Happy Halloween! Yawn.
I don't really do Halloween because I have enough costumes and makeup in my life and don't really see a need to embrace that tradition on this particular day.
So instead of taking in the parade (which I've never actually seen), I went to a reading of the 1936 Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour thrown up by the Roundabout at the American Airlines Theatre. And I must of asked at least 10 people to come with me to this and none of them could make it. Gee Whiz!
I only knew this play by reputation and have never seen a full production or either of the film adaptations. For the few of you who'd care, this was the original 1936 script. Apparently, Hellman revised the play in the 1950's for a Broadway revival that she herself directed. I had no idea.
And...boy, what a creaky, creaky script built around the barest of plot. I mean, almost NOTHING happens in this play. If you don't know it at all, it concerns what happens to two teachers at a school when one of their students gets angry and basically lies to everyone in town, saying that they are in a lesbian relationship.
This play has a lot of problems, which is probably why there hasn't been a major revival of it in 40 years. It was Hellman's first play and her inexperience shows. The dialogue is clunky and there's almost no characterization or motivation for the actors to play here. The little girl who sets the plot in motion is a terribly obvious Bad Seed who is presented as a demon child who terrorizes her fellow students and lies badly to adults at any opportunity. The paper thin plot is entirely dependent on this child's testimony along with that of another child who is being rather obviously coerced.
None of this was the fault of the actors. They all did the best they could. Enid Graham and Emily Bergl were the teachers and Madeleine Martin (the little girl from last season's The Pillowman) was their Bad Seed student. Martin was impressive and I didn't care at all that she was obviously much younger than the high school age actresses playing her classmates. Actually, her character is so over the top that I was expecting Martin's head to spin all the way around or for her start beating people to death with the heel of her shoe.
These actresses were ably supported by such New York theatre regulars as Dana Ivey and Kristine Nielsen and stage directions (and a cameo part) were done by a very cute guy named Jonathan Fielding.
Basically, this play is melodrama in the very worst sense of the word. I was expecting organ music at every turn. It's a play whose time has passed. But it was interesting to see and I'm glad I went. I probably won't be seeing a production any time soon.
I've spent today in a depressed funk because I've been put in a very difficult position that is not of my making, but, since shit rolls downhill, I'm the one who has to deal with it.
A few times a year, I do some work for an event planning firm here in town. Several weeks ago I got an email from someone at that firm asking if I was available for a two day gig this coming week. I was told that the pay was $200 per day and that the hours would be 8.00am-6.00pm on both days. Fine. This is pretty typical of this firm and I agreed to the terms almost immediately.
Then I rearranged my work week around the gig and started making plans for what I was going to do with that much-needed $400. The options were staggering and it took me awhile to figure out which holes in the dam would get plugged with this money.
Yesterday, I got an email asking me to confirm that I was on board for the event and reiterating the terms (hours, pay, location).
Then, later on the same day (six days prior to the event), I got another email from this person. It turns out that the hours for the gig are now 7.00am-9.00pm on both days. In other words, they were adding 4 hours a day for a total of 8 hours to this job.
I replied that this was fine and asked what the increased pay would be for the extra time I'd be putting in...and was told that the pay was the same: $200/day. Huh Wha?! Were they really asking me to work an additional 8 hours for nothing?! As it turns out, this is exactly what they were asking. Now, had this been just a half hour or even an hour, I could put it down to miscommunication and let it go. But 8 fuckin' hours?! That's the equivalent of an entire extra day.
My next reply was to ask if I could just come in for the hours I'd already committed, and I have yet to hear back. I expect to receive an "all or nothing" verdict.
Now, my instinct here is to tell them to go fuck themselves. Who in their right mind expects people to come in and work extra time and not be paid for it? And it's not as if this is a charity event for which the firm is donating its services either.
But I really do need the money. That $400 would be a huge help with the stack of bills sitting on my kitchen table. And I don't want this firm to not ever call me again in future. But I do want to be paid a fair wage for my time and labour.
So what do I do?
I'm so frustrated over this because I know I'm right and they are wrong. But, so far, they are refusing to do the right thing by me, someone who's been coming in and working for them for several years now. Yet, if I do the right thing for me and walk away, I'm out a lot of money that I desperately need.
Thoughts?
The benefit reading of The Importance of Marrying Wells at the Perry Street Theatre on Monday night went very well despite the icy rain and what with the ticket sales, silent auction, and donations, we raised $900 for Southern Rep in New Orleans.
And it was GREAT to see the cast again. Most of them have moved on to exciting new projects (not me yet, sadly) and it was so nice to hear all about what everyone had been up to since we did the play at Fringe in August.
The one change in the cast was the addition of Lisa Kron as Dr. Prism. She seems like a terrific lady and was a wonderful addition, although we did miss the presence of the original actress. I can't wait to see her on Broadway in the spring in her own play, Well.
The pre- and post-reading parties were fun too with food and liquor all donated by various restaurants. I had one friend come and he was lucky enough to win a dinner for two at John's Pizzaria in Times Square. He was even kind enough to invite me to go with him. I can't wait.
I'll be so excited to hear what the next step in the process for this play will be. Whether or not my little role survives, I think it's a good play with great possibilites and I hope it's destined for great things.
On Friday, I made my debut as a "theatre correspondent" on WFMU's The Ed Shepp Radio Experiment. It was really cool and fun, and I hated to have to duck out of the show early to head over to the West Village to do the final performance of Around the World in a Bad Mood.
You can listen for yourself here. It's the October 21st show.
Oh, and the final Around the World in a Bad Mood was pretty smashing, even if a drunk in the front of the room was sort of distracting for part of the show. The audiences just love this show and there are rumors that it will be returning in the winter.
"It's not my looks that disfigure me, it's what I've done."
I should tell you about this project that I was working on up at Columbia University. It was part of what made this week so hellish, but in a good way.
Remember when I auditioned a while back for a class of first year directors in Columbia's MFA directing program? I thought it was a pretty kick ass audition and, yes, this call was a result of that day.
This director (I will call him A) called me on Tuesday at 10.30pm to ask if I was available to do a scene for his class...on Friday. Yikes! It gets better.
I met with A the next day uptown at Columbia and it turns out that he is from Romania and had come to the US for the first time only about 4 weeks ago. As a sidebar, I gotta tell you that his English, which is mostly self-taught, is amazing. Way better than my Romanian would be after an equivalent amount of time.
Anyway, this scene was from Orestes, an ancient Greek play by everyone's favourite playwright, Euripedes. One of my college professors had a joke that he would tell whenever the name came up. Basically, it was "Euripedes? Eumenides." You see, The Eumenides is a Greek tetralogy by another writer...nevermind. Not important.
When we met on Wednesday, A didn't know which scenes of the play we would be doing, he did not yet have another actor for me to play with, and he wasn't sure if I would be playing Orestes or Menelaos. So..there was NOTHING I could do at that point. Not a damn thing.
On Thursday, I had to work all day at the Desk Jockey Day Job and I had a date that evening. Now, normally, I would have cancelled the date, but we had theatre tickets and I wasn't about to either stick him with an extra last-minute ticket or pay for a ticket to a show that I wouldn't be seeing.
Okay, so...I grabbed the subway up to Columbia after my date and we rehearsed from 11.30pm till 2.00am. I met my scene partner, found out that I was to play Orestes, and the three of us ripped a section of the play apart and cut and paste it back together to make a coherent scene. We ran through the basic blocking that A wanted and I made it home by 3.00am.
And was back at Columbia at 11.00am for more rehearsal. His class was at 2.00pm, so we had a couple of hours to work on the scene.
The memorization part was startlingly easy. For whatever reason, I was able to get the basic structure of the scene down pretty quickly and had most of it memorized by Thursday morning.
I was pretty nervous when time came for us to do the scene and I wasn't really happy with my performance. Too many pauses and dropped lines for my taste. But it was okay. Not bad for almost no rehearsal.
And, can I tell you? I really don't care for Greek plays in general and have never really worked on them before. So this was a new experience for me.
A seemed happy and he asked me if I was available to do another of his projects this coming week. Whew! Hopefully it'll be something more fun.
In addition to everything else that's going on, I will be appearing as a theatre correspondent on an acquaintance's internet radio show this week, as well as working on a project for a director up at Columbia University.
This is the week from Hell. Why is everything happening this week? I don't mean to complain, but there are plenty of other weeks all around this one that don't have nearly so much going on. Starting today, I won't have any sort of sizable break to catch my breath until MAYBE next Wednesday afternoon. I'll be running (sometimes literally) from one thing to the next until then.
I know next-to-nothing about both of these new projects, but will pass on further enlightenment when it is shed.
One thing I do know is that none of these projects pay anything. Welcome to New York. The one thing I just don't have time to waste doing (the desk jockey day job) is the only thing that pays. So time must be carved out to put in those hours.
If I must cancel or postpone a social engagement with you over the next few days, don't despair. It's probably because I'm so tired that I was afraid I'd fall asleep in your lap.
I get headaches.
For the last week or so, I've pretty much had a low grade headache behind my eyes each and every day all the time.
And I'm worried.
I recognize these headaches. These are the headaches I used to get every year when I was a kid. They were the signal that it was time for my annual trip to the eye doctor to get a prescription for ever thicker glasses.
Things improved when I finally switched to contact lenses and then, three years ago, I had laser corrective surgery on my eyes. Things have been perfect ever since.
But now I'm scared. Does this mean my new post-corrective lens life is at an end, only three years after it began? I don't want to go back to before. I love this life and don't want it to end.
I need to go see my current eye doctor. Ironically, I'd gotten a postcard from the office a few weeks ago letting me know that it was time to schedule a checkup. Problem is that I have no insurance and I'm not sure when I'm going to be able afford the visit, let alone whatever the solution to the problem turns out to be.
Ugh...thank goodness for credit cards. I have a feeling that my long term debt will soon be ballooning. Maybe it'll be a nice, pretty balloon with a large basket underneath...a basket that might contain some cheese, fruit, and champagne. And maybe the balloon with attached basket will be floating over France or some other beautiful place. And the incomparable view, coupled with the sundries will take my mind off my troubles.
Mmmm...
In the meantime, I have invested in the largest bottle of extra strength Tylenol I could afford.
I'll keep you all posted.
Just in from a free concert of Gilbert and Sullivan's 1887 operetta Ruddigore presented by The Gilbert and Sullivan Society of New York. I was there because a friend of mine, the tenor David Bell, was singing the role of Dick Dauntless.
Ruddigore has never been one of my favourites in the G&S canon...it's nonsensical, even for them. But this was a lovely, simple presentation that proved to be great fun.
There was one aspect of the evening for which I was unprepared. While I was sitting in my seat in the second row perusing the program, I was handed my own copy of the score. Huh Wha?! I was about to protest when I was told that the audience would be acting as the chorus. Whoa. Okay.
My singing was adequate, rising above mere competency only during the wedding madrigal section, just prior to the end of the first act, a piece of music that was including the Village Light Opera concert that I sang in on Sunday.
David was terrific, of course, and I knew he would be since I'd seen him play this role a couple of years ago in a production on the Upper East Side.
Fun Fun Fun!
Okay, I got a message from the playwright that the schedule for Monday's benefit reading of The Importance of Marrying Wells has changed somewhat. Cocktails will be at 6.00pm with the reading scheduled to begin at 7.00pm.
Oh, and check out this article on Playbill On-Line.
And this one on Broadway World.
Hope to see you all there, especially anyone who missed the actual production in August.
Celebrity Sighting of the Day (yesterday actually): Jesse Tyler Ferguson (yet again), one of the stars of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee on Broadway walking up Ninth Avenue with someone who may have been Kevin Cahoon of Broadway's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
This afternoon I sang in a concert with other members of Village Light Opera at Katie Murphy Amphitheatre at the Fashion Institute of Technology down in Chelsea. It was the same program that we sang this summer in Vermont, a mixture of operetta and show tunes.
It went pretty well, all things considered. I hadn't even looked at the material since the summer, so I was a little at sea after only two brush up rehearsals. But it was okay.
I wore a suit. I wore THE suit, my one suit. I hate wearing suits. It was fine. All the ladies were beautiful and all the men were handsome. Whee.
The singing itself was fine and the acoustics in the hall were lovely. The funniest/most horrifying moment was when a soloist repeatedly forgot the lyrics of his song. It was not unexpected though as this person has never sung this song all the way through without forgetting a lyric or two (or ten). I'm not sure why no one told him to just hold the music. Oh, well. These things happen.
The audience seemed very appreciative and really seemed to love what we did. There were even a handful of people there under the age of 60. No one I knew came, but that's okay. Just glad to have this project done and over and I'm ready to move on to whatever comes next.
Whoo-Hoo!
So I'm keeping you apprised of what's going on with the benefit that I'm performing in with the cast of The Importance of Marrying Wells on Monday, October 24th at the Perry Street Theatre down in the West Village.
One of the actresses was unavailable to reprise her role from the Fringe production and so the playwright has secured the services of actress/writer Lisa Kron to play the role. Kron is probably best known as a member of the comedy troupe known as The Five Lesbian Brothers, but her play Well will be opening on Broadway this spring after a successful run at the Public Theatre.
I'm so excited to that she will be joining us and I can't wait to meet her and see what she does with the role. Check out the newest press release...
Lisa Kron joins cast of Award Winning Fringe Hit to benefit
New Orleans-based theatre, Southern Rep
The Importance of Marrying Wells
by Dana Slamp, directed by Nancy. S. Chu
at Perry Street Theatre, Monday, October 24
Slamponian Productions & Perry Street Theatre will host a benefit for New Orleans-based professional theatre company, Southern Rep (Ryan Rilette, artistic director) whose season has been postponed due to the tragic events of Katrina. Lisa Kron (OBIE & BESSIE winner, writer/actor of Broadway’s upcoming Well) will join the cast for the benefit on Monday, October 24th with staged readings of this year’s Fringe hit, The Importance of Marrying Wells by Dana Slamp at 6PM & 9 PM. The readings will bookend a cocktail hour with live music by Jann Klose, hors d'oeuvres & a silent auction. All proceeds benefiting Southern Rep. All tickets are $25.
Buy now @ www.smarttix.com - tix are limited!
The Importance of Marrying Wells has been awarded the Talkin' Broadway 2005 Summer Theatre Festival Citation for Outstanding Play. It has been called "BRILLIANT!" "a smart, well-crafted, laugh-a-second, all-out riot!!!" - nytheatre.com "The funniest play at the Fringe" - David Hurst, NEXT Magazine; "gloriously funny" - Broadway World; "A delightful offspring to Wilde” - CurtainUp
The cast includes: Michael Malone (“All My Children”, B’way’s 42ndStreet), Cheryl Lynn Bowers (The Underpants – Classic Stage Company), Brian Russell (The Graduate – National Tour), Peter Macklin, Tony Hagopian, Jere Williams, and Celia Howard (Signature Theatre Company, ELT, Vineyard Playhouse), with special guest Lisa Kron (OBIE, BESSIE, & Dramalogue Award winner, writer/actor of Broadway’s upcoming Well).
Hurricane Katrina/Southern Rep Benefit
Monday, October 24th 2005
Staged reading of The Importance of Marrying Wells
The Perry Street Theatre is located at 31 Perry Street (A/C/E, 1/9) West of 7th Ave.
6PM - First reading begins
7:45 - 9:00 COCKTAIL HOUR, with live music by Jann Klose
Silent Auction, Raffle, Drinks & appetizers
9PM - Second reading begins
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.smarttix.com
see also www.whoiswells.com
Southern Rep info/call for donations: www.southernrep.com/
Oh, hey, on Friday night I finally went back to see John Patrick Shanley's Doubt, which I last saw in December when it was still playing off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's Stage I at City Center.
The original cast (Cherry Jones, Brian F. O'Byrne, Heather Goldenhersh, Adriane Lenox) is still with the play and I was pleased to note that the production is in excellent shape after having been running nearly a year. The physical production seems nearly unchanged from off-Broadway and the actors haven't noticeably altered their performances.
I was a little late to the Walter Kerr Theatre because I was running in from a performance of Around the World in a Bad Mood, which went really well. Here's how it worked:
The cabaret show started late due to the rain (we were waiting for some groups that were running late) and, as soon as I did my scene, I ran out of Rose's Turn still in costume and headed for the 1 train...which was running slow due to the rain.
Oh, well...when the 1 eventually came, I took it uptown to 50th Street and ran as fast as I could to the theatre. I was late and stood in the back for the first scene, after which the usher showed me to my seat.
Fun! Love it. By the way, there's one more performance of Around the World in a Bad Mood on Friday at 9.00pm at Rose's Turn. Come out and see us.
Tonight I met up with Barbara to go down to Irish Repertory Theatre and see their new production of Beowulf: The Musical at their space in Chelsea.
I know what you're thinking, because I was thinking it too. A musical version of Beowulf, that epic poem that everyone hated in high school? Yep.
Not sure what I was expecting. What I got was a cast of seven men, most playing multiple roles in the story, in a kind of storyteller format; it was as though a group of soldiers in 6th Century Denmark got bored and decided to retell the oft-told legend with everyone taking part.
The show is sung-through and much of the music is choral in which the audience is being told what's going on. The lyrics emulate the style of the poem in that there was a lot of repetition in the oral tradition.
Okay, there were moments of this that worked really well. The first appearance of Grendel was magnificent in that it was just mysterious enough to be actually frightening for a moment or two.
But, on the whole, Beowulf didn't really work. It's just not a story that should be staged because there's really very little story there. These guys were working hard, but there's just nothing about this tale that is mythic or magical or even all that interesting.
There was just a sameness to it. After awhile it all began to run together. And the show only runs an hour and 15 minutes.
What a delightful surprise!
On Thursday, I had a date and went to see the off-Broadway musical Slut, playing right here in the neighbourhood over at the American Theatre of Actors over on West 54th Street. I had heard mixed things about this show (the most damning verdict came from him), so I was very curious to take a look and see for myself.
And I loved it! I found it to be a laugh-out-loud funny comedy with an amazingly versatile cast.
Former Altar Boy Andy Karl plays Adam, a unapologetic slut who will bed any woman...once. He has no interest in a relationship beyond a one time sexual encounter and is quite happy with the life he's carved out for himself. His best friend Dan, played by Jim Stanek, is more relationship oriented, not that that's really working out for him. One night at their local hangout, the boys meet up with Jenn Colella's Delia, a tough rock-and-roll chick who's also the "love 'em and leave 'em" type, but whose philosophy is challeneged when she finds herself falling for Dan.
The rest of the cast all play multiple roles as the people in the lives of our three leads. Another former Altar Boy, David Josefsberg, scores as both a Jewish gangsta-wannabe and a sleezy music producer. And Harriet D. Foy practically steals every scene she's in whether as the bartender of the local pub, an unconventional mother-of-the-bride, or a random woman from Kazakhstan.
The score by Stephen Sislen and Ben H. Winters was clever and really served to capture the particular time and place (NYC...NOW) of their show. Director Gordan Greenberg and choreographer Warren Carlyle really kept things moving and cleverly employed Beowulf Boritt's ingenius set design, which was deceptively simple, but provided an unlimited array of configurations for the many scenes.
Karl was a commanding leading man here and evinces enough charm to make it impossible to hate him, for the multitude of women he beds through the course of the show or for the audience. In fact, the unapologetic tone of the show toward its characters' promiscuous sex lives was one of my favorite things about the show and Karl personified it.
Stanek has a more complex role as the nerdier nice guy best friend. He wants to be a doctor, but has to face that that may not be in the cards for him. When disappointment and failure combine to turn him into a de facto copy of his best friend, I absolutely understood how he got there and why. And I got why his suddenly fantasy-worthy sex life may not be the answer for him either.
I've been a huge fan of Jenn Colella's since I saw her as Sissy in the fairly legendary Broadway flop Urban Cowboy. She was, no holds barred, the best thing about that show and her pint sized Reba McEntyre performance there was as endlessly fascinating as the rest of the show (including the bland, shirtless leading man who launched a thousand billboards) was deadly dull. Here, she's another strong woman, a rock-and-roller who's been around the block without remorse and knows exactly where she's heading. This Delia could chew up and spit out every man on the stage and she's a hoot to watch as she proceeds to do just that. Later on, when Delia fucks up in a major way, Colella masterfully negotiates a character who is unsure of something for perhaps the very first time in her life.
I know, I know...Slut has not gotten very good reviews. And I often like things that everyone else hates and hate things that everyone else loves. But this was such a delightful romp and I had such a good time that I will recommend it without hesitation. I hope it can find an audience (the theatre was practically sold out the night I was there and the crowd was totally into it) and run.
Go...give it a chance.
So if the Les Miz guys are correct in that sentiment, New York City should shortly be sprouting more flowers than the whole of Holland. It's been raining here for about a week and we are all officially tired of it.
Granted, rain is certainly better than ice and snow, but give us a break.
And, of course, my good umbrella was destroyed in the wind a few days ago and I don't really have the money to replace it right now. Sigh.
And I really need to think about moving someplace with better weather. I think my seasonal depression is expanding into the autumn. Usually it holds off till January or February, so I'll be curious to see what will happen when (or if) the rain ever stops.
Okay, for all of you who have expressed interest in attending the benefit on October 24th at the Perry Street Theatre, tickets can now be purchased on-line here.
Just a reminder...the $25 price includes a staged reading of The Importance of Marrying Wells, food and drink, live music, and a silent auction.
And, don't forget, all proceeds go to Southern Rep, a theatre in New Orleans that was practically destroyed by the Hurricane. It's a good cause, folks, and the evening looks to be a fun one.
So yesterday Tim and I went to see The Great American Trailer Park Musical at Dodger Stages. The show has gotten mixed reviews all around and I was really curious to see it. Luckily, I happened to win a contest and found myself with a pair of free tickets to the show.
And...I didn't much care for it.
The show is a broad cartoon that hits at a lot of familiar targets that have been fodder for comedy for decades. If you're a fan of comedian Jeff Foxworthy and/or any of his Blue Collar comedy colleagues, then you'll be on familiar ground at this show.
The score by David Nehls is fairly unmemorable and just chock full of false rhymes. I hate that. At least once per song I found myself thinking "Now those words just don't rhyme the way they seem to think they do."
What's good about this show? Well, the cast is amazing. Linda Hart, Marya Grandy, and Leslie Kritzer play three denizens of a Florida trailer park whose nosiness about the lives of their neighbours leads them to form a sort of Greek chorus guiding the audience through the action.
The main plot involves the troubled marriage of Norbert and Jeannie, an agoraphobic who hasn't been out of their trailer since the kidnapping of their infant son 20 years before. When exotic dancer Pippi moves into the trailer next door while on the run from her abusive boyfriend, things get cozy between her and Norbert in ways that set the whole trailer park abuzz.
Shuler Hensley and Kaitlin Hopkins are Norbert and Jeannie and they do a terrific job, even though Betsy Kelso's libretto doesn't really do more than sketch in their relationship. I got Norbert's frustration that his wife hasn't been out of their trailer in 20 years, but I kept wondering why he's allowed the situation to percolate for so long. If he wasn't this frustrated at, say, the 10 year mark, what's the big deal about 20?
Orfeh nearly steals the show as Pippi. Her brief costumes and powerful voice make it difficult to watch anyone else when she's on stage. Hers was the one real character on the stage and I was so pleased that she didn't allow her Pippi to get lost in all the craziness.
The set by Derek McLane was bright and colorful and pretty much just right for a show that intently ignores the dark side of its characters' lives. The costumes by Markas Henry were fun and white trash evocative.
Is the show worth seeing? Sure...for it's amazing hard-working cast, but not much else. Just don't go in expecting much and you'll likely have a good time.
Yee-Haw!
Celebrity Sighting of the Day: Jesse Tyler Ferguson, one of the stars of Broadway's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, at The Coffee Pot, a neighbourhood coffeehouse here in Hell's Kitchen, having a bowl of chili and checking his email.
Hey! Did you know that The Importance of Marrying Wells just got a 2005 Summer Theatre Festival Citation for Best Play from the good people at Talkin' Broadway?
I totally didn't until I took a closer look at the press release for the Hurricane Katrina benefit that the Wells company (including me, of course) is doing for Southern Rep in New Orleans.
You know the press release that I linked to here a couple of days ago? Yeah, you never know what you'll learn when you actually sit down and read the thing.
Anyway...Whoo Hoo!
Congratulations to our playwright, the lovely Dana Slamp, on adding this award to the catalogue of accolades she's already received for her work on this wonderful play.
Last night I dreamed that Hector and I were going on a cruise. We had flown someplace (Miami, maybe) and had quite a while between landing and having to be on the ship, so we went to visit his family in Miami (or wherever it was).
They were very nice and had a little party for us and served delicious food, but I was very worried that we would miss the ship. I kept reminding Hector that I didn't want to be late and he kept reminding me that we had until 4.00pm to hang out. One of Hector's relatives told me that ice cream would be served on the ship and I was most excited at the prospect. Apparently, he said, there would be a full ice cream truck on the deck. Yummy!
We had to take a smaller boat across the bay to where the ship was docked and people were taking the opportunity to jump into the warm water and swim. I was not doing this, until I was standing at the bow and a large wave basically washed over me, completely submerging me for a few moments.
It was around this time that I (the me watching the dream, I mean)noticed that one of our fellow passengers was Neil Patrick Harris, who seemed to be alone because he was hanging out with me. Neil and I went swimming and I remember thinking that I should ask him whether he preferred to be called Neil or Neil Patrick.
We were playing some kind of game in which he would submerge himself and I would look for him, when I saw another of our shipmates...Leonardo DiCaprio. I did not speak to Leo because he was surrounded by a group of women. But I made note of his presence and resolved to talk to him later.
Plus, I had to get back to finding Neil Patrick Harris about whom I was growing worried because he had yet to pop back up to the surface of the water.
It was around this time that the dream (regretably) ended. But it was nice while it lasted. I've never been on a cruise, but this sounded like it would have been a nice one.
Check out the Official Press Release for the Hurricane Katrina benefit that I'm doing with the company of The Importance of Marrying Wells.
Again, I'd love for as many people who can make it to come. It's a good play and a great cause.
Tonight's performance of Around the World in a Bad Mood at Rose's Turn was fun. I wasn't as nervous this time, having done it once before and I was able to sneak out front for the first bit of the show to watch before my entrance.
After the performance, Hector and I went next door and hung out at Marie's Crisis for awhile. It was fun. An old drunk Irish guy gave me a really nice ballcap from the famous St. Andrews Golf Course in Scotland.
And, yes, lest you think that I don't know the difference, I did point out to the guy the incongruousness of him being Irish and giving me a Scottish hat.
He may have tried to explain, but, by that time, I was seated next to the piano and couldn't hear half of what he was saying.
After my third or fourth margarita, I walked home in the rain and had a delightful time.
Tonight Tim and I went down to the Vineyard Theatre, just off Union Square to see the much maligned Miracle Brothers, a new musical with book, music, and lyrics by Kirsten Childs and direction by Tina Landau. I had seen another of Childs' musicals, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin at Playwrights Horizons several years ago and I'd seen and enjoyed Tina Landau's revival of Bells Are Ringing on Broadway as well.
It's sort of a fable, based on Brazilian folktales, in which river dolphins are able to transform themselves into humans for amusement. And hijinks ensue.
And...I didn't hate it. It's gotten pretty poisonous word of mouth, but I definitely see potential here. The weird thing is that it's really TWO distinct shows. The first act is a serious drama, while the second is a wacky farce. It was so odd that Childs chose such different tones for the two acts.
The comedy of the second act was far more successful that the sometimes turgid drama of the first. I would advise Childs that, as she continues to develop the piece, that she rewrite about 80% of the first act and incorporate more of the comedy style that she so successfully put to use in the second.
The cast is rather amazing though, led by former Altar Boy Tyler Maynard and Clifton Oliver as two brothers, one black and one white.
I've always thought that Maynard was attractive and, really, he is just my type. I was so pleased to see him stretching here in a complex role that really builds on the breakout success he achieved in Altar Boyz. It was also quite painless to have him shirtless for much of the evening. I was wholeheartedly NOT complaining. For those of you who care, Maynard is no gym bunny, but rather he has a rather normal-looking body and I thought he was all the hotter for it.
The almost-environmental scenic design by G.W. Mercier was another highlight. From our seats in the second row, it felt like we were IN the show. Things were happening in front of, behind, and above us and I was often craning my neck to look around the theatre to see what I was missing by simply focusing on the stage.
Problems? Sure. Okay. The score is not that memorable. As wonderful as Kerry Butler is, there is no way in fucking Hell that she is old enough to be Tyler Maynard's mother. The sound design was muddy and I sometimes had trouble understanding lyrics, even from the second row. Of course, I grant you that this could have been an actor issue. Or it could have been a problem with the onstage band, which also sometimes managed to drown out the singers.
Miracle Brothers isn't the kind of show that you're likely to see everyday. I hope to get a chance to see it later on in its development process and see what happens with it. If you get a chance to check this out before it closes, go. And tell me what you thought.
And if anyone out there in cyberspace knows Tyler Maynard and would like to pass on my email address, please do.
The company of The Importance of Marrying Wells, including yours truely, is reconvening this month for a special evening to benefit Southern Rep, a theatre in New Orleans that was devestated by Hurricane Katrina.
On Monday, October 24th, we will be doing two complete staged readings at the Perry Street Theatre in the West Village. The first performance will be at 6.00pm and the second at 9.00pm, with cocktails, appetizers, a silent auction, and live music in between (approximately 7.45pm-9.00pm).
And it's all for charity.
So come see the show (or see it again if you enjoyed it at Fringe) and maybe do a little something for a theatre that could really use some help. And either stay afterward or come early, depending on which performance you want to catch, for all the extras.
I must say that everyone who came to see us during Fringe loved us and I'd be ever so honoured to see as many of you as possible at the theatre for this event.
Last night I dreamt that I went to see Chicago on Broadway. Nothing so unusual in that, except that the theatre in the dream bore no resemblance to the Ambassador Theatre, where the show currently plays, nor was it like the Shubert or Richard Rodgers Theatres, where this production has played in the past.
There was a wide expanse of space between the first row and the stage, so much so that people were setting up folding chair in front of the first row. Not folding chairs, but large, sturdy, black Frank Lloyd Wright-esque chairs.
Since no one seemed to have any tickets for specific seats, I first tried to take one of these black chairs. Then the ushers took those away, but I was still able to snag a single seat in the center of the first row.
Except that my seat location kept changing. Every time I'd look away from the stage for a moment and look back, I was in a different place. It was okay until I found myself so far auditorium right that I was staring at a wall and had to lean left and contort myself a bit to see the stage.
The production itself kept stopping because they were in the process of adding lots of big pieces of scenery, none of which seemed to work properly. One piece that was a flat of some kind was supposed to fly up, but instead moved back and nearly decapitated half the orchestra.
Sandy Duncan was back in the show as Roxie, so that was exciting. She has been my favorite Roxie thus far and was really amazing in the role. When she and Ruthie Henshall were doing the show together here, I went to three Saturday matinees in a row just to behold these two goddesses.
The surprise of the night was that Matron Mama Morton was being played by Sharon Stone. Now, I knew that Stone could sing. Have you seen the movie Irreconcilable Differences? A fourth-billed Stone plays a Hollywood actress who ends up (don't ask) in a musical remake of Gone With The Wind and we see her do one number that takes place in the scene where Scarlett is searching for Dr. Mead at the military hospital. This is the scene that contains the famous camera pullback that reveals hundreds-upon-hundreds of bodies lying everywhere and eventually we see the Confederate battle flag flying in the wind in the corner of the screen. You know it...you've seen it a thousand times. It's very moving. Blah blah blah.
Anyway, so, yes, Stone was playing Matron Mama Morton on Broadway in Chicago. And she was playing it MUCH differently than any other actress I've seen. Imagine Stone as Cruella DeVille, but with a feather boa and you've got the idea. It was a little weird.
But she sang the role well and the whole show would have been great had it not been continually stopped by malfunctioning scenery. I don't remember any of the other cast members.
There was also this woman sitting next to me with her young daughter who seemed to know me. We talked a bit. But I don't know who she was or why she would have brought a young child to Chicago. The little girl was very well behaved though.
As usual, I have no idea what this dream means. Any ideas?
I have complete information for the concert that I'm appearing in with Village Light Opera in a couple weeks. You may remember that this is the program that we sang at a fundraising event in Vermont this summer.
This performance will also be a fundraiser for Village Light Opera and I know they have a lot of expenses due to their recent acquisition of a new shop/storage/rehearsal space in Tribeca and the fall production, Yeomen of the Guard. So hopefully there will be a lot of people out in the audience to hear us.
It's a program of showtunes mixed with songs from various operettas, Gilbert and Sullivan and not. It should run about an hour.
Here's the info:
Sunday, October 16th at 3:00 PM in the Katie Murphy Amphitheater at the Fashion Institute of Technology (corner of 27th Street and 7th Avenue). Tickets are $25.00 and can be ordered by sending a check to
VLOG P.O. Box 143, Village Station, New York, NY 10014. For orders that arrive after October 10th, tickets will be held at the door.
I'm sure tickets will be available at the door as well. Come.
Hey, as it turns out, there's some video of Monday's On The 20th Century concert. It's pretty good and really does give a flavour of what the night was like.
Check it out here.
Oh, and there were two celebrity sightings that night. I don't count all the stars on the stage, but as Jason and I were heading over to The Encore for a drink (we eventually ended up at Marie's Crisis for several hours when The Encore proved less lively than we would have thought), we walked past John's Pizza, where the after party was being held.
And on their way in we saw actor/comedian Mario Cantone, as well as former Altar Boy and one of the evening's stars Tyler Maynard, currently in The Miracle Brothers downtown at the Vineyard Theatre.
Maynard was, unfortunately, smoking. I always feel slightly disappointed when I see performers, especially singers, with a cigarette. I mean, how much MORE destrustive could a singer be to their instrument? It's just sad.
Also sad: When Jason and I did swing by The Encore for a drink, we found it to be totally dead and we were the only people in the place. How can a piano bar not be a huge success in Times Square of all fuckin' places? I have no idea. The downstairs show room has been quite busy, but every time I go to hang out upstairs, it's quiet as a tomb.
The bartender that night told us that the place would be transitioning into less of a piano bar and more of a lounge. Sad. We need piano bars. Piano bars are happiness. Oh, well...there's always Marie's Crisis, even if it is all the way down in the West Village.
So I had my first performance tonight in Around the World in a Bad Mood down in the West Village at Rose's Turn.
After a busy day at the Desk Jockey Day Job, and trouble with delays on the 1 train, I arrived at Rose's Turn a little after 5.45pm for a 7.00pm performance.
Hector took me backstage and introduced me to the lovely ladies, Julia and Rene who make up the rest of the cast. This show is Rene's baby...it's her stories from her 20 year career as a flight attendent and she's the sole author.
I couldn't believe it when I heard that Rene had been working for her airline (a large one, currently in Chapter 11 bankruptcy) for 20 years. You'd never know it from looking at her. I'd have said she was anywhere in the 25-30 year old range.
And she can sing...wow!
Anyway, I was handed a prop notebook in which my lines were taped, and we ran my scene once. It was fun.
But I was nervous...
Of course, I was. A single run through of a scene for a show that I've never even seen before does make for the most confident going.
But I thought I did a pretty good job and have already figured out how to make a sensible adjustment for the next performance.
Whee!
So come and see me. Check back a posting or two for the schedule. Do it.