Stephen Sondheim’s Anyone Can Whistle was a big flop on Broadway.
A really big flop.
The show lasted for just nine performances after its 1964 debut. Local theater veteran Tom Heckert said audiences of the time weren’t used to musicals with a message, and the message of `Anyone Can Whistle` — reject conformity, embrace individuality — was an especially hard sell given that it was an era of cookie-cutter homes and cars.
But a funny thing happened. Sondheim fans turned the show into something of a cult classic. It popped up in the Berkshires about 20 years ago, and Sally Burke went to see it with her husband.
`I fell in love with the show back then,` Burke said. `It’s wacky. It’s funny. It’s just a lot of fun.`
So when Clifton Park-based Not So Common Players was looking for a show for the 2010-11 season, Burke approached Heckert, who sits with her on the group’s board, and suggested `Anyone Can Whistle.`
Heckert is an unabashed Sondheim fan, but he was pretty sure the rest of the board would want to keep its distance from `Anyone Can Whistle.`
`They’ll never approve it,` he told Burke. `No one knows it. It’s obscure.`
Still, the two made a case. And to their surprise, the rest of the board was game.
So, `Anyone Can Whistle` will have what Not So Common players believes is its regional debut when the curtain lifts at the Shenendehowa High School East Little Theater on Friday, April 29. It runs for two weekends: Friday through Sunday, April 29 to May 1, and Thursday to Sunday, May 5 to 8. Admission is free.
The show centers on a corrupt mayoress (Gina Bushey) who fakes a miracle to give her faltering town an economic boost, and a nurse and doctor who fall for each other in the midst of the hubbub.
The nurse is played by Heather Ferlo, a 17-year-old senior at Ballston Spa High School. She said she loves the character’s journey, just as she loves learning more about herself with each role she plays. The nurse adopts a free-wheeling persona with some people that make her realize she needs to be more daring in her everyday life.
`She has two separate worlds completely,` Ferlo said. `It makes you look at your own life and how you act one way around one person and one way around someone else.`
Ferlo’s love interest is played by 27-year-old Jimmy Cupp, who relishes the escape acting offers.
`I love taking on different personas,` he said. `Everything else disappears when you’re up there.`For `Anyone Can Whistle,` Cupp transforms into a physician who’s labeled crazy and unexpectedly plays a hero.
Cupp said he was drawn to the `many different levels` his character explores, not to mention the show’s musical numbers.
Burke said the show’s title song is particularly sweet — `I used to sing it as a solo for concerts.`
Sondheim shows in general feature notable music, according to Heckert. Just as the message of `Anyone Can Whistle` was kind of ahead of its time for the early 1960s, Sondheim’s `intricate lyrics` and `intricate patterns` were groundbreaking so far as musicals went, Heckert said. To illustrate the idea of musical patterns, Heckert pointed to a scene in `Anyone Can Whistle` that captures the `craziness of people coming in and out.` The rhythm of the music matches the hustle and bustle on stage.
Beyond not liking the particular message of `Anyone Can Whistle,` the Broadway audiences were looking for something more like escapism, Heckert said. What’s kind of funny is that the piece stands more as entertainment value today, since its emphasis on individuality is no longer a new concept.
Heckert had never read the show before Burke gave him a copy. Once he did, like her, he was hooked. He’s excited to share it with area audiences, something he’s been doing for years, first with Schenectady Civic Players and Schenectady Light Opera before moving to Clifton Park eight years ago and joining Not So Common Players.
`Some people knit and crochet. I do theater,` he said. He has a kindred spirit in Burke, who estimates she and her husband, who went to see `The Fantasticks` on their first date, take in about 50 shows a year. Not So Common Players shows offer other theater enthusiasts — or even people just looking for something to do — a rare chance to see a quality show for free, she said.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. on Sundays and 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.“