September 16, 2007

In theater, Branch Woodman has been a jack-of-all-trades

By Richard Duckett TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Branch Woodman has never been afraid to branch out.

Now, before you think we’re making fun of his name, it’s nothing the 45-year-old hasn’t heard before. He can take it and in fact will always have the last laugh.

And his theater career really has been one of diversification. Consider that for the Worcester Foothills Theatre Company season opener, the musical revue “The World Goes ’Round,” Woodman is director, choreographer and costume designer. When he was last at Foothills in the spring, the New York City-based Woodman was on the other side of the fence as a cast member in the production of “Musical of Musicals.”

“I’ve always kept the doors open,” Woodman said. “I love challenges — doing things for the first time. I will say yes to anything. My parents instilled in me the knowledge that I’m ignorant to the fact that I shouldn’t be doing things.”

He’s also done “The World Goes ’Round” as an actor. “I found it very fulfilling. There’s some very serious acting in the show. It’s not all fluff like some musical revues can be. It’s very well-written, very well-paced.”

The personable Woodman was interviewed just before he was about to put the Foothills cast through its paces at a recent rehearsal. The show opens Saturday with performances at 3 and 8 p.m. and runs through Oct. 14.

“The World Goes ’Round” is composed of songs by the inspired song-writing team of John Kander and the late Fred Ebb, whose musicals included “Cabaret,” “Chicago” and “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” The revue, which debuted in 1991, branches out a bit. “The songs are presented in a new way,” Woodman said. “We don’t just do ‘Me and My Baby’ from ‘Chicago,’ we do it a new, fun way. I love the fun and freshness of it.”

Among the songs performed are “My Coloring Book,” Kander and Ebb’s first (1962) hit, “All That Jazz” and “New York, New York.”

“It’s two hours of music, music, music,” Woodman said. Which poses its own challenges — not only for the director, but the choreographer and costume designer as well. “All that music has to be staged,” Woodman said. “The show has interesting tricks, none of which I will give away, but they have to be learned.” Still, he feels his cast will be up for it, calling them “astonishing.”

Next up for Woodman will be the Skylight Opera Theatre of Milwaukee production of “White Christmas.” In the show he’ll be playing the Danny Kaye role. Oh yes, and he’ll also be assistant choreographer and dance captain.

Asked if he has a preference for one branch of theater or the other, Woodman replied, “I’m happy to have a balance. I’m directing now and already looking forward to going back on the stage in my next job. I can’t wait to start rehearsing.”

Woodman, who grew up in the town of Uplands in southern California, took to the stage at an early age. “I don’t remember it, but in my baby book at age 3 my mother wrote that I had memorized three cast albums.” At the age of 4 he broke a leg. At 4-1/2 his physical therapy regime included dance lessons. “So it all fell into place.”

He was singing, dancing and acting with the full support of his parents. “They encouraged it, supported it and used it as a punishment when I was bad (as in no theater),” he said. At 15 he diversified to being the musical director and choreographer of “Peter Pan” for a local children’s theater.

By the time he went to college, Woodman was performing professionally. He attended California State University, Fullerton, and Chaffey College in southern California, majoring in music and theater. However, the fact that he was a theater professional did not encourage him to keep taking classes.

“Should I have stayed? I don’t know. It hasn’t kept me back. When you audition, they don’t ask where you got a degree.”

Woodman moved to New York City when he was 26 and said he still has the same apartment. He struck it lucky his first week in New York, landing a role in an Off Broadway production.

In the years since has he ever occasionally had to diversify into waiting on tables?

“Oh sure. Absolutely. I think that’s part of the experience. Very, very few people are able to work non-stop exclusively in our field.”

Which is another good reason to keep the door open for a variety of theatrical opportunities. He’s performed in productions ranging from dinner theater to Broadway. He’s made recordings that include children’s musicals, gospel, traditional church music and standards. He was assistant choreographer for the national tour of “Big, the Musical,” and has directed a long list of musicals at different venues, including “Amahl and the Night Visitors” in New York last year. For several years he choreographed and directed The Little Orchestra Society concert series at the Lincoln Center.

Along the way in his theater career he met and became friends with Russell Garrett, who is now the artistic director of Foothills. Garrett has brought Woodman to Foothills twice this year, one time as an actor and now as a director.

“Actors think that I’m an actors’ director. Being on both sides of the table gives you a knowledge like nothing else can do,” Woodman said.

“As a director I’m more patient. In a show like this I know what I want, but I don’t come and say ‘do this, do that’ … In a revue you have to leave a lot to the actors. I don’t want to get married to any particular idea or constant. I want to bring a lot of room for them. And as an actor I don’t want to be told ‘move, move, move — put up your pinkie on three.’ I want to collaborate.”

His enthusiasm for theater may go back to the early encouragement from his parents, but his name goes back to them, as well.

Garrett said that the first thing that everyone asks Woodman is whether Branch Woodman is his actual name.

“Every single time they hear it,” Woodman confirmed. He added that one of his brothers is named Leif Woodman. Other siblings are named Ward (somewhat conventionally), Tamela and Thea.

His father was a sports coach and his mother sang. And they were having and naming their children in the 1960s — in southern California, no less.

“They got to the ’60s and thought, ‘That’s gonna be fun. So why not?’ ”

Was Woodman teased as a child?

“I got teased, but ‘Joe’ gets teased. What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

Besides which, in what professional field can having an unusual standout name be a big plus? Why showbiz, of course. Hence the last laugh.

“It worked out great as an actor,” Woodman said. “It’s been a blessing. I couldn’t ask for a better name.”