By Mary Ann Bourbeau
LINCROFT, August 6 – After 30 years as a theater professor at Brookdale Community College, where he directed more than 100 shows, J. Laurence Lowenstein had done every show on his wish list. So after he retired, he decided to create his own original musical.
“I never thought I’d end up writing a show,” said Lowenstein, who is known to his friends as Larry. “That never even appealed to me.”
The show, called “The Next Big Thing,” came about when Lowenstein was standing in line at the supermarket and was struck by the headlines in a celebrity tabloid. He came up with an idea about an actor who lives only to find success, but has no luck in finding the role that will lead him to stardom. When he is finally up for a role that he desperately wants, he finds there are strings attached.
“The idea became fascinating to me,” he said. “How far would you go to satisfy a dream? Would you do something that would be seen as reprehensible at any other time?”
Lowenstein wrote the book and lyrics, and worked along with Gerald H. Bailey, who wrote the music.
The show deals with contemporary problems but is in the vein of the great musicals of the past.
“Most of the musicals today are not as good as the older ones,” Lowenstein said.
A table reading of the seven-character show will take place at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 13 in the Marion Huber Theater, a 99-seat black box venue in the Two River Theater in Red Bank. Admission is free.
“We hire professional actors to read and sing the show,” Lowenstein said. “Then we invite an audience to get their reaction to see what works and what needs improvement.”
Among the Broadway actors for this reading are Jenn Colella from “If/Then,” Michael Halling from “The Boy from Oz,” Mary Michael Patterson from “The Phantom of the Opera” and Amos Wolff from “Gigi.”
“Bob Rechnitz (founder and executive producer) at the Two River Theater has been very supportive,” Lowenstein said. “We can’t wait to get a Monmouth County reading of the show.”
Lowenstein’s love for theater dates back to his childhood in Deal. At the age of 9, he begged his parents to take him to see Ingrid Bergman on Broadway in “Joan of Lorraine.” Soon after, he went to see “South Pacific” with Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin.
“Those shows changed my life,” he said. “I started making scrapbooks and making my friends listen to cast albums. I read “Variety.” I was madly in love with musicals.”
Though his parents wanted him to become a lawyer, there was no other logical path for Lowenstein to take but the one to the stage. After graduating Asbury Park High School, he earned a Masters of Arts degree from New York University and taught at Penn State and Newark State College, now Kean University. Wanting to be back in Monmouth County, he joined the staff of Brookdale in 1969, during its first year. He worked alongside colleague Nina Garcia, who introduced him to the woman he would marry.
Laurie Lowenstein was raised in Manhattan in a theater family. Her mother, Toby, was a lyricist. Her father, Gerard Oestreicher, was a producer, most notably for “Milk and Honey,” which ran on Broadway from 196163 and gave songwriter Jerry Herman his start. He was also part owner of what is now the Gershwin Theater on West 51st Street.Laurie’s maternal grandfather, Harry Ruby, was a songwriter with numerous credits to his name, including “A Kiss to Build a Dream On,” which he wrote with Bert Kalmar and Oscar Hammerstein II.
“I fell in love with musical theater when my father took us to see “The Fantasticks,” Laurie said. “I knew I had to be in that world.”
When she was young, the children of Eddie Cantor or the Marx Brothers would come over for Sunday brunch, or Kaye Ballard would just pop over for a visit.
“We would sit around the piano and sing and eat pastrami,” she said. “That was just the atmosphere I grew up in.”
Laurie studied acting at Boston University, but left after a year to get married. When the marriage ended, Garcia introduced her to Larry, who asked her which show she would most like to perform in. She mentioned “She Loves Me,” and Larry suggested she move to the Jersey Shore. He would stage the show at Brookdale and give her a part.
“He made me a very fine offer,” Laurie said. “His kindness and generosity were irresistible.”
The two married and raised two children together – Brett, 42, and Jay, 37. Larry cast his wife in 15 shows at Brookdale, and though some balked at the idea, Larry insists his wife was a big draw.
“Every time she was in a show, we got raves,” he said. “My theory was that if somebody was really good, the students would learn as much from that person as they would from me.”
When she wasn’t working in the theater or raising the kids, Laurie was a political activist, serving 15 years as executive director of New Jersey Right to Choose and volunteering for Planned Parenthood of Central Jersey.
“I used to drive by Planned Parenthood in Shrewsbury and see all the protesters,” she said. “I got very stirred up. I believe that women have the right to determine when to be a parent and of how many people. No one has the right to interfere with that.”
The couple is also very
involved with 180 Turning Lives Around, a nonprofit dedicated to ending domestic and sexual violence. “It’s a fabulous organization,” Larry said.
For now, the Lowensteins of Red Bank are focused on the reading of “The Next Best Thing,” which they hope will be seen by regional and Off-Broadway theater producers.
“There is nothing like the thrill of hearing Broadway performers sing your lyrics,” Larry said. “This is the most fun I’ve ever had.”
Mary Ann Bourbeau can be reached at mbourbeau@tworivertimes.com.
