It rained cats and dogs for the Goodspeed Opera House’s 40th Anniversary Gala. Despite the adverse weather, however, showbiz luminaries trundled their way to the Chauncey Stillman Production Center in East Haddam to toast the talented director and choreographer Susan Stroman. “Stro,” as she’s known to the Broadway crowd, was feted on this stormy night by such fans as Co-chairman Scott Rudin (producer of the Oscar-winning movie The Hours), Shubert Prez Phil Smith and playwright Tricia Walsh-Smith, producers Allan and Beth Williams, Thomas and Carolyn Meehan, Walter Bobbie, William Ivey Long, Bob Boyett, Dr. Jeffrey and Carole Hays, and original Annie star Andrea McArdle.
Goodspeed Executive Director Michael Price was obviously thrilled at the turnout, recalling how “Stro” had started her career at the Opera House before she hit the big time with mega-hits Contact and The Producers.
Thomas Meehan, librettist for The Producers, Hairspray, and Annie, presented Susan with a hilarious award—a framed copy of her first 1977 contract with the Opera House, which revealed a bank-breaking wage of $210 a week!
Then, Susan stepped up to the podium and put the elegant crowd in stitches as she recalled her teenage years when she accompanied a friend to a Goodspeed audition. After curiously peering through the window into the dance studio, a bulb over her head lit up and changed her life.
“There had to be at least 300 dancers auditioning,” she said. “And I thought: ‘I can learn from this!’” Susan immediately joined the audition. “At the end of the day, there were two of us left, and I would spend the summer in East Haddam as a dancer with Goodspeed!”
The evening concluded with the delightful Andrea McArdle singing “The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow,” from Annie, which was one of many Broadway shows first developed and premiered at Goodspeed. To all those involved with the Opera House, The Sheet wishes you a bright future, brimming with hits!
