In the heart of the lower east side, Ginger Twinsies, a nostalgic and camp parody of the beloved 90’s romantic comedy The Parent Trap, is playing a limited run at the Orpheum Theatre. A new play written and directed by Kevin Zak running until October 26th, follows Annie and Hallie, two long lost red-headed twin sisters who meet at a sleep away camp and hatch a plan to reunite their parents and sabotage Hallie’s soon to be step-mom, Meredith Blake.
The Orpheum Theatre is decked out in summer camp spirit. Wood-pannelled walls covered in handmade posters and paintings immerse the viewers into what’s bound to be a fantastic show. The lights come down and the show opens on a singular chair facing away from the audience. Sitting in the chair is (unknown at first) Meredith Blake, now a psych ward patient, ready to finally tell her story.
In Zack’s romp through The Parent Trap, the audience is brought back to the familiar childhood warmth of Camp Walden, and through satirical comedy, is able to reexamine the plot and their favorite characters through adult eyes. Particularly the film’s villain, Meredith Blake.
Meredith Blake, played by Philip Taratula, met with us to discuss the rehearsal process and what it means to redefine a cult-classic villain.
Upon preparing the role of Meredith Blake, were there other characters or actors you pulled influence from to develop this parody version of her besides Elaine Hendrix?
“I mostly relied on Kevin’s tape, because a lot of the script is quite close to the actual movie, but I think the biggest area that he departed from the movie was in the Meredith Blake character, so I sort of trusted his sort of insane, comedic version of that. I did have a couple in mind, though. I did think about Joan Cusack in ‘Adam’s Family Values’, and just how nuts she is…she’s like, the new girlfriend of Fester. It’s kind of a similar role, and I’m obsessed with Joan Cusack. I think she’s a genius…And then going a little bit further back, I thought of Mercedes Ruehl in this movie called ‘Married to the Mob’ with Michelle Pfeiffer, which is a really funny movie from the ‘80s. A lot of people don’t know it now, but it’s really, really good…Michelle Pfeiffer is this wife of a mafioso that Alec Baldwin plays, and she’s wanting to get out of the mob, and Mercedes Ruehl plays like, a tough mob wife, so I thought of those two performances. And other than that, once I got our amazing costumes on and sort of inhabited it, I sort of got it. And then of course, doing a take off of what Elaine did in the movie for sure.”
How does it feel to play Meredith as a misunderstood villain and reestablish Meredith as a victim in the cultural zeitgeist?
“It’s great because there’s that moment when I turn to the audience and I was like, ‘We need to talk about whether or not I’m the villain of this piece,’ and sometimes–most of the time–the audience comes right on board and they’re so responsive and supportive. So you get the sense that people are watching this, but the whole point of the parody is to watch this story with a little bit of a, you know, an absurd point of view. And Meredith is totally the one who sort of, looking at the story afresh, you realize she’s just this girl who’s wanting to marry this guy, and these kids are sort of collateral damage, in a way. And they’re the ones plotting and scheming against her. All she wants to do is send them, in the movie she says, ‘I’m gonna send them to a boarding school in Switzerland,’ which is probably a really nice boarding school, I’d be into that.”
Do you have a preshow playlist? If so, what artists are on it?
“I do, well, it’s not a playlist, but I am responsible for the music in our dressing room, which I laugh at because I sort of gave myself that job. No one else has complained so far! Usually it’s something from the ‘90s, or, I don’t know, I’ve been listening to the latest Lorde album a lot, as well. ‘Grown Woman’ is a great track. We were listening to the new Sabrina Carpenter. Sometimes it’s disco night and we’ll just play a ‘70s mix. Something usually kind of upbeat and kind of fun. Madonna, Beyoncé, you know, Kylie Minogue, whatever, we’ll kind of get it going in there, and it kind of gets everybody’s mood up a little bit. It helps leave your day behind and get ready for the show.”
As a comedic actor, what has helped you develop your comedic timing and beats in order to get (in your opinion) the best audience reaction?
“You kind of only can try that out on your feet, whether that’s in rehearsal, and you think, ‘Oh I have to…this is the rhythm, and I have to say it here.’ And rehearsal can help, but rehearsal can also be tricky, because it’s a room full of people who know the show quite well, and you’re doing it over and over. So, I don’t usually really know until we get an actual audience of civilians in previews. And then there’s a whole ‘nother layer of work that you do, where you’re like, ‘Oh, okay I actually do have to hit this one so hard, they’re with me.’ You can hear when they’re with you, I guess that’s the point I’m making. And with comedy, like you said, timing and precision is super important, but the timing is usually related to how people are receiving the information. So if you get the sense that something’s too rushed, you’re like, ‘Oh, they need a beat to, like, hear that, and let it land before you can move onto the next one.’ Whereas other things, you can just go right through, and they’re with you. So you sort of learn all that once you’re in front of an audience.”
Follow up: Do you have a favorite comedic moment in the show that you’ve gotten your favorite reaction out of?
“The audiences are so different every night, I try to sort of give my performance consistently, and not be too thrown if they don’t laugh one night or if something gets a huge laugh another night. So my favorite, well, the entrance with the hat is amazing, ‘cause it’s so constructed. I feel like I don’t even have to do anything. Well, other than carrying the giant hat and then remove it and everything, but that’s so choreographed and so built up. It’s set up so well that I just feel like I have to walk out there and not fall down.”
In the heavy political climate we’re in right now, does it feel joyful to perform such an unapologetically queer comedy every night?
“I always find joy in performing. I love what I do, and I think theatre’s so important right now, because any opportunity to get people in a room off of their phones, listening together, listening as a group, is so valuable. You learn more when you’re listening with other people. You hear other people laugh and then you go, ‘Oh wait, that is funny, I get why they’re laughing, so I’m gonna laugh too.’ And it’s a totally different experience than watching something alone on your phone or even on TV by yourself. So, I’m always, always grateful and I love, I love what I do. I love doing theatre, and in terms of a queer story, it’s great, and it’s great that queer humor has become more understood by everyone. But at the same time, I think funny is funny, and humor in general is way more of an open invitation to everybody, you know? I think that this show is so silly, and so unapologetically silly and fun, and it’s just wanting to be a good time, that everyone’s welcome.”
What do you think is the most important lesson learned from being in a show with a limited run?/What will you take from this into your next project?
“Well, especially with this, it’s a comedy, as an almost farce that’s really fast and requires a lot of momentum and energy. It’s kind of boring, but my lesson is just to keep that energy up every night, do everything I need to do, to deliver the show at the rate it’s supposed to be. It requires a great deal of concentration and energy. Going forward, I think that we rehearsed this very quickly. It made everyone just kind of trust their first impulses, and I think I’m learning to do that more, and just kind of try things;use rehearsal to try things. If they don’t work, try something else, and not be so worried about it, you know? It’s sort of like, you gotta just go. You gotta pick something and go and play it fully…you can tell if you’re on the right track or not.”
Ginger Twinsies is a sentimental escape from the weight of our political landscape, using beloved characters to find a reprieve for a hilarious 80 minutes of farce and whimsy. Ginger Twinsies is unapologetically itself, creating a nostalgic space of laughter and radical joy. The work of Kevin Zak and the cast of Ginger Twinsies allows for audiences to relive the 90’s romantic comedy genre and fosters community through theatre, and shared love of pop culture.
