Musical 'Love, Inc.' hosts world premiere here

 A new musical!

This is a rare find in a theater world that, when it comes to taking risks, acts like a possum in the headlights.

For the most part, we get last year's, or last decade's, Broadway hits when the national tours stop at Chrysler Hall or the familiar, but increasingly daring, programming of Virginia Musical Theatre at the Beach.

And there's not much point in a Broadway jaunt. "South Pacific" is there. "Gypsy" just closed, the latest of at least four revivals of Mama Rose declaring it's her "turn." Upcoming are revivals of "West Side Story," "Hair" and "Guys and Dolls." Great shows, but old.

That's why it's so unusual that the world premiere of a new musical is taking place at TCC Roper Performing Arts Center in downtown Norfolk this week. "Love, Inc." is booked for three weeks, through Feb. 22 - a bold move for any show, much less a new musical.

With music and lyrics by Marc Castle, the show concerns a successful businesswoman who has not been as successful with men. She does something about it. She incorporates.

The name of the show's heroine is Faith, and that is precisely what longtime producer Sam Raiff has in the show. He's put a good deal of his own money (he wouldn't say how much) into the show and chose Norfolk as its launching pad partly because he used to spend summers at Sandbridge and still has relatives and friends there.

"I don't expect to make a killing," the producer said recently when reached in New York. "No one does, but, hmmm, it could happen. There's always the possibility.

"It's an odd piece, but it's witty and it's current. It's aimed directly at young marrieds and dating couples, and in Norfolk it's just in time for Valentine's. Norfolk first. Then we're talking Cleveland, Florida, Los Angeles - all before New York. It's smart these days to make your money back before you go into New York."

Raiff exudes "let's put on a show" enthusiasm. At 78, he's produced everything from rodeos to Catskill s musical revues. He now makes his home in the mountains when not in New York.

He loves to talk about theater, and he's obviously ready to roll the dice.

Mention to him a possible revival of the football musical "All American," a 1962 show that starred Ray Bolger with a book written by Mel Brooks, and he gets excited. "What an idea! It's never been revived?"

The next day, he calls back and says he's going to produce it in New York with an all-black cast. "I'd like Don Cheadle for the lead. Can he sing or dance?"

He's opening a show called "Irena's Vow" at the Walter Kerr Theatre on Broadway in mid-March, starring Tovah Feldshuh. "We're bringing this over from off-Broadway, where it has sold out every night. We've had people that offered $500 for a ticket. We've had over 30 reviews, and none of them were less than a rave. I don't want to sound overly optimistic, but I'm optimistic."

The first play Raiff produced was "Anyone Can Whistle" almost 45 years ago. He also backed a show called "Charlotte Sweet" at Virginia Stage Company in the early 1980s.

As for "Love, Inc." he says, "It's a little, intimate show that is designed to appeal to a new generation that is just warming up to the theater. I don't think this new market knows exactly what it wants, but I think this show is going to get to them. It's bright."

With a cast of four, two women and two men, it has an orchestra of four and what Raiff says is "a very original idea in sets." It is produced by Power Productions of New York "in association with" Virginia Arts Festival. The festival is participating mainly in marketing and publicity; it has not invested money. This means that if the show goes on to a long run in New York, the VAF doesn't get a cut of the royalties (as, for example, Virginia Stage Company did when it originated the musical "The Secret Garden," which went on to become a Broadway hit).

The leading lady, in the role of Faith, happens to be a Hampton Roads native, Heather Parcells. She has been a New York stage regular for years - last starring in the role of Judy in the Broadway revival of "A Chorus Line."

"I was first drawn to 'Love, Inc.' when I noticed it was going to open in Norfolk," she said during an afternoon break from rehearsals in New York last week. It offered her a chance to come back home.

She attended Hampton Roads Academy in Newport News and, early on, appeared in such shows as "Little Shop of Horrors," "Anything Goes" and "Into the Woods," making her first show-biz money as a dancer at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg. She covered her bases by getting a degree in musical theater from Florida State University. Her last return to the local scene had been in the role of Princess Maria in the Virginia Musical Theatre production of "Call Me Madam" a decade ago.

"Although it was the opening location that initially attracted me, I was surprised at how outright adorable the show was when I read it. Adorable. That's the right word. Rarely do I just sit and laugh from reading a script. And, for once, I'm originating the role. I'll be the first one to play it, whatever happens. What I like about the book is that it's about flawed people. Quirky. They all have faults, and they're out to overcome them."

The guy her character thinks may be Mr. Right is divorced. She does research on him, hiring an actor to find out little truths.

To learn the new songs, she took a tape recorder and worked with composer Castle. "For the first three and one-half days we sat in a circle and learned the score."

Show business was not always her goal. "I wasn't one of those little girls who started dancing young. Up to 17 or so, my real passion was horseback riding." She won some equestrian prizes.

During two summers at Busch Gardens she took advantage of free lessons offered to cast members. "Dancing was something I liked, but I also had to play the part of a dragon in the park. The costume weighed over a hundred pounds. The dragon had a big tooth that children couldn't resist tugging. Just keeping balance was a challenge. I did 116 performances at Bush Gardens. I kept count of them."

There were even more performances of "A Chorus Line" on Broadway.

Her father is a vice president of Riverside Medical Center in Newport News. Her mother has been a registered nurse. "It was expected, I think, that I should go to Princeton and study law, but then, at 17, I started dancing. Then I found out I could sing. There was no turning back."

"Love, Inc." premieres Saturday at a red carpet, klieg-lighted event, complete with opening-night party. The opening will follow two previews, today and Friday.

Mal Vincent, (757) 446-2347, mal.vincent@pilotonline.com