A few pictures for the record

Clockwise from top left: cast photo taken at first dress rehearsal; two of our young men dressed for the first day of races as Ascot; and a small rendering of our set, which has been executed and put into action with resounding success. Opening night was joyful and exciting. It's one weekend down, and four to go! I hope to add to the visual record as the run continues.

Pulses Rushing

With three days until opening, I can say with confidence that this show is going to look gorgeous. Set, costumes, and lighting are the most beautiful I have ever directed. That I have time this morning to sit and compose a word or two about our progress is testament to how well organized and well prepared we are. Not that we haven't worked long and sometimes frustrating hours, especially since our tech load-in officially began on May 10, to get to this point. I am just about ready to let this fledgling spread her wings and fly, and although it is difficult at this point to judge objectively how the show is playing--as entwined in it as I am--I don't hesitate a bit to say that it looks absolutely stunning.

My Fair Lady of the Van

April 24, 2008

Last evening during the rehearsal for the "Embassy Waltz," it became necessary to time some dialogue spoken by Higgins, Pickering, Mrs. Higgins, and the show's villain/buffoon, Zoltan Karpathy, to the accompaniment of underscored music. With the rest of the company hard at work in the fellowship hall learning to waltz as the elegant upperclass socialites they are, we had to find an alternate space to do our task. So, five of us--four actors and I--repaired to the parking lot and piled into my van, and by the glow of the roof lights and to the cheerful strains of Frederick Loewe's waltz on my car stereo, we hunkered down and got the job done. We did have to pause to open the windows after the first couple of times through the material (with all that hot air steaming up the windows). But in spite, or maybe because, of our circumstances, this was one rehearsal I will always remember. I only wish I'd had a video camera to record it, if one could have fit.

Dialect Camp

We have been fortunate to have the services of a truly gifted dialect coach and teacher, to establish the foundation for all the work our actors will be doing in both RP (that's Received Pronunciation or standard British) and Cockney (working-class British) in our show. And in spite of the somewhat tedious nature of learning the International Phonetic Alphabet, and then applying that knowledge to the two dialects, our cast has demonstrated uncommon dedication and focus to the task. With their busy lives outside of My Fair Lady, they all managed to do all the homework, and came to rehearsal prepared and with a fine seriousness of purpose. As a lover of language and dialects myself, I took the course, too, and have learned enormous amounts.

Now that we've got the building blocks for the speech, we have gone forward into music rehearsals, armed and ready to launch the language while learning this amazing music. This has been a wonderful rehearsal process so far, and we are only in week two of our journey!

Auditions

After an exhilarating audition process, we have cast our show, and oh, am I thrilled. Nearly 70 actors attended the open auditions (certainly a record of some sort), and then we heard 27 actors read for 7 roles at an intense three-hour callback. To have so many fine choices made my heart sing (not to mention all the inspiration I got from watching them as they vied for their roles).

Our Henry Higgins is a 48-year-old professionally trained actor with a huge resume, an enormous range, and a beautiful voice (who will actually sing Higgins's many songs), and since he was reading against only one other actor, we really put him through his paces at the callback. When told he'd landed the role, he was exuberant.

Here is a sampling of the responses received to our casting invitations:

Higgins: "YES! with bells on, etc!! . . . I'm thrilled and honored. And can't wait. Yes, I accept the role and commit myself wholeheartedly."

Eliza: "Of course I absolutely accept the role of Eliza! I could not be more thrilled! Thank you so much for this opportunity! When I auditioned I really just wanted to be a part of the show in any way I could, so landing a role like this is way beyond my wildest expectations."

Alfred Doolittle: "Oh Joy and Rapture Unforeseen! I feel happy and humbled to be cast and must admit I've been on pins and needles! I am so grateful for the opportunity and so excited by the cast! . . . . an honor . . . . I'm giddy and bow thanks to you. I was heartened by how organized your auditions were and am thrilled to finally be under your direction. I'm here for the molding and can't wait to start. We'll bring the house down, we will!"

Pickering: "Thanks so much for this great news. I'm delighted to be chosen for the role of Pickering, and accept the role with much gratitude . I look forward to working with you , John, Annie and the others, as we build a strong, tight ensemble of players. It was a nice surprise, especially not expecting the results until this weekend. I come to this role without a lot of preconceived notions of it, so I am completely open to your creative approach to him."

Mrs. Higgins: "Of course I accept - I'm thrilled to be in the show with you! . . . . I'm yours, heart, body and soul. Again, I'm thrilled. Thank you so much . . . . I won't let you down!"

Mrs. Pearce: "A resounding YES . . . WOO HOO!! . . . agog and speechless ... [will] give it 110%!"

Our whole talented and dedicated production team is quite giddy about the cast we've assembled. I can scarcely believe I finally have the chance to direct this amazing show with a cast that exceeds anything I ever dared to hope.

Warm Springs (HBO-2005)

Here is the abridged review (and the only one I've written) of Warm Springs, the 2005 HBO movie about the eight- to ten-year runup to Franklin D. Roosevelt's run for U.S. president, to wit, his involvement in the movement to treat and rehabilitate his fellow citizens who, like himself, were paralyzed by the devastating polio epidemic in the early decades of the twentieth century. First as a patient and eventually as its owner at Warm Springs, Georgia, Roosevelt became a champion of his fellow sufferers and found his own will to survive and then flourish. It is a story we've rarely heard, and whether or not the producers have gilded its lily, it makes a beautiful movie. Kenneth Branagh gives us an ambitious, successful, and extraordinarily gifted and big-hearted upper-class man of the people. How much Branagh's FDR resembles the original finally matters less, at least to me, than his full-bodied and nuanced characterization of a driven, then shattered, man who must reinvent himself in order to carry on. That FDR rose from a state of near total despair eventually to run and be elected an unprecedented four times for President provides heady grist for the mill of imagination. This story, in Branagh's hands, is poignant and inspiring with only a slight hint of sentimentality. And he is supported by a strong and elegant script, lush cinematography, and a fine set of perfectly pitched performances by Cynthia Nixon as Eleanor (or "Babs" to Franklin) (actually hers is not my favorite performance; she seemed to be working too hard); Tim Blake Nelson, as the Warm Springs manager who becomes a trusted friend and ally; David Paymer, his perseverant political manager; Kathy Bates, a physical therapist who joins forces to make Warm Springs widely available to polio patients; and Jane Alexander, the cold and overbearing matriarch of Hyde Park. This is a little slice of revisionism that appeals to our desire to have heroes, of whom there have been precious few since FDR.

Across the Universe (2007)

Julie Taymor's 1999 film Titus put me off; I found her iconoclastic use of mixed media and her apparent lust for violence somehow too extreme for Shakespeare's musical and elegant language. In contrast, her current release, Across the Universe, an original movie musical, designed around more than thirty songs written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon as members of the Beatles, captivated, inspired, and moved me. Born in 1952, Taymor, like me, grew up on the Beatles and cut her cultural teeth on the tumultuous years of the war in Vietnam. I imagine that any red-blooded American born in the same era will find points of resonance in this film too numerous to express. Having heard the original versions of these songs for the past over three decades, before seeing Across the Universe I had always taken for granted their ageless appeal. The movie presents a wide cross-section of the Beatles' compositions, ranging from the very early "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (shot in muted pastels) to the later and more cutting-edge "I Am a Walrus" (shot with wildly imaginative psychedelic colors and images). Of particular note is the stunning gospel choir rendition of "Let It Be," but detailed musical and choreographic attention is given to every cover, to magnificent effect.

This is the story of love between Jude and Lucy, told against the backdrop of war, protest, and youthful disillusionment with authority. Jim Sturgess is Jude, the working-class Liverpool lad, who travels to America (Princeton University, to be exact) in search of his biological dad, who flew the coop while Jude was still a "bun in the oven." In the process, he meets Max (Joe Anderson), a disaffected student, who argues over fancy family dinners with his conservative father about making meaning of his life. Max introduces Jude to his sister, Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood), the blonde prep-school girl who evolves from a complacent patriot into a zealous antiwar activist when her high school sweetheart becomes one of the thousands of American casualties of that long, bloody, and ultimately wasted war. When Max is drafted promptly after dropping out of Princeton, the plot is off and running, from the bloody riots on the streets of Detroit to the bloody jungles of Vietnam, with our three heroes trapped in the vortex.

Perhaps we Beatles-loving baby boomers can appreciate the historical and artistic impact of Across the Universe more fully than audiences of a different generation. For us graying Americans, this movie will certainly take its place among the classics.

Hairspray (2007)

I was first introduced to Adam Shankman when he guest-judged on So You Think You Can Dance, which I thoroughly enjoyed watching for the first time this season (it is the best show on television, in my humble opinion). The contestants were treated to a special screening of Hairspray, and the footage of their outing matched the joy Adam Shankman has exuded in every appearance I've seen. The man is a sparkler of exuberant talent. Hairspray is a festival, exquisitely produced and as colorful as a box of Crayolas. Adam Shankman directed and choreographed this film adaptation of the musical stage play that was based on the original 1988 John Waters movie. I haven't seen the original, but I suspect Shankman has preserved its ingenious conceit, which wrapped a serious moral and social film (about racial and class injustice) in so much fun and laughter that it was an easy pill to swallow. Veterans John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Chrisopher Walken, and Queen Latifah lend easy expertise to the movie, which features two young newcomers with wonderful potential, Nikki Blonsky (as Tracy Turnblad) and Elijah Kelley (as Seaweed). Travolta plays Tracy's mother, not in drag but as a woman, and is impressively nimble and feminine in the role. Pfeiffer is a delicious villain who gets her comeuppance most satisfactorily. If only the real world could reflect the equilibrium that Hairspray's earnest characters have achieved--through song, dance, and good intentions.