“If I hadn’t had theater to go back into, I would have sort of fizzled out, ignominiously,” [Angela Lansbury] says to Boris Kachka, New York Magazine, April 29, 2012 . Click on the link to read more and see photos of her apartment.
Angela is 86 and still goes to work everyday, plus lends time to multiple charitable events. Is there any wonder why this woman inspires me?
She's just one of the great reasons to see The Best Man on Broadway. I've been twice and luckily will go again next week! I can't wait.
Happy birthday to lovely Kate Baldwin! She's one of the very best musical theatre performers in the world, besides being one of the loveliest people in the world. Kate stars as "Marian the Librarian" in Arena Stage's The Music Man in Washington, D.C. beginning on May 11th. I intend to get down to the Capital to see her in this iconic role...meanwhile, I'll be sending birthday wishes for a future and much deserved starring role on Broadway!
I caught a preview of Peter and the Starcatcher last week. The only preconception I had going in was from the press agent who invited me: "It's Peter Pan for adults." He was right, but it's so much more. I had a really great time at this play. I admit that I thought it was going to be a musical, but it's actually a play with music. It is definitely on the cusp of being a musical, with clever accompaniment which adds to the hilarity. The cast, packed with actors known for their musical theatre work, also gets the chance to present a couple of ensemble songs.
When I was a kid, my favorite character of Peter Pan was Captain Hook. It was no different in this adaptation, or rather prequel. Christian Borle plays the villainous captain, known here as The Black Stache. He's known as "ruthless, heartless and peerless," but he's utterly hysterical and charming as he continuously breaks the fourth wall and bumbles his way through the action. He's joined on stage by a rowdy bunch of players, filling multiple roles of pirates, sailors, orphans and natives: Adam Chanler-Berat, Teddy Bergman, Arnie Burton, Matt D'Amico, Kevin Del Aguila, Carson Elrod, Greg Hildreth, Rick Holmes, Isaiah Johnson, and David Rossmer. Celia Keenan-Bolger gets to be the only female in this crowd and she more than holds her own.
It is an irreverent prequel to Peter Pan, more or less explaining the who, how and why of the beloved fairytale. The show is a very physical and prop-heavy rout of an ensemble piece. I was very much reminded of the plays The 39 Steps, The Invisible Man and even Brief Encounter, all of which I loved.
I think much of the humor was geared toward adults with it's current vernacular and pop culture references, but it is mostly clean humor and was certainly appreciated by the many children in the audience on the Saturday night we were there. There was a tween girl sitting next to me. She sat forward in her seat in order not to miss a moment and she repeated lines and laughed heartily at everything. It was great fun to sit next to her.
Peter and the Starcatcher is playing at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on 47th Street. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster.com or call 877-250-2929....use the code MAIL to get a nice little discount.
It's true that the Collegiate Chorale regularly presents a lovely evening, but I wasn't expecting much from the silliness of Gilbert & Sullivan, although I had actually never seen The Mikado, much less one of their shows live. I'm definitely glad this is one that I didn't miss.
The cast included Chuck Cooper as The Mikado, Jason Danieley as Nanki-Poo, Jonathan Freeman as Pooh-Bah, Amy Justman as Peep-Bo, Kelli O'Hara as Yum-Yum, Steve Rosen as Pish-Tush, Lauren Worsham as Pitti-Sing, Victoria Clark as Katisha and Christopher Fitzgerald as Ko-Ko.
As a matter of fact, I think it would have been just a standard, well-sung presentation (especially thanks to Jason Danieley and Kelli O'Hara) but Victoria Clark and Christopher Fitzgerald had us rolling in the aisles. I expect funny when it comes to Christopher Fitzgerald, but I had no idea that Vicki Clark could bring the funny. I'm still dying just thinking of it. Brava and thanks for the laughs! In this instance, silly was not only good, but it ended up being a very welcome respite.
Go to TimesTalks' face page to watch the archived livestream of Julia Louis-Dreyfus from February 13th. Kari and I were there in person. On the front row.
Julia's "Elaine" is one of my favorite characters ever. I loved learning that "Elaine's" hairstyle in the early years of Seinfeld was inspired by her own love of Helena Bonham Carter in A Room With a View and wore it curly mainly because when she was a regular on Saturday Night Live, she was discouraged from wearing it curly. Her work on Saturday Night Live actually got her the Seinfeld job because her former colleague Larry David, the co-creator of Seinfeld, called her up after NBC told them to get a girl for the show. She said that her favorite episodes of Seinfeld were the ones in which she had a hard time getting through because she was laughing too much and described the one in which "Kramer" sets up the Merv Griffith Set in his apartment. Yes! One of my faves, as well.
Julia says, "Look it" and "Yeah" just like "Elaine." She also inspired "Elaine's" signature "Get out." I also loved that on top of her humor, she is really a beautiful woman. Wow -she's a knock-out!
When you watch the livestream, at 1:23, she is telling a story about running into "Vincent" from Seinfeld at a party for VEEP. I audibly gasped and she looked right at me and responded, "Yeah." It was awesome!
Julia will be playing the Vice President in a new series called VEEP , which begins this Sunday on HBO. Yes, I subscribed just for this show. I can hardly wait!
Last month when I was in San Antonio, I was shopping with my mother. She pointed out the new Bruce Springsteen album Wrecking Ball. As excited as I was to get the new album, I was just a little more excited that it was Mom who had the presence of mind to point it out...or maybe that it was confirmation that she actually does listen to me rattle on about my loves. Either way, the album is frakkin' awesome and I can't wait to hear Bruce perform it live tonight at Madison Square Garden. I know Sally, Kari and I will be dancing in the aisles!
Last night I had the pleasure of attending the live recording session for Patricia Racette's upcoming cabaret album.
Patricia Racette is a world-renowned operatic soprano, known best for role as Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly. I don't have supporting data, but I heard somewhere that she holds the record for singing Cio-Cio San in Madama Butterfly more than any living soprano. I've been fortunate to see her Cio-Cio San a number of times at the Metropolitan Opera as well as Roberta Alden in An American Tragedy, Elizabeth in Don Carlo, Alice Ford in Falstaff, Giorgietta in Il Tibarro, Angelica in Suor Angelica, Lauretta in Gianni Schicchi, and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes (also at the WNO). She's one of my favorite performers and I consider her one of the best stage actresses around, in any genre. Her performances are complete, emotional experiences that draw you in to the heart of the character.
For her cabaret, Patricia returned to her roots and her love of jazz classics and the American songbook. She cut her teeth on this repertoire as a teenager when she would attend jam sessions with a group of "retiree dudes."
Her album, to be released by GPRrecords later this spring, will feature standards by Porter and Gershwin, some Piaf and even Sondheim, among others. The live recording session was held at Sound Associates on 45th Street in Manhattan. About 35 friends and loved ones joined Patricia and her accompanist Craig Terry in the studio. It was intimate and felt a little like a cabaret club, without all of the trappings of a club, although we did sip prosecco.
Patricia's non-operatic voice is warm and inviting, even surprisingly low. It has a smooth sound without the heavy vibrato of an opera singer. She also interprets lyrics beautifully. Alhough she's happily married to fellow opera singer Beth Clayton, it was her medley of sad songs that had us all swooning. And because we were encouraged to participate in this live session, we'll be on the album too with our genuinely appreciative applause and cheers.
Check your locals listings: Renée Fleming is singing at the Penthouse at Lincoln Center this Friday night, April 6th. It will be broadcast on Live from Lincoln Center on PBS. She's singing some Indie "rock," Rodgers & Hammerstein...and best of all, Samuel Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915.
This morning I received a message from my mother that my cousin Tina is being taken off life support at noon today. I can't even remember the last time I saw Tina, or even talked to her - we were teenagers perhaps. I know we played together as toddlers and were both in attendance at the rare Roberts family gatherings. I know she was one of the cousins who stayed up too late in Grandma's living room watching Helter Skelter one Thanksgiving. I believe that she was a year or two older than me. We never spoke outside of these occasions, but I remember writing a letter to her once. We probably have nothing in common other than the fact that our fathers were brothers.
But it makes me so angry because she is too damn young to die.
It also reminds me not to be complacent and makes me even more adamant about my refusal to be one of the poor suckers who waits.
As I was sitting and contemplating the news, I remembered that a few weeks ago I heard Betty Buckley sing a life-affirming Venice. It's from William Finn's Elegies and tells the story of a friend who is dying from AIDS. The chorus of the song is: "My friends, I’m taking you to Venice. Because in Venice everyday life’s a work of art, And must be seen first hand. Life ends, but nothing ends in Venice. Beauty and pleasure is all we can hope to understand. Beauty and pleasure is all we can hope to understand. In Venice, Venice." Betty has a marvelous way of squeezing every ounce of emotion out of every consonant of every lyric, and I felt the anger, sadness, love and joy.
And I think of every day and how lucky I am to deal with just regular old life, the MTA, new eye glasses that still haven't arrived or assholes at work. I'm lucky I can go and sit through a long, shitty production of Manon at the Met Opera or a production of the musical Carrie that perhaps takes itself a little too seriously.
There is much to love about everything I get to do or choose to do and can do every goddamn day.
I can love a Sunday that starts with a Cuban lunch with a great friend and ends with serendipidously seeing Mary Louise Wilson nonchalantly comfort her grandson as he silently mourns his friend just by being present in the play 4000 Miles at Lincoln Center Theatre.
I can look forward to going to a recording session of a cabaret album tonight by a woman who is normally a butterfly in the opera. I can look forward to the upcoming Live from Lincoln Center in which Renée Fleming will perform a heartpounding rendition of Barber's Knoxville: Summer of 1915. I can look forward to going to the Bruce Springsteen concert with my great friends Sally and Kari at the Garden.
I can look forward to going down to Washington on the train to see the world premier of Positions 1956 directed by my dear friend Noah Himmelstein at Urban Arias. I can look forward to going to Washington again this summer to see Kate Baldwin be thrilling in The Music Man at Arena Stage and even Donna Murphy finally do a solo concert at the Kennedy Center in the fall.
I can start thinking about all of the operas, concerts and shows I'll book over the next year. I can continue planning a summer vacation with my nephew. I can think about planning a trip to Bruges with my friend Kari. I can look forward to friends who will visit me in New York soon and later.
Best of all, I can just live this day and see what else happens. I can hope and dream and celebrate and live. So, my friends, do me a favor but mostly do yourself a favor: LIVE, LIVE, LIVE!
Candice is starring in The Best Man at the Schoenfeld, in only her second Broadway show. She's fabulous as the shy and neglected wife of a presidential candidate, and she gets to deliver one of the best lines of the entire evening.
"The theatre can do things that you can't legislate, or preach, or make laws about. The theatre can do this thing of getting in, into your heart." ~George Hearn, Words and Music by Jerry Herman
