Definition of Excellence

If you read this blog at all, you know that I am an actor in the Richmond, VA theatre community. I have been acting here for over 39 years. Right now our community is in turmoil over the "ousting" the founding artistic director of the Firehouse Theater Project or FTP. Yesterday I was on Facebook, and I saw several of my friends' statuses? Stati? whatever, devoted to Joe Inscoe, a local, PROFESSIONAL actor, and some appeared to be almost in defense of him. I couldn't imagine what had happened, so I began searching. Finally I found a comment that said Joe had posted a comment on a thread in response to a story in Style Weekly. Immediately I pulled up Style on the web and read the story, and then I began reading the comments.
The most recent offering from FTP was Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Joe played Willy Loman. I had never seen Death of a Salesman or read the play. I treated my oldest daughter, an aspiring actress herself, to tickets to the night before closing as an early Christmas gift. We both were absolutely riveted by all the actors, but Joe tackled a very difficult role and delivered a mind blowing performance! I do not give out praise lightly, especially when it comes to acting. As I read the comment thread yesterday, someone saw fit to openly criticize Joe as an actor. This was the initial comment that started the firestorm of defense from the Richmond Theatre Community for one of our own: My husband and I just moved here. We saw "Death of a Salesman" I can understand the board want to go tier One. I realize the actor was a local actor in the lead, but what if he were top notch and brought in. It would have been so much better. A community theater is good and if you want to raise the stakes you bring in a good actor. She went on to dig the hole deeper.  Put a casting notice in any New York trade publication for actors. I appreciate the board wanting to raise the recognition of the company. In the lead you sometimes have to have a real actor. I am not saying local actors are not good. I am saying this production would have benefited from a professional actor. To get donors you have to have good actors in the major roles.
I have this to say, HOW DARE YOU! I realize that everyone has their own opinion, and not everyone will like an actor's performance in a show. I'm fine with that. I welcome difference of opinion, but to make the blanket elitist statement slamming one of the finest actors here, in fact anywhere, well, angered me. I had always been a fan of Joe Inscoe's work, and living in the same town, you would think we would have had several opportunities to work together. Unfortunately for me, that was not the case. I did not have the opportunity to work with Joe until 2010 when I was cast as Mrs. Fezziwig in A Christmas Carol with Theatre IV. Joe was Scrooge. I have to say I was a little intimidated. Joe had done countless roles in Movies and Television. I had fallen, I am ashamed to say, to stereotypical judgement of TV and movie actors. I thought he would have an ego and barely have the time to talk to little people like me. I couldn't have been farther from the truth. Joe is one of the most humble and gracious actors I have ever worked with. He has a laundry list of credits working with some of the most renowned actors and directors of our day, but he still takes the time to speak to his fans, share bits of wisdom, and he takes his craft very seriously. My role in A Christmas Carol did not allow me to have any dialogue with Joe. We had one moment where we got to interact, and I cherished it! I found myself watching him work from the wings. It was like taking a master class for free. He never stops being the character. You will never catch him in an off moment on stage. Every action and reaction is spot on. Putting his stellar acting skills aside, he is a warm, wonderful person. He is one of the kindest people I know. He always has time to speak to anyone who bends his ear. I love him dearly, and so does Richmond, and I would be honored to be able to share the stage again with him, and I look forward to the next time I have the privilege of watching him on stage no matter where he is from!

From Stage to Screen

Christmas day hosted the premier of one of the most anticipated films of the year, Les Miserables. I have to say that I was a little afraid to see this film as I adore the stage production. I saw the show on tour more than 20 years ago, and I immediately went out and bought the Broadway soundtrack. I have listened to the music over and over again. Clips that had been prematurely released on Youtube had not impressed me, and I wanted to love this movie as much as I loved the stage production. My girls and I went to the 10:30 PM showing on Christmas night. I LOVED IT! I was totally wrapped up the entire 2 1/2 hours. I wept several times. I have to say, even though I love the stage show, I have never been as moved as I was by the film, and there's a reason for that. That reason is stage and film are different, and that is what people are failing to see. You cannot watch this film and try to compare it to the stage show. There is no comparison because they are two totally different animals.
Back in 1998 I was given the opportunity to play a co-starring role in an independent feature film called When Love Walks In. I had never acted on camera before. All of my acting experience was on the stage. The first day of shooting was like learning to act all over again. I blew the sound man's eardrums with my projection. I was constantly moving out of the shot with my larger than life gestures. Luckily the director and producers were extremely patient with me, and by the end of shooting, I learned how to be a film actress. I also ended up winning an award for my acting. I shared that story to point out the fact that if I had judged film acting after my first day on set, I would have hated it because I was comparing it to acting on stage. Again, there is no comparison. They are two different breeds. There are qualities I appreciate in both.  And that is the same way I feel about Les Miserables. To be sure, there is nothing like sitting in the theater as the house lights go down and hearing the opening strains of the overture. The power, the energy that charges the room as you hear the prisoners sing, "Look down. Look down. Don't look 'em in the eye..." and you are swept into the production. The music is beautiful! The voices are amazing, but there is still a distance. By the very nature of most theatrical productions, especially epic ones like Les Miserables, there is no intimacy. There can't be. Many times you are so far away from the stage you can barely make out the actor's facial expressions let alone see a tear fall slowly down their cheek, but that is the nature of the stage.
Make no mistake, the film is different. It is epic! But it is film. I get the feeling from reading posts on Facebook and some reviews that people expected to see the play on film. That's impossible! You have to watch the film and appreciate it for the art form it is. I defy anyone to watch Anne Hathaway sing "I Dreamed a Dream" and see the desperation in her eyes and how defeated she is and not be moved, and if you can keep a dry eye after you watch Eddie Redmayne sing "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" in tribute to his friends who "meet no more", you are stronger than I. Ironically, "Empty Chairs and Empty Tables" has never been one of my favorite songs from the musical, but I could watch the film version over and over again.     This post is not a review of the film. I just got sick of seeing people trashing the film because it's not the play. It can't be, and if you can grasp that concept, I think you can enjoy the film and embrace the differences. I loved it, and I want to see it again, and for this hypercritical person, that's saying something.

ZuZu's Petals

I have been remiss, as the last two weekend days have been jam packed with Christmas errands and such, so, today, on Christmas Eve, I will share my favorite, the one I absolutely must see.
CHRISTMAS EVE: IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
I don't even remember the first time I saw this, but I was an adult. In fact, the first time I saw the story, it was not this movie. It was a made for TV movie starring Marlo Thomas and Wayne Rogers called It Happened One Christmas.(Note to Self: Find a copy of that version someday) If you've never seen It's a Wonderful Life, and I'm sure there are not many who haven't at least caught bits and pieces when switching channels in the wee hours of Christmas Eve, you owe it to yourself to watch it from start to finish. It has been remade in all shapes and forms. Every sitcom and TV drama has done an episode based on this movie where the hero or heroine sees what his world would have been like if he'd never been born. Jimmy Stewart plays George Bailey, the all-around great guy that everybody loves in a fictional town called Bedford Falls. Through circumstances beyond his control, he finds himself in extreme financial trouble, and is contemplating suicide when an angel, Clarence, comes to his rescue. As they begin to talk, Clarence grants George the wish of having never been born, and George is able to see just what would have happened. I won't spoil things for you by telling the ending, but this has always been one of my favorite quotes: "Remember, George. No man is a failure who has friends." This is THE classic Christmas film, and as many times as I've seen it, I never fail to cry at the end. Because even through all of my trials and disappointments, I really do have a wonderful life.

Can You Hear It?

Day 5: THE POLAR EXPRESS

First let me start by saying I absolutely LOVE the book by Chris Van Allsburg. I read it to both of my girls every year and always choked back tears at the end struggling to get the last lines out. Because of my deep love for the sweet story, I was super hyped about the movie! As has become a tradition in our household, we try to see a movie, in the theater, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, usually a Christmas movie. There was no question in 2004 when The Polar Express was released which movie we would be seeing that year. Now, at the risk of my oldest daughter disowning me, I will share with you that I did not like it as much as I wanted to. The book is short, but it tells a sweet story and certainly makes its point. In fact I wondered even before I saw the movie how they were going to stretch this story into a feature length film. There are characters and scenarios that are added to the plot to give us a film rather than a 30 minute TV Christmas special. At this point, you may be asking yourself why I have this film on my Christmas movie tradition list. The movie, itself, is visually stunning! It was the first film that I remember employing the animation process called live action performance capture technique. Eventhough you know you’re watching an animated film, the characters look almost like real people. Tom Hanks plays most of the male characters from the little boy who’s grown too old for such silliness as Santa Claus, to the Conductor of the train to the North Pole, the one who most resembles Hank’s physical appearance, to Santa himself. The same, sweet message is there that is in the book, it just takes a little longer to get there. If you’ve never seen it, you owe yourself the visual treat at the very least. If you’ve never read the book, you’ll love it.

"SANTA! I know him!"

DAY 4: ELF

What makes a movie a classic? Well, I used to think classic films had to be old and only in Black and white, but I've come to believe that a classic is any film that is watched over and over again and delights the viewer each time. Elf is one of those movies! Elf was released in 2003, and I actually saw this one for the first time in the theater, rare, as I hardly ever go to the movies anymore. I went with my girls, ages 11 and 8 at the time, for a Christmas treat. The movie stars Will Farrell as a "human raised by elves" who sets out on a quest to find his human father after he discovers by accident that he is not "biologically" an elf. If you know Will Farrell from Saturday Night Live and movies like Talladega Nights and Step Brothers, and those characters weren't exactly your cup of tea, don't shy away from Elf. Farrell is so innocent and sweet in his portrayal of Buddy. His childlike discovery of everything in the "real" world is touching and endearing! Don't get me wrong, this movie is not short on laughs. There were moments in the theater where I was openly guffawing. The elevator scene in the Empire State Building struck me so funny, and I laughed so long, that I'm sure I was disturbing the patrons around me. The supporting cast around Farrell is wonderful, Zooey Deschanel, Mary Steenburgen, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, and James Caan. A true sign of a classic for me is the fact that I will quote it randomly when situations bring those lines to mind. I can't tell you how many times scenes from this film bring a smile to my face. Make this a new classic for your tradition and always remember, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!" 

I must have one of those dresses!

Day 3: WHITE CHRISTMAS
I have to say that I came to this one later in my life. I can't remember the first time I saw it, but I know I was in my mid to late 20's. I love the song White Christmas, and nobody sings it like Bing, but I had never seen the film. This has everything a movie musical could have. Great music, great dancing, beautiful costumes! Put together a powerhouse cast of Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera Ellen, and how can you go wrong? There are no surprises here, it's your classic movie musical plot. Bing (Bob Wallace) and Danny (Phil Davis) meet while serving together in WWII. They form an entertainment partnership, along their travels they meet the Haynes sisters, Judy, played by Vera Ellen and Betty, played by Rosemary Clooney. The stars align and they end up traveling to an inn in Vermont where the Haynes sisters are booked for the Holidays. Instead of finding beautiful snow covered mountains when they step off the train, it's like springtime, and the inn, that just happens to be run by the boys' old army commanding general, is hurting for business. Now, if you are a movie musical fan, you know the solution to every problem is to put on a show, and that's just what they do. Add to that the classic boy gets girl, girl totally gets the wrong information about something boy does and boy loses girl, boy gets girl back scenario and some great dance and musical numbers, Sisters, The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing, Mandy, Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep and Rosemary Clooney does an amazing job on Love, You didn't Do Right By Me, and you have White Christmas! It's not for everybody, but if you're a fan of anything I just mentioned above, you can't miss this one as part of your holiday tradition! Oh, and just to let you know, ever since I saw this film years ago, I have wanted a Christmas dress like the one the Haynes sisters wear in the final number. SIGH....someday!

And at the other end of the spectrum....

Day 2: SCROOGED

As much as Scrooge is classic, traditional English Dickens, Scrooged is not. This movie was released in 1988 with Bill Murray playing Frank Cross, an Ebeneezer Scrooge type character who is the head of a huge television network. Greed and the lack of building relationships and caring for your fellow man are still the running themes, but we are thrown into a totally different world. As you can expect from a movie starring Bill Murray, there are plenty of laughs, but don't think it's played totally for comedy because that's just about the time you'll be surprised as you're shedding a tear. This cast is packed with stars: Karen Allen, John Forsythe, Robert Mitchum, Carol Kane (my personal favorite as Christmas Present), Buddy Hackett, Bobcat Goldthwaite, and Alfre Woodard, just to name a few. So many times when someone tries to reinvent a classic, it comes off stale or just plain bad, but not this story by Mitch Glazer and Michael O'Donoghue. It's so inventive and fresh. Christmas past is played by David Johansen in the form of a cigar smoking cab driver that transports Frank through his past. Christmas present is played deliciously ditzy by Carol Kane as a fairy princess type who can really pack a punch and the scene between Frank Cross and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in the elevator is priceless! If you're not that into Dickens traditional telling, you'll love this rendition. It promises laughs. Few people have a way with comedy the way Bill Murray does, but it will warm your heart as well at this season.

Let's go to the movies!

Christmas Eve is a week from today. I have a ton of stuff to do, and it will all get done even if I am still driving around next Monday for the last, final thing I need. Because life has been so hectic, I have not been able to do something I love at this time of year, watch my collection of Christmas movies. I have caught a some bits and pieces of a few standards on television, and actually made a point to sit down to watch one, but there are some that I never miss, and so I thought in this last week I would pass on a pick a day to you. So, pop a big bowl of popcorn and settle in front of the TV and try to see some of these before the holiday is over.

DAY 1: SCROOGE

It is no secret that there are countless renditions of Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" out there on film. They run the gamut from Silent film to Cartoon animation. This 1970 musical version starring Albert Finney in the title role is one of, if not the best! I first saw this in the theater at the age of 7. I had been invited to a classmate's Christmas birthday party, and we were all taken to the movie. I remember sitting in the theater alongside my other second grade friends with a scarf I had worn to the party strategically placed near my eyes so I could cover them during the particularly scary scenes. As I grew older, I would catch it on television occasionally, and then the invention of the VCR and videotape. I was able to find a copy several years ago on VHS. I hope I can soon find one on DVD as I am sure my VHS will wear thin with time, and this is one I want to preserve. The score is amazing with songs like Father Christmas, December the 25th, and Thank You Very Much, but what makes this version of the classic tale so enthralling is Albert Finney's portrayal of Ebeneezer Scrooge. When this film was released he was only 34. You would never believe the Scrooge you are watching is a man in his early 30's. I remember watching the film years later and realizing that the actor playing the dashing young Ebeneezer in Fezziwig's shop was actually Albert Finney, the same actor playing Scrooge. He won the Golden Globe that year, and deservedly so. 

If you've never seen it, you are missing out. Don't write this one off as just another rendition of "A Christmas Carol". It's not. And after you've seen it, don't blame me if you find yourself singing, Thank You Very Much while you're wrapping your Christmas presents.

I Come to Thee

I sat at my desk and began to really worry about my lack of reaction to what happened today in Connecticut, and I realized it was not a lack of reaction. I am numb, almost like people are right after they hear of the death of a loved one, and they seem fine, almost normal, and it's shock, really. their bodies and minds cannot process the loss, and so they don't. The longer I sat, the heavier my heart felt, and then I began to blink away tears, and try to keep it together because I am at work, after all, and I need to answer the phones and life goes on, right? And, so, as I often do now, when something stirs an emotion in me, I write about it here on my own virtual analyst's couch.
I will not trivialize this tragic event with my ramblings of why or inane words of comfort that seem like they came off of a dime store greeting card. I cannot tell you why this happened, no one can. We could spend thousands of years trying to make some sense, and we would still be searching for an answer. Evil exists, sorrow exists, pain, fear, grief, they all exist. We will never be able to change that no matter how hard we try. I cannot fathom what these poor people are going through right now. I have never lost a living child. I did lose my first baby to a miscarriage, and that was awful, I cannot tell you how I would handle losing either one of my girls right now. I truly do not know how I would function, but I also know that if a tragic event did occur I would be surrounded by love and support and the prayers of my friends and family.
I once had to sing for the funeral of an infant who passed away at 6 months because of a tumor. It is truthfully one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. One of the songs I sang at that funeral was the classic hymn, "I Need Thee Every Hour" Today, as I sat at my desk numb, those lyrics came to me:
I need Thee every hour,
Most gracious Lord, 
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford, 
I need Thee, 
O, I need Thee, 
Every hour I need Thee, 
O, bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
No one can change what happened today. In the blink of an eye, people's lives were changed forever. The only hope I can offer is that I believe God is there for all of them, and for all of us. And as we all see these reports that we never forget how important it is to spend each day letting our children and family and friends know how much we love them.

Excuses, Excuses

Recently, a very dear, dear friend of mine was publicly insulted by someone who made a very rude comment. The comment would not be considered in any civilized group of people with a modicum of manners or respect to be acceptable in any way, shape or form. The incident was posted on Facebook, and several people commented with outrage and reassuring comments, but as always seems to be the case when people exhibit bad behavior, excuses were made. They've had a rough time of it. They didn't mean anything by it, it's just their way of joking. They didn't have the easiest childhood, and on, and on, and on! This seems to be the trend not just with this occurrence but with EVERYTHING starting with the smallest infractions on the playground to the mass shootings that take place. Barring mental illness causing a person to act unacceptably because of a chemical imbalance, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR TREATING SOMEONE ELSE BADLY or hurting them or their feelings. Recently I have seen several posts from parents about their children and their problems with attitude or disrespect, and so often it's followed with, "It's just the age." Pardon my french, but BULLSHIT! Yes, it is true that puberty screws with all of us and our hormones. We may all want to behave badly, but we still know right from wrong. We have cognitive thought. We know the proper way to treat others, and we can make the conscious choice to still treat others with respect because that's what civilized people do. I'm sure there were times I felt like giving attitude to my parents, but it was not tolerated. I never tolerated it in my own children, and my philosophy was, they might talk back to me or give me attitude, but they won't do it but once! I don't care why you were rude, mean, disrespectful, murderous. There must be consequences for your inappropriate actions. Several years ago, a young man was getting ready to move away to take his shot at becoming famous. He confided to me that he was afraid of how the industry and the surroundings would affect him. I replied to him that YOU decide the person you are going to be. Yes, there will be temptations, and bad choices to make everywhere. That's just it! They are CHOICES! If we start out teaching our children that when they make the wrong choices, when they behave badly, when they don't try that they have an excuse to blame it on, that's what they will always do, because that is the easiest path to take. You know what? We all have suffering in our lives. Everyone goes through trials and tribulations. RISE ABOVE IT! I know it's hard! Believe me, I do!, but the alternative is wallowing in it or excusing it away. I know this sounds like a pretty harsh, unfeeling post, and I tend to see things in black and white. I'm not saying that issues that people have do not need to be addressed, but they cannot be used as excuses to treat others with anything less than kindness and respect. We've excused bad behavior for too long, and we are suffering for it as a society. We're digging a hole we will never be able to crawl out of.

The First

Today is December 1, 2012. I woke up this morning thinking that I needed to write a post about the Christmas season and anticipation and waiting and advent, and then I got on Facebook, as I often do first thing on a Saturday morning, and I saw another first and changed my whole blog writing plan. This will not be a post about Christmas, but it is about waiting and the end of it. This date in 1955 a courageous woman did something that sparked an entire movement that in the end brought about tremendous change to a group of people who had been waiting for it for hundreds of years. The woman was Rosa Parks. At the age of 42, younger than I am now, she decided enough was enough. She was riding a bus in Alabama and she refused to give up her seat in "the colored section" to a white person who was having to stand because the "white section" of the bus was filled. She was arrested for Civil Disobedience, and the Alabama Bus Boycott followed. She has now become the iconic symbol of the beginning of the Civil Rights movement. It's funny. When I've heard her name mentioned in relation to this incident, I always pictured this very old woman who resembled Cecily Tyson in the role of Jane Pittman, and I incorrectly thought she was sitting in the White section, the dangers of learning history in this generation of sound bytes and snippets on the Internet. Her age doesn't really matter. What she did took courage! After all, she was following the rules. She was sitting in "her" section. Why should she be asked to stand and give up her seat just because her skin was a different color? In today's world, this seems ludicrous, but this was an every day occurrence for all African Americans. Their lives were filled with signs posted in restaurants, and public restrooms and even water fountains that said, WHITES ONLY. 

Many years ago I took my two girls to see a local production of Ragtime, a musical about different people whose lives intersect  and the way they change each other for good and bad. There is a scene where a group of white firemen are abusive and taunting to a black man they encounter out for a drive in his new car. They end up vandalizing the car and nothing is done about it. When intermission came, both my girls, who were elementary school age at the time, asked me why the firemen were being so mean to the man. I had to explain to them the way things used to be between races. I was so proud of the fact that, in their little world, they had never encountered discrimination or seen someone treated less than human because they were a different color. I was proud of their school and their community that this concept was foreign to them. Now, I'm not saying we live in a perfect world and discrimination was wiped out on December 1, 1955. I am not that naive. I know it is still very prevalent in certain minds in this country, but we are light years ahead of the way we were in 1955, and Rosa Parks helped start that journey of acceptance and harmony. Because of her courage that day and the countless numbers of people that followed her lead, change came, slowly, but it came, and the waiting ended.