1999

An interview with Andrew Moore by Alan North

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES at Arena

I slouched into the Arena Dinner Theatre rehearsal hall on a clear warm Thursday night on an assignment to speak to one Andrew Moore during a rehearsal for LA CAGE AUX FOLLES. Or at least I felt as if I had slouched in, but we'll come back to that.

My mission was to interview Andrew to allow the GREEN ROOM readers to get a feeling for what it's like to work in the chorus. As I entered the side door to the Arena rehearsal hall, it was clear that work was in progress. Several members of the chorus were scattered like accident victims around a piano and looked as if the first hour of rehearsal had drained them of most of their life force.

I mumbled an apology for the intrusion to music director Andy Gingrich, who was hospitable, exchanged a hello with choreographer Sara Black, and then announced that I was here to talk to chorus member Andrew Moore. Gingrich and Black seemed somehow immune to the destructive rays of the piano so they were standing, and that's where we come to the slouching part.

As I turn to face him, Andrew Moore stood and appeared to be either a very tall member of the chorus of La Cage aux Folles, or a basketball player in search of a pick-up game who had wandered into the Arena rehearsal hall by mistake. Or so I thought.

Andrew got permission to leave rehearsal for a few minutes to talk to me, and we found a table away from the life force draining piano in the rehearsal hall and sat in the theater proper where the set was being built. Of course we were situated in a spot that got a little bit of the worst or best of both worlds, so that the life force draining piano and a power drill punctuated most of our conversation. If you've never been in the chorus of a musical production, just imagine trying to hold a quiet conversation in the middle of an intersection somewhere between a Philharmonic percussion practice and a construction site, and you'll get the picture.

"It sounded like a fun show to do," Andrew told me between the notes of music and the sound of screws being tortured into unforgiving two by fours. "I haven't done any shows since high school and I wanted to get back to it a little bit while I had some free time."

Andrew's theatrical experience up until La Cage aux Folles had been limited to Bellmont High School productions where he had appeared as Linus in you're A Good Man Charlie Brown, Frank in Rehearsal For Murder, a chorus member/farm hand/guard in The Wizard of Oz, and Mr. Johnson in Bye Bye Birdie, all under the direction of Mr. Ray Casey.

"Right now I'm working at Sun Coast Motion Picture Company in Glenbrook," says Andrew, "and I'm actually leaving [Fort Wayne] shortly after the show. The last show is June 27^th, and I'm leaving on the 29^th. I'm relocating to North Carolina and I'm going to go to the North Carolina School of Arts to study musicology or music history as my masters doctorate. I am very excited about it."

Andrew credited his eighth grade voice teacher Judy Prill and his parents as the strong influences in his wanting to continue on to a career in music. "[Ms. Prill] really took me under her wing and taught me the ins and outs of music and made me a better musician," he says. "My parents were supportive from day one. They went to all my concerts, all my plays and musicals, and supported me not only financially, but on a personal level [regarding his musical education]."

As to how he felt about La Cage rehearsals, he replied, "I'm enjoying myself immensely. I think musical theatre is a lot more demanding. You have all your notes to learn and simultaneously you are blocking with your music and your choreography, plus [remembering] any lines you might have in the show, and making it all work together."

Rehearsal far La Cage usually starts each evening and gets out at about ten, according to Andrew. "But it's a fun three hours of rehearsal," he added. "It's work -- and it's hard work, but it all pays off. It just gets you more and more excited about the next rehearsal. Basically everyone is treated as an equal here. No matter what their musical background, no matter what their dance background or their stage background."

Andrew has a character name in La Cage aux Folles. He is Odette, a Cagelles. "Basically I am a drag queen in the little drag club," he says. "I hope the costume is big and flamboyant and really shows everyone that this is the show. As soon as the show opens we're in drag. I don't think in this show you can overdo that."

As we ended the interview and stood up from our chairs I was once again reminded of how Andrew seemed to tower beside me. As we said our good-byes, Andrew's lanky frame tottered just a little as a newborn colt might when standing on unsteady legs for the first time.

It was only as we walked away that I had occasion to look down and notice that Andrew's height advantage was partially due to the two and a half inch high-heeled pumps he was wearing.

As I passed the life force draining piano in the rehearsal hall, I casually handed some papers to director Christopher Murphy and drew myself up to my full unaided six feet -- less two inches -- and sauntered out the door in my Dr. Scholl's loafers.