A new play, based on a very old story, debuts at Playhouse Square this weekend. “Velveteen, A New Musical” adapts the classic 1920s children’s book using home grown music and a new script.
It’s the culmination of two years of work by Playhouse Square’s education department. Daniel Hahn, vice president of education, suggested the adaptation of one of his favorite childhood stories.
“Before, the 'Toy Story' Pixar movies, there was toys talking to this rabbit in 1922. Some of them were bullies, some of them were kind and some of them are as individual as their personalities as toys, he said. "Over the course of the story, the bunny literally becomes real. We ask the question, ‘What is real? What does it mean to be real?’ It’s really about, ‘you’re not real until you’re loved.’”
The story comes to life with the music of Molly Andrews-Hinders. She said the score is quite different from the well-known George Winston score, which was released as part of a different, 1980s adaptation of “The Velveteen Rabbit.” Yet she is definitely influenced by other composers.
“Certainly, my influence is kind of all over the map,” she said. “Definitely have a lot of musical theater influences: Stephen Sondheim. Schwartz. Many people."
On stage, her score will be performed by a rhythm section augmented with reeds and cello.
"When I sit down to write … I kind of sit at my piano without sheet music in front of me, just kind of hearing, ‘What is this moment about?’,” she said. “’What is the emotional arc of this moment? What needs to happen?’ And then I really work from an organic place of, 'OK, what chord progressions makes sense here? What's the rhythm? What's the texture? What's the tempo?' And then layering on from there."
Hahn said “Velveteen, A New Musical” is an updated adaptation. It’s not a museum piece frozen in the Roaring 20's. It also fulfills a prerequisite that he doesn’t always see when hosting outside productions, key to the schedule at Playhouse Square.
"I present about 10 plays a year in my educational series,” he said. “Most of them are produced by other people in other cities. In that respect, I'm a professional shopper, but what makes this so special? Playhouse Square chose the material, we hired the director, we cast it with local Cleveland talent."
Growing a production in-house also allows the education team to record it professionally, license it and stream it to other theaters. The production model has been used for what Director of Education Treva Offutt called “virtual field trips” with digital resource guides and accompanying videos for teachers and students.
"One of the voids that we're trying to fill is, in both the pushback and pull of what we are discussing in this country, we saw that there were less offerings around themes of social justice for all ages within the education system,” she said. “We wanted to create something and lean into that. We have pivoted with 'Velveteen' to being more social-emotional because that is where that lies. But it is something that was a defining factor of, 'Well, if we don't see it, let's make it ourselves.'"
A pilot version of “Velveteen” was mounted last spring to see what the education team’s first play would look like on its feet. It presented new challenges for a group that had been creating videos, not stage productions.
“We were so busy trying to make sure that we got this gigantic horse to a safe place that we all thought, ‘OK, we've done it. We're done’,” she said. “And then suddenly realized, ‘Oh, we left all the costumes in the dressing rooms!’”
Director Joanna May Cullinan came aboard at that time, bringing her experience as artistic director for Cain Park. In a world of short attention spans and social media videos, her mission, she said, is to keep kids engaged for close to an hour.
"We're spending a lot of time with the actors just being very specific and very clear, making sure that every movement they do is really clear for the children,” she said. “There's several 'call and response' moments in the show. So, hopefully, that will get them up and out of their seats. The costumes for this are so fantastical, and the story is just a really beautiful story that I think kids of all ages will tap into. And then the music: People will definitely go home singing at least one of the songs in their head, I'm sure."
As those students leave, they’ll be greeted at the door by Treva Offutt.
"I often ask them, 'What was your favorite part?'" she said. "It might be their very first theater experience. And they walk in and say, 'Whoa, where am I?' They're blown away by the opulence and the warmth."
It's also a way to introduce something new, theater, to children of the digital age.
"I've actually had students come up to me and say, 'I'm really excited to see this movie. Will it be streaming again?'" she said. "I make sure that I say. 'This is a live performance that you're going to see. It's going to be done right in front of you ... isn't that exciting?'"
Offutt is looking forward to her team's next in-house musical, with details coming in February.
