Justin Ruttan is a Glendon theatre major who will be holding his first show at Théâtre Glendon.
The show, Dark Lady: The Musical, runs from January 22 to 25. Written and directed by Ruttan, a personality who is well-known at York for being the (unofficial) King of Glendon Theatre, the show follows the struggles of a drag performer as she journeys through being cheated on, finding new romance, and ultimately establishing her own identity.
The Dark Lady is meant to be a glamour-filled workshop of Cher’s greatest hits infused with the life of the show’s hero. Ruttan sat down with Excalibur for a one-on-one interview.
Excalibur: What inspired you to write the show? Why Cher? Other than the obvious iconic image she holds, she must’ve been close to your heart.
Justin Ruttan: I decided to write the show because as a Cher fan, I connected with her music and decided to look at it from a different perspective. The show is semi-autobiographical. The characters all have elements of me in them and elements of people that have profoundly touched my life. I was able to connect Cher’s music to these elements.
E: What was the biggest reward? The biggest challenge?
JR: I have thoroughly enjoyed the process. It was so cool to see my work take a shape of its own. I don’t really know the hardest part. I guess it would be cutting—songs especially. We started with, I think, 36 songs. No matter how great Cher’s songs are, that’s way too many. It was still hard to get rid of them because they meant a lot to me and the characters. The most rewarding part was definitely seeing the work evolve, almost naturally, and take a shape I never even thought was possible. The great part is that it has been a long time since I wrote this play. I’ve grown and changed, and now I can look at it from different perspectives. I can incorporate the maturity I have now with the story that I started with, change things, and really help make this a great show.
E: Do you have any long-term plans for developing this workshop and possibly propelling it into a full-scale production?
JR: I guess the next step is getting a major production company interested and having another workshop. This isn’t the finished product, and there is still more work to be done. That said, I’m proud of the outcome of this workshop, and I’m excited to share it with an audience and hear their feedback. I love the show and the characters. It’s time to find out if everyone else can connect to it.
Azad Imanirad
Contributor
