Suzanne Dunn directs a rehearsal of ‘Respect: A Musical Journey of Women’ at the Delray Beach Playhouse. This is her first time as director there. Tim Stepien/The Coastal Star
Related Story: Delray Beach Playhouse: The show goes on again
By Ron Hayes
“If you could choose one song that meant the most to you,” Suzanne Dunn asks, “what would be the soundtrack of your life?”
Beginning Jan. 28, the Delray Beach Playhouse will offer 60 suggestions from more than a century of popular song when Respect: A Musical Journey of Women debuts under Dunn’s direction.
With a cast of eight and a five-piece band, the main-stage musical revue charts the history of women asking for a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t, as reflected in the lyrics of songs from 1910 to the present.
The memories are not always sweet, or respectful.
Yes, you’ll hear Helen Reddy’s defiant anthem, I Am Woman (Hear Me Roar). But much earlier in the 20th century Fanny Brice was singing, “Oh, my man, I love him so; he beats me too, what can I do?”
There’s These Boots Are Made For Walkin’, but also I Will Follow Him.
I Will Survive, but also Someone To Watch Over Me.
The show was created by Dorothy Marcic, a professor at Columbia Teachers College, who turned her book, Respect: Women and Popular Music, into a musical revue that has been performed more than 3,400 times since its debut in 1999.
“The show is written for four women, but we have a cast of eight, chosen from about 25 who auditioned,” Dunn says. “That way, four are also understudying so they can fill in if one drops out or gets sick.”
As befits a musical revue about women, Respect is also very much by women.
In addition to Dunn and the eight-member cast, the production team includes musical director Karen Nagy, choreographer Jeannie Krouch, stage manager Michele Popken, set designer Cindi Taylor, prop master Susan Rose, and lighting by Sonia Buchanan.
And Sandi Hagood sets the drumbeat for the four men in the band.
Dunn, the woman charged with putting it all together, came to acting and directing because many years ago she decided a college professor had undervalued William Shakespeare.
“I was a literature major at FAU,” she recalls, “and one day my professor told us, ‘Shakespeare belongs in literature, not the theater.’ Well, that didn’t make sense to me, so I switched my major to theater arts and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree.”
Since then, she’s worked professionally at the Pope Theater in Manalapan, the Theater Club of the Palm Beaches and the Lake Worth Playhouse. She made her Delray Playhouse acting debut back in 1987, when Randolph DelLago directed her in the British farce See How They Run. This is her first time directing at the playhouse.
“Am I scared?” she says. “I’m afraid I won’t give the actors what they need. I’m afraid people will hate it. You want everyone to love what you do, and that’s just not going to happen. But I’ll tell you, this is community theater, but we work as if the audience paid for front-row Hamilton tickets.”
And finally, of course, there’s that musical elephant in the room.
Can men enjoy a show about the musical journey of women?
“Men can enjoy it,” Dunn says. “It’s the music they grew up with as well.
“Men appreciate good talent.
“And men have daughters, too.”
If You Go
What: Respect: A Musical Journey of Women
When: Jan. 28-Feb. 13.
Where: Delray Beach Playhouse, 950 NW Ninth St.
Tickets: $38.
Information: Call the box office at 561-272-1281 or visit https://delraybeachplayhouse.com.
Other shows this season
Jan. 21-22: The Cabaret, a special encore performance of the 2007 Bistro Award-winning show A Collective CY: Jeff Harnar sings CY Coleman
Jan. 25, Feb. 22, March 22, April 27, May 25: Victory Dolls Lunch Club Matinee, starring vintage Andrews Sisters-inspired musical harmony group with South Florida’s Leading Ladies of Theater
Jan. 26: Lunch Club Matinee with comedian Jeff Norris
Feb. 7-10: Music Man, the songs of Meredith Willson
Feb. 14: The Cabaret Evening with Sally Mayes
Feb. 15: Lunch Club Matinee, an afternoon with songbird Sally Mayes
Feb. 18-19: Robert Dubac‘s The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron
Feb. 20: Robert Dubac‘s Stand-up Jesus
Feb. 23: Lunch Club Matinee featuring Peter Fogel’s ‘Til Death Do Us Part … You First
Feb. 25-26: Italian Bred
Feb. 27: The Music of Crosby Stills Nash & Young
March 6: The Edwards Twins, two brothers, 100 stars, master vocal and makeup illusionists
March 16-17: Lunch Club Matinee, Yanni’s featured vocalist Lauren Jelencovich in concert
March 18-April 3: Deathtrap play
April 9-10: Richard Barker, hypnotist, entrepreneur, entertainer, author, public speaker and TV personality
April 29-May 15: Same Time, Next Year play
May 28: Spidey, mentalist
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