The curtain going up on C. Leonard Raybon’s first season as artistic director at Summer Lyric Theatre at Tulane University isn’t a debut, so to speak.
After working with the local musical menagerie for 30 years, he’s no ingenue, starting off on stage in the mid-1990s in lead roles and then working his way to the orchestra pit and as musical director, then in the past few years as acting artistic director.
But Summer Lyric is just one of his many costumes he dons at the Uptown university, where he is the associate professor of music and director of choirs, the Virginia Beer Professor in Singing and the associate chair of the Newcomb Department of of Music.
His first official season as acting director kicks off with “A Chorus Line,” then moves to “Company” and ends with “Carousel.”
An intentional move to “C” these shows on stage?
“Well, that was kind it started out as a coincidence and then I kind of leaned into it,” he said, “but I wanted to do ‘Carousel’ because this is one of the Rodgers and Hammerstein shows that I have just never done before and I love the music so much.
“Of course, there’s some really dark things in there but in my other research with the Sacred Nine Project (a project aimed at curating and preserving American music from 1700 to 1900), I kind of just hit those kinds of things head on,” he said.
Diane Lala, who will direct “Carousel,” recently helmed the musical at another company, and Raybon noted, “it just seem like a great place to start and then last summer we tried to get the rights to ‘Company’ but were not successful and I just carried that over to this summer because … it’s probably my favorite show and it’s basically one set, one set of costume so it’s relatively inexpensive to produce,” a consideration an artistic director must factor into show choices.
“So that was my two and I thought well let’s just go for three” shows with Cs “and I thought of ‘A Chorus Line,'” Raybon said.
No simple show to stage, the cast must bring strong talent in acting, dance and vocals — the legendary “triple threat.”
“You absolutely do,” he said. “This is a difficult part. You don’t have to have a lot (of cast). I mean it’s not like 20 but you have to know eight or 10 or 12. I mean that’s a lot of triple threats.
A triple threat
Jauné Buisson not only directs “A Chorus Line,” but she also choreographed and takes one of the starring roles. Local stage luminary and Summer Lyric vet Leslie Castay takes on “Company” as the second show. With Lala, Raybon brings a trio of women to the directing posts, a first for the local ensemble.
“Diane has been directing shows for us for probably a couple of decades now — she does one literally every summer. She’s so talented and she’s extremely organized very even tempered and so it’s just a no-brainer,” he said.
“I knew that Leslie … had been directing around the city and we had a conversation and so I thought, ‘Last time we did “Company,” she was Joanne (who sings “The Ladies Who Lunch”) and I’m gonna ask her to direct,’ and she said yes,” he recalled. “And then Jauné, who has been a longtime choreographer of ours, had expressed interest in doing some directing.
“I thought ‘A Chorus Line’ could not be a better fit because she played Cassie last time and is going to play Cassie again this time of course and direct,” Raybon said.
“It just yeah it just kind of like materialized organically like that and I’m very happy it did.”
Practical decisions on show placement came into play for Raybon, “like building sets-wise, what progression seems the most efficient and elegant in terms of work, workforce labor, and all that sort of things; usually it’s more of a practical decision than an artistic one the order of the shows.”
The next act
For the future, Raybon sees Summer Lyric filling a unique spot on the theatrical calendar of offerings in the city, a calendar that has seen losses and struggles for some companies.
“Summer Lyric Theater has a sweet spot and in the traditional, some people call it ‘golden age musical’ and that happens to be where my sensibilities are most comfortable,” he said. “In the future, I do want us to dial into some of the newer shows, maybe one of the three shows to attract a wider audience in our city since a lot of theaters are really struggling. A lot of theaters have closed down. We have struggled a bit financially since COVID and right now, my main goal is to get us on a really great financial footing and then I want to do more take more risks, shows that maybe people haven’t heard or don’t know much about but they have a really wonderful message for today.
“I absolutely want us to to keep being known for honoring these old masterpieces, but I do want us to dare to go in another direction at the same time.”
For his first official summer as artistic director, though, Raybon will go into the pit for to conduct for “Carousel,” a spot many might think would be a safe bet for the veteran maestro.
‘High alert’
“I would never call it a happy place because I’m kind of a nervous personality anyway,” he said. “I was telling someone the other day … conducting a musical theater piece with orchestra in general is terrifying because there’s so many variables that they can go south really quick, and if you’re not ready to make split second adjustments or decisions, things can go really wrong.
“I’m always on high alert when I’m conducting.”
Joining him will be a mix of newbies and seasoned performers, “a lot of carryover, most of them are Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra players and I have a huge overlap every summer. They come back again again I think they like working at Summer Lyric. And all the players are just so sharp.
“These players they want to be right. They want to make the show a success and they’re just all in and I really appreciate them and always have.”
Raybon will have to keep the nerves in check starting June 19 when “A Chorus Line” opens at Dixon Hall on Newcomb Circle on the Uptown campus. Visit liberalarts.tulane.edu/summer-lyric-theatre.