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photo: James Morgan

Interviewer: Our website audience is already familiar with Rodgers and Hammerstein shows like OKLAHOMA, CAROUSEL, THE KING AND I, and SOUTH PACIFIC. While all these shows seem homespun and all-American, even when taking place in Siam, how did you go about capturing their sensibility?

Joanne: Ah, how to capture the Rodgers and Hammerstein sensibility. How do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? Well, the setting is a farm. With corn. Lots of corn. Rows and rows of corn. Corn coming out of every imaginable place. A tremendous amount of corn. The keyword here is corn. The place: Kansas. The time: August. The hero is Big Willy, a wholesome, optimistic farmer/cowman/carnival barker. He's in love with June, who is also wholesome and optimistic, but a little bit sassy.

Eric: The villain is Jitter, the evil landlord, who is neither wholesome nor optimistic. That's why he's the villain.

Joanne: Then there's Mother Abby, who is both wholesome and optimistic, and as inspirational as a mezzo can be. They live in a world where horses wink at them, rivers whisper songs and larks learn to pray. It would be downright spooky, if it weren't so wholesome and optimistic. But it is.

Interviewer: Speaking of downright spooky, that leads us to your next musical, A LITTLE COMPLEX in the Style of Stephen Sondheim.