Buzzin' and Bookin' to Beat the Band

Posted by Bruce Miller
I admit my relationship with the Barksdale Buzz has been an on-again, off-again affair. The reasons are several, having to do with the pull of other responsibilities both personal and professional, a fierce desire to avoid conflict, my tendency to become bored by routine, and a schoolboy’s response to the flirtations of other IT applications.

I believe it’s an important part of the job of the artistic director of any major professional theatre to communicate regularly and publicly about this most popular of all performing art forms. Like it or not, and I admit that I like it, there is a platform that comes with my position. I enjoy speaking in our Coffee & Conversations and Bifocals monthly programs. I’ve been known to get giddy leading walking tours in NYC or London during our annual theatre trips with Covington Travel.

But enjoying communication doesn’t make it easy or effective. Worthwhile, informed, articulate communication takes time and focus.

Not everyone agrees. Blogs and other new technologies encourage casual and free-wheeling correspondence. Several friends insist my writing is way too stuffy for a blog. But the minute I put on my artistic director hat, and more and more I’m realizing that I’m never allowed to take it off, every word I write becomes writ in stone. Sometimes people make judgements about Barksdale and Theatre IV based on little more than my syntax. Each of these judgments has a cash value, and I have 40 to 80 people counting on me every two weeks for their pay checks.

As I was contemplating all this last fall, the siren call of Facebook began to fill my ears. Facebook is not about writing; it’s about connecting. Perhaps here, I thought, I could continue to promote the two nonprofit theatres I represent without needing to pontificate. I kissed blogger goodbye, or at least farewell, and jumped into F’book like a skinny dipping kid on a hot night at the local swimmin’ hole.

Now, 1,575 friends later, I’m beginning to learn the ins and outs of Facebook. Without ever intending to, I’ve made people frustrated and upset; I’ve hurt feelings. I’ve learned to be cautious and to keep a much lower profile.

With only a couple early exceptions, I don’t play the Facebook games or take the surveys or join the causes or throw sheep at people.

Currently I use Facebook, professionally, as follows. I try to keep up with Theatre IV and Barksdale alum, to let them know they will always be remembered and appreciated. I try to befriend theatre students at VCU, Carnegie Mellon, and the University of Oklahoma, hoping they will audition for us as they grow their professional careers. I try to befriend professional actors in Broadway, Off Broadway and nationally touring shows, wanting to spread the names of Barksdale and Theatre IV widely throughout our national talent pool. I network with “friends” and supporters of other theatres in town, including the upcoming “Broadway” series at CenterStage, hoping that Barksdale and Theatre IV will show up on everyone’s radar screen. I keep in touch with a full roster of civic and business leaders, reminding one and all that Barksdale and Theatre IV are worthy nonprofits that need broad-based community support.

Will any of it work? Who knows. But I’m trying.

And now, perhaps, I’ll begin writing a bit again on the blog. If and when I do, I hope you’ll all begin reading again, and commenting. Most of all, I hope each and every one of you will become a constant player in the Richmond professional theatre scene. It won’t happen without lots of energy coming from lots of people in lots of places.

Hope to see you at the theatre.

--Bruce Miller

Give YOUR Regards to Broadway

Posted by Bruce Miller

Broadway.com published its Best of the Year list today for 2008, and the top three productions selected are South Pacific, Billy Elliott and In the Heights. You can read the full report at http://www.broadway.com/broadway_information_html/5018280.

You can catch video clips of the three shows at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2Rd7Cpx-Ss

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2EOjUqAKvg&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S3rlvt5yCw

These three megahits also happen to be the shows we selected last spring for our March 2009 theatre junket to NYC. We purchased terrific orchestra seats nearly a year in advance to these sold out hits. We also lined up friends in the companies of South Pacific and Billy Elliott to talk with our group backstage after the show. (We’re working on lining up something from In the Heights as well, but can’t promise anything yet.)

Forty Richmond theatre enthusiasts will be venturing to the Big Apple from March 5 – 9. We’ll be traveling in our own Amtrak coach, staying at the sumptuous Marriott Marquis in Times Square, and seeing these three great shows (there's time for more shows for those who want to buy additional tickets on their own).

I’ll be leading a fun and fact-filled walking tour of Broadway’s theatre district, Phil will be leading enthusiastic post-show discussions in the Marriott’s bar overlooking Broadway, and we’ll re-connect with some of Barksdale’s Broadway alumni during a special breakfast in the Rainbow Room at the top of 30 Rock (the 56th floor of Rockefeller Center).

There's even an NYC welcoming dinner at the Playwright's Tavern.

There are still a few slots available in our group of 40. We already have enough people going to guarantee the trip. But if you’d like to join us, or if you know someone who may like to join us, we’d love to hear from you. It's going to be great fun!

You can learn more at http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/trip.html.

Interested in even more information? Contact our tour leader at Covington International Travel, Dee Dee White, at (804) 747-4129, or email deedeew@covtrav.com.

We’ll all yell “Martha Newell” when we set our first feet on the Great White Way. If you don't know why, we'll explain. Hope to see you there and then!

--Bruce Miller

Barksdale On The Road (and Plane)

Phil Whiteway and I just returned from leading a group of 27 intrepid Barksdale and Theatre IV supporters on a ten-day tour of London and Paris. Here's a photo of our group standing in front of the flying buttresses at Notre Dame. Working hand-in-hand with our good and capable friends at Covington Travel, Barksdale plans annual trips to international locations with a theatre connection. For this time next year, we're planning a tour of Shakespeare's Italy. The Bard himself probably never visited there, but Italy was certainly a locale of choice when he was deciding where to set his plays.

This year it was London and Paris, and we all had a wonderful time. The group was exceptional--27 of the most fun, easy-going and agreeable people we'll ever hope to meet. We made lots of new friends, and enjoyed spending time with some long-standing pals as well.

Not wanting to bore anyone with "vacation slides," I'll comment only on one of the more interesting experiences we had. Several months ago, we booked great center orchestra seats for the new London production of Equus, which opened a few days before we arrived. And it's a good thing we did. Equus is now a huge hit, with the largest advance sale of any non-musical in the history of London's West End.

When the show opened to rave reviews, we were excited to have been so smart as to reserve our seats well in advance. The show, as many readers will know, co-stars Richard Griffith (last year's Tony winner for History Boys) as Martin Dysart, the role Pete Kilgore made his own in Barksdale's wonderful 1978 production of this 20th Century British classic. And prompting the greatest buzz, this new production of Equus also co-stars Daniel Radcliffe who is achieving international acclaim playing Harry Potter in the several films. Young Daniel is 17, and chose Equus as the vehicle he would use to break free from his Harry Potter image. And break free he does, appearing, as the script requires, completely nude for about ten minutes in Act II.

The good news is that Daniel Radcliffe does a great job. The bad news, at least on the day we were there, was that Richard Griffith called in sick, and we saw his understudy in the role. Now, those of you who see a lot of theatre (and I bless you for it), have doubtless encountered any number of understudies in leading roles. And I can honestly say, of the countless understudies I've seen, the vast majority of them have been outstanding.

But at Equus, I regret to say, we saw something I've never seen before on Broadway or in London. The understudy was not in any way prepared to play the part. In fact, about five minutes into Act I, the actor pulled a script out of his hip pocket and proceeded to read his lines from the script for the rest of the show. Also, he apparently didn't know his blocking. Lights would change on stage, and various characters would be left in darkness because the understudy playing Dysart wouldn't move to his appointed place on cue, and the rest of the cast was forced to work around his ineptitude.

At first I thought that perhaps the understudy was also ill, and we were seeing a last minute replacement. But such was not the case. The understudy we saw was the actor who normally played the stable owner, and so his photo was in the playbill, and his name was listed as the one and only understudy for Martin Dysart. He's the one we saw, unfortunately he simply wasn't up to the task.

Those of you who know Equus can imagine how damaging it is to the show for Dysart to read from the script, and give a fairly uninspired reading at that. The British gentleman who walked just in front of me as we exited the theatre at the end of Act II was livid. And I don't blame him. With a full house paying $80 to $100 per ticket, there's no excuse for actors (even understudies) to not know their lines.

I was pleased when I returned to Richmond to learn that when Steve Perigard had to step into Lyle Lyle Crocodile as an understudy for a few days during our absence, he did so having learned all his lines and blocking. It's nice when Richmond can succeed even as London fails.

And talking about Richmond successes, I saw Firehouse Theatre Project's excellent production of This is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan on Friday evening. More on that tomorrow.

--Bruce Miller