Faculty Profile

Charles Repole: Song and Dance Man Directs the Drama Department

Charles Repole accumulated Broadway credits and honors in classic musicals. Then he moved to the other side of the footlights, directing shows at many of the nation’s top stages. But his most enduring role is the one he landed at QC, where he has taught since 1999 and now serves as chair of the Drama, Theatre, and Dance Department. “Teaching is very gratifying,” says the professor, whose resume is illustrated on his office walls: They’re decorated with several Al Hirschfeld cartoons and an ever-growing collection of posters for campus productions.

His own education was transformational. “I went to Stony Brook University,” he recalls. “I was good in math and science, so I was going to be an engineer, but I hated it.” Next stop was Hofstra. “I took a speech course,” continues the Long Island native, who doesn’t sound like he’s from Guyland, or anywhere else in New Yawk. “I had no idea I had an accent! I had to work at it.”

After appearing in a series of college plays for fun, Repole turned pro. His debut in the Jerome Kern musical Very Good Eddie won him a Theater World Award and a Tony nomination; his work in a revival of Whoopee! put him in the running for a Drama Desk Award. “I got lucky,” he says. “I got some breaks: I was the right size, the right shape. And I was fearless. I had a beautiful Broadway career.”

With the advent of darker musicals, he found himself at a crossroads. “I was a song and dance man,” Repole observes. “Sweeney Todd? Les Miz? What was I going to do?” His solution was to become a director. For City Center’s Encores! series, he tackled Du Barry Was a Lady, with Faith Prince and Robert Morse, and Call Me Madam, with Tyne Daly. His directing credits include the Broadway revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and a slew of gala fund-raisers at Carnegie Hall, the 92nd Street Y, and other locations.

Settled in his new identity, Repole never went back to performing. “It’s a different head,” he says. “When you’re an actor, you want it to be about you. When you’re a director, you want it to be about them.” This insight proved invaluable at QC, where, as a professor, his perspective changed once again. “As a performer, you push it all in,” Repole says. “When you teach, you let it all out.” He began chairing the drama department in September 2006.

The department schedules a play each semester and, in collaboration with the Aaron Copland School, plans an opera one year and a musical the next. The lineup also includes at least two student-directed shows a year. Repole prefers scripts that use as many people as possible, on stage and off. In 2007’s Cinderella, 40 students held acting roles and 15 worked behind the scenes; there was also a 24-piece orchestra. The recent presentation of Our Town boasted a cast of 30, plus 15 in technical jobs.

Each show has its quirks. “In Cinderella, some scenes were only 10 sentences long,” says Repole. “Actors had to invest in gestures like dropping a slipper. In Pajama Game, everything had to be louder, faster, funnier. The kids were exhausted. Basically, if you can do a musical, you can do Shakespeare.” For the record, QC thespians will, sooner or later, get to do Shakespeare period-style, with men in tights and women in big dresses. “I want them to have that experience,” Repole insists.