A FEW MINUTES WITH JOE GARRY

Joe Garry

I am not one given to hyperbole, generally speaking, but this guy knows everything! Well, okay, maybe not everything, but everything about theater, musicals and the stars who inhabit that world.

Former Cleveland State University theater professor Joe Garry is often referred to by the folks at Playhouse Square as “America’s Theater Professor,” and the title is as accurate as can be.  I had a chance to talk with Joe not too long ago, and discovered that this affable, knowledgeable man is basically a walking encyclopedia of theater—past and present.

Joe conducts the Broadway Buzz Pre-Show Talks before each show that is part of the Key Bank Broadway Series, as well as Post-Show Chats with the Cast following Thursday evening performances. “It’s like 16 lectures for each show,” he explains about “the pre-show talks, and two [the post-show chats] that can go in just about any direction!”

“We never know if all the cast members will take part in the post-show chats, but during Legends! everyone came out, including Joan Collins and Linda Evans.  They were delightful, and the several hundred audience members who stayed had a wonderful time with them, as well as with an exceptionally talented supporting cast.”

The post-show chats can be somewhat free-wheeling, but the pre-show talks are all Joe, and all golden. He takes about a half-hour with them, and uses every minute.  “It’s amazing how the time flies,” he says, “but I always have plenty to say!”

He explains background, storylines, characterization, genre identification, and more; if it sounds like it’s just a boring college class lecture, you couldn’t be more incorrect.  “I’ve had almost 40 years directing and teaching, I do lots of reading and research, and I try to focus on a different aspect or approach for each show.  You have to remember that many of the audience members taking part in these come to each show, so I try to mix it up with specific given areas that are different from show to show.”

I remind him that I have seen his pre-show talk for Spamalot and his Master Moments interview with Chita Rivera, and that I was amazed at his delivery with little or no reference to notes.  “Well,” he continues, “it goes back to the research, of course, and the fact that I’ve directed hundreds of plays and musicals.”

Traveling has been a blessing, too, to his theater experience and knowledge.  “I get to New York several times a year to keep current with Broadway and off-Broadway offerings, I go to Europe, especially London, each year for two weeks, I spend at least a week at Stratford every year, and I travel to the West Coast as well.” 
 
“I just want to give the audience plenty of information so that they can make their own judgments.  I point out things that they should watch for or be aware of, but I don’t always tell them why.  It stands to reason that the more you educate the audience, the more they appreciate the show.”

Joe has a somewhat different approach to the post-show chats.  “Obviously, these are more audience-generated, or cast-oriented, so I have to shape the format a little differently.”  If the questions don’t come easily, it’s up to Joe.  “I’ll definitely bring up things such as how the actors work—individually or with each other—and always keep in mind the different things for each show that could be discussed.” 

“With Joan Collins and Linda Evans—as well as the rest of that fun cast—the questions came easily, and their responses were just what the audience wanted: fun, funny and just what you’d expect.  People still wondered about Krystal and Alexis, and the actresses couldn’t have been more gracious and funny with their answers.”

Joe has been handling both pre-show and post-show duties for several years now, all part of the Broadway Buzz events presented by the Arts Education Department at Playhouse Square, but he has enjoyed an even longer relationship with Playhouse Square.  In fact, we all owe some gratitude to Joe for his part in the saving and restoration of the Playhouse Square theaters in the early 1970s.  “I am so proud of Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris that I directed back then.  It ran for two-and-a-half years during that time, and really was the catalyst for the theater restoration project.  We staged it as a cabaret in the State lobby, and it became Cleveland’s longest running show.  Later on I did an original musical version of Alice in Wonderland in the lobby of the Palace with the clever title of Alice at the Palace, and after that I directed a Cole Porter review in the Palace.”

In between hundreds of directing assignments, Joe has also staged concerts for stars such as Marvin Hamlisch, Sarah Vaughn, Bobby Short, Ray Charles, Betty Buckley and Rosemary Clooney.  “The late Audrey Hepburn’s final tour for UNICEF was mine, too, but it was extra special because we were able to kick it off right here in Cleveland.”

For five years, he and David Frazier have been performing on the Cunard and Seabourn cruise lines with entertainment they have written themselves.  “David sings and performs, while I’m more the moderator or narrator of these dramatic vignettes and songs.  It’s all original stuff that we relate to the destinations of the ships.”  Again he stresses the need to entertain the ships’ audiences while giving them information to make their own choices and judgments as to what to see and what to do at their ports-of- call.