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Director John McCluggage's musical theater experience comes full circle this holiday season while presenting Children's Musical Theater San Jose's Fiddler on the Roof, Dec. 514. McCluggage makes his youth directorial debut with Fiddler, the show he remembers as one of the seminal theater pieces of his childhood since seeing it on a youth theater stage in 1968, while balancing a full-time gig at San Jose Repertory Theater, where he is associate artistic director.
"I've been a big fan [of CMTSJ]," said McCluggage. "They have remarkable talent and production value."
The annual alumni show typically draws from a wide range of former CMTSJ performers over the age of 21. But this year, mature characters featured in Fiddler, complicated by time constraints of the holiday season, forced McCluggage to spread a larger net for additional "seasoned" actors to round out his cast.
"This is not your typical children's theater fare," said the director of the musical's complex story and the nontraditional approach he is taking."
The story, set in a Jewish village in Russia, follows a father, challenged by persecution and poverty, struggling to preserve the traditional ways of his family at the turn of the century.
"I looked at the show differently and I was naive in a good way--I think it's a fresh perspective."
Those familiar with McCluggage's sensibility will recognize the quick pace.
"In general, I like clean and smooth transitions. I like to keep to the dramatic action of the play," McCluggage says.
Using music, choreographed dance and choreographed scenes to keep a constant forward movement on the stage, McCluggage says all three approaches help tell the story.
He credits both a talented musical director and choreographer for helping him bring the story to life. Although sharing creative control over a production is not his norm, McCluggage is enjoying the change of scenery.
The children's musical stage may be where the next ingénue is cutting her teeth, but make no mistake: these youngsters are balancing school, work, soccer practice and maybe even a social life. More than 100 people, divided into four casts, rehearse in the evening hours compared to the nine-hour-day schedule McCluggage is used to keeping with professional actors. The after-hours rehearsals mean the cast must fit a day's worth of work into just a few hours, and McCluggage swears the sense of dedication matches that of his experience at the Rep.
"The work is the same. There's a lot of energy and commitment," McCluggage says. "It's great to have four different takes [on the play]--each group brings a different quality--I love them all."
"Fiddler on the Roof" runs Dec. 514 at Montgomery Theater in downtown San Jose. Tickets are $12 for children and $20 for adults. Call CMTSJ at 408.288.5437 or go to www.cmtsj.org for more information.
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