My Regards to Broadway - Part II

Posted by Bruce Miller
Any sane person would see three NYC shows in as many days and call it a night—for financial reasons if nothing else. Even at the TKTS booth—which now offers more 30% off and 40% off discounts than the previously standard 50% off—you still wind up averaging $80 to $90 per ticket. Even Off Broadway—which in the good old days of my thirties and forties could be counted on for some real bargains—you still can expect to lay out between $60 and $70 for a popular hit.

But we insane theatre junkies don’t know the meaning of moderation. And so my show attending saga continues.

On Saturday afternoon, Hannah and I caught a matinee of Avenue Q, which despite its long and successful run we had yet to see. Terrie and Curt did the sensible thing and went shopping at the street fairs in Greenwich Village and elsewhere.

Hannah and I agreed on our opinion of AQ. We both found it overrated and a little too reliant on frat boy humor for our tastes. But in the interest of full disclosure, let me quickly say that the audience that surrounded us seemed to think it was hilarious. Every ribald turn of phrase generated a laff riot.

Hannah loved 9 to 5 so much she went to see it a second time with Terrie on Saturday night. And both of the Miller women LOVED it.

Curt and I scored a pair of great Saturday night specials for Jersey Boys, paying cash to one of the street brokers. Since we bought them at the last minute, I was able to talk the vendor down to a hundred bucks each, as opposed to the printed price of $126. Street brokers normally sell at the printed price. Can you believe it, talking about a $100 ticket as if it were a bargain?!

But, the Miller men LOVED Jersey Boys. I loved reliving the songs of my youth, and Curt—my rock star in the making—thought the story was pretty cool. Male bonding Broadway style.

Sunday matinee Hannah and I went to see the revival of Hair. More than in most instances, I realized how much you really needed to have lived through the time period of the show in order for it to make any visceral sense. I think Hannah appreciated the music but sort of wondered what the fuss was all about. I actually found myself shedding a tear when Claude contemplated burning his draft card during What a Piece of Work is Man. Been there, brother. Just like you, I didn't burn mine either. And the final coup de theatre at the end of the show blew me away.

Lucky for us, we saved our favorite show of the theatre marathon for last. Our Town, Barrow Street Theatre, Off Broadway. What a GREAT revival. You’re in a teeny tiny theatre, and the action takes place all around you and about three feet from your elbows, and there is very little scenery or lighting or sound. And yet the acting, direction and brilliant script absolutely transport you to Grovers Corner. As fate would have it we saw director/actor David Cromer's final performance as the Stage Manager (in pic to left), and were privileged to be in the audience for all the heartfelt speech making after the final call.

We laughed, we cried, it was better than Cats.

So that’s it in a nutshell. Parts I and II. Seven shows in five days.
And here’s the kicker. I’ve only been home a couple weeks, and already, I can’t wait to go back.

See you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Touching Base with Jason Butler Harner

Posted by Bruce Miller
There are some advantages to being in this business for a long time—34 years, in my case. One of those advantages is that you tend to bump into old friends on the street almost every time you visit New York. Another advantage is, given enough time, a reasonable number of your old friends become successful.

If you’re really lucky, you bump into some of your most successful friends when you’re with your teenagers.

I was lucky last weekend.

One of the shows Hannah and I really wanted to see during this trip to the Big Apple was Our Town, the critically acclaimed revival that’s been packing ‘em in for the last several months at Off Broadway’s Barrow Street Theatre. When Hannah read the Thornton Wilder masterpiece in school, it made it onto her list of favorite plays. But until this trip, she’s never had the chance to see Our Town performed on stage.

Because this critically acclaimed revival is a huge Off Broadway hit, it doesn’t appear at the TKTS half-price booths. After discovering this, Hannah and I decided it was worth it to trek on over to the box office and buy tickets at full price. We hopped the #1 train downtown to Christopher Street, and emerged in the heart of Greenwich Village.

As we walked down Barrow Street toward the theatre, I saw the familiar face of Jason Harner, known professionally now as Jason Butler Harner. Jason is a VCU theatre grad who starred in one of Theatre IV's Theatre Gym productions more than 15 years ago. He had his nose buried in a script, and looked up just as we approached, immediately flashing that startled smile you wear when you unexpectedly bump into a person you haven’t seen in a decade or two.

I’m happy to report that Jason is still just as nice and friendly as ever. I introduced him to Hannah, saying something stupid like, “This is Jason Harner, who is a really famous actor now.” “I’m not a famous actor,” he protested, modestly. Granted, Jason may not be a household name, yet. As for fame, I’ll let you be the judge.

The reason Jason was standing there with his head buried in a script was because he’d just received the nod to take over the role of the Stage Manager in Our Town, and he had only three more days before his first appearance (which was last night, actually). The role had been played brilliantly by the revival’s director, David Cromer. Cromer was leaving the show to begin work on his upcoming Broadway production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs.

The chronology that led up to Jason's latest success reads as follows. Jason graduated from VCU in 1992. He served an apprentice year at Actors Theatre of Louisville, and then received his MFA in Acting from the Tisch School of the Arts in 1997. Immediately after graduation, he appeared in his first Off Broadway play, Shakespeare’s Henry VIII, directed by Mary Zimmerman for the New York Shakespeare Festival at the Delacorte in Central Park.

Fourteen additional Broadway and Off Broadway credits follow, along with numerous regional productions, including:

2000 – the American premiere of Stoppard’s The Invention of Love, American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco;

2003 – the American premiere of Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, Lincoln Center;

2003 – Hamlet in Hamlet, Dallas Theatre Center;

2004 – Obie Award for Hedda Gabler, Off Broadway;

2004 – Tom in The Glass Menagerie, opposite Sally Fields, Kennedy Center;

2005 – The Ruby Sunrise, Oskar Eustis’s debut as Artistic Director, The Public Theatre;

2006 – The Cherry Orchard opposite Annette Bening and Alfred Molina, Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles;

2006 – Ivan Turgenev in Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia opposite a small fraternity of our nation's most promising young actors, Lincoln Center; and

2007 – Hildy Johnson in The Front Page, Williamstown Theatre Festival.

And what has Jason been up to since The Front Page? He played serial killer Gordon Northcott in Clint Eastwood’s film Changeling, which also starred Angelina Jolie. Jason’s standout performance generated so much critical buzz that he was considered a frontrunner for an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in the HBO miniseries John Adams as Treasury Secretary Oliver Wolcott Jr.

Several of the actors who have moved on from Richmond to national and international success continue to keep in touch with colleagues back here in River City. Jason remains as kind-hearted, open and friendly as ever. It’s my hope that one day we’ll find the right project to lure him back to Barksdale for another performance.

Till then, we wish him all the greatest success with his ever expanding career.

--Bruce Miller

(Photo captions: first photo / right - headshot; second photo / left - with our friend Doug Beane, author of The Little Dog Laughed; third photo / right - with Richard Kind in The Front Page; fourth photo / left - with Pamela Gray in Craig Wright's Orange Flower Water; fifth photo / right - with Maggie Siff in The Ruby Sunrise; sixth photo / left - from the film, Changeling

Paul Newman - A Great Man of the Theatre

Posted by Bruce Miller
Paul Newman died on Friday. He was 83 years young. For many years I’ve respected Paul Newman as much as I’ve respected anyone in my chosen field of theatre. He was a great star, so I’m hardly alone in this. But I have to write it down anyway.

Mr. Newman began his career with the Broadway production of William Inge's Picnic in 1953. (He did some TV prior to his theatrical debut, but his first film was The Silver Chalice in 1954.)

He continued starring in the Broadway productions of The Desperate Hours (1955), Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), Baby Want a Kiss (1964), and Our Town (2002). (He played George Gibbs in the 50s TV production of Our Town, and played the Stage Manager on Broadway in 2002.)

His celebrity came from his work in films. His legacy will live on through his many exemplary humanitarian enterprises.

There’s a nice memorial piece about Mr. Newman at http://www.slate.com/id/2201116/. I recommend it to you. He was one in a million, and his life is worth remembering.

Many, many people will write volumes in tribute to this great man and outstanding artist. My words are not needed; there’s nothing personal I can add. But it doesn’t feel right to remain silent.

He affected our theatre and our work by setting a great example, even if we never had the privilege of a direct connection. The world will miss him. Our full hearts go out to his wife and family.

--Bruce Miller