Your Chance to Perform for Broadway Master Martin Charnin!

Calling all aspiring child actresses ... especially those who dream of playing Annie on Broadway: Here's your chance to audition before none other than Broadway Director Martin Charnin.

On April 10th at 7 PM, Mr. Charnin will be giving a talk on musical theater and six to eight lucky winners of a video audition will be brought up on stage to perform their song choice for Mr. Charnin and get feedback from him. The event is part of the "Creating Broadway" series, the White Plains Performing Arts Center (WPPAC) where Mr. Charnin will be the first guest.

Mr. Charnin is the award-winning writer, director, and lyricist of Broadway's ANNIE and has played a major role in 85 other productions including ANNIE WARBUCKS. A master of Broadway, Mr. Charnin has been bringing shows to the Great White Way for 45 years and counting and he has directed ANNIE a total of 19 times. Only ticket holders can submit a video audition and the deadline is April 7th at 5 PM.

I had an opportunity to sit down with Martin Charnin and ask this legendary man about his life and his successes as well as his challenges. He asked me to come to his house for the interview and when I entered his office I was happy I was invited. It was as if I had stepped inside a Broadway-themed museum. Signed posters were everywhere and awards of all types (Emmy, Grammy, Tony, Drama Desk, and more) covered his shelves. I turned down a drink from his lovely and gracious wife, Shelly Burch, but I'm sure it would have been served in one of the many various ANNIE mugs displayed. A well-fed, friendly cat hovered at my feet and relished the attention of a stranger. Mr. Charnin truly lit up during the interview when he talked about going to see amateur (e.g. school) productions of ANNIE. He really does attend these when he has the chance, so invite him!

Here's a recap of our discussion:

What was your inspiration for writing ANNIE?
I went out and got the option for the comic strip "Little Orphan Annie" in 1971 and wrote the manuscript based on that. It took a year and a half to write and I really wanted to direct what I wrote. When you write a show, you have to step into the shoes of every character and become that individual. The show has to have entertainment value, production value, and you have to be able to get from one scene to the next. Sometimes the lyrics are pure character, sometimes pure entertainment; hopefully they are so embedded in the script that if you took them out, you wouldn't know what the play's about. Funding was hard to come by initially. Comic strip musicals had been unsuccessful up until ANNIE. I explained to people that it was about a real person with real feelings- a real girl with spunk and optimism. The show's really a tap on the shoulder to all the cynics in the world.

Did you ever expect the response to ANNIE to be what it was, both immediately and now so many years after the original Broadway production?
After awhile it became an undeniable hit, but it didn't start out that way. You don't just sit down and decide to write a hit- if you do that you'll fail. The public is the arbiter. They're the ones who decide; they either embrace it or they don't. Critics play a big role because you have to get through the critics to get to the public. Advertising is so expensive, so you really need reviews. Some of the shows on Broadway this year have gotten terrible reviews but they have gigantic advertising budgets. Nobody keeps reading reviews but people keep on reading quotes. Critics are very important on day one, but on day five the audiences themselves make up their minds about the show. Word of mouth is also very important.

How did you get to where you are today, professionally?
I started out as an actor. I was in the original company of WEST SIDE STORY and shortly after the run I realized that I wouldn't be happy only acting, doing the same thing night after night after night. Your responsibility as an actor is to maintain your performance and that wasn't for me. I wanted to go deeper and I wanted to be on the creative side of things creating shows. So I began to write and ultimately direct. Before ANNIE I wrote TWO BY TWO with Richard Rodgers, HOT SPOT with Mary Rodgers...I wrote a lot of shows that preceded ANNIE. I've produced and directed for television but television isn't a place that original musicals live comfortably. The shows I've done have been variety television shows. We won a total of 28 Emmys for those.

What do you think about the success of a show like GLEE?
GLEE is a like a morphed musical. It's fine up until the time it becomes preposterous. After the third season they seemed to run out of logic and reality. The kids are 25 and still in high school. But I celebrate any show that celebrates musical theater, so I applaud them. I don't like shows like SMASH. They presented a really distorted view of how theater is done. It showed poor taste and shows like that give theater writing and production a bad reputation.

Do you ever sit through amateur productions of ANNIE and what do you love most about it (if anything!)?
I do! And I just love that kids are still doing it. I'm in heaven watching kids in school productions of ANNIE doing their interpretations of anything I've written, or really anything anyone has written. A kids' version of THE KING AND I is just breathtaking. I love seeing kids embracing the characters in a musical. I think it's great. I go any chance I get. The licensing organizations have junior versions of a lot of these shows now for the younger performances and younger audiences. It allows the kids in the show as well as the audience to bet entertained for the entire hour and limits any more adult themes.

How do you feel about the Hollywood (film) versions of ANNIE?
Hollywood paid us well for the rights, but what they end up doing, invariably, is coming up short. They always think they can improve a theatrical piece for a movie. There has never been a proper translation from the stage musical to the screen and the alterations are, in my opinion, the reason that the movies have never been as successful as the play.

Was your direction of the 35th anniversary production of ANNIE on Broadway different than others you've directed?
I was actually very unhappy with the most recent Broadway production of ANNIE. It's a huge part of why I wanted to do this national tour. They darkened the production and took a lot of the heart and the soul out of the production along with some of the humor. There were parts that were terrific but it was overproduced. I thought it was time to return to the original and so began the most recent national tour. This tour has gotten the most stunning, brilliant reviews throughout its 20-city tour. We just booked a second year and it will start in Bogota, Columbia then go on for a second year and maybe even a third.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
If you want to write, you need to keep writing, just keep writing. You need to figure out a way to say the same thing a different way. There are a billion ways to say/sing "I love you," but a lyricist needs to find a new, interesting, creative way to say it that audiences will love.

What are some of your favorite Broadway shows?
I love the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein; I like some contemporary shows; then there are some shows I just don't get. I'm still moved by Yul Brynner singing "The King" in THE KING AND I. Sometimes I just don't understand how people are moved by a show like SPRING AWAKENING. The thing that's wonderful about Broadway is that on one end of the street they're doing SWEENEY TODD and at the other end they're doing ANNIE and that's what Broadway should be, something to suit everyone's taste.

What are your current projects?
At the moment I'm consumed with casting the second year tour of ANNIE. I'm also working on a musical about part of the legend of Robin Hood and I'm working on a revival of an old musical I did with Richard Rodgers called TWO BY TWO about Noah and the ark.

Why should people come here you speak next week?
You'll hear some great stories and if you audition, you'll have a chance to have me take you through a musical theater audition. Sometimes I find an actor that way, I really do! Someone who surfaces out of the clear blue sky and is somebody who goes on a very short list of someone I would use or recommend. It never gets old for me and I'm really excited about the event.

You need to purchase a ticket in order to send in a musical theater audition video and you need to be a minimum of 14 years old to be considered. Videos are due April 7th (Tuesday) by 5 PM. Applicants will need to be available for a rehearsal prior to the show on April 10th.