Kate Baldwin takes on the role of Susan Cooper in ‘Love Life,’ a 230-year marriage musical that explores changing social mores and the modern woman’s desire for change. The show, written by Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner, was first performed on Broadway in 1948 and has been revived with this new production at New York City Center.
Kate Baldwin has done a modest handful of roles—like a Tony-nominated turn as Sharon McLonergan in the 2009 revival of Finian’s Rainbow—but she is best known as the go-to singer for a gargantuan gallery of musical theater heroines. How many that could be, she hasn’t a clue.
As she turns 50 this year, Baldwin has been doing them for 28 years. She lost count a long time ago. One role, however, she is positive she has never performed is Susan Cooper. That chore awaits her March 26-30 when she and Brian Stokes Mitchell co-star in the next Encores! offering at New York City Center, “Love Life.”
Brian Stokes Mitchell is a renowned American actor and singer, best known for his powerful baritone voice.
He has won three Tony Awards for Best Actor in a Musical for his performances in 'Kiss of the Spider Woman', 'Man of La Mancha', and 'Shine'.
Mitchell's career spans over four decades, with notable roles in numerous Broadway productions, including 'Ragtime' and 'Floyd Collins'. He has also performed in various concert halls and opera houses worldwide, showcasing his exceptional vocal talent.
The Scope of Time
“I was overwhelmed by the scope of what the plot was attempting to cover,” Baldwin admits. “In 1948 when the show was first done on Broadway, it went back 150 years. Our version takes it up to present time, and that makes it 250 years. We start in 1791 with the birth of the nation and the start of the marriage of Sam and Susan Cooper, who struggle to cope with the changing social mores of the times.”
A Modern Woman
Baldwin is comfortable within the confines of her character. “Susan starts out very peppy in her own little cocoon of marriage and family life,” she says. “Then, the outside world—the shifting landscape of American society—starts to tear her family apart. She responds to this by reaching out and questioning. She doesn’t shrink from changes. She wants what she wants, all of it—a job and a loving relationship with her husband. This is the modern woman of 1948.”
A Collaboration Across Time
Love Life, a love story played against churning historical events, is the one and only teaming of Kurt Weill and Alan Jay Lerner. Producer Cheryl Crawford suggested this unexpected pairing to give Lerner a break from his sputtering early collaboration with lifelong partner Frederick Loewe (they created at different speeds). Working with Weill helped remedy that situation.
A Legacy Lives On
The score is full of exciting variety, says Baldwin. “There’s a ballet in it, there’s an aria in it, there’s beautiful madrigal singing and incredible vaudeville numbers. Weill’s melodies are outstanding. They’ve lived five years in my subconscious, since we first looked at them in 2020.”
Kurt Weill was a German composer who is best known for his work in the fields of opera, theatre music, and classical music.
Born on March 2, 1900, in Dessau, Germany, Weill studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Berlin.
He began composing music at an early age and gained recognition with his opera 'Die Dreigroschenoper' (The Threepenny Opera).
Weill's music often incorporated jazz and blues elements, making him a pioneer in the fusion of different musical styles.
Lerner once told Weill’s widow, the singer “Lotte Lenya,” that he wished he loved his book and lyrics as much as he loved Weill’s music. “He was only about 27 years old when he did Love Life,” Baldwin points out. “And Weill was not young at all. He’d already done Lady in the Dark and Street Scene. He died a year after Love Life in 1949. His last score was “Lost in the Stars.”
Alan Jay Lerner was a renowned American lyricist, librettist, and playwright.
Born on August 31, 1918, in New York City, he is best known for his collaborations with composer Frederick Loewe on classic musicals such as 'My Fair Lady' and 'Gigi'.
Lerner's work earned him numerous awards, including three Tony Awards, four Academy Awards, and the Pulitzer Prize.
He passed away on June 14, 1986.
Bringing It Back to Life
According to Weill Foundation officials, Love Life was beloved by both authors. They wanted to continue to work on it and figure it out. Lerner said toward the end of his days that he wanted to rewrite and do it again. I feel like we’re giving them the opportunity now with this Encores!
The director of this edition is Victoria Clark, who usually wins Tony Awards as an actress (The Light in the Piazza, Kimberly Akimbo). “I trust no one more,” Baldwin says. “She comes from a performance background and thinks first as an actor. She has a holistic approach to the piece.”
Originally, Love Life was scheduled as part of the 2020 season of Encores! but the performances were cancelled as a result of the pandemic shutdown. When we rehearsed it five years ago, we had one run-through on the City Center stage—that was March 12, 2020,” Baldwin recalls.
“What was exciting about that day was that one got to see the disparate parts of the show, all the big production numbers that didn’t involve Sam and Susan Cooper. I got to see all these numbers for the first time. Theater scenes were being rehearsed in one corner, the vaudeville numbers were rehearsed in another room, and the ballet was being rehearsed downstairs.
“Finally, we got to see the whole show put together. If you think about it, we didn’t now at the time when we’d perform it. We thought we were going on a hiatus for maybe two weeks, maybe a month, at the time. We had no idea how long it would be. When we finished that one run-through, we crossed the street for pizza and wine. And now, here we are five years later.”
