Let us hope this lunacy is just a trend…

An article at Playbill discusses an alarming problem that is fast becoming the latest headache for the house staff at Broadway theatres: text messaging. Now, I think the text message is an excellent way of communicating in a situation in which talking on the phone isn’t a viable option. However, it is made especially clear by the house management prior to the show either usually in the form of an announcement or in some cases an insert in the Pllaybill for audience members to turn off all electronic devices. Considering there is a law against the use of cell phones in theatres, one might assume this would fall under the ban. Most shocking is the item about Jake Gyllenhaal and Reese Witherspoon at a matinee of August: Osage County. If you’re only going to attend one act (especially when you think they probably received comp tickets) and spend the entire time on your blackberry, why bother coming at all? There are other people who could use the ticket, who would want to be engaged. It was also recently reported on the message boards about the incident at Gypsy last weekend where a teenager in the second row spent the entire first act texting to the increasingly unhinging frustration of Patti LuPone, who eventually wouldn’t re-enter the show in the second act until the girl was relocated or removed.

There was a time with one of my older cell phones, I would even remove the battery for the duration, just in case it accidentally turned on during the performance. Paranoid as I might be, I occasionally double or triple check the phone during a show to make sure it is off, even though I know I shut it down prior to the curtain. There’s always intermission people!!

In the words of your friend and mine, Mattie Fae Aiken, “Just…show a little class!!”

From the bookshelf…

Every six months, the booksellers at B&N receive what is called the “Employee Appreciation Discount” which gives us 40% off on books for a period of about a week. I was hell-bent on not buying anything, but my impulsive-compulsive whimsy took me to the computer screen to search for items of interest. One of the things I decided to do was look up some books that were later musicals or movies.

I read three of those recently (among two other books – the Strouse memoir and A Separate Peace by John Knowles): The Flower Drum Song by C.Y. Lee, The World of Henry Orient by Nora Johnson and Buried Alive by Arnold Bennett. Obviously the first was the basis for Flower Drum Song, the second, the 1967 Bob Merrill flop Henry, Sweet Henry (which came about from the popularity of the 1964 film adaptation) and my beloved 1968 disaster Darling of the Day.

As I read through the books, it fascinated me to see what the original creators came up with in terms of plot and character. Particularly FDS. In the book, the plot follows Wang Ta from his failed romance with the sluttish Linda Tow to his guilt-laden affair with the obsessive Helen Chao (who does one further than tell love to look away, she kills herself) and finally his romance with May Li, a Chinese immigrant, who is much more outspoken and not as charming as the character presented in the musical (the 2002 Hwang revisal need not apply). However, the themes of tradition and culture when juxtaposed with a generational gap (add to that the East vs. West friction), you see where Rodgers and Hammerstein found their musical. Keeping the characters and certain plot elements, they made their musical a decidedly lighter and more comic piece.

The World of Henry Orient and Buried Alive were pre-paid print on demand orders. They are books not regularly carried by the store and are non-returnable, so its got to be paid for and shipped to your home. I enjoyed that – you want a book, they print it especially for you – it’s kinda nice. Henry Orient, I think, should go onto the middle school reading lists. It’s a remarkably sophisticated coming of age story about two imaginative and quirky pubescent girls whose friendship revolves around their fascination with a second-rate pianist. However, the plot isn’t enough to carry a full-scale musical (not to mention the decision to take the relatively minor character of Lillian Kafritz and build her up with two glorious, but extraneous, showstoppers, but of course that’s what happens when you write a role for the fantastic Alice Playten).

Buried Alive is a delightful light British prose, with the farcical plot elements of a famed painter switching places with his dead valet. However, one of the major changes between Buried and Darling is the character of Priam Farll. In the book, most of his actions stem from an incredible introversion as opposed to the Henry Higgins-like disgust with British class society of the musical. Fortunately they kept the social commentary about the class society (Yip Harburg had a field day) in adaptation. However, the song “Butler in the Abbey” presents a finale that doesn’t possibly make sense. In the musical, its decided that the idea a valet has been buried in Westminster Abbey would bring ruination to England, and the final decision is to let Priam Farll go on being Henry Leek in Putney, with a decidedly Gilbertian tone. In the book, with more realism and great humor, the author playfully describes the media circus the trial creates throughout England, satirizing everyone along the way.

I’ve also started to list the books I’ve recently read under the aptly titled “A Trip to the Library” toward the right of the blog posts. Just feel like sharing!!

Silas Botwin Sings

Hunter Parrish who is most noted for his portrayal of Nancy Botwin’s older son on the hit Showtime series Weeds, one of my all-time favorite television shows, will make his Broadway debut as Melchior Gabor in the laugh-a-minute musical comedy riot Spring Awakening this August. As pleased as I am to see a younger actor with such a rising profile so willing to work on stage, I’m sorry to say it wouldn’t be enough to make me ever go see the show again.

However you can’t deny the kid’s got enthusiasm. From Playbill:

In a statement actor Parrish said, “I have always hoped that my passion for the theatre would eventually lead me to Broadway. Spring Awakening is a truly one-of-a-kind show with its timeless story, commanding music and innovative imagery. I am elated to have the opportunity to become a part of it.”

I’m quite fortunate – this is the first year I’ve had Showtime, so I can now actually catch the series as it’s airing. Still one of the more innovative series out there – Mary Louise Parker continues to amaze me, as does most of the cast and writers, frankly. Not to mention it’s made me a fan of Malvina Reynolds.

When You’re Good to Mrs. Brady

Though most of you remember her as the perennial TV mom, Mrs. Carol Brady from The Brady Bunch and its various offshoots into variety, comedy and even drama over the years, Florence Henderson was a premiere musical theatre ingenue in the 1950s. She made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Harold Rome’s Wish You Were Here. She continued to make a name for herself in national tours (most notably the first road company of The Sound of Music), Laurey in Oklahoma! at the City Center (with Barbara Cook as Ado Annie), the title role in Rome’s Fanny and a superlative turn in the final Noel Coward musical The Girl Who Came to Supper, her final Broadway appearance to date. TV soon called, and of course, Wesson Oil.

Anyway, here she is in an entirely new realm. Leather mama…? This is a kinky spin on a Kander and Ebb favorite at a tribute of theirs a few years ago. Say whatever you will about the performance, she looks phenomenal.

Random Thoughts on This & That

I’ve had difficulty logging into my blog over the past couple of days. I’m not sure what was up, but it was mighty frustrating not to be able to update.

Wall-E is one of the most extraordinary and ambitious Pixar films ever made. The film is a sort of Chaplin meets 2001 with extraordinary results. For those who love the musicals, it’s been heavily documented that the little robot’s favorite movie is Hello, Dolly! and Jerry Herman’s “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” and “It Only Takes a Moment” become incredibly important to the character and plot (wow, a song advancing a plot, isn’t that something…). To say the romantic aspect of the film is moving is an understatement. People have been critical of the subtle or not-so-subtle (it seems to depend on your political leaning) criticism of human consumerism and waste. As I was watching, I realized that this could have functioned as a live-action science fiction film. I was in a movie theatre with absolutely no children and was a moving experience. And that little robot is so cute, I want one for a pet. One of the best films of the year so far. Oh – and having Sigourney Weaver as the voice of the ship was a very nice touch.

There was a headline the other commenting on how Katie Holmes couldn’t bring about a million dollar advance sale for the impending revival of All My Sons. Truth be told, I think most people would be more excited to see the other three actors that have been cast: John Lithgow, Dianne Wiest, and Patrick Wilson. Perhaps Maggie Gyllenhaal will stand-by for her…?

Jan Maxwell is returning to Broadway as Maria Tura in the MTC production of To Be or Not to Be at the Biltmore this fall. Craig Bierko will be her costar. How exciting to have an actress as gifted and witty as Maxwell back on the boards. Her work as a self-preserving, pragmatic proto-feminist in the highly-inventive, but woefully shortlived Dickensian melodrama Coram Boy was multi-faceted and captivating. (Could I have crammed anything more into that sentence, yikes). The Walter Kerr shall not be dormant for long. Olivier-winner Kristin Scott Thomas and Peter Sarsgaard will headline the import of the London revival of The Seagull, that immortal laugh riot by Russia’s great gag writer Anton Chekhov. (Name that musical!)

I renewed my subscription at Roundabout. Looking forward to Pal Joey with Stockard Channing, A Man for All Seasons with Frank Langella and the revival of Hedda Gabler. I also want to see The Marriage of Bette and Boo with that delectable Victoria Clark and company.

I will be at The Dark Knight not Mamma Mia on July 18 at 12:01AM.

Spike Lee will be turning Passing Strange into one of his joints. He’ll be filming three performances of the show this month for airing on a TBD cable station.

Oscar nominee and stage vet Amy Ryan will be reprise her recurring role as Holly, the new HR representative at Scranton’s Dunder-Mifflin next season on The Office. I can’t wait to see where they take her character and Michael Scott, who had inexorable chemistry in this year’s season finale.

I’m taking in tomorrow’s matinee of A Catered Affair thanks to Chris at Everything I Know I Learned From Musicals. Look forward to reporting on Faith Prince. Not to mention a round two of “The Bloggers Who Brunch” on Sunday.

Happy Fourth of July everyone.

“Someone ought to open up a window…!” 😉

Violet Weston is Alive and Alone and Living in Pawhuska

For the heck of it, I decided to take in August: Osage County again (the Sunday matinee on 6.29), this time to see how the play holds up with replacement cast members. Five of the actors, including Tony-winners Deanna Dunagan and Rondi Reed, departed the company on Tony Sunday.

It’s sometimes hard to attend a play or musical after a favorite original cast member has left. The actor has worked specifically on the structure and personality of the character, often creating from the bare minimum. Estelle Parsons is now the matriarch Violet Weston, with Robert Foxworth (of TV’s Dynasty and Six Feet Under) as Uncle Charlie, Jim True-Frost as Little Charlie, Tony-winner Frank Wood as Bill and Steppenwolf member Molly Regan as Mattie Fae.

The replacements are all stellar; all fitting in seamlessly with the Weston family unit. The only disappointment lies in Regan’s Mattie Fae. There was something incredibly special in Reed’s characterization, her embodiment of certain lies that provided the audience with an incredibly likable vulgarity. Such lines as “The situation is fraught,” “I’m having a cocktail,” and “It’s my casserole” became special moments for theatregoers. In contrast to Reed’s short, stout physique, Regan is younger, taller, thinner and more of a harradin. She still manages to nail the character in points where it counts, particularly in her revealing final scene in the third act. I’m not saying that she isn’t giving a good performance, but it is in this character, I missed the original performance the most. Foxworth lends his laidback gravitas to Charlie. Wood has a field day with Bill, proving a volatile replacement for Jeff Perry and scene partner for Amy Morton (who is still giving the performance of a career here). True-Frost provided an endearing Little Charles.

Now onto the star turn. Estelle Parsons is a perfect embodiment of Violet Weston. Comparisons to Dunagan’s performance are inevitable; however, Parsons’ characterization is steeped in the text and she is never unfaithful to playwright Letts or director Shapiro. She was the actor I really watched the most throughout the play. With an Oscar and an impressive resume, it’s the first time she’s been on Broadway since the 2002 revival of Mornings at Seven. I’ve got to say, I enjoyed her from start to finish. With a physicality and appearance that defy her 80 years, Parsons dives in head-first into this mammoth part. Though less acerbic than Dunagan, Parsons manages to go on her truth-telling crusade with a headstrong vindictiveness that is ultimately tragic. Where Dunagan was pointedly sardonic and chilly, Parsons is a bit calmer; presenting a deceptively docile exterior, with a treacly sweet smile more venomous than a sprig of holly. She hasn’t quite nailed the second act dinner sequence – she appeared to lose her place during the claw-hammer monologue (with Morton, always the ultimate pro, prompting her back into the scene in a seamless manner, making it all appear as part of the action. Brava, Morton!), but trust me, she’ll get there. Parsons made an interesting choice – she constantly stole glances at Barbara in order to gauge a reaction. She also managed to bring down the house twice with the lines “It speaks” and “Scintillating,” involving Little Charles burst of courage during same sequence. (Let me also say from an acting perspective how spectacularly Parsons listens onstage).

Parsons’ has turned the final five minutes of the play into such a sobering denouement that it hasn’t been before (for me). “Listen, you smug little ingrate,” which was delivered with a viciousness and manic frenzy that was chilling. The audience was numbed most of all by her acting in the final moments, an almost apologetic and soothing calling out of names, during which panic starts to build, and explodes as she realizes no one is left. For the first time, I welled up during “And then you’re gone, and then you’re gone…” – one other thing that happened, and I think it was an accident, but after the blackout, there was one last mournful “and then you’re gone” in the total darkness that just resonated so perfectly, I wish the play always ended like that.

The audience continues to hinge on every word. Their response was nothing short of cacophonous. If you haven’t yet seen this play, get your tickets and go. The play is as strong as ever, and in more than capable hands. I myself can’t wait to see Parsons do it again, to see how she grows into the role.

Violet Weston is still here. And I hope she never invites me for dinner.

Life Lessons from the Merm

All the following quotes have been credited to Ethel Merman. Some of them quite choice. I can’t say for certain whether or not she actually said all of them, but I wouldn’t be surprised… I offer them for your enjoyment. 

– Always give them the old fire, even when you feel like a squashed cake of ice.

– Any audience that gets a laugh out of me gets it while I’m facing them.

– As far as dramas are concerned, it’s considered passe for playwrights to turn out anything the average person can understand.

– At a flea market I always head for the junk jewelry table first.

– At one time I smoked, but in 1959 I couldn’t think of anything else to give up for Lent so I stopped – and I haven’t had a cigarette since.

– Broadway has been very good to me. But then, I’ve been very good to Broadway.

– Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own.

– Cole Porter had a worldwide reputation as a sophisticate and hedonist.

– Cole Porter wrote Anything Goes and four more hits for me.

– Eisenhower was my war hero and the President I admire and respect most.

– I am known to be able to take care of myself when I become angry. I don’t mince words.

– I attend surprisingly few shows. The type of theater that is popular today just doesn’t appeal to me.

– I can never remember being afraid of an audience. If the audience could do better, they’d be up here on stage and I’d be out there watching them.

– I don’t like to read. The only things I read are gossip columns. If someone gives me a book, it had better have lots of pictures.

– I have plenty of invitations to go places, lots to do. If I’m not working, I go to have my hair taken care of and work at needlepoint.

– I preferred delivering my performance in person. I liked to be in control. You couldn’t be in films.

– I take a breath when I have to.

– I was born in my parents’ bedroom on January 16. The World Almanac says it was 1909. I say it was 1912. But what difference does it make as long as I feel 33?

– I was lucky enough to have the songs in my first show written by George and Ira Gershwin. Then Cole Porter wrote five shows for me.

– I wasn’t straining at the bit to become a movie star any more than I had plotted to get out of vaudeville and into Broadway musicals.

– I work as often as I want and yet I’m free as a bird.

– People who retire fall apart. As long as you’ve still got it, use it.

– I wouldn’t change one thing about my professional life, and I make it a point not to dwell on my mistakes.

– I wouldn’t trust any man as far as you can throw a piano.

– I’ll pat myself on the back and admit I have talent. Beyond that, I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

– I’ve made a wonderful living playing that theatrical character – the professional brassy dame.

– I’ve never cooked. I can’t do much more in the kitchen than make a cup of tea and some toast.

– I’ve never suffered stage fright. That fascinates people.

– If I feel in need of sleep, I just open a book or turn on the television. Both are better than any sleeping pill.

– In my case, things have pretty much been handed to me.

– Legend has it that when God created me, he gave me a big distinctive voice, a lot of boldness and no heart.

– Mom and Pop were proud of my popularity, but from their point of view, show business was no way to make a living.

– Mom claimed that I could carry a tune at 2 or 3 years of age. Maybe she was a little prejudiced.

– Music, in the past few years… anything singable or understandable is square.

– My beloved Mom and Pop always rated tops with each other, and that’s the way it will always be.

– My career at Warner Brothers consisted of one musical short subject. I was running around in a bear skin. Very chic.

– My father taught me to read music and play the piano-but not well, even though people have said that I’m a natural musician.

– Of my four marriages, the one to Bob Levitt is the only one I don’t regret.

– Once I had all the attention, all I had to do was deliver.

– The slapdash way producers used to assemble a show seems a little unbelievable when we talk about them now.

– There have been people who have tried to take advantage of me. They want to be linked to me just because I’m Ethel Merman.

– There’s such a thing as theater discipline. One player doesn’t appropriate another’s inventions.

– When I’m asked how to succeed in show business, I always say I haven’t the foggiest.

– When you are in deep conflict about something, sometimes the most trivial thing can tip the scales.

– There are lots of show tunes left to do.

– You can’t buck a nun. (Losing the Tony for her Rose to Mary Martin’s Maria von Trapp)

– Call Miss Bird’s Eye 1950, this show is frozen! (being presented new lyrics for Call Me Madam)

"Don’t Touch the Coat…"

Pacific Overtures is one of the most fascinating of Stephen Sondheim’s musicals. A concept musical about the westernization of imperial Japan in the 19th century, and its impact on Japanese culture and traditions is not your typical musical. Sondheim studied Eastern music for months, director Hal Prince adapted the styles of Kabuki theatre for the production in its design and staging. The results are mesmerizing. The show featured an almost all-male cast that included Mako, Yuki Shimodo (the original Ito in Auntie Mame!), Sab Shimino, Alvin Ing (who reprised his role for Roundabout) and Gedde Watanabe (later part of Sixteen Candles? Anyone?). The show opened in 1976 at the Winter Garden, where it ran for 193 performances. I saw the Roundabout revival, starring B.D. Wong. While I didn’t particularly care for that production on the whole, I was able to look past what I disliked to admire the brilliance in the writing of Sondheim and librettist John Weidman.

While the show boasts the ever-brilliant favorite of Sondheim, “Someone in a Tree,” I would have to admit that “Please, Hello” is my personal favorite song in the entire score. It’s mammoth 9 minute act two opener in which America, Britain, Holland, France and Russia are vying for detente with Japan. It’s a marvel of sophistication, historical accuracy, pastiche (each country is represented by a native musical style of the period) and vocal arrangement. The number was the highlight of the revival, bringing the show to a halt.

The original production was taped for broadcast on Japanese television, but has never been aired in the US. (Calling PBS!! Or Image Home Entertainment!)

Here is the original cast performing “Please, Hello.” Enjoy.