Welk Premieres Brand New Musical: A5678

Before there was Fame, before there was Glee, before there was High School Musical or Smash there was A5678.

Welk Theater will premiere a brand new revival of the musical revue: A5678—with songs never heard before, written by some of the top cabaret and Broadway writers today. It will run May 24–June 10.

The show is written by Barbara Epstein who is also the creator and originated the highly acclaimed show in the 70s with the likes of Valerie Perri, Terry Mason and others who went on to Broadway careers. She has produced or directed over 50 musicals, plays, stunt shows and industrials.

Epstein teams up with associates Ray Limon, who is a frequent director at Welk’s, and Gerald Sternbach (both are original members of the 1970s cast) and brings to the Welk a brand new show based on and written around the stories of the eight actors who will be cast in the show. Using their life stories, the show is about a group of young performers on their journey to opening night.

We caught up with Epstein shortly after she had cast the show with four women and four men, who will all perform under their real names.

“It’s very exciting. A musical revue. All original songs by some of the best Broadway and animation song writers. People who have written High School Musical songs,” she said.

“The show itself is a revue with a raison d'être, a show before a show. Eight friends, between the ages of 17 and 26, are putting on a show.”

The show is definitely NOT like A Chorus Line, where the actors are shown during an audition. “This is more like Mickey and Judy putting on a show,” said Epstein. It starts two hours before opening night.

“We are watching their last two hours of rehearsal before their show. Their last number of the show represents the first number of the show that opens.”

In the opening songs, they are wearing rehearsal clothes. In the last number, they are in costume.

About half of the songs in the show represent songs from the show that they are rehearsing. The others represent a real moment in time, a relationship, how someone is feeling etc.

Epstein emphasizes that the actors “don’t play characters. They play themselves. When they do songs from the show—then they play characters.”

In essence, the audience becomes a fly on the wall watching a rehearsal. Even in the opening of scenes there won’t be the traditional “lights down.” Instead actors—all locals—will come on stage, throw down their bags and have mic checks.

“You are watching the young girl whose first show this is. There are a variety of types aged 17 to 26. There is a lot of heart in the show and a lot of caring about the people in it,” said Epstein.

Also, unlike A Chorus Line, the performers are not all the same height. “No two are alike,” she said. “I have one girl who is four foot eleven and one guy who is six foot two.”

“I’ve got some talented people in this cast. I’m very excited about it. Working with young people has been my career,” she added.

In the second act, there will be a segment when audience members can ask cast members about the show. “The audience really invests emotionally in the cast. You look at the program and the person listed is the same name as the person on stage,” she said.

The show is a revival of the concept Epstein did 35 years ago on Broadway. It earned enthusiastic reviews and ran for three years. It used songs from many different original shows.

In the revival, all 22 songs are new. Epstein went to her many friends who are songwriters and said she was reviving the show and needed different songs.

“I said I needed takes on what it is like to be in the business,” she recalled. “We learn about each of the people in the cast through the songs.”

The songwriters are: Suzanne Buirgy, Zina Goldrich, David Goldsmith, Faye Greenberg, Marcy Heisler, John Kavanaugh, David Lawrence, Stuart K. Robinson and Gerald Sternbach.

“I thought, why not take the best of all these people?” she said. One song was written many years ago. One is bitingly sarcastic, another is more vaudeville and she wanted both in the show.

No songs have appeared in other shows. A few were sung in cabaret acts. Two are in different incarnations that appeared in a show in a nightclub. Two songs were going to be in the original, but were not used.

Or, as Epstein put it, “It’s six degrees of Kevin Bacon and six degrees of Barbara Epstein, written by people who have been kind enough to say, ‘I’d love to have my song in your show.’”

The revival brings many of the original cast back in some form or other. For instance, the original musical director is one of the song writers. Ray Limon, associate director and co-choreographer, was in the original show.

“We were all babies together,” observed Epstein.

In case you are wondering, as I was, what the significance of “A5678” is, all you have to do is sound it out: “Ah five, six, seven, eight!” and think of someone getting ready to do a song. It’s a performer’s call to begin—a countdown.

Visit www.welktheatersandiego.com to purchase tickets or call 888-802-7469.