What’s a magic mirror to do? Once every century, the mirror is responsible for choosing which “hero’s quest” is to become the next classic fairy tale. A perfect handsome prince, Copernicus, is selected. His only mission is to rescue his true love from a fire-breathing dragon.
Brian Pugach
What Copernicus neglects to tell Mr. Mirror is that his true love is another prince. Fairy godmothers and the usual array of fabulous archetypes engage in a battle between Copernicus’ supporters and those who want to protect their storied world from a kind of relationship that no fairy tale character has ever heard of.
The Next Fairy Tale is the dream child of Brian Pugach, a recent graduate of UCLA’s theater program and life-long devotee of classic American musical theater, who wrote the music, lyrics and book. Pugach possesses the excited enthusiasm of childhood and still looks like a young teenager. He describes his new musical with a total sense of joy and a contagious love of musicals. He also insists this play is no campy send-up of fairy tales like Once Upon a Mattress but a sincere homage to a world of fantasy with some politics unapologetically thrown in.
Pugach effuses, “I have always wanted there to be a fairy tale between two princes. That was the original core of my idea. I had this belief our ideas about love and our narrow-mindedness about love are because of the fairy tales we are raised on. In a society where kids grow up on Disney, there is no way we can ever think a man and a man or a woman and a woman together is normal.
“I thought it would make a world of difference to have one fairy tale between two princes to help kids growing up who aren’t sure what their sexual identity is. It would make it okay on so many levels. So I decided to write a musical about two princes in love that was really likable, in the way a Disney movie is likable so one can’t help but engage with them. It is a sincere show with real people living in a fairy tale world. The absurd thing is they live in a world where they have never heard of ‘gay.’ They don’t understand the concept of two princes in love.”
The project began at UCLA in 2008 while he was studying musical theater. His entire childhood was filled with the sound of musicals from classic Broadway tradition, from Rodgers and Hammerstein to Stephen Sondheim. He laughs, “All my life I’ve listened only to musicals. My entire musical library is just musicals and the Barbra Streisand Christmas Album. I loved singing and acting, and originally I started writing as a means to perform more. I was dissatisfied with the amount of performance I was allowed at UCLA; I wanted more chances.
Patrick Gomez and Christopher Maikish photo by Matthew Brian Denman
“We did Side Show, which I passionately hate. I really wanted to be excited about something. To me writing and acting were sort of in the same vein, one served the other. Acting made me want to write a better show because I was going to be in it. It slowly transitioned as other people became involved, and I’ve been able to step out and let cast members step in and I could just be a writer.”
Celebration Theatre artistic director Michael A. Shepperd directs the show’s premiere, and Pugach says the actors in this production are fulfilling his dream. “I am so excited. We have a cast who really commits to the truth of it. I appreciate that as a writer. It is hard when you do a fairy tale musical to get people to be truthful. Michael has done a great job. We collaborate a lot more than I originally expected.
“I’d be in the rehearsal room and he’d come to me and say, ‘I think we need to change the ending.’ I love the change we developed together. I am happy because it has been a collaborative process, and I have been able to be involved even after the script is written and we’ve cast it. I am ecstatic!
“This story has become a huge part of my life. It means so much. I will work hard to make sure it continues after this. I will love it if there are future productions. I want people to hear this story. It means a lot to me, and I think it is a really good time for this story. Prop 8 passed right when I finished it. It’s useful to have a fairy tale between two princes right now.”
The Celebration Theatre is an obvious choice for this outlandish new gay musical fairy tale. Shepperd says he feels blessed to have it fall into his lap. His first awareness of the piece came during a reading at the Celebration. He recalls, “We were planning a series of new play workshops. I was in my office and they were doing a reading of The Next Fairy Tale. I heard the music and thought, ‘That’s really fun. What is that?’ I knew I had to meet the writer. He is adorable, charming and talented. He’s the classic musical theater guy. Ask him about the new Lady Gaga song or whatever 23-year-olds are listening to, he doesn’t know them. But he can tell you every Broadway musical there is. He is heavily influenced by Sondheim. He gave me the script and the music. I listened and said, ‘This is ours to workshop.’ We spent the last two years with the musical in workshop. I trust my gut. I hear it or I don’t. This one made me happy from the first moment I heard it coming through the hallway. I knew that this was something for Celebration; it fit the vibe I wanted to create.”
Shepperd’s original plan was to bring in an outside director but the Celebration’s amazing success with Take Me Out turned into a long run and he lost his first choice. Fortunately this left him to direct and, as a seasoned musical theater artist, he couldn’t be happier. ”I have done a lot of musical theater. I played Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors on Broadway. I will be playing it at La Mirada soon. I have done more Off-Broadway musicals than I care to admit. I live in that world.”
He was so charmed by Pugach’s music and script, he devoted enormous energy to help develop the project. “Brian and I worked together and it evolved a lot, especially through the rehearsal process. He wrote this amazing script that had some of the most bizarre stage directions: ‘The mirror flies across the stage, crashes into the wall and breaks into butterflies.’ I had to say, ‘You realize of course that is not going to happen.’ He came back with ‘How can we make it happen?’”
Rachel Genevieve and Gina Torrecilla photo by Ronn Jones
Shepperd is used to making things happen at the Celebration Theatre. Three years ago he suddenly found himself the artistic director, something he had never planned. “It was thrust upon me. I had served on the board for three years and the artistic director asked me out for drinks. I knew something was up. He said, ‘I am planning on leaving Celebration Theatre.’ I said, ‘You are not allowed to ask me the next question.’ He said, ‘I have to.’ He asked; I refused.
“Then I had to question myself as to why I was refusing without really thinking about it. I thought about it and realized I had served as an artistic associate at several theaters in Chicago and had been working closely with a lot of audiences here in LA. I agreed to do it. Sort of my mid-life crisis. Most men buy a Mercedes. I helm a not-for-profit theater company and I don’t know why.”
Substantial changes have occurred in the Celebration Theatre since Shepperd took the helm. “The mission has always stayed the same: to give a voice to GLBTQ Artists. I think what has changed is the demographic. For so long it was white middle-class gay men. That was it. Now the audiences are so much more diverse. The fare has changed and we’re offering things like Women of Brewster Place and Porcelain. I think the choices we have made over the last three years have changed our audience. We have increased presence within the larger gay and lesbian community. Our company is stronger and we go out and talk about the company; we actually recruit. I like to believe our company is one of the most diverse in the city. We cover the entire gamut of Gay Lesbian Bi Transgender Queer, Questioning, Intersex–and, oh yes, straight allies. GLBTQQIASA!” And now gay princes!
The Next Fairy Tale, produced by John Michael Beck, opens March 11; plays Thur.-Sat., 8 pm; Sun., 3 pm; through April 24. Tickets: $30. Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood; 323.957.1884 or celebrationtheatre.com.
