‘Triumph of Love,’ his latest project, a bawdy, fun comedy
Christopher Youstra is a major force behind a multitude of shows throughout the area. The Rockville native nominated for four Helen Hayes Awards for Outstanding Musical Direction presently is involved in four productions, and he eagerly anticipates projects scheduled for the summer and fall seasons.
Now that his musical direction of Ford Theater’s “Little Shop of Horrors” has contributed to the smash hit, he turns his attention to “Triumph of Love” at Olney Theatre.
The musical by Jeffrey Stock and Susan Birkenhead follows James Magruder’s book based on an 18th century comedy by Pierre Marivaux. Its Broadway run in 1997 starring Betty Buckley, F. Murray Abraham and Roger Bart earned Buckley a Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. The show also received Drama Desk Awards for Outstanding Lyrics and Outstanding Costume Design.
“The music is lovely throughout,” Youstra said. “Perhaps my favorite number is ‘Teach Me Not To Love You’ at the end of Act One because it allows everyone to come together. This is almost an operetta with little dialogue, no more than 10 minutes without music. The characters tell the story through recitatives with a contemporary edge and we include a harp to give a pastoral feel. We’ve deliberately reduced the orchestra in size for more of a chamber sound and have placed the musicians on stage as part of the setting.”
Joining the harp and keyboard are a percussionist, a trumpeter and a reed player, each on a variety of instruments. The musicians and cast alike are attired in period costumes and wigs for the merry romp that is sometimes bawdy, always rich in farce and constantly befuddling with multiple plot twists.
The opening of “Triumph of Love” is followed three days later by “The Dancing Princesses” at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. The children’s story is updated to the 1920s with zesty jazz and Charleston numbers. It will run concurrently with “Goldilocks and the Three Billypigs Gruff” which opened last month at Toby’s Youth Theatre. Both boast Youstra’s original music and lyrics.
Shortly after the children’s shows close at the end of May, Youstra will don his music director hat for Imagination Stage’s “How I Became a Pirate,” an adventure to delight ages 4 and up. About the same time, he segues to Studio Theatre for “Passing Strange,” a rock musical with an attitude. His musical direction of “Jerry Springer: The Opera” at Studio Theatre received a Helen Hayes nomination, as did “Titanic” at Toby’s Dinner Theater. He still regards the KKK tap dance number at the end of Act One in “Jerry Springer” as one of the zaniest moments he’s witnessed in theater.
Youstra’s resume bulges with some of the greatest musicals written, among them “Camelot,” “1776,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Aida,” “Kiss Me, Kate” and “Ragtime.” His creativity has illuminated shows at Arena Stage, Burn Brae Dinner Theatre, Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Signature Theatre and many other local venues.
To keep a finger in every possible pie while directing, composing and teaching nonstop, he is director of music at St. John the Evangelist Parish in Columbia where he has conducted a choir of 80 to 90 singers for 17 years, and he also is an artist mentor in composition with Washington National Opera’s education department. Already he is preparing for the fall season and involvement in “Rent” at Toby’s Dinner Theatre and a return to Olney for “Annie.”
“The theater calls,” he said, laughing. “I love what I do and I want the ‘Triumph of Love’ audience to take away the feeling of joy. It’s a gentle, loving piece that will help them appreciate the power of romantic love and the people in their lives.”
IF YOU GO:
“Triumph of Love,” the musical farce by James Magruder, Jeffrey Stock and Susan Birkenhead, runs April 14-May 9.
* Venue: Olney Theatre Center.
* Tickets: $26-$53, discounts for groups, senior, military and students, at 301-824-3400 or visit www.olneytheatre.org.
