GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE ... – April 7, 2000
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Call 216-791-5000
1
The Cleveland Institute of Music
eveningsout
Understudies are unsung heroes of road shows
by Michelle Tomko
Cleveland-There is a phrase in popular culture, "Art imitates life.” At least one thing is true for both: You can't choose your relatives.
When a national musical tour is born, writers and other deities like producers, directors, and casting directors play god and assemble some forty or fifty cast members. They send the happy family out into the world with their wagons full, to eat, sleep, work and play with each other and dozens of theatre technicians for months, even years at a time. Their only break is two guaranteed Mondays off a month, referred to in the business as "golden
days."
It's the only job where your colleagues can be from age five to 75, gay, straight, or from any culture. It's The Real World to the nth degree. It doesn't matter if you all get along. The only thing that matters is if you can get the job done. But when the curtain comes up, and the applause starts, presumably it's all worth it.
But there is a group in the cast that endures the grueling schedule
need to keep their sexuality under wraps. I don't feel that way."
Gunhus shares Mother's Younger Brother understudy duties with Jones as well as playing Harry K. Thaw and the Lower East Side Policeman nightly. He also understudies Henry Ford. Gunhus and Jones, both who have been with the show for two years, will play Mother's Younger Brother in Cleveland.
"As a gay man, I can really follow the arch of Younger Brother. In the beginning he doesn't fit in. He knows what is expected of him. But he is angst-ridden" said Gunhus when asked if there were any universal themes in the straight play.
Todd Jones and Eric Gunhus
of touring day in and day out, but who rarely get their fifteen minutes of fame: the understudies. These are actors who are cast as ensemble players, but who learn the leading roles in the show. If one of their surrogate family gets sick or must leave town, they step into the limelight with grace and daring.
The Gay People's Chronicle had the opportunity to follow two of these unsung heroes, gay actors and roommates Todd Jones and Eric Gunhus, during an understudy rehearsal of Ragtime on March 30. The musical opened in Cleveland at Playhouse Square on March 28 and runs through April 16, following a successful short run in Columbus last December 28-January 2.
These rehearsals, although void of costumes, sets and makeup, are not void of drama. For it is here that character shoes and parasols co-mingle with Nike swoops and blue jeans, trusting souls allow substitutes to perform intricate stage combat within inches of their fragile bodies, and hungry hearts sing with passion and skill. This leaves a spectator with an idea of how competitive this business really is-these are the actors that didn't get the lead role.
"When I was their age, I had never even seen a lesbian or gay man,” said Todd Jones when asked about the children in the show. "But it is part of their everyday lives. They see us with our boyfriends or what ever. What's really missing is the lesbians. There are very few lesbian actors."
Jones plays the Reporter, the Fireman, and the Clerk during his ensemble work, when he's not playing Harry Houdini or Mother's Younger Brother, the two leading roles he understudies. Incidentally, Jones met his boyfriend, who is no longer with the show, when they were both cast in the Ragtime tour.
"We have kids to Father, who is about 60 years old. So it really gives you the family feel," added Eric Gunhus.
"I just turned thirty and had a white party on the road, to start life clean,” he added when asked if the group meets socially.
"My boyfriend is not in a position to be out at work," said Gunhus about his partner of six years, global sales executive Charles Fulcher. "Some people in the theatre feel the
MICHELLE TOMKO
But life on the road is not all bad, says Gunhus, even though both he and Jones have long-distance relationships with their lovers.
"We deem cities as vacation cities and say: Okay, we are going to stay on the beach. They're not dummies, they schedule fun cities at the end of the tour, so you'll stay."
The Tony Award winning musical Ragtime is based on a 1974 novel by E.L. Doctorow, who got his inspiration from African American composer Scott Joplin. It is about three families, black, white and Jewish, who cross paths at the turn of the 20th century. Also interwoven into the plot are several famous personalities of the time, like Henry Ford and Harry Houdini.
The 1998 musical was adapted by none other than gay, Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally. He is better known for his recent play Corpus Christi, where the apostles are depicted as gay men. This infamous work gained the writer both protest and death threats during its New York run.
The technical aspects of the tour have changed drastically, says Gunhus. "We used to travel with 17 trucks. Now we just have seven. They call it the black box tour of Ragtime."
But one thing that remains constant with the show is the philanthropy work the cast does. In 1998, the cast had a float in Washington D.C.'s Pride parade. They contacted the show's songwriters, who added queer content to a song from the show, "Till We Reach That Day," which they performed at Pride.
"D.C. was my favorite. We lived right on top of a gay club. Seattle was great, too,” said Gunhus.
The cast will perform a cabaret at Ciao Cucina that will benefit both the AIDS Taskforce of Cleveland and Broadway Cares/ Equity Fights AIDS. During the show, on Monday April 10 at 8:00 pm, cast members will perform their favorite songs.
When asked about the importance of musical theatre, Gunhus talked about what a teacher of his said. "When you get to a point that words aren't enough, you burst into song. That's an image that I always carry with me."