BWW Interviews: Choreographer Ray Dumont Comes Home with GYPSY

"Gypsy is a dream come true for me. I have been involved with Maine State Music Theatre since 1993, and to become part of the family is very special."

Raymond Marc Dumont's eyes sparkle and he glows with enthusiasm as he talks about his current involvement with the company as choreographer for their production of Gypsy which runs from July 17- August 3 at the Pickard Theatre in Brunswick, ME. Not only is this production a homecoming for the Maine-born and raised actor, director, and choreographer, but it his first gig as a member of SDC, the directors and choreographers union. "To come in with a classic is an absolute thrill!"

Dumont, who has been a long-time member of Actors Equity and has worked throughout New England and in national regional theatre, has also had a long term relationship with MSMT, where he has worn many hats beginning as an intern in 1993 and moving through various posts until he became Managing Director in 1999.

"I need to do theatre all the time. It's my passion." He is finding his role as choreographer especially fulfilling. "I like to build pictures and tell stories," he explains. "I think Gypsy is a beautifully crafted show. The director Dominic Missimi is so wonderful, and he lets me be in on everything. He asks what I think about blocking, motivation, and the bigger picture. I feel my input is valued. Watching the scenes come to life, you realize how good the book of this musical is. It is a powerful show about a very dysfunctional family. Our Rose is not this monster. You understand what she is doing, even if you may not like it."

The MSMT production stars, among others, Charis Leos as Mama Rose -"she is a force of nature," Dumont enthuses - and Tyler Hanes as Tulsa. Dumont, who has played Tulsa himself in community theatre, has also worked with Hanes before in 42nd Street. He says knowing an actor's style helps him build his dances.

"Once you start working on the bodies of people inhabiting roles, the choreography starts to change. You start to do what looks good on the company. For example, Tyler is a brilliant Broadway dancer. Though I had choreographed his dance in past, now I wanted it to look like him, so I rebuilt the number around what he does well. It was a completely collaborative rehearsal, a joyful, energizing time for me."

The original choreography for Gypsy was by Jerome Robbins, and Dumont says certain elements must be present - the cow, the little Dutch Boy and Girl, for example - "but my steps will be different though stylistically valid. There's no need to reinvent the wheel. You want to keep a balance between expectations and freshness, and I like to keep it fresh for me, too."

"Some musicals like West Side Story or Chorus Line are dance shows, and their original dances are sacrosanct," Dumont concedes. He talks about passing on a choreographer's legacy through notation, but also through live experience of the dances. Last year he conducted a workshop for MSMT on the original Chorus Line choreography which he learned from Mitzi Hamilton (the dancer who inspired Val and later played her). "I find the cast is always happy to learn this legacy. It's nice to pass on what I have learned."

Dumont has been learning to be an actor and dancer since high school, but "my path is so different," he acknowledges. Raised in Lewiston-Auburn, he says that "all my training is practical. I never studied ballet as a child, and I got my degree in marketing and finance at Boston University - a skill which has proved useful to him over the years as Managing Director at MSMT, for example, or in various posts at University of Southern Maine.

He recounts his first role in a high school production of Babes in Arms, for which he had originally volunteered to serve as producer. "The drama coach asked me to read with actors at the auditions and when he was giving me a ride home one evening, he said, 'If I need you, would you play a role?' I said I would, but 'don't make me sing or dance.' Ironically, I never stopped after that!"

He went on to perform every summer with the Lewiston-Auburn community theatre and credits three of his early mentors there, "David, Lois, and Mary" for "making me understand how amazing it is to work on a musical. David directed; Mary was his assistant, and Lois choreographed. They were teachers, friends, surrogate parents to kids who didn't have that support."

Fortunately for Dumont, his parents were very supportive of his theatre pursuits. "My mother would tell me each time I got on a bus to go to an audition 'Go make it happen.' She and Dad still come to every show," he says with obvious emotion.

In those early years Dumont joined MSMT's intern program when halfway through the1995 season, he was granted his Actors Equity card while working in My Fair Lady. That intern experience was a joyful one for Dumont, and he went on to become Intern Director for the company. He speaks glowingly of the program:

"There was such a crazy level of talent coming into the company. These interns worked seamlessly with our union actors. I used to tell them when we went to those big cattle call auditions and tried to convince a young actress who had perhaps been offered a leading role for more money at a barn theatre somewhere: 'You are twenty. What will it look like on your resume to be a twenty-year-old old Dolly Levi? If you come here, you will be in ensemble. You can audition for some featured roles that make sense. You will work with directors, choreographers, and actors who will be your network when you get out there.'"

Dumont also saw it as his task to help these interns through the inevitable rough spots in an intense four-show summer. "When things got a little hot and heavy, I would tell them that they needed to shake it off and push on through because this is the business. You must do your homework and bring your A-game to every rehearsal and performance."

"This year's interns are stellar," Dumont says of those in his present cast. "They are very talented young professionals, making the most of the opportunity. I will always gravitate to the interns," he confides. "I think I have a very maternal energy. I always ask them if they are having fun and loving the experience."

Asked about the changes he has seen in MSMT over the years of his various associations, he replies without hesitation. "We keep raising the bar in our production values. When I was Managing Director (1999-2003), we went from five shows to four with three week runs each. We knew with the bigger and more difficult shows coming and only ten days of rehearsal, we would not be able to deliver the product we wanted to and also not endanger our people working on stage, unless we cut back. We did get some flack, but on the whole I felt we were giving so much more."

He says that over the years he has seen the camaraderie grow in the company as well. "Our whole level of expectation has gotten higher for ourselves. We are all in it together. Whenever I come back, I feel welcome, and that is priceless," he says.

Dumont, who has spent the last decade after his stint as Managing Director involved in a variety of other theatrical posts, says one of his reasons for leaving MSMT in 2003 was the adoption of his son, Ethan, with his partner, now spouse Rodney Mondor. "I knew how time consuming the job was, and I needed time to be a dad."

Dumont, whose current "day job" is in financials for the Student Government Association of the University of Southern Maine, had served for a year as Managing Director of the Children's Theatre of Maine, now fully under the aegis of the Portland Museum, and then had moved on to USM where he did some publicity and taught dance in the theatre department for a while.

These varied positions, as well as his artistic ventures as an actor, director, and choreographer, have given him a broad perspective on the theatrical climate in Maine. "I have seen the theatrical landscape blossom. You have so many options now. There are some wonderful professional Equity companies, as well as non-union theatres, and then the community and summer stages. Look at the Goode Theatre or Portland Stage or the Mad Horse Theatre, for example. They are setting a very high bar."

Dumont also thinks there is a great deal of opportunity for young people in Maine's schools to become involved in theatre. He, himself, loves to work with high schoolers and college students and often choreographs for USM or local high schools. "I do a project each year with Yarmouth High School. I love the kids at this age. They have an inexhaustible supply of energy, and it just lifts you up!"

Dumont also notices that while resources are limited is the state - "the Maine Arts Council can only support so many requests" - he feels the audiences have grown in size as well as in the scope of their taste over the years. "One of the assets here in Maine is that the audiences have become more willing to try new shows." He says he saw that in his own tenure at MSMT, and it continues there today. "I think we have earned their trust. They are giving us a chance to push the envelope a little. This season's LES MISERABLES, for example, was "brand new, something fresh, not a repeat of the production from five years before or a replica of what was done on Broadway or on national tour. In Gypsy we are also doing our own thing. We are looking at it through a different lense."

Dumont looks forward to reveling in this "hugely creative, joyful" experience called theatre. Among his upcoming projects is directing Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods at the Lyric Theatre in South Portland next year. "There's not a lot of dance in that show, but there is stylized movement, and I have a vision that has a darker edge," he notes. And he will return to MSMT whenever there is a role that suits him or a show that needs him.

"We don't do celebrities here. Everyone is a star, and we are a family. When things are great we celebrate, and when they are rough, we pick each other up. It's such a wonderful experience. I can hardly sleep at night. I am so excited!"

Raymond Marc Dumont's enthusiasm is clearly contagious!

Photo Credit: Courtesy Maine State Music Theatre