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BY ANTHONY STOECKERT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
In her more than 20 years as a Broadway producer, Daryl Roth has backed six Pulitzer-Prize-winning plays and worked with people like Edward Albee and Angela Lansbury.
Proud as she is of those lofty achievements, she's equally satisfied with a show aimed for the younger set. "Dear Edwina," a musical by Zina Goldrich and Marcy Heisler, debuted at the DR2 Kids Theatre in New York last year and, wouldn't you know it, received critical acclaim and a Drama Desk nomination.
Now the show is a budding holiday tradition. Roth is bringing "Dear Edwina" back to the DR2 — owned by Roth by the way — for a run through Feb. 15.
Unusual as it may be for a major producer to back a children's show, Roth had a good reason for bringing "Dear Edwina" to her stage. Four of them, in fact."My incentive is that I have four great, fabulous grandchildren," she says during a telephone interview from her New York office. "And I've always taken them to theater... and I always love to look for things to share with them. And I believe you can never stop too early to get a love of theater."
She says the ideal age range for "Dear Edwina" is between 4 and 12, with 7-9 being the "sweet spot." Roth says it's the kind of show kids will love, while entertaining their parents and grandparents.
The show is about Edwina, a young girl who's a sort of budding Dear Abby. She puts on a show in her garage, sharing letters kids send her about their personal issues. These letters lead to songs like "Hola, Lola," which is about moving into a new neighborhood, and having to make new friends. "Put it in the Piggy" is a song about a piggy bank and the importance of saving money — a lesson a few of us adults could learn.
"I wanted to do really smart, good things," she says. "And I started this kids' series a couple of years ago. "Dear Edwina's" not the only production [in the kids series] but it's truly fabulous that it's part of this because now... it will come back each year."
Roth grew up in a theater-loving home in Wayne with parents who listened to Broadway cast recordings and took their two daughters to Broadway shows. Producing wasn't her first line of work, though. She was an established interior designer, already in her 40s, when she produced her first show, 1988's "Closer Than Ever" by Richard Maltby Jr. and David Shire.
"It's just something I've always loved," she says of theater. "And while I never aspired to be an actress, I always, I think, had a little voice in my head that said, There's a way for me to be involved in this world. And so when my kids were a little bit older... I just kind of had to figure out a way to do it."
Along the way, she also figured out how to produce those six Pulitzer Prizer-winners ("August: Osage County," "Proof," "Wit," "How I Learned to Drive," "Anna in the Tropics" and "Three Tall Women") along with hits like the musical "Curtains," "The Year of Magical Thinking" starring Vanessa Redgrave, and an acclaimed 2004 revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf."
Not only does Roth produce all these shows, she owns her own off-Broadway theater. The Daryl Roth Theatre opened in 1996 in a building previously owned by Union Square Bank. Roth's theater was home to the successful performance piece, "De La Guarda," for seven years, and currently hosts its sister show, "Fuerza Bruta."
Success is a good thing, of course, but "De La Guarda" got in the way of Roth's goal to bring children's shows to her theater. So she opened a second stage — the 99-seat DR2 — in what used to be garage space. The DR2 has been home to Roth's children's series, including "Dear Edwina."
"It's very welcoming," she says of the DR2. "And my whole philosophy behind this is to really welcome young people in, engage them, and make them feel that this is such a wonderful adventure, and then as they grow, they'll grow along with everything."
The economy, of course, isn't good these days, but that doesn't seem to have slowed Roth down. She has two shows on Broadway, "Fela" and a revival of Sondheim's "A Little Night Music" starring Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones. There's also an off-Broadway show "Love, Loss, And What I Wore" written by Nora and Delia Ephron. And she's expecting to announce something new soon.
"There are always risks but I love what I do and I think there's an audience," she says of producing in this economic climate. "Even in challenging economic times, people still want entertainment, they want to be moved. They want to take their children to see things, they want to celebrate life. I'm just an ever-optimistic person."
"Dear Edwina" is being performed at DR2 Kids Theatre, 103 E. 15th St., N.Y. (between Union Square East and Irving Place), through Feb. 15. Performances: Fri. 7 p.m., Sat.-Sun. 11 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. (Additional performances scheduled Dec. 28-31.) Tickets cost $39. For information, go to www.dearedwina.com
