Imagine a musical theater production as a Wild West town with all sorts of desperados and townspeople, the innocent school marm, saloons crowded with riffraff, and here and there a dog sleeping lazily in the shade. All of them are waiting for someone to come along and get things going, to organize the unruly lot, to rouse them from their stupor. Sure, the person often charged with this task—the one wearing the shiny gold star—is the director. But in some ways, for the purpose of my metaphor at least, the person they’re really in need of is the deputy, the musical director, whose job is to corral this motley crew, teach them the songs, keep them on key, then run the show performance after performance.
Often that musical director has to contend with both ends of the spectrum, from those who really can’t sing (not that I know anything about this personally) to those who wear their capital D for Diva up front (for sure not me). In this area the one name that stands out, the Marshal Matt Dillon of musical theater, is none other than Armando Fox. Show after show, in theater after theater, you’ll see Armando’s name in the program, which means one thing for certain—the musical numbers are going to rock! And therefore, allow me to welcome him to the bar and serve him his drink, while we all lean in to hear his answers to 5Q4: Armando Fox.
[1]At what moment did you discover that you wanted to be an artist?
I started banging on the piano at a very young age and basically never stopped. Although my training started with classical, when I was in grade school my parents started taking me to see Broadway shows (we lived in New York) and I was hooked. Although I continued my classical training, I played in my first pit orchestra in seventh grade and started music directing in college. On any given day at the piano, I might play Bach, Chopin, Gershwin, Sondheim, and Joplin all in the same sitting.
Who was the most influential person who helped you achieve your goal?
My parents strongly supported my interest in music and never forced me to do it, and I had a number of great piano teachers. But for all the other work of a music director—analyzing music in order to do arrangements, being able to move things to different keys when needed for different actors, things like that—my first music theory teacher, Walter Fischhoff, taught me everything he knew about music theory, which turned out to be quite a lot. More than anything else, that knowledge has helped me do the million unwritten things music directors have to do when working on shows.
[2]Tell about the best—or a best—experience you had as a performer? Conversely, tell us about a pretty bad experience?
I think these are two sides of the same coin, so I’ll just give one answer. I find great joy in working with an ensemble of people—actors, directors, choreographers, scenic artists, costumers—to put something in front of an audience that will bring joy to them. I have the luxury of doing this for pleasure, so my best experiences are the ones where all those people work together to create an environment in which we can share that joy.
Bad experiences are ones where the drama isn’t confined to the stage, where there is tension or ill will within the ensemble. Happily, most productions aren’t like that, but I’ve been involved with a few that have been. The creative team leads are very important in creating that sense of camaraderie and “being on the same team” from day one.
Any advice to folks out there hoping to pursue a life in the arts?
I don’t make my primary living from the arts. I’m fortunate to also have a full-time job I really enjoy, so I get to do art for fun. My piano teachers were always encouraging me to enter competitions, but I never wanted to feel like art was something I had to do—I always wanted it to be something I wanted to do. People ask how I have time to do art given my full-time job, and all I can say is that if you really enjoy doing something, you make the time—and I really enjoy doing this.
[3]Can you talk about your upcoming project, Grease, at the Altarena Playhouse? Have you done the show before, if so what draws you to it, anything you’re especially excited about?
I have a soft spot for Grease because it was the first musical I ever saw on Broadway as a kid, and the third one in which I played piano in the pit—that was my freshman year of college, and to avoid embarrassing myself I won’t say what year it was! But with so much turbulence both locally and abroad today, there’s definitely room for a bit of escapism and nostalgia. Last year I had the privilege of working on Pal Joey [4] (directed by my lovely and talented partner Laura Morgan), which was a kind of nostalgia time capsule for people who are familiar with the old-school, all-singing-and-dancing, Golden Age musicals. I think Grease evokes a similar kind of nostalgia that will reach a different audience. I’m a big proponent of musicals being able to handle serious material—Sunday In the Park With George and Next to Normal are two of my favorites—but sometimes it’s OK to just eat candy and have fun.
Gene Kahane is the founder of the Foodbank Players [5], a lifelong teacher, and former Poet Laureate for the City of Alameda. Reach him at [email protected] [6]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Gene-Kahane [7].