TUTS presents Mary Poppins and The Drowsy Chaperone on rotating dates July 7 through Aug. 19 in Malkin Bowl. Previews: July 7–10. Opening nights: July 11 and July 12. All shows at 8p.m., except on Fireworks Nights, when shows begin at 7 p.m.
North Vancouver-raised actor Joseph Spitale once drew on his love of Broadway to placate an anxious pregnant lady on a turbulent flight from New York to Toronto.
“It was a heavy, heavy windstorm and I was sitting next to this pregnant woman who was incredibly afraid and I was trying to comfort her the best I could and the pilot comes on the intercom and says the worst thing possible: ‘All the other flights are cancelled but we’re going to go on with the flight anyways.’ It was very dramatic.”
The two terrified thespians bonded over Broadway to keep from overanalyzing the logistics of aerodynamics.
“It turns out this woman was in the ensemble cast of Mary Poppins on Broadway,” says Spitale, this week during a rehearsal break.
With his feet firmly on the ground, life has come full circle since that fateful flight for Spitale who can been seen in Theatre Under The Stars’ upcoming run of Mary Poppins at Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park.
Spitale has been enjoying a “Supercali-fragilisticexpialidocious” summer immersed in the high-flying adventures of Mary Poppins and acting alongside fellow Capilano University theatre alum.
A lot of emphasis has been placed on dialect training, notes Spitale, as the actors prepare to portray London’s beloved dysfunctional family and everyone’s favourite nanny, who swoops in to save the day.
“We’re all having a lot of anxiety about our accents because Dick Van Dyke got raked over the coals for his accent apparently,” says Spitale, with a laugh.
Spitale’s character, Robertson Ay, might be unfamiliar to audiences. Ay doesn’t appear in the famous Disney film, but rather is taken from the pages of a series of eight children’s books written by P. L. Travers about a magical English nanny.
Ay is the Banks family’s hapless young servant boy and a comedic counterpart to Mrs. Brill – a firecracker who is head of the household and has Ay as her right-hand man.
Spitale is stretching his physical comedic chops to step into this role.
“I do like physical comedy because it’s almost like choreography, the specific timing of how props move, how your body moves and the set moves is all timed with precision – and that’s where the comedy lies,” explains Spitale. “And in fact, ‘Precision and Order’ is the title of the song that I sing with Mrs. Brill.”
Spitale is singing the praises of his castmates including TUTS vet Upper Lonsdale octogenarian Cecilia Smith, who has been helping him perfect his Scottish accent.
Smith, attests Spitale, truly embodies the Bird Lady and takes your breath away with her heartstrings-tugging tune “Feed the Birds.”
“When we were doing our first run-through, she brought the creative team to tears,” recalls Spitale. “These are the people that have dissected this scene and should be desensitized by now.”
When it comes to the star of the show, Mary Poppins, Spitale says actress and CapU alumnae Ranae Miller really brings the magic.
“I overheard the music director say: ‘I feel like we cast the real Mary Poppins,’” I couldn’t agree more – Ranae embodies the character in a way that feels natural. Because it’s a very unnatural character – there’s a lot of magic that is quite technical in terms of being able to pull it off. And that takes a lot of skill.”
Spitale says the audience will be amazed by technical feats employed in the high-flying musical.
“There are a lot of firsts for Malkin Bowl (with this show) – that’s all I will say,” he teases.
As for performing in Vancouver’s iconic amphitheatre, Spitale says Malkin Bowl is magical in itself, “where you are literally seeing eagles at the tops of trees during dress rehearsal.”
Spitale caught the musical theatre bug from CapU theatre instructor Gillian Barber in the mid-2000s, after he graduated from Saint Thomas Aquinas high school.
“She’s amazing,” says Spitale of Barber. “She was my first tap teacher. Since that course she has helped create an incredible theatre program at CapU and there are countless grads in Theatre Under The Stars. It’s a testament to her teaching.”
Spitale, who grew up in Blueridge, went on to earn a bachelor of music in voice from UBC, where he honed his skills as an opera singer.
But his first-ever audition dates back to when Spitale was still in high school and found himself standing inside a storied 1880s-era abode on the banks of the Capilano River. He sang “My Funny Valentine,” inspired after hearing Matt Damon sing the jazz standard in the The Talented Mr. Ripley.
It was at the Capilano Suspension Bridge where Spitale spent five summers performing in a historical musical revue for tourists.
After graduating from UBC, Spitale had his sights set on Broadway. He moved to the Big Apple with big dreams in tow.
Spitale was accepted to study at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York, which counts Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson among its alum.
Seeing his AMDA professors practise what they preach – many of them moonlighting on Broadway – helped Spitale better understand the inside world of musical theatre.
Since graduating from AMDA, Spitale has earned roles in an Off Broadway musical, a U.S. National Tour and performed for many seasons at the Woodstock Playhouse in Upstate New York. Last summer, Spitale played Lumiere in the Woodstock Playhouse production of Beauty and the Beast.
In the town made famous by the music festival, there are leftover remnants Spitale has observed. A weekly drum circle in the hamlet, attracting an eclectic group of people doing freestyle dancing, pays homage to the hippie festival.
Back in NYC, a highlight for Spitale was playing the lead in a Christmas show, Nutcracker and I, at Lincoln Center and singing at famed jazz club, Birdland.
When not acting or auditioning – Spitale took in as many Broadway shows as he could afford.
It was also fun for Spitale to pick up some background work on Law &Order SVU, Orange Is the New Black and Louie, among other TV shows shot in New York. Spitale recalls sharing a pivotal scene with Mark Ruffalo in the award-winning TV movie The Normal Heart.
“What’s crazy is you just never know when you’re going to be featured and in that scene I could see the camera was going right for me.”
A couple years ago, Spitale’s life took a decidedly more animated trajectory. He moved to Japan for a year to perform as a Ricky Martin–esque Latin pop star at Tokyo Disneyland.
“I did not expect to have fans,” says Spitale of the Disney craze. “I felt almost like a mini celebrity. I would get recognized at train stations. Fans would set up Instagram accounts of me performing.”
In general, Spitale says Japan inspired him as an actor and opened his eyes.
“I feel like there’s nothing too extreme for Tokyo – and I thought living in New York was a culture shock,” says Spitale with a laugh, recalling how he visited a restaurant with giant robots walking around, and the Alcatraz-inspired café where you dine inside a darkened jail cell and endure physical abuse from the waiters.
Spitale plans to make Vancouver home base while he takes on acting contracts from around the world, including a return to New York.
While his resume is chock-full of experiences, there is one thing Spitale still needs to check off his acting bucket list.
“Broadway – that is the dream,” he says.
– Joseph Spitale is the brother of North Shore News reporter Maria Spitale-Leisk.
