No Shrinking Violet

With the musical Violet set to open in Melbourne this week, director and award winning performer sat down to chat with Coral Drouyn about this very special show.

There’s a school of thought that says writers and directors both benefit from being actors first. Mitchell Butel would seem to be the prime example of that. He’s won three Helpmann awards, two Green Room awards and more nominations for his work on stage; oh, not forgetting several AACTA nominations for his work in film and television. In short, he’s a consummate performer at the top of his game.

If you don’t know the name you certainly know his work if you’re a lover of musical theatre. He’s the guy who is funny, poignant, slightly off centre, endearing, truthful and loaded with charisma….though he would most probably blush at the description. He’s written his own cabaret show Killing Time and provided material for other performers such as the fabulous Meow Meow. It might seem inevitable then that Mitch picked up the Sydney Theatre Award for best Direction of a Musical for Violet – which received eight nominations and also won the awards for best Independent Production of A Musical, and best Musical Direction for Lucy Bermingham. It’s all the more remarkable given that this is Butel’s first outing as a director of a full scale musical. It won’t be his last though, and he’s going to need a bigger dresser to hold all of his awards in the future, given that he’s only about halfway through his career.

Mitch concedes that there are advantages to holding the reins when you’ve already tasted what it’s like to be the horse on the other end.

“I think it’s an advantage to truly understand what the actor is going through….what insecurites are creeping in; what fears are stopping you from letting go; and also, how you forge a relationship with your director. I’ve been lucky enough to have some great relationships with my directors, but I have to say there have been one or two I didn’t understand. I couldn’t grasp what they wanted from me. It was as if we were speaking a different language,” he tells me, sitting in the foyer of the Alex Theatre, where I was between a tech run and a performance. It’s a mark of what a good bloke he is that he agreed to come to me for the interview, to make the day a little simpler for me.

“For the actor, it’s all about making a connection to the audience. But for the director, it’s about making a connection with the actor, and that has to come first.  If there’s a communication breakdown, or you’re travelling on a different path and not conveying a vision, then your cast is going to feel cut adrift. For me, whether it’s a director doing his or her first show – or last – I want that director to be silently telling me, “Trust me, I am listening to you, I won’t let you fall.”

Part of the success of Violet is due to the cast knowing their director’s work on stage, and knowing they have that support. They all knew Mitch, and some, like Samantha Dodemaide who plays Violet, have even worked alongside him on stage.

Mitch returns to the stage later this year, appearing in Disgraced, alongside Kat Stewart, for the MTC. But Mitch isn’t that comfortable talking about himself, he’d far rather talk about Violet, about which he feels passionately.

“We’re all of trying to find out who we really are, and then getting others to acknowledge that. Sometimes we spend our whole lives looking for the answers to that, or misreading the signs and not realising the answer was there all along.  That’s what Doris Betts’ story The Ugliest Pilgrim was about. Our perceptions of people based on only a little knowledge,” he tells me.

(I knew Betts’ story, written in 1969, and admit I was greatly moved by it. Betts also wrote Beasts of the Southern Wild, read both if you haven’t already.)

It’s not the most likely story for a musical, though it combines both a physical and emotional journey of a disfigured girl (Violet) who wants to be healed by a faith healer so that she can be loved, never realising that the right person sees the beauty on the inside. Mitch saw the show on Broadway, but that’s not where it’s journey began.

“I just adored it, I even wept quite openly, but I could see that it wouldn’t be a huge hit on Broadway per se. We are quite new to the idea of Independent Musicals in Australia.” he says, “but it’s a long standing tradition  in New York. There’s Broadway, and there’s Off Broadway, and they are two separate things. You can run for years Off-Broadway without ever touching Broadway itself; The Fantasticks, for example, has run for over 50 years. Off Broadway shows tend not to fit the formula, they don’t cater to the great masses, they often tackle subjects which are edgy and thought-provoking, and they tend to have a niche audience. And that’s where Violet started.”

Even then it took nearly 30 years for the show to move from Betts’ story to the stage, thanks largely to Jeanine Tesori, the most awarded female composer in theatre history. However, it’s fair to say that she is better known to the public for her music to Thoroughly Modern Millie  and a slew of film musicals, as well as the Tony Award winning Fun Home, nevertheless she won awards with lyricist and librettist Brian Crawley for Violet, her first musical.

“When you take a story like Violet’s journey, and then you add this beautiful score by Jeanine Tesori, which is a combination of Blue Grass, Gospel and folk….beautiful melodies evocative of the region, and sensitive lyrics and book by Brian, well, let’s just say that something special was bound to happen,” Mitchell explains. “It’s one of those shows that musical theatre people have been crazy about for years, but doubted we would ever see produced in Australia. That’s why it’s so important to have Independent companies (like Blue Saint, Pursued by Bear, Neil Gooding Productions, The Life Like Company, Vic Theatre Company and so many others) taking real chances with musicals we’ve heard about but never seen. It’s a risk, many don’t even break even, and the producers, in this case Josh Robson and Damien Bermingham, have real passion and commitment to what they’re doing.”

It also doesn’t hurt to have a cast that has the same love for the show as the director and producers. Alongside Samantha Dodemaide as Violet, Steve Danielson, Barry Conrad – all great young talents - producer Damien Bermingham plays the father and Mitch is excited to tell me about a coup for Melbourne.

“We had Genevieve Lemon in the Sydney production, but unfortunately she wasn’t available for this season. But instead we have the divine and wonderful Deirdre Rubinstein joining us and it’s exhilarating for me to be working with her,” he says.

But is there a glut of musicals in town at the moment? Why should people go to see this one. Mitch thinks for a moment.

“Well, I’m biased. I don’t believe you can have too many musicals. But there are a LOT of Main Stage shows at present and they will draw crowds because they are big flashy productions and well performed. This is a small show with a very big heart. It’s serious but also funny, moving without being a ‘downer’. You should see it because it will make you think and feel deeply. It will touch you spiritually. Sadly, there aren’t enough shows that do that. It’s been life changing for all of us” he says, “And I’m sure it will be for the audience too.”

Oh, and bring a clean hanky or a box of tissues just to be safe.

VIOLET plays at Chapel off Chapel from March 3^rd – 20^th, 2016

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