By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Alyson Reed is surrounded by the young cast of
Diamond Head Theatre's "Oliver." Reed started her
stage career at age 7.
Life Is A Stage
Since age 7, Alyson Reed has
By Tim Ryan
never ventured far from the theater
Star-BulletinAs Alyson Reed speaks, her life in show business unfolds in a kind of fantasy that has taken her from community theater, to Disneyland (as Alice in Wonderland), to Broadway (Cassie in "A Chorus Line"), to Hollywood (playing a killer).
Now she's in Hawaii as a director.
"Since I was 5 I pretty much knew what I wanted to do," said Reed, who is directing and choreographing the Diamond Head Theatre production of "Oliver." The musical is about a young orphan boy and his adventures on the streets of London.
She got the "Oliver" job after teaching a workshop here this summer.
"I love Diamond Head Theatre because it's like all the community theaters I grew up in," she said of her early days on stage in Orange County, Calif. Her debut was at age 7.
She's come a long way since then. Talking about her work in her rapid-fire way, Reed is friendly, possessing an inviting smile, disarming charm and an intimidating resume that includes acting at Knotts Berry Farm and Disneyland, and dancing in Japan and Canada. She accomplished all this while serving as student body president, song leader and track athlete at Anaheim High School.
Like many young girls, Reed wanted to be a ballerina. Then she fell in love with musical theater. At 12 she got her first paying gig as Alice at Disneyland.
"I did a lot of running around chasing that rabbit in the Christmas parade," said Reed.
At nearby Knotts Berry Farm she learned melodrama. And when she wasn't on stage she ran the spotlight, took tickets or "barked" to get customers inside.
Reed spent three weeks attending community college after high school, but dropped out, on the advice of a counselor, when she got a chance to work in a major production. "The counselor said I had been training for this for 16 years and to go for it."
She would go on to double for Bo Derek in a dream ballet sequence for the film "10." (The scene was cut.) Then she got the lead role in Broadway's "Pippen."
A month's vacation to New York in 1980 turned into a decade sojourn when she got hired for a show five days after her arrival. For the next four years, Reed was never out of work, moving from one Broadway show to another.
"I was thrilled and very lucky, in the right place at the right time," she said. "But I worked very, very hard to get there."
In 1985 she co-starred in the "A Chorus Line" -- she played Cassie -- directed by Sir Richard Atten-borough and starring Michael Douglas. The film was praised in Europe and based on those reviews, Reed received offers for three films, including the lead in "Winds of War." Johnny Carson wanted her to sing "What I Did For Love" on the "Tonight" show.
But the film flopped in the United States, and 10 days it's New York premiere, all offers were withdrawn.
"I had the sweetest letter from (Broadway director) Hal Prince who said he loved the film and to forget the critics," said Reed. She quickly penned a note of thanks.
Three years later, when Reed auditioned for "Cabaret" -- directed by Prince -- he thanked her for sending him a response. (Yes, she got the role.)
By Dennis Oda, Star-Bulletin
Alyson Reed directs Nicholas Reppun, left, and Kirk
Lozada, in "Oliver." Both boys are 11.
But Reed was growing tired of "the eight-performances-a-week Broadway thing" and, needing a new challenge, returned to Los Angeles in late 1989 to try television. Her string of luck continued. In two weeks she had a guest role on "Matlock" as a a woman who commits murder by putting tainted hazel nuts in cookie dough."I was a killer," she screamed gleefully.
Reed also has a recurring role on the television show "Party of Five," playing the mother of Jennifer Love Hewitt (remember "The Byrds of Paradise"?)
On the New York subway a few years ago, a little girl told Reed she looked like the girl in "A Chorus Line." Reed whispered that it was her, but the New York kid was skeptical.
"Oh yeah, what did you sing?" she asked.
So Reed whispered the lyrics in the girl's ear. "She asked me 'Do you miss Zack?' 'Sometimes I do,'" Reed said.
When the child got off the subway, she looked back and waved.
"That's what this business really is about. It didn't matter what reviewers said. For this kid, that film was very real; it meant something important to her."
Oliver
On stage: Tomorrow through Oct. 18
