Thursday, September 28, 2006
Laughing Matters
....is so good! And so deeply moving for an audience...today/s reading at The Chelsea Studios was packed to the walls...room 507 was packed....and it was an audience of some distinction and obvious mileage in our business...many wonderful and well-travelled theater people there...old friends and new...and to watch the room sort of melt from its social facade into a room full of humans all moved by the same dear story...it was wonderful...and i could not stop from laughing at one point, so many people were getting out hankies and kleenexes in the 2nd act...it tells a powerful story, and the music is heart-meltingly beautiful...the several kleenexes i had stuffed in my bra were sodden by the end of the reading...but of course i could use all that emotion in fleshing out my fun character of "Chayesal", the aging character actress of the Warsaw Gang Theater Troupe....we had such a good time telling the story and moving people emotionally....whew! the room gave our reading a total standing ovation when we were through and that is something I have not seen at a reading in a long time...people were genuinely moved...the way QUILTERS used to move people...this does that same thing...everyone has a mother and everyone at one time or another has been a child...so the piece gets right to each and every heart in one way or another by the end...all these crusty old Broadway producers dissolving in tears...it was great!!!!
We do it again tomorrow morning, at 11 for another group of folks, and again , it will be crowded...I feel honored to be part of this right now. I could sense a future for it as we brought it into the room so powerfully this afternoon...I love the cast...really love them...and am glad to add Megan Lawrence and Judy Nazmetz to my list of new friends...two incredibly powerfully talented women...and deeply warm and nice...they play mother and daughter...and can sing and act in ways that i wish all my students could see...if I had only thought ahead....i would have tried to get them there tomorrow....but they probably all have classes....in any event, something like this could teach them a thing or two...especially about full body involvement..watching Judy and Megan work, I learn new things every time....
It feels great to be part of something I like so much. It is an all too rare experience. My respect for Iris Dart, who wrote the book and lyrics, is limitless..I like her tremndously..and Mike Stoller and Artie Butler...I mean, what can you say about two men who literally raised me (though they of course never knew of my existence) through all the brilliant pop music they have written through the years.
Today I was able to tell Mike Stoller of my appreciation and admiration for his work. And his old pal Neil Sedaka was in the audience and he and I established a sweet rapport, as performer and audience member...he was wonderfully responsive to the piece...weeping with the best of them! What a nice man he seems....and because we sing the opening number BREAD AND THEATER right to the audience, i was able to personally attach to many who were there right away, from the top of the show...and that is fun, especially when the song itself says so much!
So, today was fun. I had to miss a Song Analysis class that I usually teach at NYU, but the wondrous James Cunningham, our usual Musical Director in the class, used the time for private coachings....and that is good. I hate missing class. But must when I must!
So, more to report on what goes on tomorrow at LAUGHING MATTERS, and I still want to transcrbe some of the Dalai Lama's weekend sessions....I cannot get him or the Blade Wheel Teachings out of my mind....more soon.
We do it again tomorrow morning, at 11 for another group of folks, and again , it will be crowded...I feel honored to be part of this right now. I could sense a future for it as we brought it into the room so powerfully this afternoon...I love the cast...really love them...and am glad to add Megan Lawrence and Judy Nazmetz to my list of new friends...two incredibly powerfully talented women...and deeply warm and nice...they play mother and daughter...and can sing and act in ways that i wish all my students could see...if I had only thought ahead....i would have tried to get them there tomorrow....but they probably all have classes....in any event, something like this could teach them a thing or two...especially about full body involvement..watching Judy and Megan work, I learn new things every time....
It feels great to be part of something I like so much. It is an all too rare experience. My respect for Iris Dart, who wrote the book and lyrics, is limitless..I like her tremndously..and Mike Stoller and Artie Butler...I mean, what can you say about two men who literally raised me (though they of course never knew of my existence) through all the brilliant pop music they have written through the years.
Today I was able to tell Mike Stoller of my appreciation and admiration for his work. And his old pal Neil Sedaka was in the audience and he and I established a sweet rapport, as performer and audience member...he was wonderfully responsive to the piece...weeping with the best of them! What a nice man he seems....and because we sing the opening number BREAD AND THEATER right to the audience, i was able to personally attach to many who were there right away, from the top of the show...and that is fun, especially when the song itself says so much!
So, today was fun. I had to miss a Song Analysis class that I usually teach at NYU, but the wondrous James Cunningham, our usual Musical Director in the class, used the time for private coachings....and that is good. I hate missing class. But must when I must!
So, more to report on what goes on tomorrow at LAUGHING MATTERS, and I still want to transcrbe some of the Dalai Lama's weekend sessions....I cannot get him or the Blade Wheel Teachings out of my mind....more soon.
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