Doing the Happy Dance

I seem to have inadvertently developed a mini-tradition. The past several years, any time I have booked a gig which means something to me, I have congratulated myself with a dinner of lobster tail. That was always an extreme treat for our family as I grew up; it was usually the Birthday Dinner of Choice for myself and my sisters.

Costco routinely sells lobster at a discount, so I usually have a tail or two stashed in the freezer, ready to be defrosted, roasted, and dipped in lemon butter.

I'm quite pleased that one of those tails is currently thawing. I've been booked to appear in the next production at my beloved Washington Stage Guild. Regular visitors to these pages know I have a special fondness for the WSG, which has undergone countless difficulties in recent years. They are finally getting back on the boards, in a newly found space which I have yet to see. I'm sure I'll report on that later.

The play is an Oscar Wilde piece called Lord Arthur Savile's Crime. I call it a "piece" because in its original form, it is a short story. WSG's artistic director Bill Largess has adapted it for the stage, and I had a fun time a few years ago, giving it a staged reading at the Kennedy Center. I'll be playing Lord Arthur's brother (we are calling him the "older" brother, for obvious reasons), a stylish part requiring lots of panache. I'm pretty sure I can do panache (the Los Angeles Times told me I could back in the 70s), but since then, I've forgotten exactly what panache is. I'll check the dictionary and then get to work.

I'm sure I will be documenting the new adventure in these pages, an adventure which will include not only doing a new adaptation, but performing in a new theatre (or at least, new to the Stage Guild).

Until then, it's time for some happy dancing. And lobster.