Sunday, June 07, 2009 | A+E, Theater, Reviews
Hoofin’ it

Life’s a ‘Cabaret’ for busy Freddie Ashley

Brandt Blocker
Tracy Vaden Moore, Craig Waldrip and Courtney Godwin in “Cabaret”

“CABARET”
Atlanta Lyric Theatre
The Strand Theatre
404-377-9948
www.atlantalyrictheatre.com
June 12-28
 
“ZANNA, DON’T!”
Actor’s Express
404-607-7469
www.actors-express.com
Through June 20

BY BERT OSBORNE

Forget about his "day job" as artistic director for Actor’s Express. As one of Atlanta’s most prolific directors—with four shows to his credit this season, and another four lined up in ’09-’10—you’d think Freddie Ashley barely had time to catch his breath, let alone slow down long enough to worry about "falling into a rut." On that score, the diversity of his work speaks for itself: He followed last fall’s psychological drama "Finn in the Underworld" with the crime caper "Mauritius" in January (both at the Express); and a mere two days after opening his Express staging of the light-hearted "Zanna, Don’t!" (continuing through June 20), he started rehearsing Atlanta Lyric’s darker-minded "Cabaret" (opening June 12).
 
"There will be two weekends when both shows are running at once, and I don’t think I’ve ever had that happen before," Ashley observes during a recent interview, adding with a laugh, "or whether it’ll ever happen again. I mean, I knew it was going to be a grueling turnaround, that it would require a real expenditure of energy. But it’s been a little more intense than I expected."
 
Indeed, Ashley’s current gig has been through a few revisions. He and Lyric artistic director Brandt Blocker had originally planned to collaborate on another iconic Kander and Ebb musical, "Chicago," until they lost the rights due to an impending national tour. "We’d already started talking about some of the casting, but fortunately, it hadn’t gestated for too long before the rug was pulled out from under us," he recalls.
 
That goes for his decision to recast the pivotal role of the Emcee, too, early in the "Cabaret" rehearsal process. (Craig Waldrip has taken over from Doyle Reynolds.) "Everybody agreed that it wasn’t the right fit," the director explains. "It was tough, but we all realized it quickly enough that it wasn’t too much of a disruption." The ensemble also features Claci Miller, Jackie Prucha, Theo Harness, Jeff Juday and Jill Hames.
 
"As fun as ‘Chicago’ is, there’s something a bit more substantial about ‘Cabaret,’" admits Ashley, 36. The story unfolds in 1930s Berlin, on the brink of Hitler’s rise to power. The popular 1972 film drastically altered the original 1966 musical—eliminating major characters and subplots, dropping some old songs and adding some new ones—and so was the 1998 Broadway revival "significantly retooled," as Ashley puts it. "Frankly, as brilliant as it was in so many ways, I found it a little reductive, too preoccupied with all the sex, drugs and debauchery of the era."
 
Still, Ashley initially balked at Blocker’s idea of remaining faithful to the ’66 version (in possible deference to the Lyric’s slightly conservative audiences). "My immediate reaction was that I didn’t want to do a museum piece. Directors always want to do work that’s alive and vibrant and new," he says. "But the more I got into it, the more excited I became. It forced me to shed a lot of the preconceptions I had, based on the film and the revival. Not only is it one of the greatest musicals, it’s one of the greatest pieces of dramatic literature in the last century, period."
 
He should know. Prior to taking over at the Express in 2007, Ashley served as a dramaturge in the Alliance’s literary department. (A native of Rome, Ga., he settled here in 1999, after receiving his MFA degree from the University of Southern Mississippi.)
 
Next season, Ashley is slated to direct three Express shows—the fall musical "Grey Gardens," the winter drama "Fair Use" and the summer spoof "Slasher"—in addition to Aurora’s spring musical "The Catered Affair." So much for catching his breath. Or falling into a rut. SP