Pines Diner Theatre is premiering a musical that is sure to have everyone tapping their toes as they watch. Oliver Blatt is the author of the book and coauthor of the music for 'Here Comes the Bride', their latest production.
Mr. Blatt was nice enough to answer some questions about his writing, his life, and why we should all buy tickets to see Pines Dinner Theatre's latest musical.
Blatt grew up taking piano lessons. "Lots and lots of piano lessons, but I was a terrible piano player. I hated practicing, and never really found a groove with the instrument. Fast forward to my college years. I was performing in a theme park doing "The Red Garter Review" in the Red Garter Saloon in upstate New York. Nine shows a day, six days a week for twelve weeks.
"I decided that working as a musical director might be fun, and one of the professors took me under his wing, teaching me conducting, musical direction, and all that good stuff. I worked with him for a year as his assistant, playing piano for rehearsals, playing keys in the pit, being an audition pianist, and at the end of the year I got hired as Assistant Musical Director at the Mac-Hayden theatre in upstate New York.
"There, in twelve weeks, we mounted seven big musicals, and four kiddie shows. I decided this was a pretty good career, and managed to find myself a job as a key player and synth programmer for the national tour of "The Who's Tommy." Much to my parents' chagrin, I dropped out of college with one semester left to go, and toured North America for a few years on different tours.
"Since opening the Pines, I don't musical direct as much, but I still travel to other theatres to do musical direction. I play keys in a jazz trio, shirazjazz.com, and I'll occasionally pinch hit at some of the cabarets and piano bars in the Valley. I also play bass and accordion.
"I do need to say that for "Here Comes the Bride" I brought Stacy Bechtel, our resident musical directer at the Pines on board to help write the music. She's a great arranger, and her work really brought the musical numbers to life."
Blatt has a degree in Musical Theatre Performance from Millikin University. He choreographs if the show isn't too demanding, but if it's a big dance show, like "Footloose," he collaborates with his wife, Amber.
"We met working on a show, and she and I have directed/choreographed probably 20 productions together." He began taking tap lessons at 6 years old. "I started tapping when I was six, and I never stopped. I think my mentality then was "you are giving me these shoes that make noise, and you WANT me to stomp around and be loud' This is GREAT!!!" Actually, I look at tap shoes as another instrument, and another way to make music."
Blatt is also the author of "The Miracle of Christmas," and "The Book of Love," also musicals.
Oliver opened up to us about where he finds his insipiration when it comes to writing plays. He says, " I always start with what I call the "big idea," like "what if there is this girl who wants to be a reporter, so she gets a job as a romance columnist, but she's never been in love'" That was the big idea for "Here Comes the Bride." After that, I start figuring out where I want the story to lead, and how do we get there.
"If I remember correctly, there were three or four versions of act II written, before I said "Enough is enough!!! This is it!" I'd say that it took me about 10 months to work though the plot elements to get to a working script. Then I sat down with Stacy and we started developing the music for the show. We started rehearsals with a pretty solid script, but of course, once rehearsals started, elements of act II were rewritten again... Our cast were real troopers!"
We asked him to tell us what makes Pines Dinner Theatre different from other theatres in the Lehigh Valley. Blatt answered, "First of all, we're a dinner theatre. Every show comes with a full service meal before the performance.
"Second, we're (as far as I know) the only full time professional theatre in the valley. We offer approximately 250 weeks of paying work per year for actors, in addition to staff and employees. I know it may not be the "cool" artistic viewpoint, but we survive and thrive 100% on ticket sales, and we provide employment in the arts. Many people will ask the question of us "are you professional or are you local'" and I always answer "yes!" We all have to live somewhere, and the Valley is full of fabulous actors. That being said many of us at the Pines have been on national and international tours of musicals and shows, have worked in NYC at some point in our careers, and we support ourselves in the arts.
"Third, we try and provide an escape for our audiences with our shows. The world is crummy enough right now without making people search their souls and question their existence in life at a performance. If we can make the audience feel better about things by the time they walk out our doors, we've done our job. You'll notice this in our programming of our shows."
"Here Comes the Bride" is a bit like watching a 1970's sitcom, but longer and with songs! The characters are all a bit over the top in that sitcom style (you'll see a bit of "The Honeymooners, "Mary Tyler Moore," "Three's Company," and more in the show) and the show is definitely a musical comedy. There are 9 original songs in the show. I don't want to give away the plot, because it's just too much fun, and you have to come see it!
Here Comes the Bride runs January 17th through March 9th at Pines Dinner Theatre in Allentown, located at 448 N. 17th Street - Allentown, PA 18104
For more information and to order tickets, please call 610-433-2333 or visit them online at www.pinesdinnertheatre.com