DOG AND PONY A NEWBORN MUSICAL
COMPOSER AND LYRICIST MICHAEL PATRICK WALKER ‘STUMBLES’ HIS WAY FROM NEW YORK TO THE OLD GLOBE by lisa lipsey
In the theatre world, San Diego is “all the Rage!”
We’re attracting gobs of noteworthy playwrights and directors who bring with them brand-spanking-new scripts. Last month The Rage Monthly took a look at La Jolla Playhouse’s new musical Chasing the Song. This month, in the comedy/romance genre, The Old Globe brings us the world premiere musical Dog and Pony. A recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, Dog and Pony comes from the accomplished writing team behind Jersey Boys, Peter and the Starcatcher and Altar Boyz. The premise, as noted by Old Globe is as follows:
“Mags and Andy are a screenwriting team with a track record of hits and a professional relationship that’s firing on all cylinders. But when Andy’s marriage hits the rocks, forever single Mags finds she wants
18 RAGE monthly | JUNE 2014
something more. Will romance ruin their perfect relationship? It’s a witty and irreverent look at what women want and whether men fit the bill...or don’t.” Now for me, hearing the phrase Dog and Pony
conjures a very specific image of chaos or a small traveling circus. Here in the United States the most notorious of these circuses was Prof. Gentry’s Famous Dog and Pony Show, which started touring in 1886. As my grandfather would say, “What kind of dog and pony show are you running here?”
MORE MODERN DEFINITIONS ARE AS FOLLOWS: 1. To put on a big show to win political votes. 2. To create a flashy advertising campaign that oversells a product.
It is also not so far-fetched to view the whole dating
and romance circuit—gay or straight—as one big “dog and pony show.” Clever, right? The Old Globe’s Artistic Director Barry Edelstein
notes that the creative team behind Dog and Pony are, “…huge talents, blessed with abundant imagina- tion, and they bring to The Globe a show that is funny, full of surprises and suffused with real feeling.” Michael Patrick Walker, who wrote the show’s
music and lyrics, sat down with The Rage Monthly to share some insights into the show, the path of a playwright and his composition process. Walker started on his path quite young, with his
music education in full swing by age five. He studied piano for many years, but it wasn’t until the age of 13 while playing a two-piano version of The Sound of
The cast and creative team (seated) cast members jon patrick walker and nicole parker, (standing, from left) choreographer lisa shriver, director roger rees, cast member heidi blickenstaff, composer michael patrick walker, playwright rick elice and cast members beth leavel and eric william morris. photo by jim cox.
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