Author: theactorvist

I love the Theatre. It's my church. It's my joy. I have been performing in plays and musicals for over half of my life, and I would be lost without it. Now more than ever, people are cutting back on everything that is too expensive or unimportant to their lives. As an actor, heck as a person, I don't know of anything that is more important than the arts. Art reflects history. It shows humanity at its worst but also its best. Every day some artistic program is getting cut from a school or a great show goes unseen. Maybe a talented singer isn't able to audition for American Idol. There are a ton of people who live in the South Bay Area of California, who go unseen or unheard. There are many production companies that are just bursting with talent, but people don't see the shows. I will do my best to bring you interviews with local artists of every kind, send out the call for local companies looking to cast people in productions, and much more. Stay tuned because this is only the beginning.

City Lights Shine Bright With Spamalot!!

I wanted to take a picture with the Black Knight.

I have never been a fan of Spam. I did love the acronym that was used when I was younger: Some Parts Are Meat. I don’t know if people still use the joke.

Unlike spam, Spamalot is not merely an entertainment byproduct. Oh no, sirree!

When this show premiered, I didn’t quite know how I felt about it. I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the recording though. I’ve listened to the cast recording of Spamalot a few times, but it wasn’t something that I felt I would give repeated spins to, with the exception of “The Diva’s Lament” and “Knights of the Round Table/Songs That Go Like This” Reprise. I love the source material, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. But the songs for me at that time seemed overly simple. But then I watched the show… WOW!

Last Sunday afternoon, the munster and I sat in the front row (those poor actors! [I’ll explain in a sec]) excited and yet slightly hesitant about what I was going to see.

As we are waiting, I scan the stage. The challenge with this space is that it isn’t a large stage and it has no proscenium. The set consisted of two grey towers on each side and a long wall across the back of the stage with a set of double doors in the center. Creating a single set design with enough wiggle room for several specific locales is a mind boggling bit of work that I always appreciate, so when Prince Herbert is revealed I was so giddy! I don’t wanna ruin anything for you so that is all I will say. As simple looking as the set looks, it works wonderfully for this afternoon of magic. Kudos to designer Ron Gasparinetti!

In other technical news: I liked most of the costumes, but I was hoping for just a little sparkle on the “Laker” Girls outfits. Okay, a lot more. Just to go with all that energy they had. Other than that, everyone looked great. The number “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” looked outstanding! My favorite costume moment, however, was the Lady of the Lake’s finale dress! I was totally caught off guard with that. And hearing the gasps from the audience, I wasn’t the only one.

One of the hardest but my FAVORITE parts of a show, in my humble opinion, is the choreography. In past musicals that I have seen here, the choreography was okay. It didn’t make me want to “borrow” any moves or give me any inspiration. It was just kind of there. This is totally a “me” thing. That being said, Jennifer Gorgulho’s work is brilliant! She had a hell of a task, too, with all the musical styles that this show touches on. It made me want to dance, and I was smiling from ear to ear right from the get-go with the “Fisch Schlapping Song”. Ms. Gorgulgo, I am a fan!! I cannot wait to see what you work on next.

The tricky thing about this production was that it used prerecorded music. I have no problem with that. I do think that this is a double edged sword though. As an dancer (I use that term very loosely), I find it comforting to know that the song will always be the same. As an actor though, I think that keeping it “live”ly becomes a challenge because the the song will always be the same. That didn’t seem to be a problem for this cast though. They performed the heck out of each number and as testament, I have had the cast recording on repeat in my car since. The only non-positive mention I have about the music/sound is that the cast isn’t mic’d so on a few occasions the music drowns out the soloist. On the flip side of that though, the music doesn’t quite swell to that full orchestral sound on some of the songs that you would expect to get. Again, I stress this is a super small issue.

Under the direction of Jeffrey Bracco, this show moves so smoothly that you get to the intermission before your sides stop hurting from laughing so much. The jokes all “landed” and I swear I was annoying the lady next to me because I was a friggin hyena! I was literally crying/laughing. And yes, I used the word literally the correct way. I felt bad that the cast had to hear me cackling the entire show, but jeezuz it was just SO funny. Then again, it is Monty Python! This cast must have had a blast at rehearsals.

Speaking of, the cast was joyful and energetic and spot on! Their enjoyment was infectious and made me a little envious. My negative comment here has nothing to do with the cast but the program design because there are no images for the cast, so I can’t point out the ensemble people that I couldn’t stop watching. Boo. But to the female ensemble member that gets her stick taken away from the Diva, YOU ARE DIVINE!!! Your reactions were perfect and your dancing was no joke! Loved watching you. The two tapping gents on the box in the casino number, kudos!! Now, while the cast was fabulous, I HAVE to tell you that there are some brilliant performances here. Nick Manfredi does triple duty as Sir Robin, Guard, and Maynard while Mackenszie Drae steals the show with his Sir Lancelot, Guard, French Taunter, Ni, and Tim (which slayed me when he says “Below me is a cave…”). Their characters were not only so rich but they all had slightly differing accents. Staying in the moment with all that and quick witty dialogue is remarkable. However, Josiah Frampton as Patsy, James Snell as Sir Galahad (which has my favorite scene regarding the crowning of a king by a lady in a lake) and Black Knight (second favorite scene) and Ryan Mardesich as Historian, Not-Dead Fred, Minstrel and Prince Herbert also give incredibly wonderful performances. Leading these knights is the great Ken Boswell. It is hard to be the strong leader with so many funny scene stealing characters around but he does a fantastic job.

Do yourself a big favor, go to this site and order your tickets right now! Click the green box under the company name. I swear it is ready to sell out! I will probably go and see it again, it was just that good!

City Lights Theatre Company is in downtown San Jose on 2nd Street. No seat is a bad seat, trust me! Order your tickets NOW!!!

Not Yet. Please Not Yet…

Photo Courtesy of Edmond Kwong at Imagewurx

If you are really lucky, you get the chance to be in productions where you wish it wouldn’t end. At least once. I have been crazy for Crazy For You.

The reasons can be for anything; you love the role that you are playing, the show is going to Broadway, or like my case, the cast works so incredibly well together. We have celebrated birthdays for multiple people every single week of performances. We have laughed, been silly, stressed out, and danced ourselves sticky sweaty these last 10 weeks of rehearsals and performances.

It isn’t every show that I truly look forward to seeing every person every day. I feel a wee bit sad that I won’t get to see them as much. Even though I have left the theatre at the end of the night sometimes with the need to soak in an ice bath or a tub of icy hot and bruised up, I have had a truly wonderful time working alongside such an outstanding group of people from every aspect of this production.

Every drop of sweat, every achy muscle, and every bit of glue has been well spent. I think this little gem sparkles just right. But just for two more performances. Friday and Saturday…

I am going to be a sad mess on Saturday.

Maybe even Sunday.

I am not looking forward to this.

When People Think It’s Unlikely…

By Bobby Child

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It seems to me that in this modern day and time people don’t believe in love at first sight like we did when I was young.

As a young man, I lived a bit of a naive life in New York. I thought all I had to do was to just get to the right person and all the doors to the backstage of theatres would magically slam open for me. Mother always disliked the idea. She said repeatedly that “there is no way of making a living doing such useless things.” Nevertheless, I tried numerous times to catch the attention of Bela Zangler thinking that he was the key.

In a way, he was.

After the sixth audition that ended in an unbearably embarrassing fashion, (not that the others ended that much better) I knew that I probably would never get another shot. At least for a few years. My only shot was to see if my friends could smooth things over with Mr. Zangler. They were dancers in his show and he liked them well enough. Time was the big factor. Well, time and a few other people.

The problem was that both Irene, who was just a girlfriend who invited herself to be something more, and Mother, wanted me to follow in Father’s footsteps and be a “money man.” You see, what they didn’t know is that Father despised that life. Aside from the company parties and gentlemen clubs, there was no true passion in his life outside his marriage. He told me once that it was something he would always regret. He only committed to his job because of the power and life that came with it. Of course, Mother became accustomed to that life so when he passed she fought to keep his position on the board. But the difference was she enjoyed the challenge this brought her. This was her passion. Tangible, visually apparent and quantifiable results are what drove her. I don’t know if she understands the feeling of letting go of the pent up energy and emotion with a simple tap step or pirouette. The feeling of lightness that takes over the body and refuses to let gravity hold it down. Come to think of it, I don’t think I had ever seen her and Father dancing. Or just being silly.

When Mother sent me to Dead Rock, Nevada, I honestly just thought that it would be nice to get away from that voice of authority and that voice of control that was running my life in the city. I felt smothered and trapped. But out in the big openness of Nevada, I found a quiet that I couldn’t find anywhere.

Then I heard her.

Her voice sounded just like the openness and the fire that was causing that town to be so blazing hot. But that was nothing.

I picked myself up to look at that passionate voice and saw the little spit fire that I would chase until I caught. She was aglow with life. True life! Someone that had felt what hard work was but still looked effortlessly beautiful. Someone who earned all that she had and understood the value of what she earned. There was no pretense. She was exactly who I saw standing in front of me.

And it was love at first sight.

For me anyway.

If The Purge Was Real…

I think I would die.
I am not one for real world violence.
I don’t understand the need to hurt people. Doesn’t matter if it is emotional or physical. That’s why I can’t understand the popularity of MMA. Is there an innate bloodlust gene in us left over from our nomadic cave dwelling ancestors or maybe even further back?

Tonight I had tickets to see The Purge: Anarchy. I was anxious about seeing it all day. Specifically for the reason stated above. I know this is simply a movie.

The plot of the movie is that one night a year all crime is legal. The logic (?!!!) behind it is that you can get all your frustrations and grudges settled and be a model citizen for the entire rest of the year. Crime rates are way down and the gap between the haves and have-nots has miraculously shrank as well.

As the movie plays out, I began to see it as a story of profiteering through classism. Government or more specifically the military plays a role in the murder of innocent people in the movie for the sake of profit. Is it a subtle nudge to America saying “Wake the hell up, people?!” Could be.

I don’t want to spoil the story for you but when you find out about our unlikely anti-hero, it also sends a message of hope that even in the worst groups, there is a conscience.

While it made me anxious and unnerved and flinch A LOT, I really liked this movie. Go in thinking it is just another gratuitous gore fest, and I think you will be surprised by the story. Yes the commercials gave away too much information. And yes, there is a ton of blood and violence but look at all of the subtext too. That for me is where the real story is. There are so many questions that I left the theatre with.

Like I said with it just being a movie, I wondered were there people that would actually take to something like this. Then, as if on cue, a hulk of a mouth breather began spouting off horrible things like “I wanna purge right now! I wish I didn’t leave my knife in the car!” This, as he is walking between two people that had skin much darker than his own. It’s those people that scare me when it comes to movies like this.

But it is just a movie.

I give it a solid B+!!

Yo, Adrian… Broadway’s Rocky is a knockout!

When I first heard about the 70’s Sly Stallone movie being made into a musical, I laughed and rolled my eyes. Then, when I found out that Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island, The Glorious Ones, Seussical) were involved, I stopped laughing. I went from being intrigued by how bad this could be to excited that this could be as good as the movie.

The noted duo have written some of my most favorite Broadway songs, many of them from the incredible OoTI, as it turns out. They have a knack for creating songs that seem to come from the very guts of the character and in turn they get a very deep emotional response from me. And with Rocky, their brilliance continues.

Up for 4 awards at tonight’s Tony Awards (CBS @ 8pm PST) “Rocky” is the story of a struggling boxer, Rocky Balboa (Andy Karl) who gets the break of a lifetime when reigning heavyweight champ, Apollo Creed (Terence Archie) offering him a shot at the belt. It is the ultimate underdog story. You can’t help but to root for him tk win the match and to get the girl.
Stand out numbers for me are Adrian’s (Margo Seibert) “Raining” and “I’m Done,” Rocky and Adrian’s charming duet “Flip Side of Me,” and Rocky’s beautiful ballad “Keep on Standing.”

Can it be on tour already? I am currently impatiently waiting until it does. The images in the booklet are so striking that I try to force them to move. So far, it hasn’t been working.

I guess for now I will have to settle with watching the source material and placing the songs in mentally.

But not tonight. CUZ THE TONY’S ARE ON!!!