concert. Each of the characters see this as an opportunity for them to make changes in their fortune — whether it’s launching a successful political campaign or finally asking out a school crush. But it could also change Starrider’s life, as he’s confronted with his high school sweetheart Reyna and the pain of their breakup decades earlier. All of this is set against the backdrop of some of Foreigner’s greatest hits.
This is a staged reading, which means that there is a full orchestra, but there will be minimal blocking or movement from the actors. Because rewrites are happening through the week as they rehearse, the actors will perform with scripts. All of them will be seated on stage and will rise to perform their scenes.
But audiences can be sure the performers will all be hot blooded — sorry, we can’t help ourselves — as they perform their roles, and the writers and directors are not trying to play any “Head Games” with them. (They just keep coming.)
“It’s just a really cool project,” McGonigle said. “For all of us who grew up as teenagers listening to Foreigner, this is even more fun to hear their songs turned into a storyline for a musical.”
The performance is free to the public, but attendees must reserve a ticket to be able to be a part of the experience.
If seeing this “Feels Like the First Time” — OK, we promise we’re done — it’s because it will be.
