In Memoriam: Robby Robinson

Posted by Bruce Miller
One of the real pleasures of leading the trips that Barksdale and Theatre IV take each year to theatre capitals around the world is making new friends. When we ventured as a group to London and Paris in the spring of 2006, two of the new friends Phil and I made were Robby and Kathy Robinson. The photo above and to the left shows Phil with Kathy and Robby in front of the Louvre.
With fun memories but a heavy heart, I attended Robby’s funeral services today. Robby passed away last Wednesday after a brief illness. He was 76 years young.

Robby and Kathy were proud residents of the Crossridge community, and part of the Crossridge crowd that regularly enjoys Barksdale Theatre. Robby served in the U. S. Army during the Korean Conflict, and he retired several years ago from the Richmond City Police Department after more than 31 years of service.

For much of his law enforcement career, Robby’s beat was “the Pike,” that part of Jefferson Davis Turnpike that extends south from the Lee Bridge. Growing up on the Southside myself, I was always warned that this area was among the meaner of the mean streets of South Richmond. At today’s service, several of Robby’s fellow retired officers commented on how safe this troubled terrain remained under Robby’s watch.

Robby’s favorite pastimes were travel, fishing, and rooting for the Atlanta Braves. I feel privileged to have joined him in the first of these pursuits. Throughout our London and Paris tour, Robby and Kathy were fun, involved and ready to roll—definitely one of the couples we recall with great affection. The bulletin for today’s memorial service says that Robby’s life philosophy was to “always have something to do, something to look forward to, and someone to do it with.” That’s certainly the Robby I remember. Personally, I can’t think of wiser words to live by.

Robby was your basic nice guy; there wasn’t a fancy or pretentious bone in his body. So it’s with a wink to his meat-and-potatoes spirit that we will be dedicating our upcoming production of Fully Committed at Hanover Tavern to his memory. Scott Wichmann stars in this hilarious one-man comedy about another man of simple tastes who finds himself working at the reservations desk for the most pompous and chichi restaurant in NYC. When I hear Scotty’s character talking on the phone with his meat-and-potatoes dad in the play, I’m going to think of Robby, and appreciate that this dad character makes Fully Committed a perfect show to dedicate to Robby’s warm and genuine spirit.

Robby is survived by Kathy, his wife of 19 years, his two sons and daughters-in-law, two step-children and their spouses, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren. He was a good man. Along with many others in the Barksdale family, Phil and I will miss him and remember him fondly.

--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