Quentin Earl Darrington and Marcia Milgrom Dodge were all set to become the new toasts of Broadway last year. A production of Ragtime directed by Dodge and starring Darrington as Coalhouse Walker Jr. had received rave reviews when it was produced by the Kennedy Center in Washington in the spring of 2009. New York critics loved it too when it opened on Broadway in mid-November.
Within weeks of Ragtime’s Broadway opening, however, the theater community was shocked by buzz that the acclaimed revival was filling less than two thirds of its seats and would close soon. Even more shocking was the subsequent confirmation that the show would indeed shutter right after the holidays. Despite its abbreviated run, the Ragtime revival was not forgotten months later and garnered a slew of nominations from the Tonys, Drama Desk and Drama League. (In D.C., Dodge had won one of Ragtime’s four Helen Hayes Awards and Darrington was nominated.)
The director and actor—who both made their Broadway debuts with Ragtime—are reuniting this week for a concert staging off-Broadway of The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s 1965 allegorical musical skewering social and economic injustice. Dodge is directing Roar of the Greasepaint for the York Theatre Company’s Musicals in Mufti series, with Darrington in a supporting role. The lead roles of Sir and Cocky are played, respectively, by Jim Brochu (Drama Desk Award winner for Zero Hour) and Josh Grisetti.
I interviewed Darrington, a.k.a. “Q,” and Dodge at York’s theater on Monday afternoon. It was their first day of rehearsals for a show that will have five performances starting Friday. Click here for tickets to Roar of the Greasepaint and more about the Mufti series.
So, how is it to be working together again?
QUENTIN: It’s something I was looking forward to, whether it was this project or any other. It’s a pleasure and a joy. It already feels like home, just from our talks over the phone as we prepared for the first rehearsal. It felt like we were back in the same old socks again with the holes—the good socks, not the smelly ones.
MARCIA: I’m in love with Quentin. And my husband knows, and I think my husband’s a little in love with him too, so it’s okay.
QUENTIN: She’s extremely funny, and extremely wise, and extremely skilled at what she does. Those three things are powerful, but on top of that, she has a charisma and an openness with people that invites you to do your best. It’s something she exudes when she speaks with you, when she embraces you, when she directs you—whatever she’s doing—there’s a brilliance about the way she invites you in. You feel and know you’re welcome and you can do anything, and you will be at your best. There’s a confidence and a strength that’s there in Marcia, and it really does make me feel at peace. It just feels like home.
Marcia, how did you discover Quentin?
Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens knew him because he had done Paper Mill Playhouse’s production of Ragtime. So when we were casting and looking for Coalhouse, they said, “You gotta hear this guy, you gotta hear this guy. You won’t believe his voice—he’s amazing.” And the great thing about it is he had done the show when he was really young, and when I got him, he was a father of three, so his growth as a man as well as a performer was fantastic, and the right fit for Ragtime.
And what about casting him in Roar of the Greasepaint?
This is a no-brainer. I knew Quentin would be game and get to sing an amazing song. He will bring soul and beauty to this song, “Feeling Good,” which is a declaration of independence.
It’s one of my all-time favorite shows. It was the first musical I ever did in college; I played an urchin. My husband did it in high school—he played Sir—and when we met, it was a little strange to find a soul mate who shared your love of Newley-Bricusse musicals. This was the ’70s in Ann Arbor, but we were Anthony Newley fans! So I have great affection [for the show].
