Chan Poling and Myron Johnson of Venus
Chan Poling
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Chan Poling is moving from The Suburbs to Broadway. The singer of the local 1980s new wave pop band and, more recently, the jazzier New Standards has his sights set on musical comedy with his new play, Venus. It's a gender-flipped takeoff on Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde (by way of All About Eve) in which an aging woman discovers a formula that can turn her young again—and into a supermodel. Venus debuts at the Ritz Theater on May 5, running through May 24. Decider met up with Poling and his collaborator, artistic director Myron Johnson of Ballet Of The Dolls, recently at the Modern Café, next door to the Ritz. Despite their congenial working relationship, differences between them were apparent: The 6-foot-6 Poling folded himself into the booth and never removed his long camel-colored coat. Johnson, around a foot shorter and wearing his usual do-rag, stretched his limber legs out in the aisle. His feet, typically bare, were covered only because there was still snow on the ground at the time.
Decider: How’s it going?
Myron Johnson: Terrible. Hate him. He’s too big.
Chan Poling: His legs are too small. We’re like Mutt and Jeff.
D: What brought you together for Venus?
CP: I brought Venus to Myron 10 years ago. He loved it then, and it wasn’t anywhere near where it is now. Myron’s been around this project for a long time. He’s been patiently waiting for me to finish it.
D: What’s your role now that it is finished, Myron?
MJ: I’m the director and choreographer. They go hand-in-hand on a new musical; the lines get really blurred. Chan doesn’t come into it with all the preconceived notions of how things manifest to the stage.
CP: It’s such a pleasure for me to give it over to someone I trust. When you write something yourself, you’re living in your own little world. Now I can just sit back and not have to carry the ball.
MJ: You get to pass the ball. This is team playing! Working on new musicals, you have to let your ego go. Especially the actors—these actors will be creating these characters from scratch.
D: But you are working from a script, right?
MJ: Yes, but we don’t fully know who these characters are yet. When we did the readings it was really wonderful to see how actors interpreted the material.
CP: I saw someone deliver a line the completely opposite way I had written it, and instead of getting mad, I got really pleased. I love seeing the possibilities.
MJ: That’s why this art is so great. But it calls for really talented people.
D: Are you both ready to see Venus onstage?
MJ: There is only so much you can do on paper. You just never know what a new show really is until you have to have courage to do it. You simply have to get behind the material, otherwise you spend 10 years in the studio trying to fix everything.
CP: Yeah, it’s open for a while, and everyone participates in its creation. Then it becomes a “directatorship.” I look forward to that. I look forward to watching it, making sure the band sounds hot. If everybody shoots for the stars, then you get what you get.
D: That sounds terrifying.
MJ: If you don’t like that part of it, you probably shouldn’t be in theater.
CP: I’ve been telling people it’s kind of like building a rocketship in your garage.
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