Loose Lips

The new musical/murder mystery Curtains, which begins its pre-Broadway run on July 25 at L.A.’s Ahmanson Theater, has given star Karen Ziemba the chance to work again with composer John Kander. She previously starred in the Broadway musical Steel Pier, which Kander wrote with his late lyric-writing partner Fred Ebb, and the Off-Broadway revue of their work, And the World Goes ‘Round. “It’s bittersweet, of course, because Fred isn’t around,” says Ziemba, “but John feels like he’s channeling him in spirit with the new lyrics he’s written for their songs. And I have to say, they’re really good as far as I’m concerned.”

Indeed, Curtains is something of a family reunion for the veteran actress. She previously worked with director Scott Ellis on New York City Opera’s 110 in the Shade and Steel Pier; she danced with choreographer Rob Ashford in Crazy For You; and she appeared with co-stars Debra Monk, John Bolton, Jill Paice, and Noah Racey in various shows. But Curtains marks her first collaboration with star David Hyde Pierce, who plays the detective investigating the crime. “He is one of the nicest people on the planet,” says Ziemba. “He has such incredible comic timing and the ability to come up with something witty off the top of his head. I really couldn’t ask for a better cast. It’s a real mutual admiration society.”

In the show, which is set in the 1950s, Ziemba plays Georgia, a musical theater lyricist/performer in the vein of Betty Comden. To get a true handle on her character, she went straight to the costumes. “I work in the theater, so I know what lyricists talk and think like,” she says. “But it was important to me to know what kind of clothes or what kind of shoes she should wear — and our designer, William Ivey Long, has outdone himself. It’s a bit of heightened realism, but the idea is to look like what people in a show out of town back then would look like. The first day of rehearsal, we got to see these great photographs of rehearsals of shows from that decade, like Destry Rides Again and New Girl in Town. People really dressed very differently back then. Today, it’s a lot of girls in bare midriffs; one of the great thing about clothes from the 1950s is that they hide a lot of sins.”

GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Also excited about costumes is Lorenzo Pisoni, who is playing the title role in The Great Gatsby at Minneapolis’ famed Guthrie Theatre. “I spend a lot of the play changing clothes,” says the handsome actor. “There’s this one pink suit that’s really beautiful. I didn’t know much about the fashions of the 1920s, but I’m learning a lot from our designer, Jane Greenwood. They’re making all my suits for me, but they won’t let me buy them. Even though I don’t really have any use for a 1920s-style tuxedo, I’d make it work if they let me.”

As it happens, Pisoni hadn’t read the classic F. Scott Fitzgerald novel since college, nor had he seen the infamous 1974 film starring Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, and Sam Waterston (with whom he co-starred last summer in Much Ado About Nothing). Nonetheless, he took the role the minute it was offered by David Esbjornson, who was directing him at the time in the Seattle Rep production of Tuesdays With Morrie. “He’s incredibly smart, and sometimes it makes me mad that I can’t be that smart,” says Pisoni. “But he also has this incredible bedside manner that makes you think you’ve come up with all these ideas yourself, when you’re really doing it his way.”

Pisoni is equally impressed with playwright Simon Levy, who adapted the novel for the stage. “It’s not an active story, but Simon has gone in and changed some tenses to make it feel that way, while still getting the sense of prose from the book,” he comments. “These people are incredibly eloquent, but they’re also incredibly flawed and incredibly tragic. Gatsby is absolutely certain he’s in love with Daisy, but it’s not really about her; it’s about his obsession with her.”

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC

Former Fosse star Valarie Pettiford will make her New York cabaret debut at the Metropolitan Room on July 19; the bubbly Natalie Joy Johnson returns to Ars Nova on July 22 and 31, while MAC Award winner Matt Sigl brings his show Unstuck in Time to the same venue on July 23. Bright Lights, Big Citycomposer Paul Scott Goodman will offer a special concert called Songs & Stories at Makor on July 23; and Kevin Cahoon and Ghetto Cowboy, featuring the Wedding Singer star, will be at the Knitting Factory on July 24

Heading outside the Big Apple, Shoshana Bean, Norm Lewis, and Paige Price will be among the headliners of Broadway in the Burbs II at North Atlanta’s Hanger Auditorium on July 22; Rent star Adam Pascal will appear July 28 and 29 at the Brentwood Theater in Los Angeles; the fabulous Mary Cleere Haran will star in I Love Lyrics, August 2-3 at Caramoor; former Light in the Piazza leads Kelli O’Hara and Aaron Lazar will join the Philly Pops in From Broadway to Hollywood on August 10; and a longtime star of The Phantom of the Opera will bring his critically acclaimed show Franc D’Ambrosio’s Broadway to the Dean Lesher Regional Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek, California, August 18-20.

DO IT AGAIN
The delightful [title of show] has returned to the Vineyard Theater for an eight-week-run; Nilaja Sun’s brilliant, multi-character solo show No Child is now ensconced at the Barrow Street Theatre; Godlight Theatre’s Farenheit 451 has made a fiery return to 59E59, where it will continue through July 23; the ultra-acrobatic dance troupePilobolus is back at the Joyce Theater through August 12; the ever-popular 2 Piano, 4 Hands returns to Hartford Stage for an encore engagement on July 18; and the world’s longest-running musical, The Fantasticks will be back on stage in the Big Apple at the brand-new Snapple Theatre Center as of July 29.

VIVA LA LIZA
While all three characters in the new play Viva La Vida! at the Bay Street Theater are based on real people, Liza Colon-Zayas says that very little is actually known about her character, Rosita, the nurse who takes care of the dying artist Frida Kahlo (played by Oscar and Tony winner Mercedes Ruehl). “After doing all this research, all we could find was a tiny voiceover from some documentary on PBS,” she says. “But we all got the impression that she loved Frida. Rosita was a mother figure and a confidant, someone who really helped Frida overcome her addictions and stay positive at the end of her life. Of course, that was a losing battle.”

The play marks Colon-Zayas’ first time working with Ruehl. “I really thought it was a long shot when I got the script,” she says. “Not only were they originally looking for older actresses — the script breakdown says Rosita is in her 50s — but there’s also this big height difference between me and Mercedes. At the final callback, I stood on a chair and she took off her heels. But they decided the dynamic between us was more important. I was always a fan of Mercedes, but even more so now. Her brain just moves a million miles a second, and she really knows what needs to happen to drive a scene or a whole play.”

Colon-Zayas is looking forward to her sojourn in the Hamptons, but she’ll have to enjoy the sun and sand without her husband, actor David Zayas. “He’s off in L.A. shooting the Showtime series Dexter with Michael C. Hall,” she tells me. “It’s very dark, like Six Feet Under. David plays this detective who works with Michael, who is a serial killer who actually works as a forensics investigator. I’ve seen the pilot and it’s amazing. I’m actually going out there after this show closes to try the L.A. thing. I’ll be taking meetings, but I really just want to become a ‘name’ so I can come back and do plays on Broadway.”