ACE FIRST REHEARSAL

Today was first rehearsal for ACE. I wanted to share with you all some notes I prepared regarding the history and importance of this musical. I hope you come take this new musical adventure with us at Signature. It's a wonderful show to share with the whole family.

FIRST REHEARSAL
Welcome to the first rehearsal of ACE, a musical written by Richard Oberacker and Robert Taylor. It seems like it has been a long time coming.

Years ago, I was the creative director for Clear Channel Entertainment (which no longer exists). There, we commissioned a number of new musicals from young artists, and ACE was part of this commissioning program. So I was familiar with the show name but had not seen or read the recent script.

At Signature Theatre, we presented a new musical called THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO FISHMAN that Richard also wrote. Audiences are still, today, asking us to bring the show back. Since then, I’ve been one of Richard’s biggest fans, supporting anything that he was working on. Truth be told, Signature has commissioned Richard and Robert to write another new musical for us as soon as this is up.

I remember the day when producer Tom Smedes called me at Signature and said, “You don’t know me, but I know you know through Richard. I’d like to talk to you about his new musical, ACE. I’d like you to direct it.” Tom and I soon met and hit it off instantly. After that, Tom and I, immediately, got to work bringing ACE to Signature.

Musical theater is a state of change and growth. But I am a firm believer that everything comes full circle. ACE will enlighten this generation about how the American musical evolved — telling a story so rich in emotional depth that only music and song can express the true feelings of the character. Those moments transport an audience into a new world, moving us, making us grow, and ultimately allowing us to discover new emotions. ACE is chock-full of moments like this.

As Richard and Rob have always said, ACE is about truth — nothing more — nothing less. Discovering truth, realizing truth, and living the truth. Truth is a big word.

I’ve looked back at history and discovered a few, if not important, times the word has been used:

• President John F. Kennedy said “The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie — deliberate, contrived and dishonest — but the myth — persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.”

• Galileo claims “All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.”

• And perhaps Virginia Wolfe made the strongest point. “If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.”

But more than the word itself is the sense of discovery that comes from behind it. Truth leads to discovery in oneself, in one’s world, and one’s life. By opening just one door, ACE’s main character Danny, a young boy, has the opportunity to see a world left behind and ultimately build a bridge to his future. As the ACE character John Robert sings “In these skies I am free.” Danny will be, indeed, and we hope you will too.

ACE is a special story, especially resonant for our time and this generation. We have a failing economy, rising gas prices, and home foreclosures at the forefront of our minds. But we’re forgetting about a war — remember that war over the undiscovered weapons of mass destruction, a war we’re spending one billion dollars a day on? ACE speaks to us about loss, casualties of war, and the truth of war – although I really don’t know if there is any truth to war. It’s is ugly and, in the end, no one wins, but we are changed forever. When ACE leading lady Elizabeth, learning of her loved one’s death, sings “That’s what it should say, when all your fears have now come true…” she is feeling the same pain that, today, over 4,000 families have experienced as they’ve lost their children, spouses, brothers, or sisters in war. And it all goes back to truth. For if we would have searched a little deeper for the truth, would we be in this war at all?

This show is important for everyone one of us in what it says and what it delivers. There is not a better team of people to bring ACE to life, make it speak and deliver. Thanks to Richard and Rob for writing this wonderful original musical — how refreshing! And to the talented design team of scenic designer Walt Spangler, costume designer Robert Perdziola, lighting designers Ken Billington and Jason Kantrowitz, projection designer Michael Clark, sound designer Simon Matthew, musical director David Kreppell, choreographer Karma Camp, and my dear friend and Orchestrator Jonathan Tunick who will make Richards music just soar in a way that will be thrilling on all levels. It will be a terrific first step on this journey together.

I also want to thank Tom Smedes and Nancy Nagel Gibbs for their support and energy on this special project.

This is the first leg of the ACE journey. Signature provides us a fertile ground to create, take risks, and develop a wonderful piece of musical theater that will challenge our audiences for days to come.

I am excited to be taking this journey with all of you and I look forward to an amazing 10 weeks ahead. The love and dedication that has been poured into this show is so evident – as the longtime peace activist William Sloane Coffin said, “The world is too dangerous for anything but truth and too small for anything but love.” And those words of truth and love are truly the world of ACE.

-es