Friday Dance Party: Sigh No More

I have thought for years that Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh can do no wrong. They are equally at home in comedy, drama, classical and contemporary works, and even tackle musicals when the need arises. This last talent, the ability to sing and dance, comes as news to me, but I'm not all that surprised. I think those Brits can do just about anything when asked. Thompson made a major splash in the West End in the mid-80s in a revival of Me and My Girl, proving her musical chops, and Branagh, perhaps ill-advisedly, turned one of Shakespeare's romances into a movie musical.
Stateside, we don't know either of them for musicals. In fact, for a long while there, we knew them primarily as a team. The two were married for over 15 years, and worked together often during that period. The two of them came to American attention playing husband and wife in the mini-series Fortunes of War, which was broadcast on PBS's Masterpiece Theatre in 1987.

Around that time, Branagh formed his own theatre troupe, the Renaissance Theatre Company, and presented a season of Shakespeare, directed by some of his famous friends such as Judi Dench and Derek Jacobi. The company was made up of close friends and colleagues of Branagh and Thompson, and unlike other British theatrical companies, received no public funds. They had much critical success, and even launched an international repertory tour, but disbanded after only 6 years, when Branagh's film directing career gained traction.

That international tour came to Los Angeles while I was living there, and I saw both productions presented in rep. A Midsummer Night's Dream had Kenneth in the supporting role of Peter Quince, and Emma in the scene-stealing role of Helena. (I must wander onto a side street here. Despite the attention always paid to the actor playing Bottom in Midsummer, I have never seen a production which was NOT stolen by the actress playing the tall, gangly ingenue, Helena. Christine Baranski stole it from William Hurt when Joe Papp presented the show in Central Park, and the hilarious Stephanie Burden did the same a few years ago when DC's Folger Theatre did the play. And naturally, Emma Thompson swiped the show on tour. It's time for people to stop believing the comic tour de force in Midsummer is Bottom; it's Helena.)

Forgive the digression. Running in rep with Midsummer, the Renaissance Theatre Company presented King Lear. Branagh was playing Edgar, and Thompson was completely unrecognizable as the Fool:

Yes, that's Ken in the loincloth, and Emma in whiteface. This is the only production of Lear I've seen in which the death of the Fool made me weep.

These two stage performances, as Helena and the Fool, proved to me that Emma Thompson is one of the finest actresses I have ever seen. And Kenneth Branagh is one of the finest directors out there.

Branagh and Thompson played well together in a variety of projects, including the film adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing, in which they both starred:

Under Kenneth's direction, Emma Thompson's Beatrice is absolutely luminous. I think there should be a special fund set up to allow Branagh to adapt, direct, and film all Shakespeare's plays.

Since going their separate ways in 1995, the duo continue to have individual success. They both have been to the Oscars more than once; Kenneth has four nominations under his belt, though he has never won, and Emma won the statuette as an actress for Howards End and as a writer for Sense and Sensibility. They both won Emmys: Branagh for a television film called Conspiracy, and Thompson for a hilarious guest shot on Ellen DeGeneres's old sitcom. I just gotta include this clip from that episode, in which Emma plays herself, but with a secret. Well, two secrets. One: she's a lesbian. Two: well, take a peak at this clip (it's short and a scream):




At some point in their careers, both these actors have been accused of shameless self-aggrandizement. Branagh's film version of Hamlet, which he directed and headlined, was virtually uncut, so it ran about 4 hours, and there were those who claimed it was indulgent. I think it's the best filmed Hamlet out there, better than Olivier and Burton and Williamson and Kline and Gibson and Hawke. For a while there, it looked like Branagh was becoming his generation's Olivier, due to his Shakespeare films, but that part of his career was derailed by his disastrous adaptation of Love's Labour's Lost, into which he interpolated famous songs, turning the thing into a musical.

(It's been ten years since that debacle; I wish Ken would get back on that horse, as his films of Henry V, Hamlet, Much Ado, and As You Like It are all wonderful.)

As for Emma, she was eviscerated early in her career for her 6-episode sketch comedy TV show, Thompson. We don't think of Emma Thompson as a comedienne along the lines of Tracey Ullman, and I have not seen any full episodes of this series. But several clips are available online, and Thompson has a cult reputation. Our Emma was at Cambridge with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, and co-starred with them in an early series called Alfresco, so she knows her way around sketch comedy. But Thompson bombed with British audiences and critics in 1988, and has never been repeated, despite Emma's subsequent success.

This week's Dance Party comes from that series. Branagh guest starred in about half of the show's episodes (the duo would marry the next year), and I find the clip below to be quite charming. It's not the best work from either of our stars; it's probably a good thing that their careers did not include a lot of singing and dancing. But here they give a glimpse of what may be in their future, and it's a sweet few minutes. Enjoy!

Emma Thompson turned 51 years old yesterday.

Trying To Get To Heaven

DIXIE CARTER

1939-2010

The above clip is very good illustration of a diatribe of Julia Sugarbaker, one of Television's Designing Women, and the role for which Carter was best known. In many episodes of the long-running series, Julia would mouth off with one of these extended speeches, sometimes about personal matters, such as the one above, but more often about political or societal issues. She was the mouthpiece for the views of the show's creator, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, and our Dixie delivered these monologues with vigorous expertise. (This despite the fact that Julia's portrayer and her writer were on opposite sides of the political aisle; Carter was a Libertarian/Republican, while Bloodworth-Thomason was a Liberal/Democrat. Over time, Dixie's Republican sentiments softened.)

Here's a much more political clip, from an episode in which Julia is running for city council, and debates a right-winger on the requirement of school prayer and the pledge of allegiance:



Carter made a deal with her bosses, that anytime she was required to spout a largely liberal diatribe, she be allowed to sing on another show. I wrote about this arrangement almost exactly a year ago, when Dixie turned 70 and was the star of the Friday Dance Party. At that time, I also wrote of my first sighting of this very special performer, back in the 70s on The Edge of Night. She was a very unusual presence on a soap opera, and remained in daytime only a few years before graduating to prime time.

The 70s marked a return to acting for Carter, who had some nice New York stage credits (including some Shakespeare for Joe Papp) before leaving the business for a while to raise two daughters. Two husbands later, she was to meet and marry Hal Holbrook, who was 14 years her senior. The two became one of Hollywood's most enduring couples, and worked together more than once.

Here's a fun clip which includes a brief glimpse of Carter and Holbrook together (the other two men in the clip, Richard Gilliland and Gerald McRaney, were also playing boyfriends; Richard was, and still is, Jean Smart's husband, and Gerald was soon to wed Delta Burke. It was a regular love-fest!). In the history of Designing Women, the creators made a running gag of the four ladies and their men-folk going on vacation and having a miserable time.




Carter worked often after Designing Women left the air, costarring in Family Law for several years, and appearing in a guest arc on Desperate Housewives, in a role created for her.

It was this role which brought her her lone Emmy nomination (she lost the award to Elaine Stritch's guest turn in 30 Rock). It's astonishing that the ladies of Designing Women were so ignored for their work, but the stars of The Golden Girls, whose run roughly coincided with DW's, routinely upstaged our Atlanta belles. During its seven seasons, Delta Burke was the only star to receive an Emmy nomination (during the season in which she gained all the weight), and supporting star Alice Ghostly received a nod in one of the show's final years. Both women lost their awards and Carter, as I said, was never even nominated.

On stage, she stepped into several high-profile roles on Broadway, and was thus ineligible to compete for the Tony. She was the third and final Maria Callas in the original Master Class, and was the final Mrs. Meers in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She was well-regarded for her cabaret work, becoming a fixture at the swanky Cafe Carlyle. She worked a bit regionally, including two well-received stints here in DC at The Shakespeare Theatre Company (Holbrook appeared here, too, but not at the same time). Carter was due to appear here this spring in Mrs. Warren's Profession, but withdrew a month or so ago due to health reasons. In the late 90s, she published a chatty book revealing her opinions on a variety of subjects, called Trying to Get To Heaven: Opinions of a Tennessee Talker. In 2005, Carter and Holbrook became the figureheads of the new Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center in Huntingdon, TN, located in Carter's home county.

To me, and probably everybody else, she will always be Julia Sugarbaker. It's hard to explain the attraction I felt for Designing Women; there was something very familiar about these four iron butterflies, whose sassy independence and easy femininity reminded me a bit of my mother and her friends. When I was out on tour a while back, a small group of us made a trip to see the house which served as the show's main address, which was in Arkansas I think. None of the show was shot there, of course, but we played around a bit outside, taking pictures, and generally acting like big ol' donkey girl scouts. There is no doubt there is more than a bit of Sugarbaker in me.


This final clip illustrates the style and grace which was a big part of the series, and a big part of Dixie Carter's life. Dash Goff (don't you love Southern names?), the writer and former husband of one of our gals, spent this episode overcoming his writer's block. He leaves a thank you note to the women who have inspired him.

Dixie Carter died from cancer on Saturday. She would have turned 71 next month.

Friday Dance Party: A Good Lynching

I absolutely love it when a talented, well-trained performer, who has paid her dues, finally hits the big time. The star of this week's Dance Party has done just that. After earning an advanced theatre degree at Cornell, and after years and years of cameo work on episodic television and on the big screen, Jane Lynch has become a celebrity.


She's known primarily for her comedic work, but has delivered some nice dramatic moments as well. She gave a lovely performance as Julia Child's sister in last year's Julie and Julia, and there was even some talk of an Oscar nod.

That did not happen, but come Emmy time this year, Lynch will be the one to beat. She spent a lot of time in Chicago in her early career, with Second City, and toured as Carol Brady in the Real Live Brady Bunch. Her performance as a dog handler, opposite the equally hilarious Jennifer Coolidge, in Best in Show landed her in the Christopher Guest repertory; she also appeared in his A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.

A list of her credits would be lengthy and unnecessary for anyone who has seen her work on Glee. I am not an avid fan of the show, though I admit I watch every episode. I find the show itself very uneven, one week terrific, the next week weak. I am not one who is overly enamored of the young cast, most of whom are not dynamic musical performers, though the rest of the country seems to think so. While on their winter hiatus, the Glee kids have been on tour, filling arenas with their lip-sync music and awkward dance moves (they were such a hit at Radio City Music Hall, extra performances had to be added).

Ah, well, best of luck to them. Their program has clearly attracted a following which does not just include those of us who were actually performers in high school. Pretty much everyone, it now seems, felt out of place and unusual in high school. It must be that chord which is being struck in the viewers which have made Glee the hottest show of the season.

After a long break, Glee is back next week, and I'm sure I'll be taping. The main reason will be to see how the writers take the further adventures of butch cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester into new directions. There are lots of clips of the Glee kids out there, but FOX has been quite stingy with the clip below, allowing it on Youtube for a very short while, then yanking it. But I love it, as it shows the exuberance which Jane Lynch gives to her performances. It's a rare scene in which she is getting along with our hero, played by Matt Morrison (he is one of the few on the show with real stage cred, as he created the role of Lt. Cable in the recent South Pacific revival, and has been a Broadway chorus boy for years).

Watch this clip of couple of times if you like, it's short, sweet, and great fun. Jane Lynch is clearly having a great time, both in the clip, and in her life. Happy Dance Party!

Three Dynasty Members, and a Crusader

CORIN REDGRAVE

1939-2010

Everybody recognizes this guy's name, or at least his surname. American audiences saw him in supporting roles in such films as Four Weddings and a Funeral and A Man for All Seasons, but his international reputation was overshadowed by those of his sisters.

He was the middle child, and only son, of Sir Michael Redgrave and Rachel Kempson, British theatrical royalty (left)who instilled in all their children show biz DNA. Though Vanessa and Lynn are more easily recognized by Americans, Corin was very well-known in his native England for stage appearances in Shakespeare, Coward, and the like. He was equally well-known, and sometimes reviled, for his political views, which, like his sister Vanessa, he never failed to espouse. He was as left-wing as anyone could get, and it's possible that his extremely radical politics damaged his career.

Someone noticed that, as soon as the Berlin Wall fell, Corin's career picked up. In his middle and later years, he worked steadily onstage, and in 1998, delivered a Tony nominated performance in the premiere production of a forgotten Tennessee Williams play, Not About Nightingales. His socialist views, like those of his sister Vanessa, tempered over time, though he was a vocal supporter of a movement to impeach prime minister Tony Blair after the Iraqi Invasion.

He shared political views with big sister Vanessa (and occasionally shared the stage with her, as in The Cherry Orchard, above), but he shared an ambivalence about his father with little sister Lynn. She wrote a play about it (Shakespeare for My Father) and he wrote a memoir about it (Michael Redgrave - My Father) . In 2004, he played King Lear on the same stage at the Royal Shakespeare Company where his father had triumphed in the role 50 years earlier.(If you are unsure which character above is Lear, you need to brush up your Shakespeare).

Corin Redgrave died Tuesday at the age of 70.

Well, if Americans aren't too sure who Corin Redgrave was, they certainly knew this guy, who died last week amidst a lot of hoopla:

JOHN FORSYTHE

1918-2010

Everybody knows the suave, sophisticated actor who spent the better part of his career in television. He attended UNC-Chapel Hill, but dropped out when he discovered the money he could make on the radio. His smooth vocal quality was a natural for the medium. When WWII came along, he enlisted in the air force, and was promptly sent to Broadway, in the ensemble of Moss Hart's Winged Victory, a tribute to American pilots. Later stage roles included another American soldier, in the original Teahouse of the August Moon, and replacing Henry Fonda in the original Mister Roberts. On the big screen, he appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's comic mystery The Trouble with Harry, and in Truman Capote's docudrama In Cold Blood.

But his greatest fame was on television. He worked steadily as a guest on various episodics in the early days, and delivered a fine performance as a cynical theatre critic in a television play called What Makes Sammy Run?, which starred a young Larry Blyden (that performance is available on DVD; I've seen it and it's well worth renting). His first starring role was as dashing playboy Bentley Gregg in the sitcom Bachelor Father, playing one of television's first single parents (technically, he was raising his niece). In later years, he was the disembodied, but highly recognizable, voice of "Charlie" in one of the iconic series of the 1970s, Charlie's Angels. (He performed the same vocal duties in the two film remakes of recent years).


In the 80s, he headlined another iconic series, Dynasty. ABC's answer to the smash hit Dallas, the primetime soap dealt with the wealthy and powerful Carrington clan. During its first season, Forsythe's role was written as a ruthless patriarch who ruled his family with an iron fist; that tempered a bit over time, as Forsythe's own likable personality crept in. I disliked the series myself, but watched it in its early years due to the presence of the family's son, one of the first gay characters I had run across on television. Of course, the writers eventually turned the character bi-, and he married Heather Locklear or something, and I completely lost interest.

The public at large wasn't too interested, either, at least during the show's first season. The show struggled through its first year and was renewed based more on its pedigree (Aaron Spelling, ABC's hitmaker at the time, produced the show) than on its ratings. In a smart move, the writers teased the arrival of the scheming matriarch of the family, who swept into a wedding (or was it a funeral? Who remembers?) in the final scene of the first season. The role of Alexis Carrington was due to be cast during the hiatus, so the character arrived dressed in a heavy black veil, played by an extra. When season two premiered months later, the veil was lifted to reveal Joan Collins; her catfights with Linda Evans became a signature of the series.

Dynasty's ratings rose, hitting #1 in 1985. The show spawned a short-lived spinoff, The Colbys, before sputtering out after nine seasons.




Forsythe himself was amused that his performance as Blake Carrington turned him into a sex symbol in his 60s. He received three Emmy and four Golden Globe nominations for his work on Dynasty, losing them all.








He died last week at the age of 92.

Nobody remembers this (I certainly didn't), but this guy was also a Dynasty star, at least in its later years:

CHRISTOPHER CAZENOVE

1945-2010

He was born into a middle class family with upper-class connections: his father was an aide-de-camp to King George VI for a time. Chris declined to enter the family's stock brokerage firm, and studied to be an actor at the Bristol Old Vic, making his stage debut in Shaw's Man and Superman in the late 60s. He was a charismatic young actor who worked often, but stardom eluded him. I first saw this guy in the BBC mini-series The Duchess of Duke Street, playing the romantic interest of the leading lady.

He made more than a few feature films, in roles both large and small (he stood next to Charlton Heston in 1970's Julius Caesar, and appeared in Three Men and a Little Lady). He toured England and the states as Henry Higgins in a revival of My Fair Lady, but it was his casting in Dynasty which probably brought his biggest fame. (He played John Forsythe's brother, who plotted to steal the family fortune. yawn.)

His personal life was marked with tragedy, as his son died in a car crash in his 20s, and he himself struggled with substance abuse. He died yesterday from septicaemia at the age of 66.

I have one more obit, but before getting to it, you just have to take a peek at the clip below, the opening credits for one of the later seasons of Dynasty. This show epitomized the excess of the 80s and, as always happens with a night-time soap, the cast had grown to an unmanageable size. So the writers took them all to a fictional country and slaughtered about half of them. The "Massacre in Moldavia" is still considered one of the great Jump The Shark moments in TV history.




OK, back to the real world. I'm embarrassed to reveal that I had never heard of this guy until his recent death. Embarrassed, because he was one of the founders of the regional theatre movement in which I live my life.

CRAIG NOEL

1915-2010

In 1937, this youngster from New Mexico was cast in a community theatre production of The Distaff Side in San Diego, CA. Other than a stint in the military during WWII, and a few years in Hollywood (he assisted Orson Welles for a time), he remained with that theatre for the rest of his life. He was instrumental in turning The Old Globe Theatre into a professional theatre, the first to use Equity actors on the West coast. He was its artistic director over forty years, and remained a vital element of the Globe until his death. He directed over 200 productions, and produced over 200 more, many of which went on to lasting fame. The list of shows he sent to Broadway include several August Wilson premieres, and a few Neil Simons as well.



In 1986, I was living in Los Angeles and sometimes made the schlep down Interstate 5 to San Diego to catch a weekend matinee at The Old Globe. One such Sunday, I sat behind Bernadette Peters, who I later learned was in the audience at Stephen Sondheim's (and, I assume, Craig Noel's) invitation. We were watching the world premiere production of Into the Woods, a show which was very much still in flux. They were of course eyeing Broadway, and Sondheim and his collaborator James Lapine wanted Peters in the show. The female lead in Into the Woods is undeniably the Baker's Wife, which was already being played by Joanna Gleason (spectacularly, I may add). I learned later that Peters was offered her choice of playing the Witch or Cinderella, and, well, if you're a musical geek, you already know she chose to play the Witch. The role was beefed up quite a bit for Peters, and she had some success with it in New York, though structuralists could point out that her presence in what was originally a supporting role slanted the piece. If I had been Bernadette Peters (and in so many ways, I am, we're practically twins), I would have chosen to play Cinderella, a character which actually undergoes a change during the course of the play. She navigates an emotional arc in her story, while the Witch, well, doesn't.




I've slid off-topic here a bit, what are the odds of that happening? Back to Craig Noel, who helped guide Into the Woods to its later success. He was responsible for the growth of The Old Globe into one of the giants of the regional theatre movement, and the theatre won the 1984 regional theatre Tony. Noel led the effort to restore the fascility when it was distroyed by arson in 1978, and created a Master of Fine Arts in Acting at the University of San Diego which was connected to the theatre (I have several friends who came out of that program, which is one of the country's best).



In 2007, Noel was presented the U.S. National Medal of Arts by George W. Bush, who must have had some help in chosing such a worthy recipient, since I can't imagine Bush ever sat through a play in his life. Craig Noel did, though, and the professional theatre is better for it. He died last week at the age of 94.