One minute with the dashing Jennifer Tepper of If It Only Even Runs A Minute!

Co-Creator Jennifer Tepper answers your burning question about her Concert Series at NYMF (COMING UP OCT. 14th at 7 +930)

1.Tell us a little bit about the show

If It Only Even Runs A Minute is a concert series celebrating rare and inspiring songs, photos and stories from underappreciated musicals. We are doing our 4th and 5th editions of the concert as part of NYMF. Each concert includes several original cast members of the featured musicals singing songs they originated and talking about their shows.

2.How did you originally come up with this idea?

During the summer of 2009, I became obsessed with the idea of doing a concert celebrating songs from musicals that I loved, but that I didn’t feel like a lot of people knew. I’m always trying to get my best friends to listen to The Goodbye Girl or A Class Act, and this seemed like a way to make a whole room full of people listen!

Also, I had been doing this “Rare and Inspiring Photo Album” project on facebook, filling albums with photos from all eras and types of theatre history. I thought it would be unique to produce a concert that also included photos and stories, as well as songs.

As soon as I came up with the title, which is a lyric from my favorite musical, Merrily We Roll Along, I knew I had to do it. I talked to my multi-talented friend Kevin Michael Murphy about doing it, and he had some great ideas about how to shape the evening as well.

Then, there was this concert/ party for the Glory Days CD release, and the title song from that show, by my friend Nick Blaemire, was going to be sung by musical theatre writers Joe Iconis, Brian Lowdermilk, Benj Pasek, and Adam Gwon. Because of some circumstantial things, they didn’t wind up singing “Good Old Glory Type Days” in that concert. I was sad, because this sounded like it would’ve been epic and wonderful. So with Nick’s permission, I decided to make this song the “centerpiece” as it were, of our first If It Only Even Runs A Minute concert. This moment was extremely special, and I remember Craig Carnelia, one of my favorite writers of all time, who was also featured in the first concert, was so moved by these 4 writers singing the song of another young writer. Craig got on stage and said, “Look around this room. If a bomb went off, Broadway would have no future.” That’s when I saw that by celebrating these underappreciated shows, we could also celebrate our current musical theatre, and the continuing legacies of shows we all love.

3. How is this show different than the one you did in January?

We did our first edition in January at the Beechman, and our second edition in May at the Beechman. By our third concert, we needed a slightly larger space, so we moved to Le Poisson Rouge. Now, our fourth and fifth editions are at NYMF! It’s been quite a journey.

4. Is there anything you want people to know about If It Only Even Runs A Minute before they see it?

Our fourth edition is at 7pm on Thursday the 14th, and our fifth edition is at 9:30pm that same night- but they are totally different shows with two different line-ups!

5. What are you most looking forward to during the performances?

One of my favorite things is always looking in the audience and seeing my best friends and my family and also people I haven’t met yet, discovering these songs and listening attentively to these fascinating backstage stories. During our third concert, I caught a glimpse of my mom and sister in the audience, both with tears running down their faces, as Liz Larsen spoke about and sang from Starmites, which she originated the lead in on Broadway in 1989. Starmites was one of the first musicals I was obsessed with, and it was the only musical I ever played the lead in- at camp when I was 11-years-old. I remember I said something about these evenings being dreams coming true, one after the other, because I was no longer listening to Liz Larsen on my “boom box”, with my mom and sister in the next room, I was on stage while she performed her huge number, that she herself hadn’t sung in 20 years. Making musical theatre history come alive is something that Kevin, Caleb, and I, as well as our whole team, love making happen. One of the centerpieces of our 5th edition is a “Truckload Reunion”: http://www.playbill.com/news/article/143703-Truckload-Reunion-Will-Be-Part-of-If-It-Only-Even-Runs-a-Minute-Concerts

The best parts of the evening are when my mind is actually blown by things happening, that have been in my imagination since I was a musical theatre nerd kid. Truckload Reunion?!?!?! 15-year-old Jen Tepper, reading her copy of “Not Since Carrie”, would actually faint.

Also, I look forward to the moments when I somehow figure out how to improv!

BUY TICKETS FOR IF IT EVEN ONLY RUNS A MINUTE AT: http://www.nymf.org/Show-1520.html

- Lina (Brooklyn College)

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