A-LISTS theatre by tony reverditto A new crop of artists are emerging on the theatrical scene and Brian Pugach
is certainly is no exception. Having earned his BA in Theatre at UCLA, he was able to hone his craft by writing the musical, No Reservations, resulting in win- ning both the Martin Sosin-Peter Matz Musical Theatre Writing Award and a UCLA Musical Theatre Writing Award. He seems to have an affinity for fan- tasy and got on board with Oogy Green and Other Fables as a songwriter and performer for the Celebration and Geffen Theatres. He won first runner-up in the Tim Robbins Playwriting competition and the Academy for New Musical Theatre’s Search for New Musicals. Then there was Pugach’s next labor of love, The Next Fairy Tale which he
began development back in the summer of 2008 at UCLA. Theatre students gathered monthly to read segments and ironed out the kinks. Through a lot of revising, the show made its way to the Celebration Theatre for its first staged reading that December. The reading was then remounted at UCLA and the show repeated Pugach’s award-winning streak. Michael Shepperd, The Celebration’s Artistic Director and the Director of the production joined Pugach in his endeavor, providing input and involvement in developing the script and score. The Next Fairy Tale was completed, and a few months later it was announced as the third show in Celebration’s 28th season. There you have it; a fresh hot same-sex fairy-tale, world-premiere-musical- saga-fantasy, romance with song, dance and men in tight pants! The tale goes like this; every 100 years, the magic mirror chooses a hero’s quest that will be- come the next fairy tale. As a rule, the Fairy Godmothers then assist the hero, but when Prince Copernicus is chosen, the leader Minerva is aghast when she learns that the true love he intends to rescue is another prince. With sabotage on her agenda, Minerva assigns Hazel, a failed Godmother on probation and the laughing stock of her peers to take on this assignment (why am I thinking of Aunt Clara from Bewitched?). Hazel is self-doubting and terrified when she is chosen, as she was the Centennial Godmother in last century’s fairy tale (Little Red Riding Hood). You all know the story, she arrived late and her client was eaten; hence her probation (she hasn’t been allowed to use her wand for the last century). Her spells have an unfortunate tendency to break things and set them on fire. With that said, she joins Copernicus on a quest to save his prince-in-distress, oblivious to the fact that Minerva is watching their every move in the mirror. Will her plot to stop them at any cost succeed? Probably not, this is a fairy tale and we all know how they end!
Hi Brian, Where are you from originally? Fullerton, in Orange County.
In what way did growing up there affect your path as an artist? I was obsessed with musicals at a young age, and I was lucky to grow up in a town with
performance opportunities for young students. I joined a children’s company when I was 12 where I did two musicals a year, and I went to a high school for the performing arts. It was a great environment for me, since I wanted to do as many shows as possible. You have an impressive résumé of acting credits, Harold and Maude, Our Town, Mukashi Mukashi at UCLA/Geffen, F*cking Men at the Celebration and the world premiere of Treefall Rogue Machine that led to a StageSceneLA Best Featured Actor in a Drama for you. Did the acting lead to writing or vice versa? Acting led to writing. I wrote my first musical when I was a sophomore in the musi-
cal theatre program at UCLA. I wanted more chances to perform, so I started writing shows with the intention of being in them. When did you first realize that you had an aptitude for writing? I started writing songs in high school and never shared them with anyone until my sophomore year at UCLA. My roommate was a fellow musical theater fan and wanted to hear my songs when I mentioned them one day. He liked them, and I started sharing my work with classmates and getting positive responses. What is the first project that you put to the stage? CLUE the Musical, based on the board game and movie. There already is a musical
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RAGE monthly | APRIL 2011
PLAYWRIGHT ASPIRES TO LIVE
HAPPILY EVER AFTER
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