In a recent interview with Corey Humphress of Paste Magzine, Kevin Moriarty, Artistic Director of the Dallas Theatre Center (DTC), and director of IT'S A BIRD...IT'S A PLANE...IT'S SUPERMAN at the DTC, chatted about the melding of the two great loves of his life, Superman and musical theatre.
Moriarty, who grew up in a small town in Indiana found the original Broadway cast recording of IT'S A BIRD... IT'S A PLANE... IT'S SUPERMAN at the public library when he was a young boy and "Instantly freaked out. I started making up a story to go along with the record, because I didn't have any way of knowing what the story was."
After a meeting with Charles Strouse, who wrote the music to the show, Moriarty set to revising the story and bringing the show back to life. The first step included recruiting Marvel comic writier Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa. Says Aguirre-Sacasa: "[We] thought the 1960's musical didn't quite capture the essence of Superman. It was like a series of little skits; it needed a new book. So, when he called me up, I was like, 'I'm there. Absolutely."
Aguirre-Sacasa described the revised show as "A big epic that starts on the planet Krypton and ends on the rooftop of the Daily Planet. And by putting this show in the '30s and doing it like an old-fashioned musical comedy, you can embrace Superman and his old-fashioned values as an ideal as opposed to irrelevant."
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Matt Cavenaugh stars as Clark Kent/Superman alongside Patrick Cassidy as Max Menkin in IT'S A BIRD...now playing the DTC. Zakiya Young (THE LITTLE MERMAID) plays intrepid reporter Lois Lane opposite Cavenaugh, with Jenny Powers (GREASE, LITTLE WOMEN) as Sydney Sharp, The Daily Planet's sassy gossip columnist and office minx.
Joining Cassidy, Cavenaugh, Powers and Young are: Andrew Keenan Bolger as Torchy; Bob Hess as the Court Jester; Julie Johnson as Scarlet Widow; Matthew Kilgore as Kazam; Chris Klink; Addi McDaniel; Cara Serber as Marilyn Nessbit; Paul Taylor as Jack-in-the-Box; McKenzie Warren; Steven Wenslawski; Kate Wetherhead (LEGALLY BLONDE, SPELLING BEE, DTC's SARAH PLAIN AND TALL) as Blackbird; Kent Zimmerman as Jupiter James; and Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company members Hassan El-Amin as Perry White; Sean Hennigan as Mayor Siegel; and Cedric Neal as Cadabra. Child actors Derek Barnes, Dawson Holder, Raleigh "Tre" Jones, Ashton Miramontes and Jacob Redmon round out the ensemble.
The acclaimed design team includes set design by Beowulf Boritt (SONDHEIM ON SONDHEIM, SPELLING BEE, ROCK OF AGES, DTC's GIVE IT UP!, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM); costume design by Jennifer Caprio (SPELLING BEE, DTC's IN THE BEGINNING); sound design by Rob Kaplowitz (GOLDA'S BALCONY, FELA!); lighting design by Jeff Croiter (NEXT FALL); with musical direction by Kimberly Grigsby (GREASE, SPRING AWAKENING, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, THE FULL MONTY) and additional orchestrations and arrangements by Eugene Gwozdz.
