Musical classic ‘Pajama Game’ wakes up to new popularity

Wednesday, May 6, 1998

Musical classic ‘Pajama Game’ wakes up to new popularity

THEATER: Harewood, Ebersole leap for roles in revival of ’54
production

By Cheryl Klein

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

With three kids, two still in diapers, actress Christine
Ebersole spends a fair share of her time playing pajama games, and
her attempt to discuss her latest theater project is infused with
shrieks and giggles.

"You hear this?" Ebersole marvels. "It’s like nursery
school."

She laughs loudest, sparkles the most when talking about her
children. Four-year-old Elijah loves the Beatles, for example, and
Aron and Maedawn, adopted from opposite ends of the globe, arrived
at LAX on the same day.

Yet Ebersole is temporarily laying aside this chaotic bliss for
chaos of a different kind – eight days of intense rehearsal for
"The Pajama Game." Opening tonight at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, the
musical is the latest installment of "Reprise! Broadway’s Best in
Concert." The series revives lesser-known works from musical
theater’s heyday for fresh audiences. This production of the 1954
musical chronicles a love affair between labor and management at –
where else – a pajama factory.

"It’s about the age-old story of love and class struggle and
conflict and those things that never seem to go away," Ebersole
sums up.

But while such themes have been dramatic and comedic fodder
throughout history, formats for depicting them have changed
drastically. Both Ebersole and co-star Dorian Harewood have done
their share of film and television work, but leapt at the chance to
play a new game, dabbling in the canon of the theater world.

"There are really good musicals in all different eras, but the
best ones were the ones done earlier," says Harewood, who plays
peacemaker and Superintendent Sid Sorokin. "They knew how to write
songs that people would walk away humming or whistling."

"They," at the time of the show’s debut, included then-unknowns
Harold Prince, Bob Fosse and Shirley MacLaine. "The Pajama Game"
also spawned such songs as "Hey There," which reached No. 1 on the
pop charts that year. Harewood attributes the show’s success to the
broad appeal of its songs, something he feels is missing from
contemporary productions, including "Kiss of the Spiderwoman,"
which he starred in at the Ahmanson a few seasons ago.

"’Kiss of the Spiderwoman’ didn’t have the translation to the
popular audience to become something that someone like Whitney
Houston or Luther Vandross could sing," Harewood says.

Working on "Kiss" with Chita Rivera, however, did make the actor
privy to the Tony-winning actress’ career advice. Harewood, who
begun his career as a singer and feels this is where his true
passion lies, had at that point established himself as an actor in
"Full Metal Jacket" and other films.

"(Rivera) basically told me, ‘I love your voice … If you
really want to sing, you have to turn down some of those acting
jobs,’" Harewood recalls. "It made me examine why I did and
continue to do some acting jobs. A good percentage of jobs I did,
in reflection, were just to pay bills."

Thus "The Pajama Game" marks a return to their roots for both
leads, a chance to schedule theater into their hectic itineraries
as well as present the show (which both confess not having seen
before) to college students and others around campus. Assisting
them are several students from UCLA’s Musical Theatre Workshop who
have been cast in the revival – a prime opportunity given the size
of the venue and the professional status of the production.

"It’s sort of like studying the classics," Ebersole says. "I
think theater is the foundation and that other art forms sort of
branched off."

Harewood echoes the importance of a strong education in the
oldies, which he hopes will curtail such
pop-artist-turned-Andrew-Lloyd-Webber sagas as Paul Simon’s recent
flop, "The Capeman," and the much ridiculed cross-genre experiment
that was "Cop Rock."

"I do feel that pop writers can do it. They just have to know
what the area is and what the requirements are," Harewood says. "So
if I could advise UCLA students, I would ask them definitely to
study the old musicals. And then make them work for
themselves."

THEATER: "The Pajama Game" opens tonight and runs through May 17
at the Freud Playhouse. Tickets range from $45 to $60. For more
information, call 825-2101.

UCLA Freud Playhouse

Christine Ebersole plays Babe in "The Pajama Game."

UCLA Freud Playhouse

Dorian Harewood plays Sid Sorokin in "The Pajama Game."