You never know who’s going to walk into your restaurant.
“The Most Beautiful Room in New York,” a new musical premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven through May 28, has some fascinating folks sitting at its New York restaurant tables.
The book for the show is by New Yorker reporter and diarist Adam Gopnik. Its songs are by David Shire, whose dozens of film scores include “All the President’s Men” and “Zodiac,” and whose previous stage musicals include “Starting Here, Starting Now,” “Baby” and “Big.” The director is Long Wharf Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein, who already has directed three other shows at the theater this season: “Meteor Shower,” “Endgame” and “Napoli, Brooklyn.”
The 11 members of the cast seem just as eclectic and versatile. Everyone involved seems eminently capable of scintillating dinner conversation.
When actor Constantine Maroulis arrived to work on “The Most Beautiful Room in New York,” he also started asking about local clubs where he might be able to play. That’s the same attitude he had the last time he appeared in a show in New Haven. Maroulis was in a 2004 tour of “Rent” that visited the Shubert. His bandmates in the rock group Pray for the Soul of Betty followed the “Rent” tour and set up shows at clubs in the same cities where the musical was performing.
In the 13 years between “Rent” and “The Most Beautiful Room in New York,” Maroulis made a splash as a finalist in the fourth season of “American Idol,” embarked on a solo career and appeared in some TV variety shows and sitcoms. He has especially distinguished himself in musical theater, starring on Broadway in “Rock of Ages” and “Jekyll & Hyde.” He’s also a fashion trendsetter, known for his stylish hats (which he says he gets from Goorin Brothers, JJ Hat Center and custom haberdasher Nick Fouquet).
“I’m an interesting hybrid,” Maroulis said in a phone interview last month. “I grew up as a classical actor and a rock singer, then became a musical theater performer. I often get hired to do all three.”
Maroulis calls “The Most Beautiful Room in New York” “an exciting new piece of theater. This is what every actor craves. There is a lot that is changing in the room on this one. The writers are there every day. We’ve had the luxury of time, getting the show to where we want it to be.”
One of the changes was the title. Until recently it was “Table”; the new, longer title comes from one of the show’s songs.
Maroulis played the romantic headbanger-busboy Drew in “Rock of Ages,” but compares his “Most Beautiful Room” role, Sergio, to someone else from that rock musical: “I sort of play the Stacee Jaxx character in this show. I usually play characters you root for, but with this, I’m coming in as a cocky, successful, rich chef. Sergio is like a rock star of the restaurant world. I’m recruited to save this small restaurant. The foodie cult out there will enjoy this.'”
Stylistically, Maroulis describes the show as “naturalistic, conversational, like a stage play with music.”
Anastasia Barzee plays the show’s female lead, Claire. On the phone last month from her New York home, she agrees with Maroulis that “The Most Beautiful Room in New York” is a gentle sort of musical. “It’s almost like a chamber piece — small, intimate. No helicopters landing.” The songs, Barzee says, are “character-driven. They’re beautiful songs that are also storytelling songs.”
Claire is the wife and business partner of beleaguered Union Square restaurateur David Kaplan (Matt Bogart, a cast change from the previously announced Joe Cassidy). “I’m the manager of the restaurant, married to the chef,” Barzee explains. “We’re facing a rent increase from $5,000 to $35,000. It’s the story of a family business faced with a dilemma. Sergio is the devil who comes back into our lives. It turns out that he and I had a thing, years ago.”
Barzee is known hereabouts for playing the title role in “Kiss Me, Kate” at Hartford Stage in 2015. Her Broadway credits include “Urinetown,” “Jekyll & Hyde,” “Miss Saigon” and the Ethan Hawke/Kevin Kline production of “Henry IV,” all in the early ’00s. “I’ve worked on a couple of new shows before,” she says. This is the best version of working on a new project that I’ve ever seen. Gordon Edelstein, Adam Gopnik and David Shire are just so quick, so open and collaborative. They’re the smartest people I’ve ever been around … and I know some smart people!”
Like Maroulis, Barzee took an unusual route to a career in musical theater. “I was a musician — a pianist and a flutist. I auditioned to get into the University of Miami, but I couldn’t get a scholarship. A friend suggested I try for a musical theater scholarship, and I got one. At that point, I had never seen a musical! “
And how do the musically accomplished stars of “The Most Beautiful Room in New York” deal with the other key aspect of the show, food?
Maroulis mentions that he comes from a large Greek family, that his grandparents were in the restaurant business and that “I can cook.”
As for Barzee, she just says “I love food! I never got into cooking until I had children.
“In my family”— and clearly in this show as well — “great importance is placed on the time we spend together at a table.”
THE MOST BEAUTIFUL ROOM IN NEW YORK — book and lyrics by Adam Gopnik, music by David Shire, directed by Gordon Edelstein — is at the Long Wharf Theatre, 222 Sargent Drive, New Haven through May 28. Performances are Wednesday at 7 p.m.; Thursday and Friday at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 3 and 8 p.m.; and Sunday at 2 and 7 p.m.; with Wednesday matinees on May 17 and 24. There is no Saturday matinee on May 6 and no Sunday evening performance on May 28. Tickets are $34.50 to $89.50. 203-787-4282, longwharf.org.
