A FEW MINUTES WITH: Charles Burr, artistic director of Tibbits Summer Theatre

By Donald V. Calamia

For many Michiganders, the summer is not complete without a visit to Coldwater and Tibbits Summer Theatre. Begun in 1964, the company performs in the Tibbits Opera House, which opened in 1882 and is one of the few remaining facilities of its kind in the United States. Long-time artistic director Charles Burr talked recently to EncoreMichigan.com about his popular theater and the new musical revue he co-created that will open the 2010 summer season June 24.

Tibbits Summer Theatre is about to open its 47th season, and you've been associated with the company for 28 of those years in one capacity or another. What first brought you to Tibbits?

In the summer of 1981 I was performing in Fiddler on the Roof just up the street from Tibbits at the old True Grist Dinner Theatre in Homer. It was a 10-week run and I really needed to be seeing other shows. Well, my long time partner and collaborator, Bobb James, was performing at the Tibbits that summer. I fell in love with the theater. I auditioned for the next season and wound up playing Moonface Martin in Anything Goes.

Not to forget my stunning portrayal of Henry Higgin's butler...I came back as an actor for each season after that. I was directing at least one show a year by 1985 and was named artistic director by 1991.

At the time, did you ever expect to see yourself still there in 2010?

Considering that my average contract up to that time was a new show every seven weeks to three months — no, I never thought I'd stay in one place for so long. But I still get to job out to act or direct in other venues — a good thing for the theater and for me in terms of growth (and sanity)!

I believe you're one of the state's longest-serving artistic directors of a professional theater - with only Bruce Millan at the Detroit Repertory Theatre outlasting you by more than three decades. How has the theater changed over the years?

The audience base has shifted drastically.

Coldwater was home to one of the best mental health facilities, and that large medical staff was a huge part of our subscription base. When Gov. Engler closed it and turned it into a prison — well, that core audience evaporated.

Also, in the 1960s when summer theater started here, we were just about the only entertainment option around. You arrived at your cottage to stay all summer. Well, today families rarely stay here that long — they are driving back and forth to their other home every other weekend. And every arts organization fights the same fight in getting people out of their wired homes to experience the arts collectively.

What's your proudest accomplishment so far?

Well, the Tibbits did good shows before I arrived. But when they were bad...ouch! I like to think I have become quality control - something we never had until my position was created. Certainly our audiences seem to think that that is exactly what I've managed to do.

As far as a single accomplishment, I'd say working with the Rodgers and Hammerstein Library to stage the first full production in 50 years of A Connecticut Yankee. (They) loved my idea so much of staging Camelot and A Connecticut Yankee with the same cast that they let me root around in the R&H trunks and edit the two versions of Yankee into a crowd pleasing production.

Theater - and the arts in general - have experienced box-office and financial problems over the past few years thanks to the sluggish economy. Have the summer theaters here in Michigan experienced the same struggles as their full-season counterparts? Or are there different dynamics that come into play for the summer theaters?

Last summer we were down slightly, but not as much as what I expected. This year, I can't tell yet. I know our group sales are down - some of those bus tours that have come for years are out of business. Our subscription renewals are at close to 88 percent.

And certainly summer theaters feel it as much as any other venue — look at the Barn in Augusta taking a year off. Let's all hope that it is just for this summer.

On the positive side, people were back to staying longer at the cottage last year — and we were their entertainment option.

You perform in one of the coolest facilities in the state, the Tibbits Opera House, which was named by USA Today as one of "10 great places to see the lights way off Broadway." What challenges are there - if any - to programming a season in a historic opera house built in 1882? If I pull up in a horse and buggy, is the livery stable still there for me to park in? (laughs)

The livery stable is a parking lot - but the B&B in town still delivers their guests to our door in a horse and buggy.

It is the opera house that keeps me here. It's acoustically one of the best spaces I've ever performed in. It's only a 25 foot proscenium opening with no wing space, so larger musicals need to very cleverly designed with scenery that is multi-sided, etc. And there are some musicals that just won’t fit — or at least not as how I want to see them.

You're located in Coldwater, which is along the bottom edge of the mitten in Branch County. In general, where do your patrons come from? How far of a pull does your theater have?

Coldwater is on a chain of inland lakes that stretch from our area into Indiana. All of the lakes are ringed with cottages. As the snow birds return, the summer theater season gets underway.

I would say we get the rest of our audience from the cities which are an hour's drive away — Lansing, Kalamazoo, Jackson, Battle Creek, Fort Wayne and the northwest part of Ohio.

Is there a "science" to programming your season - or a specific format you follow? For example, are there any dos and don'ts - such as no profanity or nudity, but lots of musicals?

I feel like we are straddling a generational divide right now as to who comes to the theater.

The audience I was programming for just seven to 10 years ago has aged out of coming as regularly. But I still need to program some of the season for them.

But I am actively looking at what speaks to those in their 50s and 60s — shows that are much more recent.

So a typical season around here lately is something classic, something new(er), something funny and something that might push the envelope a little. Of course, we did Hair last summer, full frontal and with no cuts...so I am relaxing a little on that no profanity or nudity thing...

Tibbits is what's known as a "stock" company, with a mix of seasoned veterans and up-and-coming young professionals. What does that mean, 'a stock company' - and how does it operate? About how many people do you employ each season?

The classic stock company (think Show Boat) consisted of your leading actors, character actors, juveniles and utility actors. It hasn't changed that much.

We are doing 11-day stock — so a new show on the mainstage is up and running every week and a half. With the children's theater opening on alternate weeks, we are opening a new show each week.

I rotate leads throughout the company, depending on the show. In a perfect season, an actor might come in and play a supporting role in musical number one, the lead in the second musical, a small walk-on in the play and one popcorn theater show. I try not to burn anyone out.

By shifting who is the focus for each production, the audience gets to see new faces —and more importantly, my chorus is made up of folks good enough to star in the next show.

I employ about 17-24 actors. And there are 14 talented designers and technicians in support. And then there's the orchestra, usually four to eight in the pit.

From which talent pools do you pull your company? I see that Detroit-area theatergoers will recognize Brian Sage from his memorable performances at the Hilberry Theatre these past three seasons, and Paul Kerr from The Encore Musical Theatre's production Club Moracco.

Well, being in the business for 30 some years helps.

I met Paul on my fourth professional job. Brian came to us directly from high school to play a Protean in Forum — yeah, he was that good even then.

I attend two or three mass calls — the United Professional Theatre Auditions and the Midwest Theatre Auditions, and sometimes the Illinois State Auditions when it doesn't conflict with the previous two.

I no longer hold an organized audition at the theater. The distance away from the metropolitan centers was not making it worth my while. But I always set up individual auditions for those who can't make the big calls.

The trick is to balance the needs of diverse shows, so actors need to be well rounded. It's not just who's best for one show; it's how can I use them in at least three of the shows.

This season, tap dancers rule...

You're opening with a brand new musical, On Broadway: A Modern Song Book, directed by Trinity Bird. What's the story behind this show's creation?

This show happened to fill a needed hole in my programming.

In the 1950s through the 1970s — the heyday of summer stock — all shows on Broadway completed their New York runs in just a few years, went on a brief national tour and were then available for us to produce. Well, the new economics of the theater has changed all that.

Needing to re-coup the massive amounts of money spent, productions play "now and forever." Brandon Ragotzy of the Barn and I used to sit and grouse at the auditions about how nothing new was ever available — how high schools could do Les Mis, since they were not "competition," but we couldn't do the show. I still can't do Chicago because it's coming into Grand Rapids this season for the gazillionth time...

Well, my audience doesn't understand all this and continually ask for shows that are either unavailable (Phantom of the Opera and Wicked) or beyond our set limitations (Miss Saigon and Sunset Boulevard) or musicals that have a great score and a problematic book (Chess). Well, Trinity and I still wanted to represent them somehow in our season. On Broadway was born.

But why start the season with an unfamiliar title?

I'd been leading off with the biggest musical name in every season I've programmed. Well, during the last five years it seemed that our audience wasn't at the cottage by mid June, but they were out in force by the Fourth of July. So I decided to try to open the big show in that July slot.

The revue is a great warm-up for the season with who you will be seeing in the other shows — and it's a warm-up of what shows (at least some of them) will be produced in the near future.

Were there any "rules" you set for yourselves when you began selecting the songs to include in the show - such as a specific time period or composers? How long did it take to assemble the final list of songs? And what did you leave out that you still wish you could fit in?

The starting point was anything we liked written in the last 25 or so years.

The number had to be able to stand alone — if you needed to know 25 plot points of why we are singing (it), it was gone.

We chose nothing from the jukebox musicals.

ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, a performing rights organization that licenses and collects royalties for performance of its members' music) dictates you can do no more than three songs from a given show.

It had to fit our singers.

We wanted our audience to recognize about half of the numbers - and want to know more about the rest.

I was scared that it could turn into one long power ballad after another with all (Andrew Lloyd) Webber and (Frank) Wildhorn. But we were able to cut all that with Mel Brooks and Hairspray - and (we) actually made fun of those power ballads with Spamalot.

We worked on it for three months off and on and are still tweaking as it rehearses. And yes, Ragtime never made it in, and very little Sondheim.

The summer season also includes Popcorn Theatre for young audiences and families. How many shows a season do you offer? And since children are the most honest audiences an actor will ever face, are these actually the most difficult shows the adult cast members perform in all season long? Or are they the most fun?

There are four shows in the Popcorn Theatre series. We produce three of those and bring in another "act" for the final slot.

This year it is a series of magicians from the Magic Festival in Colon, Michigan, but we've had jugglers, music acts, a mime, etc.

The Popcorn Theatre plays a huge role in the summer — not just to swell the box office receipts, but this is where the younger folk working in the various shops step up to do some of their first design work or first-time directors get a chance to actually do a show. It works as my own personal farm system so that we can nurture young talent and train my future mainstage personnel.

And I think just about all the actors would agree that it is the most fun they have all season. And, of course, we are also inspiring those children to be the audience of tomorrow - to help pay my car insurance for years to come.

As you look into your crystal ball, what do you see in Tibbits' future? And yours?

You mean if this season doesn't kill me? (This year I wrote Goldilocks, directed it, compiled the revue, will direct Run for Your Wife - I am something of a farce specialist - and will appear in Spelling Bee.)

I think the future of the Tibbits is very tied to the restoration of the building now in the works. We need to be a destination for your vacation. We can not reach our full potential with just the support of this tiny section of the country. I still feel after all these years that we are the best kept secret in Michigan.

And mine? I'm the proverbial dreamer. I have "made plays" all my life — and been paid for it more often than not. I will continue to do just that as long as anyone is interested.

ABOUT CHARLES BURR:

Charles Burr has directed and performed throughout his native Michigan and much of the South and Midwest. He served as resident director for the True Grist Dinner Theatre for three years, associate director for the Thunder Bay Theatre for one season and was guest director at Tibbits for six years before they created the position of artistic director which he has held since 1991.

Under his direction, the Tibbits worked with the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization and presented the first full production of A Connecticut Yankee in 50 years. Productions of newer plays and musicals for Tibbits have included a number of Michigan premieres, such as john and jen, Hi-hat Hattie, Marvin's Room and Grace and Glorie.

His accomplishments also include writing many of the scripts for the children's shows that have been produced for Popcorn Theatre. In January 2007 he collaborated to bring to the stage the books of award-winning Michigan author Patricia Polacco in Patricia Polacco's Union City. The presentation was restaged for the 2007 Popcorn Theatre season.

He still freelances as both actor and director at many other theaters, including Chaffin's Barn Dinner Theatre, Birmingham Children's Theatre, Cornwell's Dinner Theatre, Sunshine Dinner Playhouse, Marshall Civic Theater and the BoarsHead Theater. In a review of Evita, The Battle Creek Enquirer said, "Burr continually proves that he is the No. 1 theatrical asset of southwest Michigan." Burr graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Dramatic Arts from Eastern Michigan University.

SHOW DETAILS:

On Broadway A Modern Song Book runs June 24-26 and July 1-3 at 8 p.m., with matinees June 24 & 30 at 2 p.m. at Tibbits Opera House, 14 S. Hanchett Street, Coldwater. Tickets: $12-$26. For information: 517-279-7594 or www.tibbits.org.

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