This is Ozarks at Large. I'm Kyle Kellams. With me on the phone from her office in Bella Vista is Becca Martin Brown.
We get together almost every Wednesday to go the other way. That's what we're doing again this week, isn't it, Becca?
Becca Martin Brown: This is the way we should be going more often — to the River Valley. We are going to talk to Grace Andrews, who is directing the musical "Once" for Arts on Main in Van Buren, and it will be performed at the King Opera House, which is an absolutely wonderful venue. And we're going to find out what's up with all that.
Kyle Kellams: All right. I think if it were fair to say someone has an architectural crush on a building, I think that's you and this opera house.
Brown: Oh, I think so too. That's fair. But if you've never been there, I have good taste.
Kellams: Yes, you do. Well, let's give Grace Andrews a call, and she can tell us about Van Buren, the opera house, the production and more. And if I have dialed correctly — and by that I mean hitting the buttons on my keyboard correctly — then Grace Andrews is with us. Grace, are you there?
Grace Andrews: Yes, I'm here. How are you guys?
Kellams: Very good. Thanks for taking a few minutes to talk with us.
Andrews: Oh my gosh, thank you for talking to me. I'm really excited to be on the call.
Brown: So I don't know you. I don't know much about you. I know you directed A Hallmark Christmas at Fort Smith Little Theatre.
Andrews: Yes.
Brown: Tell us about you first.
Andrews: Oh Lord. It's the question everyone hates, isn't it? Having to talk about yourself. But yeah, I'm Grace Andrews. I'm from Fort Smith, Arkansas, originally. To make a very long story short, my background is in the film industry. I lived in Los Angeles right after high school and worked in the film industry out there, from casting to production to even acting. I went to an acting conservatory out there just because I did a lot of community theater growing up, so it was always a passion of mine.
I fell in love with the film industry, relocated to Atlanta for another four and a half years or so. And then, as we all know, the pandemic changed everybody. So I moved back home to Fort Smith a few years ago and just wanted to be closer to family.
What I'm doing now is working a lot with Arts on Main in Van Buren and directing with them, teaching classes and workshops, really film-related acting and coaching privately. It's really nice to be back in the area. I love getting involved in local productions. I work a lot with Devon Parks, who has done some really great Hulu documentaries recently. So I'm still involved in the film world, just more on a local level. But now I'm directing "Once" the musical at Arts on Main and King Opera House, and it's so much fun. I love being able to be a part of the arts and the community.
Brown: So why did you pick the show "Once"? Or did they pick you for the show? Why this show?
Andrews: Yeah, I picked it. I was really lucky to see it in New York when it was on Broadway 13 years ago, and it had just won the Tony for Best Musical at the time. I had just never seen anything like it. I grew up doing local community theater, loved Broadway and grew up going to shows. "Once" really blew me away because all of the actors on stage played the instruments for the music on stage. Everything was live. I had just never seen anything quite like it.
Ever since then, it's been one of my favorite shows. I even had the CD of the soundtrack right after that for several years and would listen to it constantly. It's always been a show I've wanted to be a part of in some way. When I started working with Arts on Main, they're newer in terms of developing their theater and their seasons, and they're doing such a great job and have a really diverse season. I pitched them the idea and they were all for it.
Kellams: I did not see it on Broadway, but I did see the production when TheatreSquared put it on several years ago. I love the movie as well. One of the things I love about "Once"—and I don’t want to give anything away for folks who haven’t seen it—is it’s a real story about relationships and love. It feels incredibly real, and it takes no easy way out. Would you agree with that?
Andrews: Oh, absolutely. My music director and I have been asked to describe it for people who maybe aren’t familiar with the movie or the show itself. The term I always come to is “raw.”
It’s a take on these buskers, musicians that just have so much heart and passion. Sometimes it just takes one person to really encourage you to keep going even when you feel a little down on yourself. That’s something that doesn’t matter if you’re a musician or have a different career path. Everyone can feel that at different points of their life. That always drew me to the show and the movie itself. It felt like you were watching real people in their real lives, which I love.
Kellams: How was the casting for this?
Andrews: Casting was a lot of fun. I went into this wanting to be as accurate as possible to how it’s supposed to be staged — with the actors also being the musicians for the show. We were so lucky with the turnout. Even some people I’ve known for years showed up, and I had no idea they had all of these hidden talents or played multiple instruments. Everyone just blew us away, honestly.
It is a smaller cast, about 12 to 13 people. It’s very intimate and very fun. A lot of them play multiple instruments — people are playing guitars at one point, then piano next. Auditions were daunting going into it, and then we exhaled after the first night. Everyone is so talented, and we’re just so excited to be working with them.
Kellams: I do want to ask you about a role you played a few years ago — Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story.
Andrews: Oh yeah.
Kellams: I’ve never seen that produced as a play, but it’s one of my favorite movies — the 1940 Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Katharine Hepburn movie. I’ve got to think playing that character has to be a blast.
Andrews: Yeah, it was fun. I had never seen The Philadelphia Story, if I’m being honest. I knew of it, and I knew, obviously, who Katharine Hepburn was, but it wasn’t a movie I personally grew up on. I think that helped me a lot when I was involved in the production. I didn’t try to compare myself to her. I really tried to do my own thing while still keeping the integrity of the character.
It was a lot of fun. It was a really great cast. Everyone worked hard. It is not easy dialogue.
Kellams: It’s rapid fire.
Andrews: It was a good challenge and also my first time being back on stage in several years, since I had been working in the film industry for so long. I had to call back on a lot of those skills and memorize way more than I was used to. It was a really great production, and I’m happy I was part of it.
Kellams: Well, I think everyone should see the 1940 film The Philadelphia Story. I think everyone should also go to King Opera House in September for "Once" the Musical — Sept. 25, 26 and 27 at 7 p.m., with a matinee Sept. 28 at 2. Grace, thanks so much for your time.
Andrews: Oh my gosh. Thank you guys for having me. It’s such a pleasure.
Kellams: Becca, thank you.
Brown: Thank you. I’ll see you again soon.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline. Copy editors utilize AI tools to review work. KUAF does not publish content created by AI. Please reach out to kuafinfo@uark.edu to report an issue. The audio version is the authoritative record of KUAF programming.
