In an interview exclusively with hamptons.com, Emma Walton Hamilton and her daughter Hope Hamilton talked about “The Great American Mousical.” This show is to be performed as a one-night staged reading, directed by Julie Andrews at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor on Monday, August 22, at 7pm.
As the legacy of Julie Andrews, both Emma Walton Hamilton and Hope Hamilton couldn’t help but display extreme pride and love in the gift Ms. Andrews has given them both. That gift is a huge positive successful female role model. Both daughter and granddaughter were very explicit.
When Hope was asked to define her mom (Emma Hamilton) and grandma (Julie Andrews) the eighteen-year-old soon to be nineteen said, “The women I admire most.”
Emma Walton Hamilton started the interview off by explaining that “The Great American Mousical”…began as a middle grade novel that my mother (Julie Andrews) and I wrote together. It was inspired by an experience she had when she was on stage, doing “Victor Victoria” on Broadway and she had a mouse in her dressing room.” Ms. Hamilton goes on to explain that Andrews asked her hairdresser not to have the mouse killed but humanely caught and released, “like somewhere in Brooklyn.”
When Julie Andrews’ hairdresser then told her that every Broadway theater is riddled with mice, Andrews supposedly said, “…they probably come up from the basement every night to see the stars perform.” Then, according to Emma Walton Hamilton, “this little light went off in her (mother’s) mind and she had this little idea.”
The August 22nd evening is a single night only “benefit” beginning at 7 p.m. Tickets start at $250 and include one free drink. A $500 donation ticket includes a V.I.P gift bag. There are also items and unique events available for silent action. After the performance there is a talkback with director Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton.
Having already co-authored many N.Y. Times best selling children’s books with her mom, Ms. Walton Hamilton is no stranger to working closely with her mom. She acknowledged that there is a uniqueness to being able to work closely and creatively with “one’s mother.” She also said how amazing her mom is when she throws herself into a project, including directing this musical reading of “The Great American Mousical.” The show actually World Premiered in November 2012 at the Norma Terris Theatre in Connecticut. It was originally based on the co-authored book of the same title by Emma Walton Hamilton and Julie Andrews, illustrated by Tony Walton. The music for “The Great American Mousical” is by Zina Goldwich, with the lyrics by Marcy Heiser and the book by Hunter Bell.
The plot thickens because while preparing to run through the script for this Bay Street reading, Hope Hamilton was called in to fill in for a prospective cast member who couldn’t make it. Ms. Hamilton explained, “My daughter Hope is a performer; she is soon to be nineteen. She has finished high school and is off to Sarah Lawrence to study theater. She has been performing in musical theater most of her life.” Then she explained how Hope dazzled everyone “to the point everyone agreed Hope must do the lead role.”
Ms. Hamilton also said her mom has been “very active, very hands on, she is very much overseeing the entire thing (show). It’s a real collaborative effort (mother & daughter) and that’s the beauty of theater. While she is very much the director we are also very much the creative team.”
Last year Hope Hamilton did make her professional debut in Bay Street’s production of Camelot. She has a bright future but is aware of her family’s legacy in both the international and extremely local performing arts world because Hope’s parents are two of the founders of Bay Street Theater. After all these years, Hope is following after her grandmother, then her mother to star in a show on the famous Bay Street stage
For more ticket information visit www.baystreet.org
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