education guide - The Pasadena Playhouse

EDUCATION GUIDE
SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE
EDUCATION GUIDE
EDUCATION GUIDE
Prepared by
Jacey Erwin, Dramaturg for The Pasadena Playhouse
Graphic Design by Jessica Smith, Hive Creative Studio
Contents
____________________________________________________________
Production History. ......................................................................................Page 3
Leiber And Stoller........................................................................................Page 4
Jukebox Musicals..........................................................................................Page 6
From “Race Music” To Rhythm And Blues To Rock ‘N’ Roll. ......................Page 7
Hound Dog(s).................................................................................................Page 8
The Brill Building. ........................................................................................Page 9
Selected Timeline...........................................................................................Page 10
Cast...............................................................................................................Page 14
Q&A With Smokey Joe’s Cafe Director, Jeffrey Polk..................................Page 16
The Creative And Design Team.......................................................................Page 17
After The Show…..........................................................................................Page 18
Resources And Suggestions For Further Reading.........................................Page 19
All photos are used for educational purposes only. They remain the property of their owners.
For more information on Outreach, Education, and Audience Engagement at The Playhouse,
please visit our website at www.pasadenaplayhouse.org or contact our Outreach & Education Manager/Artistic Associate
Courtney Harper at charper@pasadenaplayhouse.org or 626-204-7388.
The Pasadena Playhouse’s Outreach, Education, and Audience Engagement programs and events are supported in part by
The Wells Fargo Theatrical Diversity Project and by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the
Los Angeles County Arts Commission.
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Production History
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Smokey Joe’s Cafe had its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in November
1994. The production opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on March 2, 1995 and ran for a
total of 2,036 performances. Directed by Jerry Zaks, the Broadway cast featured Ken Ard, Adrian
Bailey, Brenda Braxton, Victor Trent Cook, B.J. Crosby, Pattie Darcy Jones, DeLee Lively, Frederick
B. Owens, and Michael Park. The production was nominated for 7 Tony Awards including Best
Musical and won a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in 1996.
Did you know… that the first workshop of Smokey Joe’s Cafe was performed in a rehearsal room
on Broadway with a cast of seven in the fall of 1993?
Did you know… in workshops and early productions of the play that a book, or script, was used
to tie the songs together? At that point Smokey Joe’s Cafe was titled Baby that’s Rock and Roll
and the semblance of a story followed an old rock & roller and his memories. It was in June of
1994 that Jerry Zaks, Director of that production of Smokey Joe’s that continued onto Broadway,
restructured the show to make conceptual sense and have a natural flow - without a book, script,
or story!
Questions in Context:
1. Why do you think there was such a long time between when this music originally hit the
charts and the musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe?
2. Why is the title of the musical Smokey Joe’s Cafe – The Songs of Leiber and Stoller? Where
does the name come from?
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Leiber and Stoller
____________________________________________________
Source:
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller have written some of
the most spirited and enduring rock and roll songs:
“Hound Dog” (originally cut by Big Mama Thornton
in 1953 and covered by Elvis Presley three years
later), “Love Potion No. 9” (the Clovers), “Kansas
City” (Wilbert Harrison), “On Broadway” (the
Drifters), “Ruby Baby” (Dion) and “Stand By Me”
(Ben E. King). Their vast catalog includes virtually
every major hit by the Coasters (e.g., “Searchin’,”
“Young Blood,” “Charlie Brown,” “Yakety Yak” and
“Poison Ivy”). They also worked their magic on Elvis
Presley, writing “Jailhouse Rock,” “Treat Me Nice” and “You’re So Square (Baby I Don’t Care)”
specifically for him. All totaled, Presley recorded more than 20 Leiber and Stoller songs.
As pop auteurs who wrote, arranged and produced countless recordings by the above-mentioned
artists and others, Leiber and Stoller advanced rock and roll to new heights of wit and musical
sophistication. They were particularly influential during rock and roll’s first decade, beginning
with the original recording of “Hound Dog” in 1953 and continuing through to the Drifters’ “On
Broadway” in 1963. They brought a range of stylistic flavor to their story songs, which ranged from
wisecracking, finger-popping hipster tunes to quieter love ballads. They even made a foray into
country & western at Elvis Presley’s request, penning “Just Tell Her Jim Said Hello.” About all that
their songs had in common was a fundamental grounding in rhythm & blues.
Leiber, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland,
was born in 1933 and grew up on the edge of
Baltimore’s black ghetto. Stoller, also born in 1933,
was raised in Queens, learning the basics of blues
and boogie-woogie from black kids at summer camp.
The pair met in Los Angeles in 1950 and began writing
right away. Leiber served as the sharp-witted lyricist,
while the classically trained but jazz- and R&B-loving
Stoller wrote the music. In 1951 one of the duo’s
early songs, “That’s What the Good Book Says,” was
recorded by the Robins (two members of the Robins
later became original members of the Coasters) for
Modern Records. In 1954, Leiber and Stoller formed
their own label, Spark, which released classics like
the Robins’ “Riot in Cell Block #9.” After a string of similarly gutsy, groundbreaking records, Atlantic
Records signed Leiber and Stoller to one of the industry’s first independent production deals.
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After enjoying a wildly successful run
at Atlantic in the late Fifties and early
Sixties, Leiber and Stoller made their
final and most successful attempt
at running their own record label in
1964. Red Bird Records spotlighted
the girl-group sound. Their unerring
eye for talent brought great young
producers and songwriters into the
Red Bird fold. The company’s second
release - “Chapel of Love,” by the Dixie
Cups - shot to #1. Of Red Bird’s first
30 singles, 10 made the Top Forty - an
outstanding percentage in the music
industry. Red Bird’s commercial success was equaled by the quality of the music, including such
girl-group classics as the Shangri-La’s “Leader of the Pack.” Though the era of such timeless singles
faded long ago, Leiber and Stoller have remained active in the music business to which they’ve
contributed so substantially, up until Jerry Leiber’s death on August 22, 2011 in Los Angeles.
Did you know… Mike Stoller is now a member of our Board of Directors at The Pasadena
Playhouse along with his wife Corky Hale-Stoller?
Questions in Context:
1.
How does music express or define a period in your life?
2. What motivates you to pursue your dreams and goals?
3. If you could induct any artist or group into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, whom would
you choose? Why?
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Jukebox Musicals
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In the late 20th century, a type of musical revue known as the “jukebox musical” became popular
on Broadway. According to the Cambridge Companion to the Musical, “the jukebox musical is
an assemblage of pre-existing songs where the emphasis is clearly on the songs, not on plot and/
or character.” Some jukebox musicals use a narrative frame to structure the show. Jersey Boys
features the songs of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons and is structured around the story of
the rise and fall of the band. Mamma Mia departs from biography and instead, incorporates
interwoven love stories set to the music of ABBA. In contrast, some shows, including Smokey Joe’s
Cafe, are structured as musical revues where a variety of songs and/or sketches are presented
without a plot. Another type of jukebox musical takes the form of a tribute concert. Let It Be:
A Celebration of the Music of the Beatles is a recent example of this genre. Other well-known
jukebox musicals include We Will Rock You, Steppin’ Out, and Rock of Ages.
Questions in Context:
1. What attributes of a jukebox musical do you see in Smokey Joe’s Cafe?
2. Which other artists could have their music turned into a jukebox musical?er out of
the house. A friend of her husband worked at Hill and Range publishers in New
York, and he invited Florence to “hang around” the office and mayno background
in music, but was fascinated. She began to frequent the restaurant downstairs from
Hill and Range to meet the folks in the songwriting b
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From “Race Music” to Rhythm and Blues to Rock ‘n’ Roll
____________________________________________________
Rhythm and Blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is
a genre of African American music that evolved
out of earlier forms of popular music including
blues, and laid the foundation for rock and roll.
However, before Rhythm and Blues appeared
as a musical genre in the 1940s, the terms “race
music” or “race records” were used to categorize
many kinds of music recorded by and marketed to
African-Americans. These recordings included a
wide variety of musical styles including jazz, blues,
gospel, string bands, jug-and-washboard bands, and
oral performances like comic routines and sermons.
During World War II, African-Americans flocked to major cities
looking for work, and black radio stations and record labels
were created to capitalize on this growing market. In the late
1940s,“Race Music” was re-classified “Rhythm and Blues.” R&B
gained in popularity as white audiences tuned in to R&B stations
and bought records of the music they heard. As the interest and
the audience grew, songs that would have previously only landed
on the R&B charts began to appear on the Top 40. The music
crossed racial lines as white singers drew from black music, and
African-American music and musicians got the attention of white
audiences when deejays like Alan Freed began playing R&B on
the radio. Freed is credited with coining the term “rock and roll”
to describe the “rolling, surging beat of the music.”
Questions in Context:
1. Is it surprising that in the early to mid-20th century, music was categorized and
marketed along racial lines? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think R&B and Rock and Roll were able to appeal to both white and black
audiences?downstairs from Hill and Range to meet the folks in th
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Hound Dog(s)
____________________________________________________
In 1952, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton recorded her
first and only hit song, “Hound Dog”, a song Leiber and
Stoller wrote just for her. Thornton’s recording of “Hound
Dog” would spend 14 weeks on Billboard’s R&B charts, and
7 weeks at #1. It was so popular that there were 10 cover
versions before Elvis Presley recorded his famous version
in 1956. When Leiber and Stoller heard the Elvis version,
they realized that their lyrics had been changed. The
original lyrics were:
You ain’t nothing but a hound dog
Quit snooping ‘round my door
You can wag your tail,
But I ain’t gonna feed you no more
While Elvis sang:
You ain’t nothing but a hound dog
Crying all the time
You ain’t never caught a rabbit
And you ain’t no friend of mine
In Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography, Jerry Leiber
wrote: “Elvis’s version makes no sense to me, and, even more
irritatingly, it is not the song that Mike and I wrote. Of course,
the fact that it sold more than seven million copies took the sting
out of what seemed to be a capricious change of lyrics. But, lick
for lick, there’s no comparison between the Presley version and
the Big Mama original. Elvis played with the song; Big Mama
nailed it” (Leiber & Stoller, 94).
Did you know… that Alice Walker’s short story “1955” includes characters inspired by Big Mama
Thornton and Elvis Presley?
Questions in Context:
1. Were these songs influenced by the time period when they were written and recorded?
2. Were there barriers between artists and their audience in the early days of R&B and
Rock and Roll? Do they still exist now? Or have they changed?downstairs from Hill
and Range to meet the folks in th
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The Brill Building
____________________________________________________
The Brill Building is located at 1619 Broadway in New York
City and has long been associated with American popular
music. In fact, the “Brill Building” has come to stand for
the style and sound of much of the popular music of
the 50s and 60s. The Brill Building housed publishers
like Aldon Music as well as some of the most important
Rock and Roll songwriting teams including Leiber and
Stoller, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, Barry Mann and
Cynthia Weil. In addition to these writers, teen idols like
Neil Sedaka, Bobby Darin, and Paul Anka and producer
Phil Spector also had a hand in creating the Brill Building
sound.
According to Ken Bloom in Broadway: Its History, People,
and Places: an Encyclopedia, the Brill Building’s “success
was due in large part to what would eventually become
known as vertical integration. A song could be written in
the building, arranged by musicians renting space there,
copied in the duplication office, sung by singers and
musicians who prowled the halls, and made into a demo record in one of the building’s studios. The
demo could then be peddled to one of the building’s publishers, who could approach managers
and radio promoters­—all in one spot” (81).
The Brill Building publishers, writers, and musicians eventually expanded into adjacent buildings,
but the “Brill Building” continued to be synonymous with a style and approach to creating hit
music.
Questions in Context:
1. Is there an equivalent to the Brill Building today? What might it be?
2. The “golden age” of the music associated with Brill Building left a lasting legacy. Can you
think of contemporary musicians and singers that will leave such a legacy? Who are
they?wnstairs from Hill and Range to meet the folks in th
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Selected Timeline
____________________________________________________
1952
• A movie ticket costs 55 cents
• Big Mama Thornton records
“Hound Dog”
• United States continued
involvement in Korean War
• Elizabeth II ascends to the
British throne
• Dwight D. Eisenhower elected
President of the United States
• First issue of “Mad” magazine
• The Diary of a Young Girl by
Anne Frank is published
1956
• A gallon of gas is 22 cents;
the average cost of a movie
ticket is 50 cents
• Grace Kelly marries
Prince Rainier of Monaco
• Alabama bus segregation laws
are declared illegal by the
U.S Supreme Court;
the Montgomery Bus Boycott ends
• Suez Canal Crisis begins
• The Drifters record “Ruby Baby”
• Elvis performs “Love Me” and “Hound Dog” on the Ed
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1957
•
•
•
•
Federal troops enforce anti-segregation laws in Arkansas
USSR launches Sputnik 1 satellite
Toyota begins selling cars in the United States
The Coasters’ recordings of “Searchin’” and
“Youngblood” released
• Jailhouse Rock starring Elvis Presley hits theatres,
the single “Jailhouse Rock” is released at the same time
• “Fools Fall in Love” by The Drifters is released
1958
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nikita Khrushchev becomes Premier of the Soviet Union
Bobby Fischer wins US Chess Championship
Sir Edmund Hillary reaches the South Pole
Elvis sings “Trouble” in King Creole
The Coasters’ recording of “Yakety Yak” spends 7 weeks at #1
Elvis inducted into the Army
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1959
• The Barbie doll is invented
• Alaska becomes the 49th State and Hawaii becomes
the 50th
• “Ben Hur” opens in theatres
• NASA introduces the first astronauts to the press
• “Love Potion No. 9” recorded by The Clovers is released
• The Coasters have chart-topping hits with
“Charlie Brown” and “Poison Ivy”
• Wilbert Harrison’s recording of “Kansas City” is a #1 hit.
1960
• John F. Kennedy elected 35th President of the United States
• Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) wins a gold medal at the
Olympic Games in Rome
• Psycho directed by Alfred Hitchcock hits theatres
• The Flintstones premieres on television
• Ben E. King records “Stand By Me” and “Spanish
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1962
•
•
•
•
The average cost of a movie ticket is 70 cents
Cuban Missile Crisis
Death of Marilyn Monroe
John Glenn becomes the first
American to orbit the Earth
• Peggy Lee records “I’m A Woman”
• The Coasters record “Little Egypt”
• The Beatles record “Love Me Do” paving the way for the
“British Invasion” in pop music
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Cast
____________________________________________________
LaVance Colley as “Victor”
Kyra DaCosta as “Brenda”
Thomas Hobson as “Ken”
Stu James as “Adrian”
Adrianna Rose Lyons as “Delee”
Monique L. Midgette as “BJ”
Robert Neary as “Michael”
Michael A. Shepperd as “Fred”
Carly Thomas Smith as “Patti”
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Did you know… that the character names in the published script are the names of the original cast
members? In subsequent productions the character names reflect the actors currently playing the
role. For example, you will not see DeLee in this show but Adrianna!
Mike Stoller with (l to r) Monique L. Midgette, Carly Thomas Smith,
Adrianna Rose Lyons and Kyra Little DaCosta
Questions in Context:
1. Who was your favorite performer?
2. Is this who you pictured singing the songs? Who would you cast in this show? wnstairs
from Hill and Range to meet the folks in th
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Q&A with Smokey Joe’s Cafe Director, Jeffrey Polk
____________________________________________________
How did you approach your work on this production?
Usually I pick my cast with people who have done the show,
or just trust friends’ talents that I know. With this production,
we held a open call and an agents call. The people who came
out were phenomenal and very surprising. Because it’s such a
small cast, I would do a little one on one with everyone who
we thought was a possibility. I ended up with a Spectacular
Cast. 3 of which had performed the show before, and 1 of
those (Robert Neary) on Broadway. I always respected the
original concept of this show, with the intent of giving all 9 of
the performers their own strength and talent. Making it look
effortless to the audience, while giving them precision. Every
show is different, with 9 very talented people who can hold
the stage on their own. So I have to approach this show with
the freshness of its first time on Broadway.
Tell us a little about your collaboration with the creative team on this show.
It was like a dream come true. I have either worked with them before or always wanted to work
with them. To be at ease with such talent, with the performing talent, makes you work even harder.
We have not yet had a designer run. But when we do, I’m sure will be on the same page. The
musical director and I have worked together before. I was on stage then with FIVE GUYS NAMED
MOE (Broadway and the USA tour) and SMOKEY JOE’S CAFE (National tour). I took a wild guess
to see if he was interested and he was!
What makes your job fun, or what’s something no one would guess your job includes?
Playing and discovering new friends. Rehearsals should always be fun! Full of love, laughter and
light. I get to be with some of the most talented people on this planet. And it’s free! You get to sing
and dance all day! Life is a musical!
What do you want audience members to come away with after seeing Smokey Joe’s Cafe?
A history lesson, remembering the good old times, a first time experience. A lot of people will
remember the first time they heard that song. Some will be hearing it for the first time. Some
people would never think or thought this music came from Leiber and Stoller. But most of
all, I want them to feel like they were part of the show, and the feel good experience. It’s all
America!stairs from Hill and Range to meet the folks in th
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The Creative and Design Team
____________________________________________________
Jeffrey Polk - Director
Theatre directors are responsible for creating a vision of a playwright’s script; they lead the cast
and crew in the process from the page to the stage. They direct the actors in the rehearsal process
and oversee the other creative elements of the play.
Jill Gold - Stage Manager and Phil Gold - Assistant Stage Manager
The stage manager of a production is involved with every part of the production process. He or
she schedules and runs rehearsals, coordinates the stage crew, calls cues and entrances during a
performance, and oversees the whole show each time the play is performed.
Gary Wissman – Scenic Designer
A scenic designer designs the overall look of the set of a play to reflect the original script and the
director’s vision for the specific production.
Steve Young – Lighting and Projection Designer
Collaborates with the set designer, director and the rest of the creative team to create the
“look,” and help tell the story of the play using the lighting and projections. Theatrical projections,
whether of still photos or filmed footage, increase the potential of what can be shown onstage. In
some cases, projections have replaced free-standing sets.
Jon Gotlieb and Phil Allen – Sound Designers
Design the “soundscape” of the play, including sound effects and music required in the script.
Sharell Martin – Costume Designer
Designs the clothes and accessories of each character in the play to faithfully reflect the script and
the director’s vision of the characters.
Questions in Context:
1. Which design job would you like to do?
2. Write a letter to your favorite design team member. Did you like the lighting design the
best? The set? Let that person know what you liked, ask them how they did it, and what
you would have done.nstairs from Hill and Range to meet the folks in th
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After the Show...
____________________________________________________
1. What makes a song timeless?
2. What is the relationship between songwriters and the artists that interpret and perform their
music?
3. How should you approach material that is familiar and beloved? Should performers remain
faithful to the original interpretation or put their own stamps on it?
4. How does the trajectory of “Hound Dog” from the Big Mama Thornton original, through
the Elvis Presley interpretation, to tonight’s performance in Smokey Joe’s Cafe make you think
differently about the song? Is one version more “authentic” than another? Why or why not?
5. Did this production of Smokey Joe’s Cafe have a unifying theme? Describe how the different
elements of performance (directing, choreography, music, acting, design elements, etc.) were
or were not unified.
6. Smokey Joe’s Cafe doesn’t have a traditional plot or storyline. Did the music tell a story?
How so? How did the songs relate to each other?
7. How would you describe this show to a friend? What would be the three most important things
you think you should mention?
8. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller began their storied collaboration as teenagers. What are the
advantages of working so closely with someone? Who would be your ideal partner? What
qualities would they have?
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Resources and Suggestions for Further Reading
____________________________________________________
Bloom, Ken. Broadway: Its History, People, and Places: an Encyclopedia. New York: Routledge,
2004.
Blumenfeld, Robert. Blumenfeld’s Dictionary of Musical Theater. Milwaukee: Limelight, 2010.
Everett, William A. and Paul R. Laird, Eds. The Cambridge Companion to the Musical. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Gaar, Gillian G. She’s a Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll, 2nd Ed. New York: Seal Press,
2002.
Leiber, Jerry and Mike Stoller with David Ritz. Hound Dog: The Leiber & Stoller Autobiography.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 2009.
Pendergast, Sara and Tom Pendergast. St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Detroit: Gale
Group, 2000.
Ripani, Richard. The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999. Jackson: University
Press of Mississippi, 2006.
Starr, Larry and Christopher Waterman. American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3. New
York: Oxford University Press USA: 2009.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com
http://www.rockhall.com
http://www.thepeoplehistory.com
TDF Stages
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