NW Democrat-Gazette

Forward By Design

Iconic Sugarbakers come to life again on T2 stage

LARA JO HIGHTOWER

TheatreSquared’s newest production has a pretty amazing pedigree: On Sept. 22, the company will open a stage version of the iconic television show “Designing Women,” which debuted in 1986 and garnered 18 Emmy Award nominations during its seven-year run. Original creators Linda BloodworthThomason and Harry Thomason are along for the ride, with Bloodworth-Thomason writing the script and Thomason directing.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled than to be collaborating with this storied Hollywood team, Linda and Harry, helping them usher their latest creation to the stage — and right here in Arkansas, where they have deep roots,” says T2 Artistic Director Robert Ford. “And how completely fun to premiere a witty comedy that’s loaded with spot-on observations about the current scene.”

The first episode of the series introduced four indomitable women to the world: Julia and Suzanne Sugarbaker, partners in an Atlanta design firm; Charlene Frazier, the firm’s office manager; and Mary Jo Shively, its head designer. Immediately, the show asserted itself as one that would make social commentary the beating heart of its comedy. Toward the end of episode one, Julia unleashes a fiery tongue-lashing on a man in a restaurant who is trying to interrupt the women’s conversation

with a slimy pickup line: “There’s no need for introductions, Ray Don, we know who you are,” is the quotable sentence that begins her address, actress Dixie Carter’s rage simmering just barely below the surface. Julia’s eloquent, passionate rants — as well as the rest of BloodworthThomason’s whippet-quick dialogue, rife with zingers — would become a signature of the show as it tackled weighty social issues of the 1980s and early 1990s like AIDS discrimination,

LGBTQ rights, misogyny and sexual harassment.

BloodworthThomason’s new script carries that legacy into the 21st century as the audience learns what the women at Sugarbakers think about of-themoment social issues.

“What I really wanted to do was take those women as we last saw them and set them down right now,” BloodworthThomason said in an interview with The New York Times when the show was announced. “They’ll have the same history, be the same people, have the same attitudes, the same philosophies, but they’ll be talking about #MeToo and the Kardashians and Donald Trump and all that’s going on right now.”

“’Designing Women’ was written and created by a woman, and I don’t think a lot of people pay homage to that — they may recognize it, but they don’t really credit her with being one of the trailblazers in that regard,” says actor Carla Renata, who plays the character of Cleo, newly introduced in the play’s script as cousin to Anthony Bouvier, an original character on the television show. Renata was last seen on Broadway as Gary Coleman in “Avenue Q” and has worked on the national tours of “Smokey Joe’s Cafe,” “The Who’s Tommy,” “The Lion King” and “We Will Rock You.” Currently, she’s the creator and host of a popular podcast called “The Curvy Critic with Carla Renata.” Her Cleo is a blunt, funny truth teller who is not afraid to address any elephants that might be hiding in the corners of the room.

“I feel like Cleo’s sensibility and her personality is to carry on [her cousin, Anthony’s] lineage within the confines of that world,” says Renata. “Cleo is gay. She’s married, she has a child — she represents what society is now. Back then, they were talking anti-gay, they were thinking that you could get AIDS from touching people — it was a very different world then. Now we live in a world where we see same sex couples, we see same sex marriages, we see the LGBTQ community fighting for their rights, just like everybody else has fought for their rights — women, Black people, Indigenous people. She’s a symbol of the social revolution that has taken place since the show premiered on television.”

Watching the original show had an impact on her as a young woman, says Renata.

“I think that Linda BloodworthThomason’s writing is very sharp, is very blunt — it has a definitive female voice to it. And I appreciated that, even as a youngster. I appreciated watching that. And I appreciated hearing these actors spout out these long monologues that, at the end of the day, had this very powerful message at the end.”

Sarah Colonna is a University of Arkansas graduate who cut her teeth in Hollywood as a stand-up comic and later went on to sit on the “Chelsea Lately” roundtable, appear in the television shows “Insatiable” and “Shameless” and author two best-selling memoirs. She says the original show made an impression on her as well.

“They were showing clips of the last night at this [Designing Women Drag Dinner, a collaboration between Northwest Arkansas Equality, TheatreSquared and the Symphony of Northwest Arkansas,] of Julia’s speech about AIDS, telling a woman off for [being homophobic], and, oh my God, everyone in the room was crying,” says Colonna. “There’s so much credit to be given to Linda and to Harry for being the first people to speak out about certain things on television.”

“What I really wanted to do was take those women as we last saw them and set them down right now. They’ll have the same history, be the same people, have the same attitudes, the same philosophies, but they’ll be talking about #MeToo and the Kardashians and Donald Trump and all that’s going on right now.”

— Linda Bloodworth-Thomason

Renata and Colonna are joined on stage by a slate of actors with equally impressive resumes — but more importantly, T2 and Thomason have cast actors who embody the spirit of these well-loved characters without resorting to imitation or caricature. Carmen Cusack, a musical theater legend, finds Julia Sugarbaker’s wry imperiousness with ease (Katherine LaNasa will pick up the role for the second half of the run); Amy Pietz, veteran of television comedies like “Caroline in the City” and “Modern Family,” delivers Suzanne’s tart — usually misguided — social commentary with wide-eyed, self-centered precision; native southerner Elaine Hendrix — who, in roles like Alexis Carrington in the recent reboot of “Dynasty” and Meredith Blake in “The Parent Trap,” has no trouble showing her steely side — exudes warmth and humor in her portrayal of Charlene; and Colonna nails Mary Jo’s tricky combination of witty sarcasm and empathy. In addition to Cleo, a second new Sugarbakers employee is added to the mix — television and movie actress Kim Matula (credits include “Fighting With My Family,” “UnREAL” and “The Bold and the Beautiful”) is charmingly naive as Charlene’s younger sister Haley, comically aghast at some of the topics of conversation in the office. R. Ward Duffy (“Blindspot,” “Madame Secretary”) plays a potential love interest for Julia, and Matthew Floyd Miller (“Call of the Wild,” “Not About Nightingales”) plays Suzanne’s Trump-crazy ex-husband.

Colonna says the process of translating these popular characters from the television screen to the stage has been intimidating at times.

“I want to do it justice, I want to do Annie Potts justice, but I don’t want to mimic her,” she says. “It’s a tricky line — I don’t want to mimic an actress playing a role, I want to give homage to what she brought to the role. I think that’s a big part that everyone feels a responsibility about — making sure that you don’t see these characters and go, ‘No, that doesn’t add up or match up.’ You want people to believe that we’re playing these iconic characters that were on for so long.”

Given the popularity of the original show, it’s a good bet that many people will flock to this production, eager to see the characters they remember so fondly sound off on the current state of the world. The good news is the particular magic of the original show is present — the incisive social commentary, the quick, funny banter, and likable actors that have you rooting for them every step of the way. In the end, Haley may just speak for “Designing Women” audiences when she says, “I just love the way y’all talk! And you have such colorful personalities. This is gonna be fun.”

Magic has been a driving force of Billy Porter’s most recent work. The Pittsburgh native dabbled in some literal magic as a genderless fairy godparent dubbed the Fab G in “Cinderella,” which is streaming on Amazon Prime Video. Not only did he get to transform Camila Cabello’s Cinderella into her ideal version of herself, but he also got to break down barriers of gender norms in the process.

“I’m excited to portray magic as having no gender,” Porter says. “It’s time to have different conversations. This interpretation of ‘Cinderella’ sort of turns all of the traditional and problematic tropes on their ear. It explodes these traditions into the stratosphere and creates a whole new language.

“The Fab G is a part of that interpretation. Art imitates life, life imitates art, and I am in the position and have the platform to show up in this role and hopefully move the conversation that exists surrounding it forward.”

His other recent endeavor that inspired Billy to invoke the “M” word was “What If?” the coming-of-age high school dramedy that will serve as his directorial debut. He had been in Pittsburgh since July filming it before wrapping production.

“It was magical,” he says of the experience. “It’s my first feature film. To be able to come home and shoot and be embraced by the community and local crew is exceptional and so loving. We had such a great time. It’s a love letter to Pittsburgh, and I’m so excited to be in the position to be able to do that. Hopefully this is just the start of much, much more.”

Porter says he was “surrounded by love” on the Pittsburgh set of “What If?” in the form of local folks he had worked with before who he brought in because he trusted them to help make his directorial dreams come true. That included “Hamilton” star and fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus Renee Elise Goldsberry, who Porter called to be in “What If?” because “I had to have my sister there.”

Now that he’s done filming “What If?,” Porter can focus on his many other projects, which includes promoting “Cinderella.” That movie was supposed to be released February in theaters, but the covid-19 pandemic delayed it and eventually forced Sony into putting it out directly on a streaming service.

At this point, Porter is just happy that “Cinderella” is finally coming out and hopes it can serve as an “injection of joy” in dark times. That’s the energy he tried to bring to a viral marketing stunt that saw him and co-stars Cabello, Idina Menzel and James Corden (decked out in a mouse costume that fits with his “Cinderella” character) stopping Los Angeles traffic to perform a rendition of Jennifer Lopez’s “Let’s Get Loud.”

“It’s all joy,” says Billy of the flash mob. “To show up and be able to promote something that is getting so much goodwill, that’s what we all dream of. It’s amazing.”

Writer-director Kay Cannon wrote the Fab G with Porter in mind, he says. Cannon and her collaborators were “pulling from my energy I have in my everyday life” for the character, which if you know anything about Porter definitely comes across on screen.

Based on the way he responded to being asked if he wished he was in more of the film than just a few voice-overs and one extended musical number, he has clearly heard that question before.

“The fairy godmother is always in one scene,” he says. “I don’t know what y’all are talking about! She gives [Cinderella] the dress, some encouragement and that’s it. That’s the gig, y’all! Leave you wanting more.”

It’s quite a memorable scene, though, as Porter is decked out in a lavish outfit created by costume designer Ellen Mirojnick that accents the “fashion as activism” vibe Porter has often employed throughout his career, in this case helping to facilitate “the masculinity conversation” he’d like the Fab G to inspire. Those physical decisions went as far as Porter opting to keep his goatee and deciding to cut a hair piece that he believed “pushed it too far into the feminism side.”

Then there’s the song itself that he gets to sing: “Shining Star” by Earth, Wind & Fire. In the original script he read, Fab G’s song was “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” by Eurythmics.

“OK, I see what y’all want me to do,” he says upon realizing his song had changed. “Y’all have laid the groundwork for me to come in and slay. … ‘Sweet Dreams’ is a different kind of slayage from ‘Shining Star.’ They made the decision, I just showed up and fulfilled the assignment.”

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2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-19T07:00:00.0000000Z

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