Bit Players ...
Jun. 8th, 2007 09:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mrdreamjeans"Every life includes a cast of thousands ... Some are principal players, others have walk-on roles and extras are coming and going in the background .... As in real life, you get hams and clowns, comedy and tragedy, seasonal relationships that end all too soon, but are no less sweet to remember. In theater, we work in an intense dynamic for the run of the show, then say, 'Ta-Ta!' Do we weep at the parting? I certainly do! But we add some people to our permanent repertory company ..." - Rue McClanahan on stage life ...
Today, I got to visit with three people who have walk-on roles in my life. Thursday afternoon, out of the blue, I received a call from the artistic director of the local small professional theater. He wanted to know if I was free this afternoon to do a reading and musical stumble-through of the second act of a new musical. The script is a work in progress, based on O. Henry's short story, "The Gift of the Magi". The other invited actors were from Houston. Two of the women I've known for over 25 years, each one trying to maintain theater as a vital element in her life. Both gloriously talented, but long past their ingenue days.
The script was interesting and I read the male character lead, a ne'er do well, a street sweeper, who is being chased by a processor. Everyone assumes he's headed to jail; instead, it turns out he's the third richest man in New York City and shirking his responsibilities. It was very fun to read, as this character plays opposite a role which was being read by an actress who toured with me in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" from 1980-82. Susan walked back into my life. It was an afternoon of oxygen for me. Though the role was written for a bass (low E), the part is funny and tender.
The young guy who is composing the score lives in Stuttgart, Germany and specializes in Ragtime music. He understands orchestrations; but sought and received a lot of feedback about the range and keys for the various roles. In general, all of the songs were in keys which were too low to be performed well. The show may receive a staged reading this August and will be on Unity Theatre's schedule in 2008.
The important part ... It just felt good to be creative again. I love doing demo recordings and readings of new plays and musicals. I like being the first one to sing a song, to help shape it, to give a composer a sense of a song's potential, musically and dramatically. There is an energy about the creative, collaborative process that simply feeds my heart and soul.
I think Rue's words about walk-ons, leading players and extras applies not just to theatre, but to life in general. Sometimes, bit players have taught me the most. Sometimes, the leading players have left me or let me down, replaced by capable and reliable understudies. Given the chance, they proved that they should have been the leading players in my life all along.
I am no longer the young leading man, more often cast in the role of a comfortable steadying influence ... the constant friend, cop, priest, father/brother/uncle with a heart of gold and golden tenor. There's a terrific song from "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" called "Never the Luck". Happily, in singing the song, the character Bazzard gets to shine. The song's about all of those talented folks who never get the break, the Mr Cellophane's of the theatre world.. invisible, but necessary to a show's success. There's a great big secret that good directors and writers understand when casting. A show is only as good as its bit players. So, is your life ....
Today, I got to visit with three people who have walk-on roles in my life. Thursday afternoon, out of the blue, I received a call from the artistic director of the local small professional theater. He wanted to know if I was free this afternoon to do a reading and musical stumble-through of the second act of a new musical. The script is a work in progress, based on O. Henry's short story, "The Gift of the Magi". The other invited actors were from Houston. Two of the women I've known for over 25 years, each one trying to maintain theater as a vital element in her life. Both gloriously talented, but long past their ingenue days.
The script was interesting and I read the male character lead, a ne'er do well, a street sweeper, who is being chased by a processor. Everyone assumes he's headed to jail; instead, it turns out he's the third richest man in New York City and shirking his responsibilities. It was very fun to read, as this character plays opposite a role which was being read by an actress who toured with me in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" from 1980-82. Susan walked back into my life. It was an afternoon of oxygen for me. Though the role was written for a bass (low E), the part is funny and tender.
The young guy who is composing the score lives in Stuttgart, Germany and specializes in Ragtime music. He understands orchestrations; but sought and received a lot of feedback about the range and keys for the various roles. In general, all of the songs were in keys which were too low to be performed well. The show may receive a staged reading this August and will be on Unity Theatre's schedule in 2008.
The important part ... It just felt good to be creative again. I love doing demo recordings and readings of new plays and musicals. I like being the first one to sing a song, to help shape it, to give a composer a sense of a song's potential, musically and dramatically. There is an energy about the creative, collaborative process that simply feeds my heart and soul.
I think Rue's words about walk-ons, leading players and extras applies not just to theatre, but to life in general. Sometimes, bit players have taught me the most. Sometimes, the leading players have left me or let me down, replaced by capable and reliable understudies. Given the chance, they proved that they should have been the leading players in my life all along.
I am no longer the young leading man, more often cast in the role of a comfortable steadying influence ... the constant friend, cop, priest, father/brother/uncle with a heart of gold and golden tenor. There's a terrific song from "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" called "Never the Luck". Happily, in singing the song, the character Bazzard gets to shine. The song's about all of those talented folks who never get the break, the Mr Cellophane's of the theatre world.. invisible, but necessary to a show's success. There's a great big secret that good directors and writers understand when casting. A show is only as good as its bit players. So, is your life ....
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Date: 2007-06-09 05:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 01:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-09 01:39 pm (UTC)The last year I worked with the community theatre back home we did The Lion In Winter (all I did was come onstage between acts and helped change the sets--but in costume as a serf). We had so many freakin' cast parties--I mean MONTHS after the show was over.
I've just reminded myself of doing Summer & Smoke. Another situation where I didn't have any lines--or rather, very few. One of the things I had to do was set change, from someone's house to a smoky roadhouse which I did by comin' on with a lit cigarette in my mouth, suckin' it all in, and just blasting the fumes out. Just after I got the part I saw Saturday Night Life and remember thinking, "OH, That's how I should play that part.
Gads, now I'm on a Williams roll. One year we did Glass Menagerie and I wanted to play Tom. Wanted with a lust that'd make a blues singer moan with desire. Didn't get it, but volunteered to stage manage, which was oddly satisfying. Still, that didn't prevent me from wandering around Elm Street Park, kicking leaves haphazardly as I recited Tom's final monologue.
Just curious, have all your roles been in musicals?
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Date: 2007-06-11 01:23 am (UTC)I find that I prefer musicals or plays with music, as that element speaks to me so strongly.
I'm watching the Tonys right now and have spotted 6 people I know so far ... Gotta love it! HUGS!
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Date: 2007-06-11 12:38 pm (UTC)And then there was the slightly transparent lepard print shirt he was wearing...
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Date: 2007-06-11 02:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 01:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-06-11 06:02 pm (UTC)Glad to hear you've still found ways to be involved in the making of theatre ...or maybe it just has a way of finding you. If you come up with a demo and care to (and are allowed to) share it, you know where to send :0)
Your comments about doing musicals reminds me of a side note: apparently in the old days (and I experienced this in my earliest brush with professional theatre waaaay back in the '60's), musicals commonly had two choruses: one that sang, and one that danced. In your time this has been compressed into one group - a combination of economics and the progress of fine-tuning in the performance arts. (Even in set design we now try to avoid the in-one drop, and favor the single stage environment that serves all scenes.) Obviously your versatility has gotten you places - and still will.
Just remember that whatever the role of the moment, you're still the star of your own life ... and shall always be a star to a lot of us.
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Date: 2007-06-11 07:14 pm (UTC)The choruses have contracted even more. If you're not a triple threat, then chances of being hired are slim; the exception is Phantom where there is a line drawn between dancers (pure ballet) and singers (mostly opera singers). I've been fortunate to be flexible ... but in that flexibility, there is a danger. Sometimes you are too valuable in the chorus. People doing roles are by definition specific to their look and are more often actors who passably sing. Again, there are exceptions.