I Do! I Do!
February 15–17, 2019
The Majestic Theatre, Dallas
Performances were February 15 & 16 @ 7:30 PM and February 16 & 17 @ 2:30 PM.
Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt, the creators of THE FANTASTICKS, the world’s longest running musical, adapted Jan de Hartog’s THE FOURPOSTER into a musical celebration of marriage. Specifically, the marriage of Michael and Agnes, a writer and his bride, over the course of their first fifty years of marriage. Written as a star vehicle for theater legends Mary Martin and Robert Preston, the original Broadway production received seven 1966 Tony Award nominations including Best Musical and Best Score.
The show begins with Michael and Agnes on their wedding day. Their vows behind them, they look forward to spending the rest of their lives together. We watch as they go through their wedding night jitters, raise a family and negotiate midlife crises. They rediscover how much they really need each other. Then, after 50 years of marriage, the couple leaves their house to the next pair of newlyweds. This touching story of two soul mates navigating the perils of life is set to a tuneful, charming score which includes the hit “My Cup Runneth Over.”
Starring in I DO! I DO! were Sarah Gay and Christopher J. Deaton. Penny Ayn Maas was the director and choreographer with music direction by Bruce Greer. Scenic design was by Randel Wright with lighting design by Julie N. Simmons.
TOM JONES AND HARVEY SCHMIDT
Composer Harvey Schmidt and lyricist Tom Jones are the legendary writing team best known for shaping the American musical landscape with their 1960 hit, THE FANTASTICKS. After its Off-Broadway opening in May 1960, it went on to become the longest-running production in the history of the American stage and one of the most frequently produced musicals in the world. Their first Broadway show, 110 IN THE SHADE, was revived on Broadway in a new production starring Audra MacDonald. I DO! I DO!, their two-character musical starring Mary Martin and Robert Preston, was nominated for seven Tony Awards. For several years Jones and Schmidt worked privately at their theatre workshop, Portfolio, concentrating on small-scale musicals in new and often untried forms. The most notable of these efforts were CELEBRATION, which moved to Broadway, and PHILEMON, which won an Outer Critics Circle Award. They contributed incidental music and lyrics to the Off-Broadway play COLETTE starring Zoe Caldwell, then later did a full-scale musical version under the title COLETTE COLLAGE. THE SHOW GOES ON, a musical revue featuring their theatre songs and starring Jones and Schmidt, was presented at the York Theatre. MIRETTE, their musical based on the award-winning children’s book, was premiered at the Goodspeed Opera House in Connecticut. ROADSIDE, their last musical, premiered at Lyric Stage in 2001. In addition to an Obie Award and the 1992 Special Tony Award for THE FANTASTICKS, Jones and Schmidt were inducted into the Broadway Hall of Fame at the Gershwin Theatre, and on May 3, 1999 their ‘stars’ were added to the Off-Broadway Walk of Fame outside the Lucille Lortel Theatre. Then in 2012, Jones & Schmidt were honored by being inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lyric Stage’s Schmidt and Jones Awards, honoring excellence in high school musical theater, is named for the pair.
Christopher J. Deaton as Michael and Sarah Gay as Agnes.
I Do! I Do! TheaterJones review
Lyric Stage’s revival of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’ I Do! I Do! will have pledging your love.
by Janice L. Franklin
published Saturday, February 16, 2019
Dallas — The two basic questions of good casting are “can these actors handle the roles,” and “are they available.” Fortunately for Penny Ayn Maas (director) and Bruce Greer (musical director), Sarah Gay and Christopher J. Deaton can and were, and are proving it as Agnes and Michael in Lyric Stage’s production of I Do! I Do! at The Majestic Theatre in Dallas. They are captivating, and perfectly suited for performing this open presentational musical theatre style which was developed by lyricist Tom Jones and composer Harvey Schmidt.
I Do! I Do! is an intimate two-character piece, one that traditionally might not be considered viable on the big proscenium stage because of concern over the loss of warmth. However, Jones and Schmidt abandoned the traditional architectural formula for building a show and came up with a model that works well for bringing intimate pieces to the large stage. They simplified the process by utilizing the basic elements of set and spectacle. The set for this production is clean, simple, efficient and unchanging, mirroring that of the play upon which the musical is based, Jan de Hartog’s Tony Award-winning play, The Fourposter.
Scored for two grand pianos, pianists Bruce Greer and Jennifer Ferguson are upstage and visible to the audience. In front of the pianos is a large bed which has a two-poster headboard. Scenic designer Randel Wright has placed an actor’s upright trunk downstage left for the husband, and another downstage right for the wife. Each actor works from their trunk including costume changes (designer Catherine Carpenter Cox) which occur in view of the audience. The only other set pieces are a chair, chaise, and two small bedside tables. This leaves a generous playing area for choreography and for establishing exterior and external locations. Julie N. Simmons’ lighting design reinforces the staging to ensure the audience does not get lost or confused regarding location or time of day.
The storyline for I Do! I Do! is predictable: the highlights in a marriage spanning 50 years. Their wedding, the birth of their children, his affair, their reconciliation, his career, her life as a woman during a time when women had limited opportunities, and the wedding of their daughter.
Dialogue and musical numbers are fairly evenly balanced in this musical which affords each actor nice solo moments. Deaton and Gay are well-matched in acting and singing. Most appreciated is their establishment of moments as opposed to the presentational song and dance to the audience approach. Gay and Deaton tell the story in front of an audience, which is not the same as pitching the story to an audience.
Longtime Dallas resident Schmidt had planned to attend this Lyric Stage production of I Do! I Do! but he died February 28, 2018.
Creators Schmidt and Jones are native Texans from small towns. The two met while students at the University of Texas at Austin. Jones was a graduate student in drama with a flair for the comedic in his scripts. Schmidt knew hardly anything about musical theatre but because he was the only person who knew how to play a piano, he was drafted into working with the drama students on a musical, Hipsy-Boo! The show was a sellout and when Jones was next asked to direct a production, he went to Schmidt for the musical score. These small town Texas men whom some might have considered among the least likely to, went on to hit the American musical theatre lottery with The Fantasticks (1960) which became the longest production in the history of the American stage even though it never played Broadway.
I Do! I Do! was their most successful Broadway production (1966) and their third collaboration. Their first Broadway show was 110 in the Shade, a show that Lyric Stage producer Steven Jones confessed to having a soft spot for. Lyric Stage established The Schmidt and Jones Awards to “honor excellence in high school musical theatre.”
There is no obvious relationship between the two bits of trivia that follow—but they are interesting given their placement within historical events…
Jan de Hartog was a member of the Dutch resistance to the Nazi efforts, which put his life in danger. He was taken in by an old woman and hidden in a home for seniors, dressed as a woman until it was safe for him to leave for England. It was during this time in hiding that he wrote The Fourposter.
The original production of I Do! I Do! previewed in 1966 which was the same year Betty Friedan formed the National Organization for Women (NOW), effectively cementing the women’s rights movement.
Historical significance aside, this production of I Do! I Do! upholds Lyric Stage’s reputation for producing quality musical theater.