The Judy connection and five plays in October

As I was lucky enough to see five plays last month, three of them in New York, I felt I should share these experiences. Theatre was always close to Judy’s heart, and not only musicals, she loved straight plays and was often seen at the National Theatre when she lived in London for six months in 1964.  

My daughter, Carolyn, is an Assistant Professor at Shenandoah University in the Drama Department and along with teaching drama, dance, movement, she directs two plays a year and of course I can’t miss them.

The first play we went to see was suburbia by Eric Bogosian and directed by colleague Jonathan Flom. This grim play concerned the activities of a group of young men outside a 7UP store owned by an East Indian. One of their own had obtained success in the rock music world and was coming back to visit.  The play had some earthy humor and probably not to everyone’s taste but I found it quite touching and sad.    

The second was Sweet Charity based on a play by Neil Simon music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields which Carolyn directed.  We viewed the movie with Shirley MacLaine and it appeared more light hearted and glamorous than the script.  But then I realized several other shows from that era were in this category.   I’d seen the movie version of Chicago and Cabaret before stage versions and observed how more gritty and dramatic the stage versions were.  I can only assume the movie producers try to produce something which will attract a wider audience.

Carolyn with Erin Long 

 

Upon my arrival I was taken to a rehearsal and the first person I met was Erin Long, assistant director.  Erin sings the “Judy” part in the classic Judy/Barbra duets “Happy Days are Here Again/Get Happy.”  We talk about when the girls will do this number again, perhaps at a Christmas concert.  Catharine Kay, who sings Barbra, has the role of Charity.  She told me how her admiration for Judy had led her to pursue a career in the theatre.

Carolyn, Catharine Kay and Dr. Albert

 

Several things were going on at the same time.  Alan, the choreographer, was giving direction to the dancers for Bob Fosse’s triple numbers at a night club.  He was a chubby little man in his forties wearing Krogs, but could move!  “How about this?”  or “Try this?”  he suggested, and moved this way and that, twisting his body and arms in strange positions.  The young people picked it up and made magic out of it.   

 

I watched Carolyn stage the poignant cry for help from three dancers in the number, “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This”.   A wistful song wishing their lives could different.  One wanted to be a receptionist or secretary, but she had no skills.  Another wished to be a hat check girl both of these professions were preferable to what they were doing, but they were not motivated to learn any new skills.  That is, all of them except Charity, who was determined to get out of this unpleasant life.

Rafael Martinez-Salgado

 

Other numbers which were rehearsed were “I Love to Cry at Weddings” with Rafael Martinez-Salgado, as Herman, leading the dancers and the rousing “The Rhythm of Life” set in a revival meeting.  

 The subject matter was difficult.  It was set in the 1960s and concerned a group of women working in a dance hall where they are obliged to dance with male customers for $6.50 a time.

(I never remember this type of dance hall in England during this time, but Rafael who played the part of Herman, manager of the dance hall, chatted to me at this rehearsal. He told me that his father when he first arrived from Puerto Rico had seen such dance halls.)   There is a dramatic number, “Big Spender” with a line of girls trying to get customers to choose them for a dance.  One remembers singer Shirley Bassey’s marvelous version of this but in reality it was not really a pleasant scene, a little sad.

 Dr. Albert, the musical director, told me that the music is jazz and challenging for the students to capture the difficult tempos.    

 

The play starts with Charity, a good- natured naïve young woman, being pushed into a lake in the New York Park by her boyfriend, who takes money from her bag.  This was difficult staging but they finally managed to get her into the orchestra pit – onto a mattress without hurting her.  One soaked shoe is enough to prove she is wet.   

Charity singing "If My Friends Could See Me Now"

She meets a nice new young man, but he drops her when he realizes what she does for a living.  Again, in the park, she gets pushed into the lake.  Really not a happy ending!  Carolyn had to find some way to end the play without it being depressing.  Charity scrambles out of the lake, makes the wry comment to the audience, “Have you ever had one of those days?”  Never mind, she is a positive young lady; she has some money and her engagement ring.  She tosses her head and cheerfully goes down into the audience and out of the theatre into a new life.  The show is a success.  The “Big Spender” number, which has girls of different shapes and sizes, is dramatic and dynamic.  The three Bob Fosse dances in the night club are magnificent, the kids work very hard and one could scarcely recognize them from the first rehearsal.  I always enjoy watching a production come to life.       

I took the opportunity while over on the East Coast to visit some of my Judy Friends, talk about my book on Judy, and see a couple of shows.   I managed to see three shows, a jazz club and Metropolitan Museum of Art in three days and get some inspiration for the book! 

While on route to New York by train, two of my young friends were lining up at a discount booth for tickets for Once.  They were unsuccessful and dejected and cold.  We decided to go to dinner and catch up on our lives. I’d been texting my son about Jazz Clubs and he insisted we had to go Smalls down in the village.   Blue Note and Birdland were too commercial he decided.  We both checked on who was playing that evening: The Luis Perdoma Group with Mark Shim on tenor sax.  “Oh I saw him out here you must not miss him,” son insists. We met at the girls’ favorite Thai restaurant and caught up on our lives.  A taxi down to the jazz club; I love NY taxi drivers; they come from all over the world.  Smalls was delicious – an absolute hole in the wall just the way a jazz club should be. Mark Shim, who was born in Jamaica, brought up on Canada, lives in New York now, of course, was marvelous. 

 

with Mark Shim

 

Another friend is a drama critic and she invited me to the matinee preview of Cyrano De Bergerac the next.   But what should I see the next evening?  I had already bought a ticket for Chaplin for the Thursday evening.   Two of my friends had seen Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and loved it so much they wanted to see again.  So I bought a ticket.

 

The Roundabout Theatre is a charming small theatre and I remember see the Natasha Richardson there at the beginning of her career.  I knew nothing about the production, although I had seen the movie with José Ferrer in title role.  British actor-four-time Olivier-nominated actor/director- Douglas Hodge (Cyrano) burst into the theatre, literally from the audience entrance and charged up the aisle challenging those on the stage.  The French leading lady, Clémence Poésy as Roxane has appeared in many movies and BBC programs.  Patrick Page and Kyle Soller were both British actors, also the director Jamie Lloyd.  I thought I was back at the National Theatre in London.  I was in heaven listening to all these English voices.  The audience seem to enjoy the play, particularly the excellently staged sword fights and bakery scene.  

 

Later that day I found myself at the Booth Theatre and wondered if I would enjoy this play, remembering the violence of Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton in the movie.   This was a Chicago Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s production of the play starring Tracy Letts and Amy Morton.  Both of these actors were unknown to me but well-known by the audience as they received applause entering the set.  The set- how magnificent it was- particularly to someone who is an academic and writer; there were books everywhere!   I wanted to go up onto the stage and happily live there forever. 

 

It was funny, I could not believe it.   In the first interval I texted my daughter!!  She insisted I should wait till the second act.  The dialogue was marvelous of course and I suppose it is how the lines are delivered.  Both of the lead actors had appeared against each other as marriage couples several times and knew just how far they could damage each other.  Two other young actors were a part of the ensemble and it was like watching a fast doubles game in tennis.

 

The Metropolitan Museum the next morning and lunch with another Judy friend and we spent the afternoon chatting.       

 

I was slight disappointed about not seeing a musical, but Chaplin made everything all right.  This production had come from the San Diego and Rob McClure had received good reviews but some of the other reviews were mixed.   I was curious what with my British background and love of vaudeville; I felt I had to see it.   Rob McClure was excellent as the little entertainer, who started his life, filling in for his ailing mother in the East End of London.  The play traced Chaplin’s career in America and his battles with Hedda Hopper and investigations by the FBI for supporting the Russian war effort.  There were charming music numbers and the international audience applauded at the beginning and all through the show. 

 

I wonder in a few years’ time which one of these shows will stand out in my memory and how I wished I could have attended some of the rehearsals!    

 

Postscript

 

My daughter, Carolyn Coulson-Grigsby and colleague Jonathan Flom went out this week in the snow storm yet (!) to the Greater Hartford Academy in Connecticut to give an auditioning workshop.  This is where John Fricke helped Eric Larivee put on a show emphasizing Judy’s career in September.  Flom commented about the incredible students and what an amazing job Eric Larivee is doing.  So the Judy connection continues.