Jill Santoriello: A Tale of Two Cities' Long Journey (or Why I Love Lucy)
You've heard of the power of positive thinking, and the idea that if you visualize something, you can make it happen? Jill Santoriello is living proof of that—even if it took 21 years to make her Broadway dreams come true. Santoriello is the composer, lyricist and book writer of A Tale of Two Cities, now in previews at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre after a long and winding road indeed. While studying journalism at Ohio University, Santoriello began writing songs based on Dickens' epic novel. For the next two decades including more than 10 years working in programming at Showtime Networks, she continued to hone her material, picking up occasional grants and hearing the show performed in concert and on a concept recording. And now, after a successful mounting last year at Florida's Asolo Theatre, A Tale of Two Cities had made it to Broadway. The witty Santoriello charted her youthful obsessions Lucy, Mandy & Steve, among them in telling the tale of Tale.
My dream of writing a Broadway musical began, strangely enough, with Lucille Ball. Lucy in Mame, to be precise. In 1974, I was a fairly odd nine-year-old who had grown up worshipping the Queen of Comedy. I was ecstatic to learn that my idol was starring in a brand new motion picture called Mame, playing at the luxurious local uniplex and based on something known as a Broadway musical. Little did I know that poor Lucy was about to go down in critical and commercial flames as fiery as her red hair.
Mom took me to see Mame on the very day it opened catty types, please check your impulse to quip that it was probably also the day it closed. It mattered not that the rest of the world reviled Lucy in Mame. I loved her and fell in love with the show on which this colorful, fuzzy movie was based. I wore out the Lucy Mame soundtrack; learned all the Lucy Mame songs; had the Lucy Mame lunchbox. So, in 1983, when Jerry Herman's great musical was revived on Broadway, I was there with a bugle to see it.
I'll admit, I was initially disappointed that Lucy wasn't the star. Instead I would be seeing some English actress named Angela Lansbury who I only knew very vaguely from my old movie obsession. And so I went to see Mame on that fateful Sunday afternoon at the Uris Theatre now Gershwin, and life was never the same again. Imagine my shock at discovering that the live theater version of Mame was even better than the Lucy movie! Sorry Lucy. And Angela Lansbury? She so owned that cavernous space and that role that she overwhelmed my then-17-year-old person and changed my course forever. I went to see the show again on the next two Sundays—but it would seem my enthusiasm jinxed the revival! Mame closed due to some unkind reviews and sluggish box office.
When I was still in high school I wrote several songs for a musical adaptation of the Bronte classic Wuthering Heights. My golden voiced brother Alex was just about to make his Broadway debut and he was my earliest and most enthusiastic supporter. He told me my stuff was good. I didn't really believe him—but what other path was there to becoming friends with Mandy? My brother advised me to abandon the rather depressing Wuthering Heights idea and find another story preferably also public domain that was a little more uplifting. Mom had read A Tale of Two Cities in high school and thought that might do the trick. I read it and was completely swept up in the power of the story and its message. But wait: Could Mandy play an English lawyer?
I wrote several songs inspired by the story and the characters. Then one day, while standing in the checkout line at the local Pathmark, I came across a People magazine article about a magical place known as the BMI Workshop. I was a senior in college, just about to graduate and start my life. Armed with a demo sung by my brother and sister-in-law, I applied to and was accepted to the workshop. This was huge—acceptance and acknowledgment by the actual theater community! I thought doors would fling open and I and my musical would be on Broadway within the year.
And, 21 years later, here we are! Since it took a couple of decades and this First Person is supposed to come in at about 750 words, I'll opt for the Cliff Notes version from here on out. I worked in a talent agency for two years. I quit my job and spent three months writing a first draft of the show and about 20 additional songs. I entered competitions and applied for grants. I won a couple. I lost a couple. I received encouragement, commendations and even cash—but the "premiere production" continued to elude me. I would shelve Tale for months and even years on end but I always returned to that story and that message of a "far, far better thing." I worked a full-time office job for 12 years. I never gave up the ghost.
Then fate intervened. I met my producers, Ron Sharpe and Barbra Russell or, as I like to call them, my fairy godparents. I was in one of my Tale upswing periods and had decided to go back into the studio and finish a demo recording that had been started five years earlier. Once again, I turned to my brother to produce it and to assemble singer/actors. Two of the singer/actors that came into the studio would become my producers. Thankfully, they became as obsessed with my show as I was, and the three of us became best friends.
Nine years later, we are still the Three Musketeers—unshakable and devoted to one another and the big dream of seeing this show on the big street. Along the way, we've had our share of detours, road blocks and flat tires, but I will spare you any more bad travel references. We raised the money and had a wonderful sold-out premiere at Sarasota's Asolo Rep, and less than a year later, we've started performances in one of the most beautiful theaters on Broadway. Was it worth the wait? You bet. And maybe, now Mandy and I will finally get to hang out!