Alumnus John Rubinstein Directs "Company" at UCLA

Special Event May 30 to Recognize $2.5-million Gift from Gwen and Ray Bolger Trusts

UCLA alumnus John Rubinstein returns to the Westwood campus to direct “Company” with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by George Furth, May 30, 31, June 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 at 8 p.m. and June 2, 8 at 2 p.m. at the Little Theater in Macgowan Hall. Presented by the UCLA Department of Theater, this production is the first full-scale musical mounted by the students and faculty in the Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program. A special event following the May 30^th performance will recognize the generous gift of $2.5-million from the Gwen and Ray Bolger Trusts that established the program at UCLA in 1999. The gift has allowed the School of Theater, Film and Television to offer a musical theater curriculum for the first time in its more than 50-year history. The new Bolger enterprise has greatly enhanced the undergraduate theater program and faculty, contributing to the UCLA Department of Theater’s number one nationwide ranking for the last few years.

“In recognition of the Bolger gift, the May 30^th performance will include a tribute to Ray Bolger and the dedication of a Gwen and Ray Bolger memorabilia display case that will be a permanent reminder of the distinguished couple in the lobby of the Freud Playhouse on campus.

A plaque to be revealed at the event will express the tremendous gratitude of the School for the gift and program which is designed to attract and nurture the nation’s most promising young performers, providing integrated training in acting, singing and dancing.

Rubinstein, who starred on Broadway in “Pippin,” “Children of a Lesser God” (Tony Award), and “Ragtime,” is thrilled to direct this groundbreaking, free-form musical, which was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, and won 6, among them Best Musical, Score, Book, and Lyrics. “Company,” with its driving wit and sweeping music, is a hilarious, biting, and heart-rending look at the contradictions between the perilous comforts of marriage and the safe solitude of the single life in modern Manhattan.

Background on Bolger Musical Theater Program at UCLA

In the new Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program, students are seeing that their expression as performers can be multi-faceted and all encompassing, calling on different but complementary talents. With rigorous training taught by seasoned professionals, they are learning the triple threat: acting, singing and dancing.

“We are creating a whole new program,” said Mel Shapiro, who headed the Carnegie Mellon Theater Department for 10 years before taking the helm of the UCLA acting program. “We have a wonderful faculty for acting, voice, speech and movement — people who know musical theater and understand lyric as narrative.”

The program has attracted well-known performers Nancy Dussault, Nick Gunn and Karen Morrow to teach singing and dance.

“All of us teaching are approaching it in the same way; that is part of the harmony,” said Gunn. “This is a skill-based program. Students will know how to do a double pirouette if asked; but it has to be informed emotionally as actors and actresses.”

Many of the students have little dance experience, but their commitment and enthusiasm have already impressed their instructors. After a year in a freshman dance course, they have the vocabulary to execute a complete ballet class, Gunn said. “The study of classical dance is a long investment, there is so much craft and technique. But they don’t get discouraged, they come back fresh and grow. The prospect of working with the same group of students for four years is thrilling.”

Gunn, who originated principal roles in more than 40 productions during a 10-year tenure at the Paul Taylor Dance Company, has guest-starred in television dramas, performed in plays such as “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” and appeared with the Los Angeles Opera Company.

Voice instructor Dussault’s versatile career spans 40 years. She debuted on Broadway with the musical “Do Re Me,” took over the role of Maria from Mary Martin in “The Sound of Music,” and starred in productions of “Carousel” and “Finian’s Rainbow.” She won her widest fame on television — in singing, comedic, dramatic and even talk-show host roles- from Carol Burnett specials to the series “Too Close for Comfort,” where she was a regular. She was the original co-host on “Good Morning America.”

Dussault, with UCLA instructor Karen Morrow, won an Emmy Award for the PBS program “Cabaret Tonight.” The pair recently brought their sold-out “American Women of Notes” to UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.

Morrow’s Broadway credits include starring roles in “I Had A Ball;” “I’m Solomon;” “Music, Music;” “The Selling of the President;” “The Grass Harp” and the Tony Award-winning “Drood.” She most recently stared in the national tour of “Show Boat.”

Dussault is pleased to find students who share her passion for musical theater and performance. Reflecting on her own career, she has identified qualities and skills she would like the Bolger students to develop.

The instructors are not only vocal teachers, they are coaches, said Gary Gardner, vice chair of undergraduate studies, who teaches the history of musical theater. “We are training students in the showmanship of singing, the acting of the lyric, to develop a personality with their talents,” he said. “Bolger believed that the actor comes first. This is not a song-and-dance program; we want to send out a working actor who is able to do anything.”

The Bolger program is unique on the West Coast. Though students enjoy many of the benefits of a conservatory education, at UCLA they also complete a full academic curriculum. Shapiro believes that without an academic education, a school runs the risk of training show business gypsies who can perform great in musicals but have never read a book.

“The B.A. program produces students who not only meet the high demands of the profession but also have a well-rounded university education,” said Bill Ward, chair of the UCLA Department of Theater.

In addition, students can call on the university’s extensive Film and Television Archive. “What we have to offer is very rich. What is intriguing about UCLA is our faculty and the full archive,” observed Michael Hackett, professor of Theater.

“We can see Judy Garland singing, look at archival sheet music, see original arrangements and listen to original discs, rhythms and tempos. That is very exciting,” he added.

Students can view rare footage of Ed Sullivan, who hosted many musical theater performances, including a half-hour of “Camelot.” Newsreels show George Gershwin rehearsing, and home movies capture the Nicholas brothers’ auditions.

Though the emphasis of the Bolger program is not on producing, Ward said, students will have opportunities to perform on campus. They may audition for roles in annual Reprise! Best of Broadway concert stagings of American musicals, and will perform in a cabaret and full-scale musical production during their junior and senior years.

“They will be wonderfully educated performers who can contribute in the real world,” Dussault said. “They will be ready.”

Background on Bolger

A multi-talented actor, dancer, singer and comedian, Ray Bolger (1904-1987) enjoyed a diverse career spanning over six decades. He began in vaudeville with partner Ralph Sanford in an act called “A Pair of Nifties” and soon found fame in Gus Edwards’ “Ritz-Carlton Nights.”

On Broadway, he dazzled audiences in countless productions, including “George White’s Scandals” (1931), “On Your Toes” (1936) and “By Jupiter” (1942-1943). He won the 1948-49 Tony Award for “Where’s Charley?” and will always be remembered for his rendition of its featured song, “Once in Love With Amy.”

A star on screen as well as on stage, Bolger became a beloved Hollywood legend for his role as the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939). His countless other film credits include “The Great Ziegfeld” (1936), “Stage Door Canteen” (1943), “The Harvey Girls” (1946), “April in Paris” (1952), “Where’s Charley” (1952), “Babes in Toyland” (1961) and “The Runner Stumbles” (1979).

On television, Bolger gave many memorable performances in programs such as “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (1950), “Where’s Raymond?” (1953), “The Ray Bolger Show” (1954-1955), “Washington Square” (1956) and “Heaven Only Knows” (1979).

Bolger’s wife, Gwendolyn (1909-1997), was a successful amateur composer and sculptor, as well as a Broadway producer. She met her husband while working with him on Broadway. They were married 58 years.

The Ray Bolger Musical Theater Program continues the extraordinary legacy of its namesake — one of the great entertainers of the 20th century.

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"mel shapiro" "john rubinstein" "bill ward" "michael hackett" "gary gardner" 

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