Cabrillo Music Theatre will wow ya!

Lewis Wilkenfeld Holds the Reins at Cabrillo Music Theatre

from LA Stage News

by Steve Julian  |  July 20, 2011 

Cabrillo Music Theatre occupies a venue that Cabrillo artistic director Lewis Wilkenfeld describes as the largest theatrical house between Los Angeles and San Francisco — the 1,800-seat Kavli Theatre in the Bank of America Performing Arts Center at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza. You cannot miss it when driving past on the 101. Opened in 1994, it still looks new. Inside, however, is theatrical antiquity — a set for The Sound of Music built in 1972.

Lewis Wilkenfeld

“It was created for LA Civic Light Opera. I would guess for [longtime LACLO producer] Edwin Lester,” wagers Wilkenfeld, Cabrillo’s artistic director since 2006. Wilkenfeld has led Cabrillo to 24 Ovation Award nominations and seven wins. He has all but taken over running the place since Carole Nussbaum, who served as president and CEO, left in February after Marvelous Wonderettes. “Carole held a unique spot here at Cabrillo. It’s a role you cannot re-cast.”

Wilkenfeld was familiar around Cabrillo, after a few jobs as a freelance director. Nussbaum, he says, recognized the need to give the theater a consistent artistic vision, so she brought him on board full-time, a “step of maturity for Cabrillo,” as he calls it. “Since Carole left, I’m continuing to produce the shows as I have. Our musical director, Darryl Archibald, has stepped in as managing director for now.  Alexis Eaton, who assisted Carole for years, has taken on additional duties. The board of directors has stepped up in a big way. And our volunteers have stepped up. Carole cannot be replaced by one person – it’s taken about 20.”

Nussbaum was a force who could not be held back, Wilkenfeld says. “She’s always been destined to paint on a broader canvas. And, really, it’s been a wild ride [since she left] and we miss her terribly.”

He gives Nussbaum credit for turning around a teetering theater company, thanking God every day, he says, when he stumbles across something that she repaired or improved. “She is a fixer. And we were in tremendous turmoil when she arrived.”

A corporate lawyer whose family relocated to southern California more than a dozen years ago, Nussbaum understood how the company needed to run more like a business. “Her work with Cabrillo will forever leave a positive impact.”

She also was responsible for instituting Cabrillo’s outreach programs, including performances at a nearby naval base and free tickets to military personnel on Cabrillo’s home stage. “She also developed an outreach program to seniors, another for college students and, coming up, we’ll have an animal adoption effort during Annie,” notes Wilkenfeld.

He admits Cabrillo Music Theatre, like most companies, is suffering financially once again, after Nussbaum pointedly paid off company debts in 2004, before becoming president and CEO the following year. For today’s debts, Wilkenfeld blames the 2008 recession.

“We are working really hard through fundraising and donations and an honorary producers’ program for our community members. We’re stepping up our season ticket drive, just trying to offset the economic challenges.”

One tactic Wilkenfeld proposed four years ago, and Nussbaum instituted, was presenting four shows a year instead of three. “In a way it takes four shows to complete the meal. You’ve got to have your carbohydrates, your proteins, veggies and your dessert. Our upcoming season has Annie, which appeals to one side of the audience; Meet Me in St. Louis appeals to another side; Once Upon A Mattress feels new even when it’s old because it’s not done very much except by schools; and then a smaller show each year. This year we’re doing Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash.”

Shannon Warne with the Von Trapp Children

Opening next, however, is The Sound of Music. “Our musical director, Darryl Archibald, remembers seeing this with Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch) and Edward Mulhare (The Ghost and Mrs. Muir) in the 1970s, with a very young Crispin Glover as one of the boys. He’s been talking about that set ever since. Well, that very set is now on our stage.”

Stagehands, all volunteers, are spending several days piecing it together. “There are no instructions, only this massive three-story set we’re putting together!”

Wilkenfeld traces its provenance. “It’s currently owned by Musical Theatre West (MTW) in Long Beach. It was owned by San Bernardino Civic Light Opera for a time; they probably picked it up from Los Angeles CLO. When San Bernardino went under, they sold the scenery to Santa Barbara CLO, and they rented it out for many years and then it went to The Set Co. in Oxnard. I feel like we’re barbarians at the gate. Set Co. went under just about the time I got this job in 2006 and all these sets were given homes. We bought a few ourselves, including The King and I and The Music Man. Nobody has used this set since at least 2006.”

MTW artistic director Steven Glaudini says his company purchased several large, national tour sets from Set Co. when it went under. “Many came pretty trashed and without documentation. I thought it would be a win/win for both organizations to let Lewis rent it for a very affordable price and, in return, he would refurbish it and provide current photos with its ‘face-lift.’”

Wilkenfeld laughs at a stagehand’s discovery. “Someone jokingly has written on the back of the set how many nuns and how many children have been hurt since it was built.” Admittedly not sure, he suspects it a joke. “But now, when we share sets, whether it’s with Musical Theatre West, McCoy Rigby, the Norris Theatre or whoever, we take pictures of it and document it and pass it on to the next company using it. It’s very much like a kibbutz.”

It’s a common practice now. “We just used MTW’s Little Shop of Horrors set last year and we took a lot of photos and a scale drawing. This year, when McCoy Rigby did it, they had the photos and documentation. Everyone’s trying to help each other get through the financial times we’re in.” Costumes for The Sound of Music came from Fullerton Civic Light Opera. “FCLO’s sets are usually designed for a smaller space than ours and sometimes they fit, sometimes they don’t. But we love working with them. Our Jekyll and Hyde and Cats sets came from them.”

Not A Repertory Company

Tom Schmid and Shannon Warne

Cabrillo Music Theatre has the feel of a professional-community theater hybrid. “We are not a star-driven company or one that pre-casts a lot. Every role is open to everyone for all shows,” notes Wilkenfeld. “The exception is Ring of Fire which is very specific, and we’ll welcome back Sally Struthers as Mrs. Hannigan in Annie. She won an Ovation Award last year as the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella here.”

“We like new faces,” Wilkenfeld says. “We had 512 people audition for The Sound of Music. That’s a Cabrillo record. Three of our five leads have never done a show here before. Only two of our six kids have done shows here. And I have to say that auditioner #1 and auditioner #512 both got in the show.”

Wilkenfeld also likes creativity, recently witnessed when the company staged a flash mob for The Sound of Music. “My associate, Janelle Meinert, came up with the idea for this back in January and we worked with the Oaks Mall here in Thousand Oaks to make it happen. We’ve had over 2000 [YouTube] hits from it so far, and it brought a lot of attention to our show and our presence in the community.”

He says more than 200 performers took part – many of whom had never heard of Cabrillo Music Theatre. “But they know us now! Our choreographer, Heather Castillo, was the artistic architect of the event.”