Wednesday, December 30, 2009
See you in 2010...
Taking the week off. Thanks for the pleasure of your company in 2009. See you in 2010...
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Christmas Night Performance in Boston 1941
Christmas, for actors and actresses, is sometimes a celebration fit in between performances. In December 1941, when Pearl Harbor earlier in the month had already established that this would be the first wartime Christmas, Ruth Gordon played the Majestic Theatre in Boston.
From her “My Side - The Autobiography of Ruth Gordon” (Harper & Row, NY, 1976), Ruth Gordon captures a moment.
“Two days of dress rehearsals and open Christmas night…I hurried out onto Avery Street, deep in slush. No empty taxi, a cold rain beating down, dress rehearsal at two-thirty. I rushed along Tremont Street. No need to dodge the puddles; my feet and legs were soaked. I could feel the cold water squish. Only a few blocks, cross Boylston, then up the alley to the Majestic stage door. Just beyond it and across the alley is the stage door to the Colonial. Had Hazel Dawn ever had to run through rain and slush? I was perspiring from having hurried so. What if I took cold? What if tomorrow my voice was ragged? Or gone altogether? All those lines, all those words, all those changes and cuts and additions!”
Opening Christmas night, peace on earth, and anxiety backstage. Always, for the actor, putting one’s career on the line with every show.
“Backstage was taut with excitement, nerves, good wishes. Actors are great. None of us thought the show would make it, but the good wishes didn’t sound like that. One last sip of water, one last trip to the ladies, one last pat of the powder puff, last prayer to God, then wait in the wings. Deep breath. Cue, open the door On! A burst of applause, the first line.”
The play, which she does not name, got bad notices. As Miss Gordon wrote to Orson Welles afterward, “The Mayor of Boston gave me the key to the city, the pubic gave me the gate.”
The second week of performances was cancelled. They took the show on to Philadelphia. In five months, it was back to Broadway for Ruth Gorden in May 1942 with “The Strings, My Lord, Are False.” Directed by Elia Kazan, it ran 15 performances. The same play? Or another opening, another flop? One hopes her shoes dried out from the icy slush of Tremont Street by then.
From her “My Side - The Autobiography of Ruth Gordon” (Harper & Row, NY, 1976), Ruth Gordon captures a moment.
“Two days of dress rehearsals and open Christmas night…I hurried out onto Avery Street, deep in slush. No empty taxi, a cold rain beating down, dress rehearsal at two-thirty. I rushed along Tremont Street. No need to dodge the puddles; my feet and legs were soaked. I could feel the cold water squish. Only a few blocks, cross Boylston, then up the alley to the Majestic stage door. Just beyond it and across the alley is the stage door to the Colonial. Had Hazel Dawn ever had to run through rain and slush? I was perspiring from having hurried so. What if I took cold? What if tomorrow my voice was ragged? Or gone altogether? All those lines, all those words, all those changes and cuts and additions!”
Opening Christmas night, peace on earth, and anxiety backstage. Always, for the actor, putting one’s career on the line with every show.
“Backstage was taut with excitement, nerves, good wishes. Actors are great. None of us thought the show would make it, but the good wishes didn’t sound like that. One last sip of water, one last trip to the ladies, one last pat of the powder puff, last prayer to God, then wait in the wings. Deep breath. Cue, open the door On! A burst of applause, the first line.”
The play, which she does not name, got bad notices. As Miss Gordon wrote to Orson Welles afterward, “The Mayor of Boston gave me the key to the city, the pubic gave me the gate.”
The second week of performances was cancelled. They took the show on to Philadelphia. In five months, it was back to Broadway for Ruth Gorden in May 1942 with “The Strings, My Lord, Are False.” Directed by Elia Kazan, it ran 15 performances. The same play? Or another opening, another flop? One hopes her shoes dried out from the icy slush of Tremont Street by then.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Road Show - "Mister Roberts" at the Court Square Theater
Directed by Joshua Logan, the play starred Curtis Cooksey as The Captain, Robert Burton as Doc, and Don Fellows as Ensign Pulver. Cooksey and Burton were veterans, who first trod the boards on Broadway in 1915 and 1916, and Cooksey had appeared in several silent films. Both had worked in early television as well.
The cast also included a couple of newbies who would one day become famous names, Jack Klugman and Lee Van Cleef.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Out of Town Tryouts - "Last House on the Left" - 1945
“Last House on the Left” came to Hartford in it’s pre-Broadway tryout in November 1945 with what must have been typical high hopes, but no crystal ball regarding the ultimate success of the show.
This was a comedy-farce written by Jean Carmen and Irish Owen, and directed by Irish Owen, not to be confused with the cult horror movie of the early 1970s with a similar name. Definitely not to be confused with that.
Gene Barry had a lot of stage work under his belt, particularly on Broadway, mostly musicals, and would eventually make his fame on television, especially as TV’s “Bat Masterson.” Barry had just come off of “Catherine Was Great” on Broadway in January 1945 when “Last House on the Left” was in the works.
“Last House on the Left” never made it to Broadway. Barry’s career sailed on, however, and he went back to Broadway in a revival of “The Would-Be Gentleman” at the Booth Theater. It ran three months. Then presumably he joined Irish Owen and Jean Carmen in the eternal search for a new gig.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Theatre as Giver and Wide Receiver
“Theatre isn’t merely giver; it’s giver and receiver,” so wrote stage director Joshua Logan in his autobiography, My Upside Down, In and Out Life (Delacorte Press, NY, 1976).
Mr. Logan writes of the immediacy of theatre, not just for the actors but for the audience, “feeling yourself played to by live actors, that can be found nowhere else.”
At The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut, in January 2008, actor Brad Nacht, playing the character Max Bialystock in the road production of “The Producers” interrupted the second act, broke the fourth wall and told the audience, “New England 14, San Diego 6.”
The AFC playoff game was currently under way, and Mr. Nacht was passing along the most recent score to New England theatergoers who would presumably also be New England Patriots fans.
Giver and receiver perhaps may also mean wide receiver in some cases.
“It’s lover and loved,” Josh Logan said of theatre, and sometimes one’s lover strays, or at least one’s attention.
The Patriots currently lead the AFC East, so perhaps January will again bring some compromise to the relationship between audience and actor.
Mr. Logan writes of the immediacy of theatre, not just for the actors but for the audience, “feeling yourself played to by live actors, that can be found nowhere else.”
At The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut, in January 2008, actor Brad Nacht, playing the character Max Bialystock in the road production of “The Producers” interrupted the second act, broke the fourth wall and told the audience, “New England 14, San Diego 6.”
The AFC playoff game was currently under way, and Mr. Nacht was passing along the most recent score to New England theatergoers who would presumably also be New England Patriots fans.
Giver and receiver perhaps may also mean wide receiver in some cases.
“It’s lover and loved,” Josh Logan said of theatre, and sometimes one’s lover strays, or at least one’s attention.
The Patriots currently lead the AFC East, so perhaps January will again bring some compromise to the relationship between audience and actor.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Arsenic and Old Lace at the Court Square Theater, Springfield, Mass.
“Aresnic and Old Lace” toured New England in 1941, and played two nights and a Wednesday matinee on November 25th and 26th. Featured in the cast was Laura Hope Crews (center, above), who returned to the stage after several film roles, among them the fretful and childlike Aunt Pittypat Hamilton in “Gone With the Wind” (1939). “Arsenic was one of Laura Hope Crews’ last roles before her death the following November in 1942.
Miss Crews and Effie Shannon, who was originally from Cambridge, Mass., played the sweetly sinister sisters Brewster. Forrest Orr, last seen here on tour with “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” played the bombastic and childlike “Teddy” Brewster who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt.
The unique, if, much parodied Hollywood legend Erich von Stroheim played the evil Jonathan Brewster. Mr. Stroheim, actor, writer, and director, must have made an entertaining evil brother Jonathan (the role was originated on Broadway that January by Boris Karloff).
Directed by Joseph Kesslring, the show would become a film vehicle for James Stewart in 1944 (last seen here getting bawled out by Jane Cowl in Boston), and would become for decades to come the favorite chestnut of community theater groups around the country. One wonders if this show is always playing sometime, somewhere, though surely Halloween must be its high season.
This local newspaper ad tells us the tickets went from $1.10 up to $2.75 for orchestra seats, though you could get cheap seats at the matinee for 55 cents.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Upcoming plays for December:
At the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut: “Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter” December 5th through January 3, 2010.
“As Christmas approaches the world of Frogtown Hollow, Emmet Otter and his Ma can only dream of buying each other gifts. So when a Christmas Eve talent contest is announced, both secretly enter, hoping to win the prize money. In a heartwarming twist on "The Gift of the Magi," Emmet and Ma risk all they have and end up with the greatest grand prize of all. Based on director Jim Henson's television feature, this new theatrical adaptation features a lovable mix of actors and puppet characters from The Jim Henson Company and a toe-tapping score. It's a classic holiday musical for all ages!”
Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams, book by Timothy A. McDonald and Christopher Gattelli. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
At the Majectic Theater in West Springfield, Mass. “Piecemeal - The Frankenstein Musical” running through December 6th. Written by Howard Odentz, this “is the imaginative, dark, and very funny spin on Mary Shelley’s classic novel by re-telling the strange events that lead to the creation of Frankenstein’s monster. Igor, the hunchbacked undertaker’s son, yearns to be a doctor. By chance he meets the young Victor Frankenstein, who is destined to follow in his family’s medical footstep, but whose heart is set instead on a fashion career. He and Igor swap identities. Victor heads off to France to pursue his passion while Igor takes his new name and Victor’s pre-paid admission papers to the University. There he becomes the prized pupil of Professor Krempe, who’s been secretly working on reanimation. Add in a love triangle with Victor’s betrothed, the beautiful Elizabeth Lavenza, and you have “PIECEMEAL.”
At the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Mass., the regional premiere of “Heroes” by Gerald Sibleyras, adapted by Tom Stoppard opens tomorrow, November 19th and runs through December 13th. “Henri, Gustave and Philippe survived World War I. Forty years later, as residents in a veterans’ home and armed only with what is left of their wits and a 200-pound stone dog, they battle old age, nagging war injuries, and a masochistic nun. A heartwarming tale of camaraderie and a moving portrait of the frustrations inherent in growing older.”
At the Portland Stage, Portland, Maine, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens runs from November 27th through December 24th. “Travel back in time to Victorian England where ghosts, time travel, and memories help a cold and lonely old miser regain his heart. Our adaptation remains remarkably true to Dickens' original book. Dickens' story seems best told in his words, allowing audiences to hear the richness of his language, and to experience the story of Scrooge's encounters with the spirits of past, present, and yet-to-come in the way that the author intended.”
The Shubert Theatre of New Haven, Connecticut, which opened on December 11, 1914, is celebrating its 95th anniversary with a special event December 11th, and continue on Sunday, December 13th.
Schedule of Anniversary Events:
Friday, December 11
Guided Tours of the Shubert Theater and Backstage: 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30
Rededication Program: 7:00pm
Followed by screening of "Shubert Moments" and feature film "The Sound of Music"
“The day-long 95th Anniversary Celebratory Events begins on Friday, December 11 with free tours of the theater and backstage areas including the famous “Graffiti Walls” featuring murals of past shows and cast signatures. Tours will run on the hour from 12:30–3:30pm. A rededication ceremony on the Shubert Stage hosted by Shubert staff and City of New Haven officials begins at 7pm, followed by a screening of “Shubert Moments,” a short film highlighting the Shubert’s rich theatrical history, and the feature film, “The Sound of Music.” This film was selected because of the show’s original association with the Shubert Theater – the original stage production of “The Sound of Music” made its World Premiere on the Shubert stage in October, 1959. Having recently marked the 50th Anniversary of its Shubert stage premiere, it is particularly appropriate to include the film version of this beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein classic as part of the Shubert’s Anniversary events.
The celebration continues on Sunday, December 13 with a Free Family Fun Day from 11am–3pm. Kid-friendly events including holiday arts & crafts projects and face painting and refreshments will be available throughout the day in the Shubert lobby. Participants will be entertained with Holiday Carols performed by New Haven youth choirs and a special visit by Santa Claus! Patrons will also be treated to a series of holiday-themed film shorts in the Shubert Theater.”
At The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut. “Amahl and the Night Visitors” with The Mostly Baroque Players - David Ole Hartman, Conductor and John Tedeschi, Stage Director/King Melchior - present a fully staged performance of the one act Christmas themed opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti. “The story concerns an unannounced visit by the Three Kings to a poor, crippled, shepherd boy and his widowed mother on their way to venerate the Christ Child in Bethlehem.” Starring Toby Newman as the Mother, Johan Hartman as Amahl, Wayne Rivera as King Kaspar, Stewart Battle as King Balthazar and Christopher Stone as the Page.
At Boston’s The Huntington, “A Civil War Christmas” by Paula Vogel will run until December 13th. “It's Christmas Eve 1864. In the White House, President and Mrs. Lincoln plot their gift-giving. On the Potomac, a young rebel soldier challenges a Union blacksmith's mercy. In the streets, a fugitive from slavery searches for her daughter on the night she finds freedom. In this new play with music from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, these stories and more are woven into an American tapestry, showing us that the gladness of one's heart is the greatest gift of all. This production includes beloved holiday music and will be enhanced by local choirs caroling before each performance.”
At the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut: “Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter” December 5th through January 3, 2010.
“As Christmas approaches the world of Frogtown Hollow, Emmet Otter and his Ma can only dream of buying each other gifts. So when a Christmas Eve talent contest is announced, both secretly enter, hoping to win the prize money. In a heartwarming twist on "The Gift of the Magi," Emmet and Ma risk all they have and end up with the greatest grand prize of all. Based on director Jim Henson's television feature, this new theatrical adaptation features a lovable mix of actors and puppet characters from The Jim Henson Company and a toe-tapping score. It's a classic holiday musical for all ages!”
Music and Lyrics by Paul Williams, book by Timothy A. McDonald and Christopher Gattelli. Directed and choreographed by Christopher Gattelli
At the Majectic Theater in West Springfield, Mass. “Piecemeal - The Frankenstein Musical” running through December 6th. Written by Howard Odentz, this “is the imaginative, dark, and very funny spin on Mary Shelley’s classic novel by re-telling the strange events that lead to the creation of Frankenstein’s monster. Igor, the hunchbacked undertaker’s son, yearns to be a doctor. By chance he meets the young Victor Frankenstein, who is destined to follow in his family’s medical footstep, but whose heart is set instead on a fashion career. He and Igor swap identities. Victor heads off to France to pursue his passion while Igor takes his new name and Victor’s pre-paid admission papers to the University. There he becomes the prized pupil of Professor Krempe, who’s been secretly working on reanimation. Add in a love triangle with Victor’s betrothed, the beautiful Elizabeth Lavenza, and you have “PIECEMEAL.”
At the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Mass., the regional premiere of “Heroes” by Gerald Sibleyras, adapted by Tom Stoppard opens tomorrow, November 19th and runs through December 13th. “Henri, Gustave and Philippe survived World War I. Forty years later, as residents in a veterans’ home and armed only with what is left of their wits and a 200-pound stone dog, they battle old age, nagging war injuries, and a masochistic nun. A heartwarming tale of camaraderie and a moving portrait of the frustrations inherent in growing older.”
At the Portland Stage, Portland, Maine, “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens runs from November 27th through December 24th. “Travel back in time to Victorian England where ghosts, time travel, and memories help a cold and lonely old miser regain his heart. Our adaptation remains remarkably true to Dickens' original book. Dickens' story seems best told in his words, allowing audiences to hear the richness of his language, and to experience the story of Scrooge's encounters with the spirits of past, present, and yet-to-come in the way that the author intended.”
The Shubert Theatre of New Haven, Connecticut, which opened on December 11, 1914, is celebrating its 95th anniversary with a special event December 11th, and continue on Sunday, December 13th.
Schedule of Anniversary Events:
Friday, December 11
Guided Tours of the Shubert Theater and Backstage: 12:30, 1:30, 2:30, 3:30
Rededication Program: 7:00pm
Followed by screening of "Shubert Moments" and feature film "The Sound of Music"
“The day-long 95th Anniversary Celebratory Events begins on Friday, December 11 with free tours of the theater and backstage areas including the famous “Graffiti Walls” featuring murals of past shows and cast signatures. Tours will run on the hour from 12:30–3:30pm. A rededication ceremony on the Shubert Stage hosted by Shubert staff and City of New Haven officials begins at 7pm, followed by a screening of “Shubert Moments,” a short film highlighting the Shubert’s rich theatrical history, and the feature film, “The Sound of Music.” This film was selected because of the show’s original association with the Shubert Theater – the original stage production of “The Sound of Music” made its World Premiere on the Shubert stage in October, 1959. Having recently marked the 50th Anniversary of its Shubert stage premiere, it is particularly appropriate to include the film version of this beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein classic as part of the Shubert’s Anniversary events.
The celebration continues on Sunday, December 13 with a Free Family Fun Day from 11am–3pm. Kid-friendly events including holiday arts & crafts projects and face painting and refreshments will be available throughout the day in the Shubert lobby. Participants will be entertained with Holiday Carols performed by New Haven youth choirs and a special visit by Santa Claus! Patrons will also be treated to a series of holiday-themed film shorts in the Shubert Theater.”
At The Bushnell in Hartford, Connecticut. “Amahl and the Night Visitors” with The Mostly Baroque Players - David Ole Hartman, Conductor and John Tedeschi, Stage Director/King Melchior - present a fully staged performance of the one act Christmas themed opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors by Gian Carlo Menotti. “The story concerns an unannounced visit by the Three Kings to a poor, crippled, shepherd boy and his widowed mother on their way to venerate the Christ Child in Bethlehem.” Starring Toby Newman as the Mother, Johan Hartman as Amahl, Wayne Rivera as King Kaspar, Stewart Battle as King Balthazar and Christopher Stone as the Page.
At Boston’s The Huntington, “A Civil War Christmas” by Paula Vogel will run until December 13th. “It's Christmas Eve 1864. In the White House, President and Mrs. Lincoln plot their gift-giving. On the Potomac, a young rebel soldier challenges a Union blacksmith's mercy. In the streets, a fugitive from slavery searches for her daughter on the night she finds freedom. In this new play with music from Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel, these stories and more are woven into an American tapestry, showing us that the gladness of one's heart is the greatest gift of all. This production includes beloved holiday music and will be enhanced by local choirs caroling before each performance.”
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