All God's Children Got "Crowns"

Posted by Bruce Miller
In association with the African American Repertory Theatre, Barksdale opened the revival of Crowns yesterday afternoon at the Gottwald Playhouse at CenterStage. Based on that terrific opening (and the enthusiastic audience response that accompanied it), we have every reason to hope for a replay of the critical and popular success we enjoyed when our two theatres first co-produced Crowns at Willow Lawn in 2005.

Yesterday's wonderful opening was all the more satisfying knowing how hard so many people worked to get Crowns back on its feet. Both in 2005 and again in 2010, we hit a few bumps in the road on the rugged path between first rehearsal and first performance.

When Crowns premiered at NYC's Second Stage in 2002, I read the review in the Times and knew I should take a trip north to see it. The show was only a moderate success in the Big Apple, but it had all the hallmarks of being a mega-hit here in Richmond.

Penned by the great African American actress Regina Taylor, the fervent gospel musical is adapted from Michael Cunningham and Craig Marberry's book Crowns - Portraits of Black Women in Church Hats. The interviews that comprise the text of the book are the stories that are retold in the show. Most of the interviews were conducted with church women throughout the South. Many of the stories take place in Richmond.

The women of Crowns talk of their experiences buying hats at Thalhimer's and Montaldo's. They relive their university days, participating in sit-ins at segregated lunch counters. Anyone who grew up in Richmond (as I did), and read the book and/or saw the show, immediately recognized the moving (and frequently hilarious) stories of courage and faith.

When I saw the show in New York, it all seemed a little too glitzy and showbizzy to be real. At least that was my opinion. The actresses in New York really knew how to sing, but they sounded more like Broadway divas than Southern gospel singers. Their dances seemed more designed for the stage than the sanctuary. Everything seemed a little too rehearsed and lacking in spontaneity. Most important, the actresses' connection to the moving and outright funny stories often seemed to be at arm's length.

I knew that when we did the show in Richmond, I wanted to recruit a cast made up entirely of Southern church women who would approach the play not only as a performance, but also as a spiritual revisit to their personal and family memories. I wanted the experience to be authentic.
Both in 2005 and again in 2010, we cast one of Virginia's premier gospel singers in the lead. In both years, the singer began with an enthusiastic "yes"--a "yes" that eventually turned out to be a "no" once the rehearsals were underway.

In both years, the incredibly talented actress / singer whom we had cast called me three or four weeks before the opening to tell me that she had changed her mind. "God told me not to do the show." she said. She was very apologetic, very professional (in gospel terms), and very nice. She sincerely believed (and believes) that God spoke to her during prayer and told her to leave the production.

I like to believe that I too have experienced the "still small voice." I'm a Presbyterian, not a Southern Baptist, and we phrase things differently. I come from a theatre tradition and not a gospel tradition. Nonethelesss... . In 2005, and now again in 2010, I in no way impugn her belief or statement.

You want authentic, you get authentic.

Recasting a lead once rehearsals are underway can upset the apple cart a bit. Recasting a lead in 48 hours when you're stranded in Ireland (as Phil and I were) due to a volcano in Iceland can be one of those experiences you won't quickly forget.

Thankfully, Chase Kniffen was in constant contact with Phil and me when we were stuck for seven extra days on the Emerald Isle. Even more thankfully, when Chase called Margarette Joyner, a very talented singer, actor and gospel artist who happened to work in our costume shop, Margarette said "yes!"

During Crowns 2005, our second pick as leading lady was the luminous Almeida Ingram Miller. Her performance was extraordinary. In Crowns 2010, Margarette Joyner is igniting the stage once again. In both instances, I firmly believe, we wound up with the gospel queen we were meant to have.

In addition to losing our lead, Crowns had to overcome a few other challenges. We had to change pianists mid-stream after realizing that our first pianist played a very contemporary sounding gospel, while the show requires a more traditional flavor. Then our new pianist helped to pull things together by agreeing to accept additional responsibilities as our new music director.

Midway through this process, one of our highly professional and spiritual actresses bowed out of the show for a week when she feared that our changing musical leadership would not allow the show to be all that it should be. Only when the new team was firmly in place did we win our beloved actress back. Talk about committed and demanding--the Crown ladies believe in this show so much, they always put quality and authenticity first.

Once again, you want authentic ...

Then we found out the hard way that another cast member was allergic to the sawdust that drifted up from our shop into our rehearsal hall. When it became impossible for her to speak after a late night rehearsal, we knew it was time to move to another space, which we did.

Eventually, everyone joined in on and/or returned to the task at hand. Phil and I finally returned from Ireland and moved the opening back by nine days, giving us the time we needed to accommodate all the ups and downs. Things were going swimmingly until the day before opening. That's when Chase took the wooden furniture out into the alley to spray paint it black. He left it outside for five minutes to dry. When he came back, the furniture had been stolen, wet paint and all.

Of course, all of this mayhem was happening while we were preparing to open The Sound of Music--the largest show in Theatre IV and Barksdale history--on the same weekend.

Like I said, considering all this, we were THRILLED yesterday when the show went beautifully. The actresses pulled all of the love out of their souls and the magic out of their hats. The audience leaped to their feet at curtain call.

Now we can sit back and watch with pleasure as the show gets better and better as it relaxes and tightens up a bit. I don't want to understate the crazy little challenges we still face with flying fur balls and the occasional renegade hat that insists on going this way when the actress goes that. But I thank all our stars for graciously putting up with me as we on the producing end do our best to work out every kink.

The heroines / heroes of the day include our beautiful and inspired cast: De'Shionay Adkins, Desiree Roots Centeio (also serving as vocal director), Shalimar Hickman Fields, Margarette Joyner, Katherine Louis, Rose Watson and J. Ron Fleming. Once again, Leslie Owens Harrington's inspired direction and choreography continue to shine.

Sue Griffin and Audra Honaker (with a lot of help from Ms. O-H) pulled together a closet crammed with vintage church hats and matching dresses. Chase Kniffen and Trevor Riley (our stage manager) kept the show moving forward in an organized manner. The very talented Francine Jackson stepped in at the last minute as Music Director and Pianist. Our greatly appreciated Tony Williams passed on all the secrets he learned during the first Crowns run, serving as Musical Supervisor extraordinaire. David Powers built a set and a central stained glass window that take your breath away. Kenny Mullins painted everything with light to make it all look finished and beautiful.

Sound man Andrew, who joined the team (bless you, Andrew) so late that his name hasn't yet made it into the playbill, only saw two run-throughs before his first audience. Now he's working tirelessly to get all the right mics live for each of the moments when each the individual women need to be heard--a harder job than anyone could imagine until they've tried to do it.

God may have told one actress not to do this show. Thankfully, He gave everyone else a thumbs up. If you've never seen Crowns before, or if you saw it five years ago and enjoyed it so much you're ready to return, then please join us soon for the one show where the Big Guy Himself has chosen to work directly with our casting department.

Hope to see you at the theatre!

--Bruce Miller

Holiday Benefit Cabaret is Postponed

Posted by Bruce Miller

The fates were not with us regarding this year's Home for the Holidays benefit cabaret. All performances have been cancelled. Reservation holders will be called today, full refunds made, and we will begin exploring plans to mount this fundraiser for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund sometime later in the first half of 2009.

Janine Serresseque, who masterminds and organizes the cabaret, did a wonderful job as always. Nonetheless, ticket sales were sluggish, our emcee Joe Pabst called in at the end of the week with no voice, and then on Saturday, our music director and accompanist, Tony Williams, checked into the hospital with a nasty bug.

Yesterday, Sunday, Tony let us know, with great regret, that he'd be unavailable for this year's run of the cabaret. Tony has been our pianist for the Holiday Cabaret since its inception, and the party just wouldn't be a party without him. Last night, Phil and I decided to pull the plug.

Thanks to all who volunteered to sing, and to all who made reservations. If anyone wants to make a tax deductible contribution to the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund anyway, please feel free to make a check payable to that entity and send it in or drop it off at Barksdale or Theatre IV, attention Phil Whiteway. Phil will deliver all checks to the Community Foundation, which manages the Fund on behalf of the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatre.

Please keep your eyes and ears open for other upcoming events that benefit the Fund. And thanks for your understanding regarding this cancellation.

--Bruce Miller

Please Attend the Holiday Cabaret!

Posted by Bruce Miller
Whether you are one of Greater Richmond's theatre artists, theatre attendees, or a blog reader sympathetic to theatre in general, I hope you will join us this holiday season in our vital efforts to raise money for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund. The RTAF is an endowment fund managed by the Community Foundation and the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres.

Our annual Home for the Holidays benefit cabaret begins this coming Sunday evening, Dec 14 at 7 pm; with subsequent performances at 7 pm on Tuesday Dec 16; 11 pm on Saturday Dec 20; 7 pm on Sunday Dec 21; and 7 pm on Monday Dec 22.

Nineteen of Central Virginia's best musical theatre performers--including Larry Cook, Corey Davis, Georgia Farmer, Jan Guarino, Robin Harris-Jones, Michael Hawke, Kelly Kennedy, Lauren Leinhaas Cook, Katrinah Lewis, Jason Marks, Billy Christopher Maupin, Robyn O'Neill, Derek Phipps, Maggie Roop, Janine Serresseque, Angela Shipley, Debra Wagoner, Chloe Williams, and Tony Williams on piano--are volunteering their time and talent to raise money for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund.

This important charity provides emergency financial assistance to members of our own community when, through no fault of their own, they face impossible financial challenges and need our help.

I believe in the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund with all my heart. I have known its recipients--the challenges they faced before receiving help and the great joy they experienced when they realized that someone actually cared enough to assist them during their time of crisis.

I hope each and every one of you will make a point to attend one of the cabaret performances this season. I hope you will twist the arms of all your friends, relatives and neighbors. We really need to sell tickets if this once-a-year fundraiser is to be a success.

I've attended every previous performance of the cabarets, and I can assure you that they are lots of fun.

Regular tickets are $25 each. Barksdale and Theatre IV subscriber tickets are $20 each. All of you who are active members of the Richmond theatre community can reserve tickets for whatever size contribution you can afford, no questions asked.

The box office will list these pay-what-you-will tickets as comps, and you can donate whatever works with your budget. 100% of your contribution will go to increase the principal of the Fund. The Fund currently stands at approximately $21,000, and yields approximately $1,000 in emergency relief each year. Over time, we'd like to increase the Fund's principal about tenfold. The important thing is to support your friends and colleagues by attending and making whatever contribution is within your means.

It's also important to make reservations, so that we know how many people to expect.

Please help us spread the word. I honestly can't understand why every performance isn't sold out. All performances are held in the Barksdale Willow Lawn lobby, and all seating is cabaret style at tables. The bar is open throughout the event.

I count on seeing you and all of your friends there.

Thanks. Happy Holidays!

--Bruce Miller

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

Word(s) of the Week - RUTTING HUNK

Posted by Hannah Miller
Today’s theatre artist is the legendary Broadway and Hollywood actress JESSICA TANDY, born on June 7, 1909 (pictured to the right). The world celebrated her 99th birthday a week ago Saturday. Tandy died in 1994 of ovarian cancer at the age of 85, but last week she was remembered by her legion of fans as one of the great actors of the 20th Century.

Tandy is the first woman to have made it into this blog series. In recognition of her ushering our gender into Word of the Week, I’m giving her (or I should say that Tennessee Williams gave her) two Words instead of one. Her Words comprise the provocative phrase, RUTTING HUNK.

Now please don't get offended or mad or nervous just yet. Jessica Tandy was a highly esteemed actor of the stage and screen, and enjoyed a career that lasted over sixty years. She was born in London as Jessie Alice Tandy, and became involved in theatre as a child when her parents enrolled her in the Ben Greet Academy of Acting.

Her early years were marked by one success after another. She made her professional debut at the age of 16 in a regional production of The Manderson Girls, and was soon invited to join the full time acting company of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. At the age of 20 she made her West End debut in London. One year later she achieved transcontinental success when she appeared on Broadway in The Matriarch. A short two years after that, she was featured in her first Hollywood movie, The Indiscretions of Eve.

Throughout her 20s and 30s she remained busy focusing on her stage career, and charming audiences on two continents. In 1942, she met and married actor and director Hume Cronyn, beginning a 52-year partnership that was destined to become one of the most successful and respected marriages in America’s entertainment industry.

Tandy’s encounter with history came in 1947 when, at the age of 38, she created the role of Blanche DuBois in Tennessee Williams’ masterpiece A Streetcar Named Desire. She is pictured with Kim Hunter and Marlon Brando to the left. She won the Tony Award and immediate national recognition. Since '47 she has been, and will continue to be, inextricably associated with the iconic Southern stage role of her era.

When the film version of Streetcar was produced, all of Tandy’s Broadway costars were invited to recreate their characters: Marlon Brando as Stanley, Kim Hunter as Stella, and Karl Malden as Mitch. Ironically, it was another British superstar who was invited to play the role of Blanche.

Vivien Leigh (pictured to the right as Blanche with Marlon Brando as Stanley) was four years younger than Tandy. Leigh had won her first Oscar and become an international household name playing another iconic Southern belle in the 1939 blockbuster Gone with the Wind. When the film version of Streetcar was made in 1951, Hollywood had a choice—Jessica Tandy who had created the role of Blanche on Broadway to universal acclaim, or Vivien Leigh who had starred as Blanche when the play transferred to London’s West End. Internationally beloved as Scarlett O’Hara, Leigh was the more bankable star, and so she beat out Tandy for the coveted role, performing brilliantly in the film and earning her second Academy Award.

Tandy’s Hollywood superstardom was still to come.

In Act I, Scene 5 of Streetcar, Blanche begins writing down in a little notebook colorful words said by other characters. “I must jot that down in my notebook,” she tells her rough brother-in-law, Stanley Kowalski.

Blanche -- Ha-ha! I’m compiling a notebook of quaint little words and phrases I’ve picked up here.

Stanley -- You won’t pick up nothing here you ain’t heard before.

Blanche -- Can I count on that?

Stanley -- You can count on it up to five hundred.

The first phrase that Blanche records in her book is RUTTING HUNK. But here’s the surprise—at least it was a surprise to me. That term is not used to describe the musclebound Stanley Kowalski, played by the young and buff Marlon Brando. It is used by Stanley and Stella's upstairs neighbor Steve to describe his wife Eunice.

The word RUT can be applied to non-human mammals, either male or female. When used as a verb, RUTTING means to be in “a state or period of heightened sexual arousal.” It comes from the old French word rut, meaning “to roar.” When used as a noun, the phrase “in RUT” is synonymous with the phrase “in heat.”

Whereas the word HUNK today refers to an attractive man in admirable physical condition, the word HUNK historically referred to either a man or woman. It most likely was derived from the Flemish work hunke, meaning "a piece of food." HUNK is defined in the thesaurus found at Answers.com as “a person regarded as physically attractive: beauty, belle (used of a woman), lovely, stunner. Slang – babe, doll, knockout, looker, stud (used of a man).”

Going by this historical definition, not only was it appropriate for Tennessee Williams to have Steve refer to his wife Eunice as a RUTTING HUNK, it would also have been appropriate for Frank Loesser to have renamed his classic musical, which opened on Broadway only three years after Streetcar, Guys and Hunks.

Isn’t it interesting how the popularly perceived meanings of words change over time?

But one thing that doesn’t change is talent. Jessica Tandy may not have been selected to make the film version of A Streetcar Named Desire, but she did go on to make many other films, including Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds in 1953, The World According to Garp in 1982, and Cocoon in 1985. Finally, in 1989, Tandy starred as another memorable Southern woman, the octogenarian heroine of Driving Miss Daisy, earning her first Oscar at the age of 80.

Driving Miss Daisy will play at Barksdale Theatre at Hanover Tavern this fall, starring one of Richmond’s great actresses, Joy Williams.

--Posted by Hannah Miller

Update: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Debate

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin

Last week, I wrote about an episode of Theater Talk with Elizabeth Ashley and John Lahr debating the relevance of the Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof featuring an all African-American cast.

In response to an email I sent, Theater Talk replied:

We are scheduled to have several of the cast members a couple of weeks from now who we'll ask about this, but I didn't want to "jinx" that by putting it in the press release. The show was supposed to be about the BACKGROUND of the play, but then Lahr started talking about how the play was really about people tainted by the legacy of being slaveholders (I trivialize his point), so a Black cast didn't make sense ("like an all-white August Wilson wouldn't make sense"). Ashley strongly disagreed, so it turned into this interesting debate. [sic]

--Billy Christopher Maupin

Panel to Debate Relevance of the All African-American Cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Posted by Billy Christopher Maupin
There has been quite a bit of buzz surrounding the revival of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Tin Roof, which opens tonight at the Broadhurst Theatre. Why? It's been seen on Broadway in four different productions before:

1955- Director Elia Kazaan, Starring Burl Ives and Ben Gazzara

1974- Director Michael Kahn, Starring Elizabeth Ashley

1990- Director Howard Davies, Starring Polly Holliday, Charles Durning, and Kathleen Turner

2003- Director Anthony Page, Starring Ashley Judd

This is the first of these five productions to feature an all African-American cast. However, in many of the articles about the show, TheatreVirginia is mentioned as having produced what is considered to be the ONLY all African-American production prior to this revival.

The revival boasts a spectacularly talented cast with three Tony Award winners (Phylicia Rashad for A Raisin in the Sun, James Earl Jones for The Great White Hope and Fences, and Anika Noni Rose for Caroline, or Change, also recently seen in the motion picture adaptation of Dreamgirls), as well as the Oscar-nominated Terrence Howard. But the buzz doesn't center on all that prestige.

Today on Playbill.com a headline caught my eye: Ashley and Lahr Will Debate Cat Revival on March 8 "Theater Talk". They are to "debate the relevance and implications of doing Tennessee Williams' fifties Southern family drama Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with an all-Black cast."

There are four panelists in this discussion.

Elizabeth Ashley, star of the 1974 revival. (You may also remember her from Evening Shade or perhaps as the original Corrie in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park.)

John Lahr, critic for The New Yorker

Susan Haskins, Executive Producer of Theatre Talk.

Michael Riedel, a writer for the New York Post.




These four people will be debating the relevance of an all African-American cast of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.

What are your thoughts? The floor is open for comments!

(Oh, and if you would like to contact Theater Talk, you can click here. Their email address is theatertlk@aol.com.)

--Billy Christopher Maupin

Rambling Thoughts on a Running Theme

Posted by Bruce Miller

The playwrights from this year’s Signature Season are a somewhat diverse lot, but there’s a common thread that ties several of them together.

The late Carson McCullers (The Member of the Wedding) wrote with the distinctive voice of a young woman reared in a small Southern town during the 1930s and 40s. Ron Hutchinson (Moonlight and Magnolias) is an Irish-born playwright who came to fame in England and now lives in LA, working predominantly for the film industry.

John Patrick Shanley (Doubt, pictured to the left) is a former Marine who was raised in the Bronx. His writing has earned him an Oscar (Moonstruck), a Tony Award and the Pulitzer Prize (Doubt). Douglas Carter Beane (The Little Dog Laughed) is a gay playwright who grew up in rural Pennsylvania, and wrote the libretto for the current Broadway musical Xanadu, a re-make of the 1970s cult film. Beane is currently writing the libretto for the upcoming stage musical remake of The Band Wagon, now re-titled Dancing in the Dark.

Our summer musical, the great American classic Guys and Dolls, features music and lyrics by Frank Loesser (pictured to the right) and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Frank Loesser, born in 1910 in NYC, also wrote Where’s Charley? (produced by Barksdale in 2003), The Most Happy Fella, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and the songs "Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition" and "I Don’t Want to Walk Without You" (currently heard in Swingtime Canteen) and "Baby, It’s Cold Outside" (recently heard in our Holiday Cabaret).

Jo Swerling (co-author of the Guys book) was born in Russia in 1897 and, as a child, fled the Czarist regime with his family, arriving in New York’s lower East Side via Ellis Island. Before working on Guys and Dolls in the late 40s, he was called to Hollywood by Frank Capra, where he helped to “polish” the screenplays of both It’s a Wonderful Life (recently produced as a radio drama by Barksdale’s Bifocals Theatre Project) and Gone With the Wind (the re-screenwriting of which is the subject of Moonlight and Magnolias).

Abe Burrows (the other co-writer of the Guys book, pictured to the left) was a renowned radio writer and comedic performer, who went on to serve as “script doctor” for numerous Broadway and radio shows. Interestingly, Abe Burrows is also the father of James Burrows, the legendary television director of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and co-creator of Cheers.

As Moonlight continues its laugh-a-minute run at Barksdale Willow Lawn (I saw it again last night and it was GREAT), it’s interesting to follow the theme of the un-credited “script doctor” and re-write artist. In Moonlight, Ben Hecht, played by Scott Wichmann, is brought in to rewrite the screenplay for Gone With the Wind. Moonlight playwright Ron Hutchinson (pictured below and to the right) earns a very lucrative living doing the same thing today.

Discussing the movie industry, Hutchinson writes, “Now, as back then, in the last weeks, days and hours before shooting, there’s a mad scramble to finally get the script right. That’s where guys like Ben Hecht came in then and where guys like me come in today. In 25 years as a rewrite man, I’ve been parachuted into movie locations in places such as Morocco, Mexico, Australia, South Africa and really bizarre places such as Burbank.”

Carson McCullers (pictured to the left) has always given credit to her principal “script doctor,” fellow Southerner Tennessee Williams. Douglas Carter Beane (pictured below and to the right) is becoming somewhat of a specialist in rewriting the librettos of vintage movie musicals for contemporary Broadway audiences. And his real-life experience in which unnamed “script doctors” transformed the lead character from gay to straight in the Hollywood adaptation of his Off Broadway hit, As Bees in Honey Drown, inspired the comic story he tells in The Little Dog Laughed.

Both Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows were considered among the foremost “script doctors” working to polish other author’s work in both Hollywood and New York in the 40s through the 70s. In Deathtrap, produced by Barksdale at Hanover Tavern earlier this fall, the lead character of Sidney Bruhl offers to serve as a “script doctor” for a young playwright, citing the fact that George S. Kaufman (pictured to the left) served as his “script doctor” when he was polishing his first play. In his memoirs, Abe Burrows credited his success in the theatre to his work under George S. Kaufman, director of Guys and Dolls.

For many years, the expression, “Get me Abe Burrows!” remained Broadway shorthand for “this script is awful and needs an emergency rewrite.” Burrows himself downplayed his “script doctor” role in his memoirs. “I have... performed surgery on a few shows, but not as many as I'm given credit for. I've been involved in 19 theatrical productions, plus their road company offshoots. Only a few of these have been surgical patients. And I don't usually talk about them. I feel that a fellow who doctors a show should have the same ethical approcah that a plastic surgeon has. It wouldn't be very nice if a plastic surgeon were walking down the street with you, and a beautiful girl approached. And you say, "What a beautiful girl." And the plastic surgeon says, "She was a patient of mine. You should have seen her before I fixed her nose."

Of all our playwrights this season, John Patrick Shanley seems to be the only one who has little to no experience rewriting the scripts of others and/or putting up with others who are brought in to rewrite his work. Long may he wave.

--Bruce Miller

Great Spirit, Great Music, Great Cause

Posted by Bruce Miller

Singing to raise spirits and charitable funds is a time honored Christmas tradition.

I’ve just returned from our first Home for the Holidays cabaret. The 16 or so patrons who attended tonight really had a grand time, but I confess I’m disappointed because it appears that the crowds this week are going to be small. As of this writing, we only have 14 reservations for tomorrow evening (Tuesday, Dec 11 at 7:30).

I sure would like to see that change.

The show itself is wonderful. Brett Ambler, Corey Davis, Audra Honaker, Katrina Lewis, Jason Marks, Robyn O’Neill, Fernando Rivadeniera, Janine Serresseque, Erin Thomas, Durron Tyree and Tony Williams sing and play their hearts out for 90 minutes, entertaining with a combination of holiday favorites and Broadway standards. Jan Guarino is sick this week (say a prayer for her recovery by Thursday’s Swingtime Canteen), but tomorrow Cathy Motley-Fitch will be filling in for her. The singers are all volunteering their talents to raise money for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund. And yet only a few folks are turning out for these first two performances.

Tomorrow (Tuesday’s) show will be a pay-what-you-can performance, and 100% of ticket revenues will go to the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund, governed by RAPT (the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres) and managed by the Community Foundation. So if you can’t afford the $25 suggested donation, please come tomorrow (Tuesday) evening—and bring five or six of your friends. It’s a GREAT way to jump start the holiday spirit, and it’s an even better way to support the volunteer performers, who would much prefer to be singing to a full and enthusiastic house than a room half-filled with empty tables.

If don’t understand what the Theatre Artists Fund is all about, and therefore don’t feel inclined to support it, let me try to change your mind. In the past ten years of so, there have been five times when the theatre community came together on an emergency basis to help one of our members deal with a life threatening situation.

We raised $6 thousand or so to keep a roof over the head of one of our colleagues during the final months of his life when he was too sick to work but was nonetheless evicted from his apartment. We raised $8 thousand or so to prevent a lifelong theatre administrator from losing her home when her husband was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer, had to stop working, but needed to be out of work for six months before his disability insurance kicked in. We raised several thousand to install a new furnace in the home of a beloved director who was returning from open heart surgery to an unheated home in the dead of winter.

In every instance I’ve counted myself blessed to be a part of a community that cared so much about taking care of its own. The Richmond Theatre Artists Fund lets us begin to meet these emergency needs before they happen. It lets us raise funds on a strategic rather than a crisis basis. The Fund doesn’t exist to help someone out when they’re between jobs and having trouble paying their cable bill. The Fund exists to meet the critical needs of our brothers and sisters when accident or illness stops them in their tracks. No matter how much insurance we have, none of us can protect ourselves from everything. God willing, the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund will be there to help with emergency expenditures when we need help the most.

Isn’t that worth a few bucks and 90 minutes of your time? Don’t you want to support your colleagues who are giving up seven nights in December to try to help others?

Upcoming shows are tomorrow (Tuesday) at 7:30, this Saturday at 11 pm, and next Monday and Tuesday at 7:30. All performances are in Barksdale’s Willow Lawn lobby. Please call the Barksdale box at 282-2620 to make your reservations.

I hope you’ll join us for this wonderful, joyous and very worthwhile performance.

--Bruce Miller

Holiday Happenings Kick Off This Week

Posted by John Steils

If you’re looking for a way to jump start your holiday celebration, you need look no further than Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV. Our upcoming roster of eight different productions and special events is bound to include something smile-inducing for you and yours. We’re YOUR theatre, so please join in the fun.

1. Home for the Holidays
This is Barksdale’s third annual benefit concert for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund. Not only will you enjoy a great 2-hour evening of entertainment from some of Richmond’s finest theatre singers, you’ll also be supporting a great cause. This year’s line-up of super-stars includes Brett Ambler, Corey Davis, Jan Guarino, Audra Honaker, Katrinah Lewis, Jason Marks, Robyn O’Neill, Fernando Rivadeniera, Janine Serresseque, Durron Tyree, and Tony Williams at the piano. Erin Thomas is our emcee. Performances are on the starlit Barksdale Willow Lawn lobby stage, with attendance limited to 80 guests sitting cabaret-style at reserved tables. Click for more details.

2. Bifocals Theatre Project
If you’re 55 or older, or if you know a theatre lover who is 55 or older, you really should connect with Barksdale’s Bifocals Theatre Project, our fun and fast-moving initiative designed to serve Greater Richmond’s senior theatre artists and audiences. On Thurs Dec 6 and Fri Dec 7, our Bifocals troupe will present a half-hour version of the radio drama It’s a Wonderful Life, directed by Bob Albertia, and featuring the acting talents of Bob himself plus Tom Bass, Woody Eney, Joel Grow, Donna Knicely, Chase Kniffen and Ali Thibodeau. The performance will take place on the lobby stage at Barksdale Willow Lawn. Seating for lunch (optional) begins at 12 noon, and the performance begins at 1 pm. Attendance is limited to 80 guests, and tickets must be reserved in advance. Following the Friday performance will be the annual Bifocals Christmas Party, which is open to all theatre lovers 55 and over, free of charge. Click for more details.

3. Indonesian Shadow Puppet Performance and Concert - FREE
Also this Fri Dec 7, in partnership with the Modlin Center for the Arts at Bruce and Phil’s alma mater (the University of Richmond), Barksdale will present free performances of a traditional Indonesian shadow-puppet performance featuring Dr. Andrew Clay McGraw (ethnomusicologist and music professor at the University), Gusti Putu Sudarta, Dalang (shadow master and musician), and John MacDonald (gamelan musician). Free performances will be at our historic Empire Theatre, conducted as a part of First Fridays. Call Catherine Dudley for more information, 643-2477. And while visiting the historic Empire on First Friday, be sure to enjoy the art photos of Jay Paul, now on display in our lobby gallery. Click for more details.

4. Stretchin’ at Barksdale – only $12 for a GREAT concert
Stretchin’ at Barksdale is our free-wheeling, grab-a-beer-and-chill-to-the-music concert series, presented on Sunday evenings in the “living room” lobby at Barksdale Willow Lawn. This Sun, Dec 9, 6 pm, national rising star Justin Townes Earle, son of country superstar Steve Earle, will be taking the stage with Richmond great Susan Greenbaum. B J Kocen is our impresario and emcee. It’s the best deal on the best music in town. If you enjoy live music in a laid back “at home” atmosphere, you’d be crazy to miss it. No reservations. Purchase tickets at the door. Click for more details.

5. Rostov’s Coffee & Conversations - FREE
Get outa here! You’ve NEVER been to a Coffee & Conversations event??!! Well, there’s no time to start like the present. Next Tues, Dec 11, 9:30 am, join us in the lobby of Barksdale Willow Lawn to hear all the backstage stories directly from the horses’ mouths. Our three leading men of Moonlight and Magnolias will answer all your questions and reveal all the backstage insights you’ve been dying to know. And if you can, come a little early. Rostov’s delicious coffee, hot tea and pastries are available for a suggested donation of $3. No tickets or reservations required. Click for more details.

6. A Christmas Story – Empire Theatre
A great, hilarious play, suitable for the entire family age 6 to 106. You can read review quotes elsewhere on the blog, or call the Theatre IV box office for more info. 344-8040.

7. Moonlight and Magnolias – Barksdale Willow Lawn
A laugh-fest comedy about the making of the screenplay of Gone with the Wind. You can read review quotes elsewhere on the blog, or call the Barksdale box office for more info. 282-2620.

8. Swingtime Canteen – Barksdale Hanover Tavern
A joyous, toe-tapping, boogie-woogie recreation of a USO show from Christmas 1944. You can read review quotes elsewhere on the blog, or call the Barksdale box office for more info. 282-2620.

See you at the theatre!

--John Steils

Retraction and Apology

Posted by Phil Whiteway

First, let me apologize to all parties involved. With nothing but good intentions, we at Barksdale have facilitated the publication of incorrect information. We regret that it happened. If we have confused or offended anyone, we’re sincerely sorry.

We have great affection and respect for Cynthia McMullen. This misstep is our fault, not hers. We apologize to her as well.

In her On the Aisle column in Sunday’s Times-Dispatch, she listed 23 talented and beloved performers in the cast of this year’s Home for the Holidays benefit cabaret, noting that the roster was “subject to change.” The problem is, twelve of the 23 outstanding singers listed will not be appearing in the holiday cabaret, and nine of them hadn’t even been contacted. Also, the names of two of the performers who will be taking part in the cabaret didn’t make it onto the list.

The annual Home for the Holidays cabaret raises money for the Richmond Theatre Artists Fund, sponsored by RAPT (the Richmond Alliance of Professional Theatres) and managed by The Community Foundation.

After spending yesterday trying to figure out what went wrong, we now understand our error. There were three computer lists of performers created during the planning of this year’s cabaret. The first list included many of our favorite theatre singers with established reputations and name recognition. The second list included up-and-coming performers who are still relatively new or unknown to the ticket-buying public. (We created this second list because we wanted to add some "new blood" to this year's cabaret.) The third list was narrowed down from the first two, and included the names of the performers whom we invited to participate in Home for the Holidays 07.

In an inner-office communication, a staff member mistakenly emailed the first list of established singers while intending to email the third narrowed down list. The mistake went forward from there without anyone realizing it. When Debra Wagoner declined the invitation to perform due to a scheduling conflict, her name was removed from the list, as requested, but it was removed from the wrong list.

So the list that wound up being distributed to media outlets was the list of some of our favorite theatre singers with established reputations, minus Debra Wagoner. A couple of other favorite theatre singers were also not on the list, for a variety of reasons.

We apologize. As soon as we realized our mistake, it was immediately corrected in the form of updated information being sent out and published in the paper. Individual notes of apology are being written. We regret that our clogged schedule creates situations ripe for error. We try hard to open shows and distribute accurate information all around.

The finalized list of performers, as of last night, is: Brett Ambler, Corey Davis, Jan Guarino, Audra Honaker, Katrinah Lewis, Jason Marks, Robyn O’Neill, Fernando Rivadeniera, Janine Serresseque, Durron Tyree, and Tony Williams at the piano. Erin Thomas is our emcee.

It’s a great group. We’re embarrassed and sorry that other names were distributed to the media without their knowledge or consent. I hope everyone involved, whether you are an artist or an audience member, will forgive us for this blunder. I ask for your understanding and appreciate your acceptance of this heartfelt apology.

--Phil Whiteway

The Stratford and Shaw Festivals - Great Canadian Theatre

Posted by Bruce Miller
I returned on Monday from a five-day trip to Ontario, Canada. I was fortunate enough again this year to be able to make my pilgrimage to the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, the two largest repertory theatres on the continent. This time, for the first time, I went by myself, without Terrie and the kids and without Phil. I discovered, to no one’s surprise, that solitary theatre sojourns are not my thing. Nonetheless, it was a valuable and enjoyable experience.

I flew out of Richmond last Wednesday morning via Jet Blue into Buffalo, rented a car and drove the three or so hours to the quiet town of Stratford, Ontario--on the Avon, of course, complete with swans. I checked into my B & B at around 6 pm, the Palmyra House, www.bbcanada.com/3865.html, owned and operated by Steve and Meg Garden-Smith. My room and my very friendly, accommodating hosts couldn’t have been nicer. The photos on the Palmyra House website don’t do the beautiful home justice. I recommend the accommodations, the breakfast, and most especially the Garden-Smiths without reservation. Almost immediately after checking in, I walked to my first show. All Stratford theatres are within an easy walking distance from the comfortable and peaceful Palmyra House.

I saw shows at Stratford on the following schedule: Wednesday 8 pm – A Delicate Balance by Edward Albee (Tom Patterson Theatre), Thursday 2 pm – My One and Only by the Gershwins etc. (Avon Theatre), Thursday 8 pm – An Ideal Husband by Oscar Wilde (Festival Theatre - pictured below), Friday 2 pm – The Odyssey by Derek Walcott (Studio Theatre).

I admired A Delicate Balance, which featured an amazing performance by David Fox as Tobias; I enjoyed My One and Only, but remembered why I had forgotten so much of the original Broadway production—it’s forgetable. I went nuts over An Ideal Husband, and absolutely hated not having anyone with me to talk to when the show was over—nothing worse for me than seeing a great show and having to keep my feelings to myself. I didn’t like The Odyssey at all, despite Derek Walcott having won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

After The Odyssey, I hopped into my Toyota Corolla and headed to Niagara-on-the-Lake, a gorgeous, flower-festooned town not far from Niagara Falls, and home to the Shaw Festival. I tend to stay at whatever accommodations are most affordable, and at the Shaw Festival that meant staying at the Comfort Inn in St. Catharine’s, a small city about 15 minutes east. There are some beautiful B & B’s in Niagara-on-the-Lake, but the ones that were available when I booked my room were outside my budget.

I took Friday night off, and then saw Shaw Festival productions on this schedule: Saturday 12 noon – The Kiltartan Comedies by Lady Augusta Gregory (Courthouse Theatre), Saturday 2 pm – The Philanderer by Bernard Shaw (Royal George Theatre), Saturday 8 pm – Summer and Smoke by Tennessee Williams (Royal George Theatre), Sunday 2 pm – Hotel Peccadillo adapted from Georges Feydeau (Festival Theatre), Sunday 8 pm – The Cassilis Engagement by St John Hankin (Courthouse Theatre).

I loved The Kiltartan Comedies, two folksy, very Irish one acts; I enjoyed The Philanderer, although I thought it became a little talky in Acts II and III, and I wasn’t sure where Shaw was trying to go with it. You could tell it was only his third play. I went nuts over Summer and Smoke, and again, missed my accustomed post-theatre fellowship in a neighborhood bar. Hotel Peccadillo started out fun (and wild and crazy), but seemed to me to run out of steam in the last third of Act I and all of Act II. I very much enjoyed The Cassilis Engagement, especially since I knew nothing of the show or the playwright before last week.

One of the best things about the Stratford and Shaw Festivals is the caliber of the acting. Many of the greatest U. S. actors relocate to New York and/or L. A. In Canada, the greatest actors seem to be drawn to Stratford and Niagara-on-the-Lake, at least in season.

The best known name in the Stratford company is Brian Bedford (pictured to the left), who is internationally recognized as one of the finest English speaking actors alive in the world today. (I saw Mr. Bedford with Tammy Grimes in the Broadway revival of Private Lives in about 1970, and I still remember it as the funniest play I’ve ever seen.) But aside from Mr. Bedford, the majority of the actors in both companies are first-rate, world-class talents. It’s great fun to see your favorites in one show, and then see them in a different show that evening or the next day, and barely be able to discern that you’re watching the same person.

Another great thing about the festivals is that you can see two or three shows a day, every day except Monday. I saw nine shows in four and a half days of playgoing. That's my kind 'a town.

My favorite thing about the festivals is the play selection. Go to Broadway these days, and almost everything is a musical. At the Stratford and Shaw Festivals, you can see Broadway-caliber productions of the wonderful but often less familiar plays of the world’s greatest playwrights. Of the nine shows I saw this trip, eight were shows I’d never seen before.

And, of course, I didn’t see everything. What I missed due to limitations of time and money were world-class productions of Oklahoma! (Rodgers and Hammerstein), King Lear (Shakespeare), To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee), Of Mice and Men (Steinbeck), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare), Othello (Shakespeare), The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare), St. Joan (Shaw), Mack and Mabel (Jerry Herman etc.), The Circle (Maugham), A Month in the Country (Turgenev/Friel), and a couple other less familiar titles.

Fun fact: the Stratford Festival opened on July 13, 1953, 19 days before the founding of Barksdale Theatre. Fun coincidence: at my last performance, I caught up with Scott Nogi (pictured to the right), the very talented actor who appeared in Theatre IV’s production of The Music Man when he was still a student at Godwin High School in the mid-90s. Scott went on to get his BFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU in 2001, studied with RADA in London, and is now forging a wonderful career as an actor, director and fight choreographer in NYC. He was visiting the Shaw Festival with his beautiful wife, Haley, and was gracious enough to re-introduce himself to me. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reconnect with Scott soon here at Barksdale.

--Bruce Miller