Broadway Bloodbath

I haven't seen a Broadway show in several years, and though I'm in New York several times a year, I often lose touch with what's going on there, but this month's exeunts deserve mention; much of the Great White Way is going dark . Thirteen shows are shuttering in January, and though some were always scheduled to be limited engagements, and two others were seasonal attractions, there are more than a handful which seem to be victims of the current economic freefall.

Nobody really wants to see White Christmas anytime other than during the holidays, do they? I wouldn't think so (though the show has been making the rounds in the regions for several years, and not always at Christmas). I've written a bit about my love of the film, but I wouldn't mind seeing the stage version; I may yet get my chance, as the show's box office overcame lukewarm reviews to become a bona fide hit. I imagine it will be making return visits to New York in upcoming years. Another seasonal show closed this month, an entertainment centered around some Russian clowns. The show, Slava's Snowshow, had a successful run off-Broadway last year, and made the leap uptown this year. I read almost nothing about this piece, so who knows if it will be back.

Two more limited run shows are closing this month. Liza Minnelli returned to Broadway and wowed the critics with her stamina, her drive, and her attendance (like most of her career, she missed a few performances on doctor's orders, but graciously added shows to make up for it). I saw Liza at Radio City many years ago; she was on her decline at that point, and shouted the songs. This year, though, she seems to have made it work for her.

The All My Sons revival was also a financial success, and the stage debut of Mrs. Tom Cruise may have had a little something to do with that. Katie Holmes got mixed reviews, from what I read, but she was surrounded by real pros, and I've heard from folks who saw the play that it was terrific. I have a lot of respect for TV actors who return to the stage (John Lithgow, also in the show, is one of them), but I have absolutely no respect for producers who hire TV names for marquee value, without regard for their ability to actually deliver a performance. Ms. Holmes had never been on a stage before. I wonder what's next: Tori Spelling as Hedda Gabler?

All the other shows closing this month are commercial ventures which, I'm sure, would prefer to be hanging around a bit longer. Dividing the Estate is the latest Horton Foote family drama, with a large cast headed by Elizabeth Ashley. I wonder if some of their thunder was stolen by last year's Tony winner for Best Play, August: Osage County, which is still playing. Word is that most of the cast of Foote's play will be reprising their roles in an upcoming production at Hartford Stage. But for now, they're history.

The other straight play which is closing this month is Boeing-Boeing, a revival of a 60s flop which has been running for about a year. I would have loved to see this one, as the original cast included Christine Baranski, Bradley Whitford, and a Brit who is apparently a comic genius, Mark Rylance. A national tour is in the works, according to their website. I read an interview with one of the producers of the show, and was reminded that, in the old days, plays were really only meant to last a season, then tour a season, then disappear. Broadway economics eventually put a stop to that, and now a show has to run and run and run to turn a profit. Anyway, doesn't this show look fun?

Lots of musicals are calling it quits this month, including a show called 13, which stars actual teen-agers. Here is another show about which I had heard very little, though the picture reminds me of a show I saw decades ago, Runaways (this show's cast looks much more clean-cut).
Spring Awakening, 2007's Tony winner for Best Musical, definitely seems to be a victim of the economy. It received very good press, and though I've never heard the score, I certainly heard ABOUT the score, from the guys in the dressing room at Shenandoah Summer Music Theatre. When I was there during the summer of '07, all of them were enamored of this show about youth and sexual tension. I doubt I'll ever see this piece, as I have it on good authority that people in my generation just don't get it.

Another musical about youth and sexual tension bit the dust this week. This umpteenth revival of Grease was a little unusual, as the leading players were chosen on a Reality TV Competition. Apparently they were pretty good, but did we really need yet another revival of that warhorse? When we have yet to see a revival of A Little Night Music? I was in a summer stock production of Grease back in the 80s (in fact, I earned my Equity card playing Teen Angel), so I can state without hesitation that the show is more fun to be in than to watch. (Off the top of my head, I think Godspell and The Lion in Winter also fall into that category. Lots of fun to perform, not so much fun to attend.)

And while we're talking about winners of Reality Show Competition, it's worth noting that American Idol's most famous loser, Clay Aiken, returned to Spamalot for its final performances. I have enjoyed listening to the score of this long-running hit, but was never a Monty Python fanatic, so never took the time or money to see the national tours as they rumbled through DC. This show may just have run out of steam, rather than being an economic victim, as it's been running since 2004.

The longest running show to be closing this month is Hairspray, which won lots of Tonys back in 2003, and topped 2600 performances before closing last week. Original stars Harvey Fierstein and Marisa Jaret Winokur returned to close the show, and composer Marc Shaiman clearly blamed the economic downturn for the show's demise. "It's not like the show was ailing," he complained, "it's like putting a dog to sleep, not because he's sick, but because you can't afford the dog food." Still, the show had a phenomenal run, and clocks in as the 19th longest running show in Broadway history. It's actually a tribute to the piece that it continued to run several years after the film version was released.

The biggest budgeted Broadway Musical to be closing is Young Frankenstein (excuse me, I mean The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein, the actual title. He has no ego, has he?) The New York Times ran a piece as soon as this show posted its closing notice, regarding the fact that the Broadway community will not be sorry to see this monster go. The hubris of charging 400 bucks a ticket may have caught up with the producers, and the Times review was very very poor. Still, the show hung on for a year, and I'm sorry that its star, Roger Bart, did not receive better notices. He may be one of those actors who are just better "in support."

In my opinion, which holds no weight because I have not seen ANY of the above shows, the greatest loss this month is the premature closing of Gypsy. This revival won raves, and all three leads won Tonys.

The producers had already decided to close the show in March of this year, when the contracts were up for their Tony winners, but the gloomy financial situation forced them to shut down this week instead. Patti Lupone's performance, I've heard, should be preserved on film, for posterity to see how Mama Rose should be played. I've seen Angela Landbury, Bette Midler, and Tyne Daly play the role, and would pay top dollar to see Lupone chew it up.

So, 13 shows will be gone this time next month. Actually, 15, as the limited run of Equus, starring Harry Potter and his uncle, will be ending in early February, and Mamet's Speed-the-Plow departs next month as well. So, almost half of the current Broadway offerings will have closed. It remains to be seen how long their theatres will be vacant. Dolly Parton's first stage musical, 9-5, seemed to do well in Los Angeles and is surely on its way in. I've already mentioned excitement over the Waiting for Godot revival (though that's being presented as a limited run). The Public's revival of Hair, which was a big hit in the park last summer, has faced trouble with the cast and the backing, but they seem to be forging ahead as well. Broadway is experiencing the same financial dilemmas as the rest of the world, so who knows what will happen next...

s'Newz

...an occasional series mentioning current events which lately held my interest...

I saw Milk the other day, and was duly impressed. It's an engaging telling of a story I thought I knew (but really didn't). The performances were top-notch all the way around. I'm not a regular viewer of talk shows, but I am not surprised that the Big Topic whenever any of the stars is interviewed is the kissing. The Washington Post's Hank Stuever wrote an essay on the subject last week, and made terrific points. There are hardly two actresses in Hollywood these days who have not lip-locked for a film or TV show or photo shoot or whatnot. Nobody blinks. But for an actor, man-on-man kissing is more dangerous than stunt work, and more horrifying than putting a gun to someone's head and pulling the trigger. Go read this article.


Here's a kid who really wants to get to school. A 6-year old missed his bus, so he hopped into his mother's Ford Taurus and drove 10 miles before ramming the vehicle into a tree. He was not injured, but his parents were arrested for felony child endangerment. Seems the father was under a court order NOT to leave his kid alone with his wife (no mention has been made of what necessitated such a court order). The dad left the house anyway, and the mother was asleep when the kid left for school. That's right, this mother allowed her 6 year old child to get ready for school all on his own. It's infuriating that same-sex couples are prevented from adopting children in many states, and yet breeders like this can raise kids. Maybe this poor child wasn't all that anxious to get to school, maybe he just wanted to get away from these losers he was stuck with as parents.




Here's a scary one for stage performers. A German actor was appearing in Schiller's Mary Stuart in Vienna when a prop knife was switched with a brand new, real one, and he slit his own throat on stage. With blood gushing everywhere, the audience went wild with enthusiasm over the spectacular special effects. (The actor survived.)















I'll want to slit my throat, too, if this really happens. Two years ago I shuddered when the announcement was made that Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing a sequel to Phantom of the Opera. At the time, I could not come up with a single successful musical sequel (anybody seen a revival of Bring Back Birdie lately?). Well, this story has reared its frightening head again, as Lloyd Webber has said it will be set in Coney Island, and the production may open simultaneously in New York, London, and Shanghai. The show is called Phantom Love Never Dies, but I have a feeling this one will. The plan to open the show in three cities at once seems a blatant attempt to overcome what will probably be horrible reviews. Get this: they are talking Hugh Jackman for the lead. Really? How are they going to work in a scene in which the aging, deformed Phantom can take off his shirt?


I'll be posting an entry soon regarding all the Broadway shows which are closing this month, but here's one which appears to be still on track for an April opening. Roundabout's cast of Waiting for Godot will be worth the wait. In addition to Nathan Lane and Bill Irwin as those two clowns Vladimir and Estragon, the show will include two of my favorite character actors of all time, John Goodman and David Strathairn. Goodman did yeoman's work all those years on Roseanne, under what were very trying circumstances. He was even able to make her look like she had some acting chops on some occasions. Strathairn has been on my radar since he co-starred with Blair Brown on The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, one of TVs first "dramedy" programs. Since then, he's been in just about every movie ever made. This is a terrific ensemble, and the only character yet to be cast is the title role.

Now I know what you're thinking: Godot never shows up, does he?







Well, in that case, Jeremy Piven would be perfect casting. He recently bolted from his limited engagement in Speed the Plow, leaving the producers scrambling to replace him. On doctors' orders, he returned to Los Angeles because he had too much mercury in his system. (Cynically, I wonder if he got a really spectacular film offer that he couldn't refuse).



As for that mercury, playwright David Mamet got in the last word. "I understand that Jeremy has given up show business to begin a new career as a thermometer."

TAG: You're it! ...or not...

I've had more free time than is good for me lately, as I wait for my next adventure to begin, so to while away the hours, I've been doing some scanning.

I've taken pictures throughout my teen and adult life, and am still no good at it. I took a Kodak camera to Europe when I was 17, and took pictures of everything. When I returned to the States and developed the shots, I learned an important lesson. I had taken many pictures of landmarks and scenic wonders, but they were boring as hell, and not nearly as good as a postcard. But if I happened to place one of my friends in front of Versailles, suddenly the picture had life.

From then on, I took pictures of people. I never took a picture of the gorgeous view, unless someone I cared about was standing in front of it.

During my college years, my post-college years, my grad school years, and my post-grad school years, I took thousands of pictures of the people in my life. Everyone around me was so used to my snapping candids that they didn't even remember that I had done so. Of course, one of the joys of taking pictures of your friends comes when you present them with the finished shot as a memento.

That almost never happened. I have over a dozen huge photo albums stuffed with pictures which my friends would love to have, but don't.

Along comes Facebook. With the help of my slow but efficient scanner, I am now able to share all these pictures with the folks for whom they were intended. I've spent the better part of the past week laboriously scanning various pictures onto the computer, and uploading them to FB. I love the fact that one can "tag" the photos with the people who are in them; Facebook then alerts these folks that new photos have been posted, and they can come find the pics.

I don't have any intention of posting ALL my photos, as I'm sure I have close to 10,000. But I'd like to distribute a representative number, and to that end, my Facebook Photo albums include shots of my college chums, as well as the group of actors with whom I did several shows at the Granada Dinner Theatre. I've also started an album of my grad school days, and one which contains more recent shots of one of my favorite theatrical experiences, Shear Madness, an association of which I am extremely proud. I plan to gradually add more shots to these albums.

When I was taking these pictures (some of them 30 years ago and more!), no one could have conceived that we would one day have the technology to display those photos for anyone in the world to view. So I am glad that Facebook allows anyone who has been tagged in a photo to remove that tag of themselves; as an actor, I am keenly aware how difficult it is to control one's image. I don't think anyone should be forced to have their image available for the whole world to see.

But here's the curious part. I currently have a few hundred pictures online at Facebook. One would think that, in that number, quite a few of the ladies might feel a bit self-conscious about their picture being so available, but one would be wrong. I have not had a single female friend signal her objection to a photo of herself; everyone seems to love reviving old memories and sharing a chuckle at their youth.

Out of the dozens of friends who appear in the pictures on my Facebook site, only three have UNtagged photos of themselves. All three are men.

Pat Hingle

1924-2009

Primarily known to today's film audiences as Commissioner Gordon in the first four Batman remakes, Hingle had a lengthy career on film and the stage. He appeared in the original casts of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (as slimy eldest son Gooper) and The Price (as policeman Victor Franz), as well as other notable premiere productions of Dark at the Top of the Stairs and J.B. He spent some time in the long-running original production of The Odd Couple and worked a season with the American Shakespeare Festival, playing Macbeth, among other roles.

On film, he was Warren Beatty's father in Splendor in the Grass and Sally Field's in Norma Rae. Actress Angelica Huston reported that his work in The Grifters so terrified her that, during the filming, she could not sleep at night. His breakout performance on film eluded him when he fell down an elevator shaft in 1959; he lost a finger and the title role of Elmer Gantry (to Burt Lancaster, who won the Oscar). He spent the rest of his career "in support."

Over the years, Hingle's stage work included revivals of Death of a Salesman, Our Town, Strange Interlude, and The Glass Menagerie (as the Gentleman Caller!) His final Broadway appearance was as Ben Franklin in the 1997 revival of the musical 1776.

He continued to appear in films and on regional stages until his death last week.

Friday Dance Party: The Plan for 2009

I’ve given 2008 the boot (“good riddance to bad rubbish,” my grandmother would say), and even taken stock of how I would like to improve my life this year (see entry below). Hey, it’s a good life, no question. But lately, I’ve felt something missing, something I used to have in abundance, but which is now hardly ever felt. A joyous, almost reckless abandonment. An unbridled enthusiasm which used to explode out of nowhere, filling me with a feeling of Fun. This used to happen almost daily, now, almost never. Is it age? Yuck. I’m tired of thinking about troubles, problems, luck not found, chances not taken. There was enough of that in 2008.

So, I’ve chosen this first Dance Party of 2009 to celebrate renewed attempts to recover enthusiasm. To leave all that other stuff, the 2008 stuff, back there, where it belongs.

The clip below is rough around the edges, and why not? The song is from “Jerry Springer, the Opera.” But it reflects what I’m feeling right now.

This year, I just want to dance.

RESOLVED:

...to realize that the grass is pretty green over here, too.

...to remember whose son I am. And to act accordingly.

...to be more social, like I used to be, and that doesn't mean Facebook. Well, it doesn't mean ONLY Facebook...

...to try to nurture acquaintances into true friendships. It used to be much easier, but is still worth the attempt.

...to recognize that people can only be the people they are, and try to accept that.

...to get to the point quicker. Really, those preambles bore the crap out of everybody.

...to try not to obsess about the career. To treat it (the career) with respect, to do the best I know, and embrace the fact that, because of my choices, I will never really be In Charge of it.

And to enthusiastically embrace the consequences of those choices.

...to stop worrying what is supposed to happen next, and enjoy what is happening now.

...to get more excited about stuff. Because stuff is exciting!

...to avoid irritation with my family. They are only the people they can be.

...to allow these pages to be a little more carefree, a little less organized, to sound a little more like me. Relaxed. On a really fun day.

...to keep in mind that the written word can appear more harsh than the same word spoken.




...to do a better job of keeping up with the old friends. I miss them and love them, why not tell them so?

...to try to release some of the angst from my life, some of the pettiness, some of the judgement. And to avoid calling anyone "my peeps."

...to respect the decisions of those who untag their photos, realizing they should have control over their own image. Even though I own the negative.

...to shut up already about the hair. The color, the length, the beard, enough already.

...to become friends with one of my neighbors. Not just any one, the one upstairs. In the track shorts.

...to rediscover that part of me I seem to have misplaced. That part which allowed me, every day, to dance.

Boatman, Overloaded

According to mythology, Charon saw dead people. He also shipped them. He was the ferryman who ushered the recently departed across the River Styx to their final destination. He got a real workout in 2008, as I've mentioned in an earlier entry. In fact, I've mentioned many of his passengers in the past year, over 40 of them. Most were in the arts, though a smattering were public figures in other areas, and a couple were personally important in my life.

Because I hate the HUGE SIGNIFICANCE of New Year's Eve, about which I wrote last year, I thought I'd duck all that soul-searching and self-evaluation one is supposed to do, and instead take this opportunity to glance once more at some of those who left us in 2008.

We lost a couple of real legends this year, and, in my opinion, Paul Newman was the biggest. I have such admiration for this man who respected his craft and always strove to be his best. At the same time, he remained healthy by creating a stable home-life (with the best actress of her generation, Joanne Woodward) and indulging in other interests. When I wrote about Newman, I focused on the success of his 50 year marriage, and did not mention the tragic drug death of his son, which gave birth to his philanthropic endeavors.


Charlton Heston has to be classified as an icon, too, even as I was never enamored of his acting. I can't recall a single film performance of his which bowled me over, and in my favorite Heston film, Planet of the Apes, that loincloth did all the acting. I wrote about meeting Heston, years before his politics veered so far to the right, and I was recently reminded that he marched with Martin Luther King when it was unpopular for a white star to do so. His death from Alzheimer's, well, I wouldn't wish that on anybody.

(Time to let go of that rifle now, Chuck...)

I can claim to have met another icon who died this year, comedian George Carlin. I doubt he would consider himself so important, but his lengthy career proves otherwise. I also mentioned the irony of his posthumous Mark Twain Prize, presented at the Kennedy Center before a glittering crowd. It's not ironic that he won the prize, it's ironic that, during the ceremony, his Seven Words You Can't Say On TV was played. And censored. The whole routine is about censorship, and for it to be censored in front of a live audience who were there to celebrate his humor...wow.

While talking about icons and legends, I think I would put director/actor/producer Sidney Pollock in this group. I loved Pollock as an actor, and admire him as a director who worked so well with huge personalities such as Dustin Hoffman, Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, Jane Fonda and Meryl Streep. He knew a little something about acting.

Hey, we lost Bozo the Clown this year, too. Well, Bozo didn't actually die , but the gent who refined the clown's image and played him longer than anybody else did. Mr. Clean croaked this year, too, or rather, the actor who played him in the first live-action commercials. I imagine Bozo and Clean will be around a lot longer than the guys who first made them famous. That makes them icons, right?

I mentioned half a dozen writers whom we lost this year, and Harold Pinter has to be at the top of that list, in terms of both quality and quantity of work. Dale Wasserman provided two hits which have become perennials, and William Gibson, though prolific, will be remembered for providing colleges and community theatres one really strong play. Studs Terkel may win the award for longevity, and George Furth's work with Stephen Sondheim created one classic concept musical, and one flop which refuses to die; people are still tinkering with it. Both Company and Merrily We Roll Along will stand the test of time. And though Michael Crichton created ER, I think his lasting legacy will be his sci-fi work.

The majority of obits I penned in 2008 concerned actors. What are the odds of that? We lost at least three performers who were triple-threats, before that term was invented. These ladies could sing, dance, and deliver a punchline: Eartha Kitt, Cyd Charisse, and Van Johnson. Kitt died Christmas Day, just in time for my final Friday Dance Party of the year, and Johnson, who was technically not a lady, also graced the Dance Party the week he died.

Many of the actors we lost this year achieved their fame in sitcoms. Estelle Getty, whom I was not convinced was a great actress, nonetheless gets lots of respect for having hung in there, and finally "making it" in her 50s. Beverly Garland had a long television career but will probably be most associated with My Three Sons, which she joined in its final seasons. We also said so long to Rhoda's husband (David Groh), Mary Hartman's mother (Dody Goodman), and The Jefferson's neighbor (Paul Benedict, who was equally admired as a stage director). Among this group, I felt the death of the terrific Suzanne Pleshette most keenly. She was well respected as a dramatic actress before that fateful night when she appeared as a guest on the Johnny Carson show (this was back when performers were booked on talk shows because they could talk, rather than just to promote their newest project). Bob Newhart was also on the program that night, and the two had such an immediate comic chemistry that she was offered the role for which she is best remembered, Emily Hartley. Her appearance on Newhart's second sitcom insured that it become the finest series finale in TV history (sorry MASH fans).

I mentioned that the soap world lost three long-term players, including All My Children's Eileen Herlie, who has the distinction of playing Hamlet's mother opposite Laurence Olivier and Richard Burton, twenty years apart! Irene Dailey (Dan's sister) and Beverlee McKinsey (generally considered to be the best actress ever to work in daytime) , pictured, both spent years on Another World and other programs, while devoting their evenings to the Broadway stage.

Harvey Korman must be considered one of the greatest Second Bananas in show business, and Dick Martin's expertise as a sitcom director should not be overshadowed by his participation in one of the most innovative TV programs ever, Laugh-In. We lost them both this year, as well as one of my favorite "variety" stars, Edie Adams. When I wrote of Adams's passing, I mentioned her tender rendition of "That's All" on the final Lucy and Desi program; go here for a listen.

TV lost the First Lady of Star Trek, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, as well as the great Peanuts animator Bill Melendez. Those of us living in DC keenly felt the loss of another television star, Robert Prosky. He spend years on Hill Street Blues, but around here, he is remembered primarily for his stage work.


In addition to Paul Newman and Charlton Heston, I mentioned the deaths of several other film stars. Not many people would be able to pick Fred Crane or Evelyn Keyes out of a line-up, but they were two of the few surviving players from Gone With the Wind, until this year. They were both character actors, as were two bigger movie stars who died in 2008, Paul Scofield and Roy Scheider. Scofield won the Oscar for Man for All Seasons, and Scheider should have won for All That Jazz, but again, I doubt the general public would be able to pick them out of a book of mugshots.

Here's a guy who moviegoers would be able to identify on sight. Heath Ledger's accidental drug overdose ended a promising young career, and there is talk of an Oscar this year for his work in The Dark Night. I haven't seen that film yet, but surely Ledger had not yet fulfilled his promise as an actor. He will always be respected for his participation in Brokeback Mountain; along with Jake Gyllenhaal, he was pretty fearless.

I felt the loss of all of the above folks, but of course I was more affected by the deaths of the people in my personal world. The DC theatre community lost an elder statesman earlier this year when Bill Hamlin passed away, and just last week, young Shane Wallis died in a motorcycle accident. The unexpected death of John MacDonald of the Washington Stage Guild in July continues to affect our local community; I was just getting to know this gentle man before a senseless home accident took him away.

Perhaps I should have expected that 2008 would be a year of loss, as it was exactly one year ago, on New Year's Eve 2007, that my long-time acting coach, director, mentor, and dear friend Bobbi Holtzman died. I was only in occasional touch with Bobbi since my move from LA, but I continue to think of her each and every time I begin a new theatrical project. My years with her, in her class and as her friend, gave me my artistic sensibility.

I imagine she encouraged the ferryman to "take his toys" during her ride with him across the Styx. I hope she's resting in peace, along with the others we lost this year. Maybe Charon won't be quite so busy in 2009.

We can always hope...