On the Nineteenth Century

Yesterday I received an e-mail from Bob Rook, the director I worked with on the Midwest premiere of the musical Jekyll & Hyde, in which I played Emma. He wanted me to know that they have added new photos to the company's website, so here's a quick pictorial flashback: an anguished pose with my lovely friend Steven Rich in the tragic, duplicitous title role. You may have seen Steven performing around the country in the national tours of Cats or Miss Saigon. You certainly wouldn't forget his voice!

And speaking of the 19th century, here's a link to my review of Madame Bovary: A Musical, an adaptation of Flaubert's novel about the exploits of the quintessential desperate housewife.

It's Tony Time!

Nope, not that one. Or that one.

The 61st Tony Awards were given out Sunday evening at Radio City Music Hall. It's one of my favorite occasions of the year. (Okay, full disclosure: I've been known to refer to it as "The Happiest Day of the Year.") I thought I'd single out a few of the more awe-inspiring (and surprising) moments:

1. Electric Esparza. Raul Esparza’s engrossing performance of “Being Alive” from Company. If ever a more convincing case was made for the award for Best Actor in a Musical, I have yet to see it. Esparza’s performance was taut, sensitive, and completely fearless. I’ve always loved the song (and I loved him in the show when I reviewed it), but the intensity of this particular performance transcended into its own emotional sphere. It left me in tears, and I was astonished when the Tony Award later went to Curtains’ David Hyde Pierce (as was the winner himself, judging by his expression). Don't get me wrong, Pierce's turn as a musical-loving detective was a marvel of wit and comic timing, but it simply wasn't as splashy or simmering as Esparza's masterwork. As that rare stage beast, the straight-acting leading man, Esparaza will certainly enjoy a long, rich career, but it was heartbreaking to see him overlooked in this role. Side note: The opportunity to watch an actor become so exposed and vulnerable (on national television) made a case for the theatrical potential of the TV set.

2. Spring Has Sprung. Little more than a year ago, I saw Spring Awakening Off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company. During the first few songs, I realized that I was holding my breath. When something is THAT sensational right off the bat, you begin to worry about whether it can possibly last. The little-rock-musical-that-could certainly has its (miniscule) flaws, but I haven’t been this moved by a show in years. (That lighting! That choreography! Those chairs!) And now, with 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, this important show will undoubtedly have the chance to move many other theatergoers for years to come—and, reportedly, across international stages …

3. Repertory Revolution? The Coast of Utopia, Tom Stoppard’s intense(ly) intellectual chronicle of Russian thinkers in the 19th century, won a record number of Tonys for a play, and I’ve been reading everywhere about how the cast created its own sort of utopia over the year they were together: an actors’ paradise. The cast of 44 joined forces in three daunting plays (performed both separately and together in a handful of marathon performances) and truly defined the term ensemble. The cast members who didn't attend the ceremony were, allegedly, watching the Tony Awards from the “cast” bar, where they all planned to meet up afterwards. Making theater is by nature an ephemeral process—typically, you meet and grow close to other performers only to bid them farewell a few months, or even weeks, later—but in her acceptance speech for Best Featured Actress in a Play, Jennifer Ehle (of Utopia) proclaimed a wish to form a repertory company at Lincoln Center (where the trilogy was produced). What an exciting thing that would be, to see what would come of a company of actors united in craft and trust, incubated over time …

4. White Noise. In one of the more ecstatic (and surprising) moments of the evening, Julie White won the award for Best Actress in a Play for her acute, relentless performance as a take-no-prisoners Hollywood agent in Douglas Carter Beane’s modern sex comedy of manners, The Little Dog Laughed. A downtown veteran, White was ebullient—and completely flabbergasted—about her win.

5. Acrobatic Audra. In her bold and brassy performance of “Raunchy” (from 110 in the Shade), Tony nominee Audra McDonald kicked up her heels, for real—she turned her signature cartwheel into a semi aerial, momentarily pausing upside down with all limbs off the ground. This was McDonald’s sixth nomination (she’s already won four), and it seems like there is nothing she can’t do. For more Audra, here's my review of her exceptional work in 110 in the Shade.

Meet Me at the Chocolate Fountain

Tonight was Volunteer Recognition Night at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center--the hospital where I volunteer on Tuesday nights.

The evening began with an inspiring program, in which three volunteers talked about their unique experiences at the hospital. The first woman started volunteering in 1978; she planned to stay "just for the summer" but couldn't bear to leave when the summer was over. The second speaker was a man who moved to New York to be an actor (familiar ...), but after gigs as, variously, a "singing hippopotamus" and a "dancing rhinosaurus," he decided to go back to med school. He completed his pre-med volunteer requirement, but he decided to stay on because he loves the patient interaction. He was followed by a young girl who talked about growing up (and attending school) a few blocks away from the hospital--she decided to be a nurse, and she hopes to work at MSKCC someday.

Then we headed out to a delicious dinner buffet, and the dessert was especially tantalizing: piles of cheesecake and pastries, which surrounded a Willy Wonka-esque chocolate fountain! We dipped fresh strawberries into the delicious brown stream. Had I known about that, I would have skipped dinner and headed straight to the dessert room.

Pictured is my wonderful friend Mariola (center), who trained me when I started volunteering almost a year ago. She was recognized for completing 150 hours of service, and she also recently trained Christina (right). Everyone I've met who is affiliated with the hospital radiates goodness and good cheer--it's an extraordinary place.

Men, Big and Small

Check out my review of Ma-Yi Theater Company's arresting production of The Romance of Magno Rubio. It's actually a revival of an earlier award-winning production, and it contains some of the most innovative stagecraft and a few of the most haunting moments of any show I've seen this season. And it's all firmly anchored by Jojo Gonzalez (above left), who brings zest, grace, and gravitas to the title role.

Speaking of phenomenal leading performances, I was absolutely blown away by the emotional dexterity and dramatic strengths of Frank Langella and Michael Sheen, currently ruling the stage in the Broadway play Frost/Nixon. Langella plays Richard Nixon who, a few years after Watergate, underwent an intense series of interviews with British talk show host David Frost (the dynamic Sheen). The results make for completely mind-shattering theater, especially as rendered through Peter Morgan's taut storytelling. Rather than create a mere docudrama, Morgan (who also wrote the screenplay for "The Queen," another creative dip into recent history) takes us deeply, and rather uncomfortably, inside Nixon's insecurities, character, humor, and pathos. Langella's performance is so acute, so unflinching, so devastating ... I've never seen anything like it.

Ben Brantley wrote a captivating feature in the New York Times this week about the five Tony Award nominees for Best Leading Actor in a Play--a category which, in his estimation, hasn't been this competitive and teeming with talent for decades. Brantley makes this astute pronouncement on the skills of a truly accomplished actor: "Getting the bright externals of a character is easy for a good craftsman. It's the shadowy contradictions between outer and inner that distinguish craft from art."


I would add that it's within these "shadowy contradictions" that we find humanity in all its fallible glory--shimmering and often painful to behold. For me personally, it's the type of performance that makes me cry without quite knowing why. As much as Christine Ebersole's phenomenal Grey Gardens performance weirded me out (how, after all, are we to relate to this bizarre woman living in squalor with herds of cats?), the force of her performance's magical realism reeled me in and left me gasping for breath. A few years ago, Tonya Pinkins' triumphant turn in Caroline, or Change (in the stifling intimacy of the Public Theater, before it moved to Broadway) firmly gripped something inside me, and I had to sit for a few minutes in the lobby before I could walk to the subway (or talk coherently).

Which brings me back to Langella. Brought up to despise (and at least mistrust) this man who lied to his citizens, I was suddenly face to face with this desperate, pained, and sorrowful man. Feeling sorry for him. Who cries from watching Richard Nixon? It's a mystical, precious thing when theater can elicit these small miracles--paving the way to such revolutionary human understanding. If only we could all be brought that close to the dubious figures in our own lives ...

Simi in the City

Andie hoping for her big break!

Khun, Rick, Simi, and Amy (Andie underneath table)

My fabulous friends Simi and Rick were in town today from Austin with their daughter Andie and their foreign exchange student Khun. He's here from Thailand, and they're in the midst of a Northeastern tour, traveling through Philadelphia, Virginia, DC, New Jersey, and NYC, of course. We had brunch at VYNL in Hell's Kitchen before they headed off to see The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Don and I caught a matinee of the outstanding, electrifying play Frost/Nixon--more to come on that.

Because It's June ...

June is busting out all over, and so were the clouds on my flight from Nebraska back to New York a few days ago. I took these shots from the window of the plane, and I later had a stunning view of nighttime Manhattan as we flew up the Hudson. Dramatic sights, indeed!