Welcome to our world…

I try not to get political or soap-boxy, but there’s something about the irony of this news story I love. 

What was billed as Italy’s first gay cruise took place last month, and by all accounts it was a resounding success. There was just one small hitch: Somehow a heterosexual couple ended up on board — and they weren’t at all happy about it.

News outlets in Europe this week are all atwitter over the story of the Italian couple, who now are suing the cruise line after reportedly being flummoxed by the experience.

The UK’s Daily Mail today reports the middle-aged husband and wife, who have not been named, said they booked the trip directly with the line and claim they were never told of the gay theme. The couple’s lawyer tells the news outlet all 1,500 passengers on the ship were gay and events on board were gay-focused.

Two bits of dish…

… about the first Signature cabaret.  (I’ve been trying to be discreet, but my inner nature won out). 

The great Jane Pesci-Townsend tells the story that when she subbed as Mrs Lovett in the Kennedy Center’s Sweeney Todd, she almost passed out when she went into the wrong verse of A Little Priest.  Not because of nerves, but becuase “the collective gasp of all the (Sondheim-philes) in the audience almost sucked all the oxygen out of the room!”  Well it was obviously a different audience demographic when I saw the show last night.  Because when Amy McWilliams rendered one of the most iconic Sondheim lines as “Does anybody still wear a hat?” there was barely a gasp, other perhaps than mine.  (BTW, rumor has it that Judy Simmons will be singing The Ladies Who Lunch during her guest appearance tonight.)

On a separate issue, the five singers were using hand microphones throughout the show, and not looking comfortable about them.  However, after the show I was told that the decision had been made that day to use the microphones.  So kudos to the performers for adapting so well at the last minute!

Schedule and tickets 

Theater Geek on a Sunday Morning

When hearing that the Tonay Award-winning Jane Krakowski mention her Olivier Award, I found myself wondering how many women were honored with both for their work in musicals.  Seems she’s in a very select company.  The other women who share that distinction are:

• Carlin Glynn
• Patti LuPone
• Natalia Makarova
• Patricia Routledge
• Lea Salonga

Interestingly, Glynn, Makarova,  and Solanga won their Tonys and Oliviers for performing the same role on either side of the Atlantic.

Bitter, Bitter, Bitter…

Another year, no MacArthur award.

Why Tim Gunn Rules, Yet Again

OK, not a cabaret thought, but I have to share….

I just adore Tim Gunn on Project Runway.  One of the funniest things is that for someone so reserved, it is often so clear when he doesn’t care for a departing contestant.  This week’s departee, Johnny, has certainly been a trial this season.  So not only was Tim even more reserved on Johnny’s departure, he was shockingly blunt (for Tim) about Johnny’s comments in the final judging, “I’m incredulous at that utterly preposterous spewing of fiction that Johnny did on the runway…”

Note to a certain South Carolinian, “utterly preposterous spewing of fiction” might win more hearts than “you lie!” 

Don’t you love that

Two years !!!

It’s already two years since I’ve started this little excercise.  Over a thousand posts and five hundred comments later, I remain very grateful for the chance to keep doing this.

And I remain very grateful to all those of you who spend your valuable time here!

(And thanks to my ever-loyal Mother for her early anniversary wishes!)

The Baseball Set

Ron and I live in the shadow of Nationals Park here in DC.  And I have to admit that I rather enjoy going to a game occasionally.  I find the combination of the $5 tickets and $11 nachos rather heady, especially on a Friday night with free fireworks after a game.

I put together the following playlist of songs for die-hard two season ticketholders that we know.  I know I’m missing a bunch of golden age stuff (e.g. Let’s Get the Umpire’s Goat), but I think this turned into a nice set.

• Take Me Out To The Ball Game — Helen Marcovicci
• What A Game – Ragtime
• Hundreds Of Hats – Diamonds
• Shoeless Joe From Hannibal, Mo. — Damn Yankees
• The Game — Damn Yankees
• Heart — Damn Yankees
• T-E-A-M (The Baseball Game) — You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown
• The Baseball Game — Falsettoland
• There Goes The Ball Game — John Barr
• Right Field —  Peter, Paul And Mary
• What You’d Call A Dream — Ron Squeri
• The Kid Inside  – Is There Life After High School
• Take Me To The Ball Game – God Bless America — Mandy Patinkin

Trying to get a grip on paraphrasing…

Warning, these thoughts aren’t quite fully-formed yet, but I’m hoping the blogging process will help me make sense of the issue.

“The sun comes up, I think about you.  A coffee cup, I think about you.” 

I know Lonny Smith just winced.  Did any of the rest of you?  Because the lyric from the Sondheim song Losing My Mind isn’t “a coffee cup,” but “the coffee cup.”   Does it make a difference?  Well, sorta, yeah.

As an actor, I have a really terrible tendency toward paraphrasing.  And it’s something that I’m confronting right now as part of the rehearsal process for Mother Courage.  I do get annoyed with myself, because with as few lines as “the second soldier from the right” has, you’d think I could get them right.  (No matter how awkward the translation feels

Once when directing a 10-minute play that I wrote and was acting in, Ron chided me for paraphrasing my own writing.  And I paraphrase Shakespeare convincingly, too.  And at the last DC Cabaret Network open mic, I found myself blanking on the “filling you with life, creativity, etc.” lyric in Die, Vampire, Die – so who knows what came out of my mouth.

Now Rosemary Clooney always tells the story about Margaret Whiting, that being a songwriter’s daughter, that when Whiting forgets a lyric she can sell utterly nonsensical words with amazing conviction.  The prime example is “… treetops on a carousel, moonlight in Vermont.”  As the saying goes, talent is what you can get away with.

But I remembered being appalled when seeing the recent production of Mame at the Kennedy Center – I felt hit on the head over and over with how many of the lyrics I’ve been singing incorrectly in piano bars all these years.  (And they’re Jerry Herman lyrics!!! I mean, c’mon!)  And since I’m  generally the only person getting to the third verse of Mame anyway, it’s not like anyone is gently correcting me.  And worse, I’m spreading misinformation.

And that’s how people come to think that the lyric in Lush Life is “distant gay traces” rather than “distingue traces.”  Or the lyric in I Get a Kick Out of You is “…everytime I see you standing here before me” rather than “…everytime I see you’re standing here before me.”

OK, I really get covering a performance flub (like accidentally switching verses) or making a deliberate substitution (like “some like a Bach-type refrain” rather than “some get a kick from cocaine”).  But when I see performers who have mis-learned songs, it really bothers me. 

And I think it bothers me, because it does make me think less of the artist.  The other night, I heard a performer paraphrase a word in a lyric—substituting out a word that is key to an interpretation of the song.  I had twice heard the same performer switch out a (to me) important word in another song; this bothered me so much I had to check the sheet music to see if I, myself, had mis-heard the lyrics for all these years.  (I hadn’t.)  And it really made me question this otherwise talented performer’s commitment to the work, since it seems obvious that anyone who really understands these songs wouldn’t make these particular mistakes.  (It also made me wonder why the performer’s music director didn’t give that as a note, but that’s a whole other story.)

And so anyway, I think it is fair to ask “Does it really matter?”  Yes, the lyricist may have debated whether it’s a “but” or an “or” for hours, struggled with “which” versus “that” – but does an audience really care?

I think perhaps the answer is that the person in the audience who cares, may really care.  And that’s why I’m struggling to clean up my lines.  (And no, the director and stage management have not been giving line notes – yet.)

The show after the show — the audience

“You were magnificent – the best thing I’ve ever seen!  I’ve just gotten your CD and I can’t wait to play it.  I’m glad your contact information was in your program, because I’m going to contact you about booking an event.  Thank you for changing my life.”

In short, the statement above is what every cabaret performer wants to hear upon the completion of his/her act.  In the oxygen-deprived daze that I know envelops me after a show, there’s not much more I can process. 

So here are some tips for interacting with performers after a show:

• Think through what you want to say to the performer.  You usually have a bunch of time while you’re awaiting the bit of face time.  Use it constructively to come up with the right thing to say.
• Remember, there is no such thing as being too liberal with praise.  When stuck, “Wow!  It was great to see you!” delivered with enthusiasm always works.  One of the more adept actresses in town, when stuck for what to say, just keeps repeating, “You!,” occasionly adding in an “Oh, you!” for variety.  (And if you can’t muster that, just avoid the performer and leave – it’s usually easy enough to do.)
• If you’re close enough to offer criticism, you’re close enough to call or e-mail the person later.
• Let the time be about the performer and how terrific (hopefully) they were.  Unless you have some really pressing business with the performer, stick to praise for the show and discuss committee meetings, borrowed books, or the deficit later.
• There are a bunch of people around – be loving, enthusiastic and brief!

 Tomorrow — “The show after the show — the performer”

Two Annie References

I’ve long thought that these two songs, one from Jill Leger and the other from [title of show] would make great bookends for a show.  (BTW, as happy as I am for all the Tony nominees (especially the very deserving Next to Normal), I have to admit great disppointment that [title of show] only garnered a  nomination for book.  Of course, that is one of the potential downfalls of being “nine people’s favorite thing (rather) than a hundred people’s ninth favorite thing” as the show espouses.)