Christmas special one of many changes in season for Music Theatre Wichita

The stars — a new Music Theatre Wichita artistic director, encouragement from a backer, and even a pandemic — all aligned, and the result is MTW’s first TV Christmas special.

“It was a combination of different elements that had not been originally planned this way, but the way fate intervened this seemed like the right time to venture in,” said longtime MTW leader Wayne Bryan.

“Music Theatre Wichita presents a Holiday Special” will air at 7 p.m. Thursday, 9 p.m. Dec. 21 and at 7 and 8 p.m. Christmas Eve on KPTS.

Brian J. Marcum, who is making the transition to artistic director of the company, suggested to Bryan, who takes on the title of producing director, that it would be fun to have a holiday showcase for the MTW talent.

“Wichita doesn’t have a big, spectacular annual Christmas event, so wouldn’t it be fun to create a Christmas show?” Bryan recalls Marcum asking.

Meanwhile, for several years, Robert Boewe, owner and founder of The Spice Merchant, had been suggesting to both MTW and KPTS that the two should combine forces for a TV special. The Spice Merchant is one of the underwriters of the program.

The coronavirus pandemic, which forced Music Theatre Wichita to cancel live performances for the first time since its 1972 founding, also grounded many Wichita natives who had gone on in their careers.

“Luckily, Wichita, with the help of Music Theatre over the past (nearly) 50 years, has created some really wonderful talent,” Marcum said. “Because of the pandemic we had people who would be normally out on tour or working in New York. But because of the pandemic all that stuff shut down, so they could be part of our show.”

Marcum, whose resume includes working as associate choreographer with “Elf: The Musical” on Broadway and as a performer in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas show in Branson, wrote and directed the TV special, a first in his career.

“It was kind of in my wheelhouse to create something,” he said.

The Tennessee native went back to his childhood to create the show.

“It’s kind of a throwback to the Christmas specials that I loved as a kid, growing up with Andy Williams and the Muppets,” he said. “I loved them, and anything live is so exciting.”

The easiest part, he said, was deciding that MTW’s producing artistic director for the past 32 years should be the host.

“You have your Wichita Andy Williams right there in Wayne Bryan,” Marcum said. “It’s open the door and welcome to our house.”

He wrote the show and found the people he wanted to fill each role.

“It’s kind of like ‘MacGyver’ or Jenga,” Marcum said. “Because Wayne has fostered such a sense of community, and people love MTW for the past 30 years he’s been here, we’ve got lots of people who wanted to contribute and help out.”

Filming took place over four nights last month at a mansion in the Flint Hills Reserve area of Andover, and “one long night into one long morning” at Botanica during its Illuminations event.

Marcum, Bryan said, was creative with the mansion, using the basement as Santa’s house and the garage as a toy factory. He also said that Botanica looks beautiful on the video.

“We took advantage of everything Botanica puts up for the holidays, their beautiful carousel, and their lighted Christmas tree,” Bryan said. “It honestly gives everything production values that we certainly couldn’t have done in a studio or with a green screen. It’s very rich looking and sounding.”

The sound, Marcum said, is “a fun kind of family entertainment.

“It’s traditional Christmas songs as well as musical theater songs that have a holiday slant to them and some contemporary stuff as well,” he said.

A COVID-19 compliance person on the staff was named, and everyone followed protocol of taking their temperatures before beginning each scene, and six-foot distancing was observed.

“The finished version will look like we’re all in the house at the same time,” Bryan said. “There were never too many people in the house at one time.”

Although Bryan and Marcum were hesitant to pick a favorite moment from the 60-minute special, both said there are some unique musical offerings.

Among them is Jennifer Marcum, Brian’s wife, singing “Birthday Party of the King,” a somewhat obscure song from a 1978 animated TV special called “The Stingiest Man in Town,” a take on “A Christmas Carol.”

The song is one of Bryan’s favorites, Marcum said, even though Marcum himself had never heard the tune before his wife sang it.

Another performance comes from Wichita’s Injoy Fountain, singing a rendition of “Run, Run Rudolph” made famous by singer/talk show host Kelly Clarkson, Fountain’s coach on TV’s “The Voice.” Roy Moye III, a Wichita-based engineer, will perform his original song “On a Christmas Night.”

Four of the performers — Bryan, the Marcums and Katie Banks, a veteran of “Phantom of the Opera” — have Broadway experience. Seven dancers, several of them MTW alumni and/or former students of Marcum at Oklahoma City University, will be featured, as will a 14-voice teen choir.

MTW regulars Tim and Karen Robu will play Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Wichita-based Digital Brand filmed and produced the show, which Bryan said looks “spectacular.” Digital Brand also produced online content for the summer, where MTW continued to make connections with its audience.

“We had gotten used to doing video stuff, but this put it up on a higher level of production value,” Bryan said.

Had the 2020 season for Music Theatre Wichita gone as planned, it would have served as a transition year, where Bryan would slide into the role of producing director and Marcum would become artistic director.

“Even though I feel great and I love what I do, I’ve been there 32 years now, but it feels like we need to freshen things up a bit and make sure that any succession can happen smoothly and with our whole team making it happen,” Bryan said. “The plan had been the 2020 season would be season we’d co-produce together, and then in 2021 I’d become more of an adviser and he’d be stepping up as artistic director.”

As part of the staff changes, Angela Cassette was named as managing director.

Bryan said an announcement is scheduled to be made next month about the 2021 schedule for MTW.

“We’re trying to lock things in,” he said. “The ground keeps shifting in the rules on gathering.”

Bryan does promise a “whole menu of entertainment options next year that can be done safely and well that we think our audience could appreciate and enjoy.”

This story was originally published December 13, 2020 at 6:00 AM.