In an interview with USA Today to promote her new book, "Patti LuPone: A Memoir" that is out on September 14, Patti LuPone not only discusses her years of training to become the highly regarded actress she is, but she also implores young actors to be disciplined while developing their craft.
As I've noted previously, LuPone's memoirs is sure to be one of the year's best and most fascinating reads for theatregoers anywhere. I've already pre-ordered my very own copy by going here.
With just days to go before her autobiography's release, I'm anxiously awaiting its impending delivery.
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
While promoting her upcoming book, "Patti LuPone: A Memoir," the acclaimed actress discussed her experiences in live theatre. To view the nearly 37 minute-long video, click here.
Her discussion is an insightful and fascinating study on everything from her opinions on what it takes to be a great actresse vs. merely a "performer" to how movie musicals stack up against the original stage musicals.
Patti LuPone's autobiography is due out this coming September 14 from Harmony Books and promises to be one of the best reads of the year for any theatre.
In keeping with the new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regulations that unfairly discriminate against bloggers, who are now required by law to disclose when they have received anything of value they might write about, please note that I have received nothing of value in exchange for this post.
From a post-traumatic galaxy, far far away (or at least as far as a Beverly Hills ranch home) comes perhaps the 2009-10 Theatrical Season's most unlikely entrant: Carrie Fisher's Wishful Drinking.
As if to prove she can never quite shed her Princess Leia persona, Fisher uses that imagery to great effect with her one woman show. Witness the cover to her 2008 memoir (left), which is also being used by the Roundabout Theatre Company to promote Wishful Drinking.
While you might think that this theatrical piecehad its origins in the December 2006 world premiere at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, Fisher herself might argue that one can really trace its beginnings to the role from the Star Wars stint that made hers a household name. Her downward spiral into addiction and depression -- along with her relationships with her famous parents Debbie Reynolds and Eddie Fisher -- became the stuff of legends, thanks in part to her semi-autobiographical book-turned-film "Postcards From The Edge."
Fisher herself once remarked, "If my life weren’t funny, it would just be true. And that would be unacceptable." Will Broadway audiences accept funny Fisher with open arms? The wishful thinking begins at Studio 54 on September 22 and runs through January 3, 2010.
Well, I would be very interested in knowing just how far sales spike for this autobiography every time a new Broadway revival opens. Currently, Amazon ranks the book as its 183,511th best seller, although it is listed as 15th best selling memoir by a dancer.
No matter. After years and years of seeing production after production, some good, some bad, I decided it was finally time to get the "real" story on the world's most famous ecdysiast, even if it may be somewhat apocryphal. And what an entertaining story it is, replete with Mama Rose, June Havoc, Louise and cow ("moo-moo-moo-MOO") all hoofing it across the country, even if there was no one named Herbie every step of the way.
But what the musical only touches upon, the book delivers: a highly successful vaudeville act, forged by a scheming and entrepreneurial, if somewhat daft mother. Indeed, there was a whole lot happening on that Orpheum Circuit as they performed to cheering, adoring crowds alongside such notables as Fanny Brice. In fact, I was stunned by the level of success that the act actually enjoyed. In the "Musical Fable," their success is significantly muted, getting short shrift during the tuner's "Baby June and Her Newsboys" number that suddenly transforms the action from Baby June to Dainty June.
Gypsy Rose Lee certainly knows how to tell a great story, but one dramatic departure from the tuner is her expressed desire from an early age to be on the stage. That song "If Mama Was Married" may have been sung as a heartfelt plea for their mother to settle down, but neither June nor Louise would be caught desiring to be taken off the road or away from the stage.
And as for that dream of Mama Rose? Well, both Lee and Havoc went on to be exactly what their mother always dreamed they'd be: Broadway stars. The musical Gypsy ensures that future audiences will always know their names, even if they'll be forgiven for thinking that only Gypsy Rose Lee, who passed away in 1970, enjoyed all the fame.
You see, lest anyone forget, the star of June Havoc has also shined brightly on the Great White Way. Born as Ellen Evangeline Hovick, the actress enjoyed a Rialto career spanning 45 years, beginning with her role as Rozsa, of all names, in the 1936 production of Forbidden Melody. She was featured or starred in ten additional Main Stem productions as an actress, and she received a Tony nomination for the 1963-64 production of her self-penned Marathon '33, based on her own memoirs Early Havoc. The legendary Julie Harris was Tony-nominated for her portrayal of June in that production.
June Havoc last trod Broadway's boards back in 1982 as a replacement for Miss Hannigan in the original production of Annie -- the show that served as the springboard for my own great, unyielding love for the theatrical art form. But it was June Havoc herself who apparently served as the great springboard for Gypsy Rose Lee penning her memoirs in the first place. Lee described a meeting between the two as each was enjoying success, saying:
The waiter hovered over us, check in hand. I made a move for my purse and June stopped me. "I want to pay it," she said. "I want this to be my night, right down the line. I'll put it in my diary as the night I found a direction in life for my big, fat sister."
I scooped up what was left of the Lobster Cantonese and divided it into the two containers the waiter had brought us. June divided what was left of the roast pork and put that on top. "But if you don't write the story," she said, "you owe me four dollars and sixty cents."
So as June Havoc prepares to celebrate her 95th birthday on November 8, I'd like to salute this trouper of troupers and her $4.60 threat for inspiring what has ultimately become the greatest Broadway show of all time.
Critics had a dickens of a time with the show, with their reviews taking direct aim at Jill Santoriello, whom many noted began writing the book and score 22 years ago. Helmed by Warren Carlyle, A Tale Of Two Cities is the first -- and one presumes it will long remain the only -- stage musical adapation of Charles Dickens' classic 1859 historical novel opens.
Deriding it as a "lumpish musical adaptation," The New York Times' Ben Brantley pans: "This stolid poperetta, which features book, music and lyrics by Jill Santoriello and is directed and choreographed by Warren Carlyle, is one of those unfortunate shows that are neither witty in themselves nor able to inspire wit in others. To say it could have been worse -- i.e., gloriously, hilariously bad -- is not a cause for rejoicing."
Deeming Tale as a "middling Masterpiece Musical, a paint-by-numbers throwback," Newsday's Linda Winer provides a somewhat middling review: "It has lots of nice period costumes and good actors singing their lungs inside out on material that all sounds the same.... The results, especially considering the relative inexperience of the creators, are surprisingly solid. The show is less bombastic than some examples of the musical-potboiler genre, less foolish than some others. If this sounds like a recommendation, you know whom you are."
Lamenting that Tale Of Two Cities "is so formulaic it feels recycled and reused, but not refreshed," Joe Dziemianowicz of New York's Daily News is more critical in his two and a half (out of five) star review: "The book, lyrics and music are by newcomer Jill Santoriello, who's been working on the project for 20 years. The inexperience is evident from the borrowed moments and characterizations from other shows.... The music should fill emotional gaps, but like stealthy revolutionaries, songs drift in and out without rousing much attention, even anthems belted at maximum volume.... Classics will always have a place on Broadway. The lesson of A Tale of Two Cities is that they need imagination and innovation."
Suspecting that "any show that boasts more producers than leading actors must be suspect," New York Post's Clive Barnes musters up a one and a half star (out of four) review: "Jill Santoriello's book clings closely to Dickens' own, with some nips and tucks, but her lyrics are unimaginative and her music sounds like Les Miz and dishwater.... Here is an attempt at an epic musical with no superstructure to support it.... Helping this low-rent musical rise even to one and a half stars are Tony Walton's ingenious skeletal settings and impressionistic backcloths, David Zinn's stylish costumes and Richard Pilbrow's imaginative lighting."
Calling the "hammy ending" "inexcusable," Bloomberg's John Simon eviscerates the show: "Santoriello's tunes could give 'familiar' a very bad name, although some of them avoid embarrassing indebtedness by virtue of being tuneless. Worse yet are her lyrics, whose inspiration must have been the rhyming dictionary, and a skimpy, pocket-size one at that. As for her book, there is the template of Dickens's tawdry and melodramatic novel, famous for its first line ... and its last ... and for nothing of note in between."
Criticizing "Jill Santoriello's pell-mell pageant of bad wigs, worse lyrics, and a handful of decent melodies," The New York Sun's Eric Grode clearly demonstrates he's seen far, far better shows: "Ms. Santoriello -- who has been working on the score, lyrics, and book since 1986, the heyday for pop-opera treatments of this ilk -- and director/choreographer Warren Carlyle get bogged down in finding room for all the heroism and squalor and vengeance. By the end, Two Cities chugs along like a student scrambling to finish the assigned reading before the test, dragging its hard-working cast along."
So folks, any guesses on just how soon we'll see the closing notices posted?
The cast includes James Barbour as Sydney Carton and Aaron Lazar as Charles Darnay, along with Broadway stalwart Gregg Edelman as Dr. Alexandre Manette and one of my favorite touring musical actresses, Natalie Toro as Madame Therese Defarge.
Will critics find the best in this show? Find out tomorrow as I provide my critics' capsule of the reviews for A Tale of Two Cities.
In the wee hours of Monday morning, I arrived home from my two week tour of Australia. While now jetlagged, I had a fantastic trip, not only because of the sights I took in, but especially because of the friends and family I got to see (as well as new friends I had the pleasure of meeting: Rob and Harriet, Elizabeth, Jenta, Maylise, Daniela and, of course, Wayne).
Still, it was wonderful to return home. But the thought of home was never far away thanks to one particular reading selection I brought along on my journey: Dame Julie Andrews' exceptional autobiography, "Home."
Ten years ago this fall, I had an extraordinary opportunity to meet this extremely gracious and talented actress. In the fall of 1998, Julie Andrews was a keynote speaker at that year's World Travel Congress convening in Los Angeles.
As the public relations director for the trade association sponsoring the global event for over 4000 delegates, I was asked if I would mind escorting her throughout the afternoon she would be spending with us. That invitation was like asking a little child on his birthday if he'd mind opening up just one more gift.
I eagerly accepted the assignment, but was extremely tense when the moment came to greet her arrival at the convention center. I kept wondering whether I would be disappointed, whether Julie Andrews would somehow not be the same wonderfully humane and approachable individual I'd always envisioned she'd be. Plus, what if I made a buffoon of myself?!
Moments after meeting her, I was put completely at ease. Julie Andrews was the epitome of grace and kindness. She was everything I'd hoped she'd be and so much more. Easygoing, charming and absolutely nice, her demeanor helped make me comfortable so that I could in turn concentrate on doing my job: making her feel comfortable, and hopefully very welcome, in return.
The Academy Award-winning actress delivered a beautifully heartfelt and inspiring address on how traveling helped shape her life. Once her speech concluded, I showed Dame Andrews to our version of a green room, where she greeted our dignitaries and posed for pictures. Never showing any signs of tiring, this consummate professional graciously met with one after another of her gathered fans. I was personally touched when she had me join her for a series of shots taken from virtually every angle by the throng of photographers. And I'll never forget how affable she was, right up until the moment I escorted her to her waiting car.
I relay this story because if nothing else, my personal experience with Julie Andrews made me an even bigger fan. I found myself searching out the number of films of hers I had never seen. It also gave me greater appreciation for her work in old favorites, whether it was "Mary Poppins" -- one of the first films I ever saw -- or "The Sound of Music" or her more recent role in "Victor Victoria." My experience also made me eager to take in her directorial debut -- a stage revival of The Boy Friend she was helming five years ago this month at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York.
So when I learned that Dame Andrews had written the memoirs for her early years, I didn't even think twice about purchasing it. I couldn't wait to read it.
And now that I've read it, I can tell you that for anyone who loves live theatre, this is a must-read. With a flair for writing, Julie Andrews walks her audience through her earliest years, including insights into her often difficult childhood and family life, as well as English vaudeville, World War II, and her budding entertainment career both in London and on Broadway right up until she and her family leave for Hollywood to begin filming "Mary Poppins."
The detail the three-time Tony nominee provides on each of her first three Broadway roles -- Polly in The Boy Friend (1954-55), Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady (1956-58) and Guenevere in Camelot (1960-62) -- is nothing short of a treasure trove of information on what it was like to star on the Great White Way during the Golden Age of the Broadway musical. With a sly sense of humor, she offers an abundance of amusing anecdotes that alone are worth the price of the book.
Inspiring through and through, Julie Andrews shares some of the motivation that helped transform her, including a crystalizing quote from one of her early mentors: "The amateur works until they get something right. The professional works until they can't go wrong."
Given the high level of integrity and fortitude Julie Andrews has shown throughout her lengthy and distinguished career, it's a given that she's a professional's professional through and through. But by sharing so much of her own personal anguish, longing and ultimately her sense of "home," the actress invites us into her life and the home she's created. In doing so, Julie Andrews distinguishes herself even more as an immensely gifted author.
I for one can't wait to read the next installment.
Almost in spite of famously flopping last year in Toronto, Matthew Warchus persevered with his stage musical adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic The Lord Of The Ringsby steering it toward its West End opening night on Tuesday. After taking in the performance at London's Royal Theatre, Drury Lane, critics were sharply divided: they either loved it or hated it.
Lavishing praise on the production is none other than Sam Marlowe of The Times in her four-out-of-five star review: "Warchus and his team have a created a brave, stirring, epic piece of popular theatre that, without slavishly adhering to J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, embraces their spirit. The show has charm, wit, and jaw-dropping theatrical brio; crucially, it also has real emotional heft....[S]nobbery and cynicism be damned: this show is a wonder. Go with an open mind, an open heart, and wide-open eyes, and prepare for enchantment."
Confessing to being "hugely impressed by the manner of Matthew Warchus's production," Michael Billington of The Guardian awards the show with four out of five stars: "[A]lthough I find it difficult to buy into the Tolkien myth, I happily pay tribute to the skills of Warchus and his production team. For all the technology on display in a £12.5m musical, they avoid presenting us with a heartless industrialised spectacle....On the whole, however, it is not a show for connoisseurs of acting....But I had a perfectly good time at Drury Lane and, if Tolkien's trilogy is to be a stage spectacle, I don't see how it could be better done."
Saying "this show is unlikely to blow you away" is The Independent's Paul Taylor, who complains that it "turns out to be a show with a bit of an identity crisis, strong on dynamic spectacle, squeezed as drama, and in two minds about how it wants to use music dramatically.the story-telling is rushed....Even a fine classical actor, Malcolm Storry, who plays Gandalf, is left struggling with cardboard characterisation."
Calling the musical "a thumping great flop," the Telegraph's Charles Spencer pans: "The language is flat, portentous or twee, and there is barely a moment that makes you gasp. Indeed most of the special effects seem highly derivative, from old-hat bungee jumping to the Louise Bourgeois inspired giant spider. Nor does this story of epic battles run to a single decent sword-fight, a truly astonishing omission....Repeatedly during this show you feel its creators have more money than either sense or imagination."
Noting how "it was simply the wrong book to dramatize," Variety's David Benedict is also heavily critical of the show: "With the story reduced to an almost pageant-like, expository parade of individual episodes played at equal dramatic weight, basic requirements like expectation, momentum, and, above all, tension evaporate....Performances, however, fade beneath the might of the presentation, which attempts to divert auds with every device available to its enormous budget."
Labeling the show as "folly, ill-fated at conception, tedious and vulgar in execution" along with exactly one star is Kieron Quirke of the Evening Standard: "People said it couldn't be done -- and they were right. The attempt to condense the 20th century's most popular epic into three hours has resulted in an empty-headed and messy extravaganza that will appal established fans and baffle newcomers....To watch it is to hear money poured down the drain."
Whether any of this will matter to the legions of LOTR fans remains to be seen, but I have an inkling that the devotees may not take to a work that leaves so much of the story hurried, if not unseen.
Theatre critics who had read the original novel -- that chronicles how Didion coped with the death of her husband John all while dealing with their daughter Quintana's life-threatening illness -- provided reviews expressing severe disappointment. One of their greatest bones of contention inveighed against the show's opening salvo, "You don't want to think it could happen to you, but it will. That's why I'm here."
On the flip side, critics who confessed to never having read the original source material seemed uniformly in awe of the play.
So considering the ramifications of poring over the novel in advance or not, I made the conscious decision not to read Didion's work prior to taking in a performance over the past weekend. From that vantage point, I wanted to enjoy the play for what it is. The result: I was absolutely stunned, not only by the breadth of the heartbreaking virtuoso performance by Vanessa Redgrave, but also by the very exacting and deliberate words Didion herself chose to tell her story to a wider audience.
Coping with the death of a loved one is certainly never easy, but in a beautifully subtle, almost poetic sense, Didion through Redgrave walks herself and her audience through the inevitable phases of denial and acceptance, along with the will to persevere -- at first for the sake of keeping hope alive for the dearly departed, but then to maintain one's own solitary sanity.
I was awestruck by how intoxicating Didion's words were flawlessly delivered by Redgrave, along with the wellspring of heartfelt emotion shown when the acceptance phase finally takes hold, as well as the realization when it does. And although I have not yet read the book -- but I most definitely will now that I've seen the play -- I'm thankful I saw this work on the stage first because it dealt head-on with Quintana's death, something that was not included in Didion's written work.
No small wonder that Didion is so circumspect in deliberately cautioning her newfound audience that this indeed could happen to them. In fact, since Redgrave as Didion so gracefully girds the audience with what is unmistakably a gentle and compassionate embrace, I believe she should be praised for sharing her insights on her tremendous losses. She's certainly earned that right.
The Year Of Magical Thinking is a show that should not be missed.
One of this theatre season's most anticipated plays, The Year Of Magical Thinking, opened last night at Broadway's Booth Theatre. Based on Joan Didion's acclaimed memoir of the passing of her husband while her daughter was dying, the production is directed by David Hare and stars Vanessa Redgrave as Didion. Critics were mixed in their reviews.
Praising the show as "unmissable theatre," Variety's David Rooney seems downright awestruck: "Didion has filleted the text into a spare but compelling solo piece. Whether or not it's a play is difficult to judge in David Hare's audaciously austere production, given how inextricably linked the work is to Vanessa Redgrave's riveting interpretation...[T]he sobriety of this incarnation is entirely true to the tone of her memoir. The startling intimacy and affecting altruism of its insights on loss and their rigorous refusal of any of the standard dealing-with-death rhetoric allow the monologue to continue resonating well after Redgrave has taken her bows."
Proclaiming this "a 90-minute, semi-stream-of-consciousness monologue of virtuoso brilliance by a great actress," New York Post's Clive Barnes provides accolades in his three-star review: "Redgrave and Hare have created a starkly honest theatrical miracle out of Didion's text, which I find admirable yet suspect in its all too rational agony....Slowly, with the certainty of theatrical genius, nothing matters, as Redgrave -- assisted by Hare and Bob Crowley's scenic design, which is simply a series of collapsing curtains patterned like watered silk -- takes both text and audience into a never-never land of acceptance....This is acting at its grandest."
Also offering three out of four stars is Elysa Gardner of USA Today: "The play, directed with rigorous elegance by David Hare, is marked by the same lack of sanctimony and sentimentality. Dignity is the word that comes to mind in describing Redgrave's performance and Didion's script....[T]here are few elements of mystery or, in truth, revelation in their retelling."
Calling it an "arresting yet ultimately frustrating new drama," Ben Brantley of The New York Times divulges that the original source material helped him weather the loss of three individuals close to him. But apparently, the play is a disappointment when compared to the book: "[I]t is in the quiet between the words, as she tastes and digests what she has said, that Ms. Redgrave -- playing a character named Joan Didion -- comes closest to capturing Ms. Didion’s voice and the delicate layering of harsh feelings that made the book such a stunner....I never felt the magnetic pull that I experienced in reading the book. Though the script is by Ms. Didion, with many of its sentences lifted directly from the memoir, I never heard Ms. Didion’s voice when Ms. Redgrave was speaking."
Noting that the piece "still works better on the page than on the stage," the Associated Press' Michael Kuchwara clearly shares Brantley's disappointment: "David Hare, better known as a playwright than a director, has statically staged Magical Thinking. Redgrave is anchored to that chair for much of the evening. Behind her are a series of curtains resembling a shoreline -- perhaps the beach at Malibu where Didion, Dunne and their daughter spent some of their happiest times together....Redgrave wisely refuses to resort to impersonation, although she does affect an odd accent that sounds vaguely mid-Atlantic American."
Even less complimentary is Eric Grode of The New York Sun: "As counterintuitive as it may seem, the stage incarnation has a sterility that the book lacked, despite the presence of a living, breathing presence to lead us through these memories. Ms. Didion (portrayed by Ms. Redgrave) informs the audience that we are all going to lose our loved ones most likely sooner than we think. 'You don't want to think it could happen to you,' she says. 'That's why I'm here.' This shift in tone is understandable but not necessarily wise....Mr. Hare's obvious directorial contributions are few and far between: a few unnecessary dollops of sound effects and a series of wistful, watercolor-style backdrops from set designer Bob Crowley that subdivide the play into what amounts to chapters. He has also helped whittle Ms. Redgrave's performance to a piercing minimum, drawing upon her regal composure and her ability to rivet audiences with the sparest of movements."
Personally, I have not yet taken the time to read Didion's book. Given the disappointment in the reviews by those who already have -- and Clive Barnes' brave admission that he has not -- I think I'll be waiting to do so until after I've taken in the performance in early May.
Rain: A Tribute To The Beatles Limited run extended through May 31, 2011 (Show will go on hiatus starting January 15 and reopen at Brooks Atkinson Theatre on February 8)
Rock Of Ages - Open-ended run (Show will go on hiatus starting January 9 and reopen at Helen Hayes Theatre in March)
As someone who has been involved in both politics and public relations, it's no wonder I love watching theatre. Good or bad, it's the raw energy of seeing a live performance that gets my adrenaline pumping. From the moment I saw my very first Broadway show ("Annie" in London in 1979), I was hooked. Now I see as many as 70 shows each year ranging from soaring musicals to two-hander plays. And these eyes just may be in an audience near you!
As I've noted previously, LuPone's memoirs is sure to be one of the year's best and most fascinating reads for theatregoers anywhere. I've already pre-ordered my very own copy by going here.
