This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Business & Tech

Doris Day's Life and Songs Come to El Portal

Sally Hughes plays the film icon in 'A Sentimental Journey' starting this weekend.

The 's latest production opens Saturday. An import from England, chronicles the life of legendary movie star Doris Day. Sally Hughes stars as Day and performs songs from her career, while telling the story of her childhood, marriages, career and tragedies in life.

Much of that life was , which is just a short distance from the El Portal. Day owned two homes in Toluca Lake during her Hollywood stardom years, one which still exists today at 131 Valley St.

Hughes began her journey as Doris Day four years ago. The El Portal run represents the latest incarnation of the show. In England, Hughes is managing director of The Mill at Sonning, a British theater company producing the El Portal edition of A Sentimental Journey. She also sings with the Picadilly Dance Orchestra at the Savoy theater in London.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Yesterday, I caught up with Hughes before a final rehearsal. Speaking on the phone during her lunch break, Hughes has performed two preview shows at El Portal and was putting the finishing touches on the show that North Hollywood will get to see. For tickets visit the box office or www.elportaltheater.com.

PATCH: What is the trick to portraying a well known film star on stage?

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

SALLY HUGHES: I think that we’re telling the story of her life and you have to remember that. It’s not an impersonation but it’s telling her story that a lot of people, certainly when we did it in England, didn’t know about. It’s such a wonderful story from her beginnings, her father leaving her and her mother, the train crash. I’m sure you know all about her. Her marriages and career breaks, so it’s more about that life. And of course her wonderful relationship with her son. We always say to each other, the cast, we’re telling the story of Doris Day. It’s not an impersonation.

PATCH: Of course you’re not “doing” a Doris Day impersonation, but are you able to cover some of the classic film performances?

HUGHES: Yes, the songs tell her life and certainly I’ve listened to her vocally singing and capture, I’m told, some of her intonation and the amazing vibrato that she had in her voice. Hopefully that comes out in the performance.

PATCH: Are there any scenes of her working on a film or scenes from the film incorporated into the play?

HUGHES: We do a scene from Young At Heart when she’s crying over Frank Sinatra, who plays the part of Barney. Then the director yells cut and there’s a scene with Frank and he sings “Young at Heart” to her. Then of course we do Calamity Jane. So a few scenes from the films.

PATCH: How do you handle her TV show?

HUGHES: We have a little snip of that, again as a song. We do “Ain’t We Got Fun” with the character Denver Pyle, a little snip of that. Because she has such an amazing long career, to get it all scrunched into two 50-minute acts is quite tricky. So we can’t dwell too long on too many things. We have to move on.

PATCH: When did you start playing Doris Day in the first run?

HUGHES: About four years ago. We did it at a theater in England called The Mill at Sonning. Then the following year we took it up to London to a theater called Wilton’s which is a beautiful space. Then we didn’t quite know how to take it further so we decided to bring it to Edinburgh festival this year and we also did another six week run at The Mill. In the meantime, before going to Edinburgh, a wonderful playwright called Ray Cooney had seen it in London last year and he visits his son out here every winter. I know that Pegge [Forrest] and Jay [Irwin], who run El Portal, have done Ray Cooney’s farces at their theater. He was telling them about the show and they said, “That sounds good for our audiences.” So we sent them the script and went in April to meet with them, struck a deal and here we are. It’s wonderful and we’ve had two shows in previews. What’s wonderful is the American audiences are so involved in the story and they react vocally. “Oh no,” “Oh my gosh,” when they realize certain bits about her life, whereas in England audiences are more reserved. It’s wonderful to get that warmth from the audience.

PATCH: Had Doris Day ever seen the show?

HUGHES: No. It would be amazing if she came but we’re not expecting her. It would just be amazing, but I don’t think I want to know if she’s in the audience if she did come.

PATCH: Did you have any contact with her when you were preparing?

HUGHES: The young playwright who wrote it sent her the script and so she had read the script. She certainly knows it’s happening.

PATCH: Was Doris Day an influence on you before you got the role?

HUGHES: I’ve always loved Doris Day. There are some amazing and really dedicated fans of Doris Day who I’ve met in different incarnations of the production. Every year they come to see it. I’ve always been a great admirer but not an ardent fan. But the more I’ve learned about her, I actually think she’s an amazing woman. I think she’s a strong woman, amazingly talented. I haven’t spoken to her, I haven’t met her so I don’t know what she thinks, but she seems to bounce back from bad things that happen to her. I have a son and just the thought of losing a son before you go is awful. It’s awful. It must’ve been the worse thing that could have happened. So I can relate to that when we touch on that in the show, very much.

PATCH: Does the show include her animal rights work also?

HUGHES: Very much, yes! And the star of the show is this gorgeous little Maltese/Shih Tzu. She’s called Lily and she appears in the show and she’s just gorgeous. We talk about the Animal League.

PATCH: That must be a very well trained dog to be on stage and hit her cues.

HUGHES: She’s so calm. She has the most beautiful little outfit with polka dots, and I carry her on because she’s a little lap dog. But she’s just gorgeous. She’s not scared. She loves it, and then she comes on for the curtain call as well.

PATCH: How did you initially get the voice of Doris Day down, especially being a British actor?

HUGHES: Just a lot of listening and having a singing coach to get that vibrato in the voice. I had to work very, very hard on the accent. My voice is quite low speaking and she has that very low tone, so the accent was the hardest thing. Singing not so much. It’s just a changing of style.

PATCH: What are your favorite Doris Day songs to sing?

HUGHES: I love “It’s Magic.” I love singing “It’s Magic.” I love “Love Me Or Leave Me.” “The Deadwood Stage” is great fun to sing, harder to sing for me. I don’t know if it was as hard for her as it was for me. I loved the ballads. I loved the soft ballads but “It’s Magic” is my favorite.

PATCH: “Que Sera Sera” is the one we all know.

HUGHES: Yeah, we sing “Que Sera Sera,” absolutely. That appears in the show. That’s a lovely one.

PATCH: Do you find yourself singing these songs on your own when you’re not working?

HUGHES: I do. In fact, particularly “Que Sera Sera.” I do actually. I sing all the time. When I was in my car, I suddenly see people looking at me, this strange woman.

PATCH: Is Rock Hudson a character in the play?

HUGHES: He’s not a character but he’s talked about fondly. No actor plays Rock Hudson.

PATCH: Had you ever had a chance to play the El Portal before?

HUGHES: No. It’s beautiful, just such a beautiful theater.

PATCH: What are your impressions of the theater and North Hollywood?

HUGHES: I think because the audiences are enthusiastic for theater, that’s great. The NoHo Arts District where El Portal is is surrounded by theaters. I don’t know how many theaters there are here in L.A. It’s slightly different from London I suppose where it’s much smaller in square mileage so all the theaters are just scrunched into one area. Whereas all the theaters in L.A. are further spaced apart I imagine. But the whole perspective is pretty similar to England. There’s a common language there with stage management and lighting.

PATCH: Have you gotten to explore North Hollywood?

HUGHES: We found a wonderful place called on the corner where we all go and have lunch or dinner. We’ve very much been in rehearsals and playing, like today we’re going back at 2 o’clock to do cleanups and things. It’s still very much a preview time. We only lasted last Wednesday so we’ve all had jetlag to get over but the whole cast are looking forward to our days off and getting around Los Angeles. Some of the chaps in the cast have hired a red mustang convertible. They’re very excited about that.

PATCH: I didn’t realize you just got in so recently. Is this play so familiar now that it only takes a week of rehearsals to get up and running again?

HUGHES: Yeah, it’s basically adapting to the space because every space has been either smaller or bigger or on different levels. So whatever house you go into, it’s just adapting it to the space. There are 180 lighting cues so it’s getting the technicians that come with the theater used to the play. Obviously we just come over with the cast. We don’t come over with our technical people, apart from our musical director. And also of course it’s rehearsal for the band because we’ve got some wonderful Los Angeles musicians that have got to get used to the music and working with all of us. The band are very integral to the whole piece because she started, as you know, as a big band singer. So that’s very much the beginning, although we don’t have a big band on stage. We’ve got four musicians on stage but they make a big sound so that’s good.

PATCH: Have you ever been with a show this long before?

HUGHES: Not over so many years, no. It’s interesting to drop it for six months and pick it back up again. Actually that’s wonderful because you get tired of a run for so many months but it’s always nice to go back and revisit. Every time you go back to it, you find different things. Maybe that’s just life experience. You experience more in life and then you think, "Oh yeah."

PATCH: How has it developed over the multiple performance to this El Portal show?

HUGHES: Funny enough, from the very first performance, it’s gotten shorter because we cut things. It’s fast. It’s a very fast moving show in that it moves quickly from scene to scene to scene. The actors do all the moving of any props. It’s seamless in that respect. That’s just gotten faster and faster and more fluid. A few scenes have been cut, a few scenes added in, things like that.

PATCH: How much does it take away from your London life to come visit us in North Hollywood?

HUGHES: The last few months have been quite fun but stressful, going up to Edinburgh and then coming to L.A. It’s just quite time consuming but it’s lovely being here and just being able to concentrate on this, but it does take up time. If you can well, you can leave things and they keep on running without you. 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from North Hollywood-Toluca Lake