Tuesday, January 13, 2009
My OC Register Arts Blog today...
...is about director Tom O'Horgan, whose death was reported in The New York Times.
Monday, January 12, 2009
My debut with the Orange County Register
Check out my guest blog there at: http://artsblog.freedomblogging.com/2009/01/12/warming-up-for-death-of-a-salesman-tonight%e2%80%a6/6248/
Right now, I am more regularly posting to my work blog at:
http://sparkoc.blogpost.com, so check that out.
More personal posts, inappropriate for my work blog, will continue to appear here as time permits.
Right now, I am more regularly posting to my work blog at:
http://sparkoc.blogpost.com, so check that out.
More personal posts, inappropriate for my work blog, will continue to appear here as time permits.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Pausing to Take Stock
Two consummate artists I had the pleasure of meeting passed within days of each other. Much has been written about the more famous of the two (both Brits), and I can't say I knew Harold Pinter intimately. But Alison and I did meet him following his performance in No Man's Land, a 1990s West End revival of a play he had written many years earlier. I was pleased that Orange County Register theater critic Paul Hodgins reprinted his piece on Pinter of a few years ago in which I recounted the story of my encounter with the great writer.
The other, Adrian Mitchell, was a noted poet and playwright, among whose projects was a stage adaptation of Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales, which I staged in the 90s at Laguna Playhouse. The play with music had been produced by many theaters over the years, and I first encountered it when I was managing director of the Grove Shakespeare Festival/Grove Theater Company, where it was reprised each year. One year, the director took some liberties with the script, framing the story with a prologue scene in a pub where we meet the poet Dylan Thomas as an adult.
When I planned my own production, I contacted Adrian Mitchell and told him about that concept and that I hoped to re-create it in some way. He graciously offered to pen a handful of lines for the pub opening. I invited him to come see it, and though I can't remember exactly how we did it, arranged for him and his wife Celia to visit. The exquisite Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach kindly provided a complimentary room--their best corner seaside view room, no less--and we gave a warm Southern California welcome to them (despite experiencing very English rain & chill during their stay).
A year later, Alison and I found ourselves in London, and the Mitchell's insisted on our coming over to their home in Hampstead for breakfast. Celia was gregarious and opinionated while Adrian was soft-spoken--though no less opinionated.
The New York Times ran a substantial obituary on Christmas eve and I learned much about him that I had not known--for instance, that he collaborated with Peter Brook on the legendary production of Marat/Sade in 1964.
Over the years, I failed to keep in touch with the Mitchells, and was saddened to learn of his death through the newspaper. He was a remarkable man.
Until next time...
Rick
The other, Adrian Mitchell, was a noted poet and playwright, among whose projects was a stage adaptation of Dylan Thomas's A Child's Christmas in Wales, which I staged in the 90s at Laguna Playhouse. The play with music had been produced by many theaters over the years, and I first encountered it when I was managing director of the Grove Shakespeare Festival/Grove Theater Company, where it was reprised each year. One year, the director took some liberties with the script, framing the story with a prologue scene in a pub where we meet the poet Dylan Thomas as an adult.
When I planned my own production, I contacted Adrian Mitchell and told him about that concept and that I hoped to re-create it in some way. He graciously offered to pen a handful of lines for the pub opening. I invited him to come see it, and though I can't remember exactly how we did it, arranged for him and his wife Celia to visit. The exquisite Surf and Sand Resort in Laguna Beach kindly provided a complimentary room--their best corner seaside view room, no less--and we gave a warm Southern California welcome to them (despite experiencing very English rain & chill during their stay).
A year later, Alison and I found ourselves in London, and the Mitchell's insisted on our coming over to their home in Hampstead for breakfast. Celia was gregarious and opinionated while Adrian was soft-spoken--though no less opinionated.
The New York Times ran a substantial obituary on Christmas eve and I learned much about him that I had not known--for instance, that he collaborated with Peter Brook on the legendary production of Marat/Sade in 1964.
Over the years, I failed to keep in touch with the Mitchells, and was saddened to learn of his death through the newspaper. He was a remarkable man.
Until next time...
Rick
Saturday, June 21, 2008
My article on Israeli theatre has been reprinted on All About Jewish Theatre
You can now read the full article online at:
http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=2871
http://www.jewish-theatre.com/visitor/article_display.aspx?articleID=2871
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Chalice Nonsense
Having just seen the new Indiana Jones movie, we noticed that the third film was on TV and taped it, catching a few moments when setting it up, and hearing the word "chalice."
OK, you Catholics, that's not an unusual word for you to hear, but for us Jews...
Anyway, hearing that word always reminds me of the 1955 film "The Court Jester" starring Danny Kaye in which the "who's on first"-style tongue twisting lines about the "chalice from the palace" are recited with great hilarity.
I looked them up, and am delighted to share them with you:
Hawkins: I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right! -- but there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace...
Hawkins: They broke the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: ...and replaced it. With a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: ...but did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon, the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that!
Yeah...right!
Until next time,
Rick
OK, you Catholics, that's not an unusual word for you to hear, but for us Jews...
Anyway, hearing that word always reminds me of the 1955 film "The Court Jester" starring Danny Kaye in which the "who's on first"-style tongue twisting lines about the "chalice from the palace" are recited with great hilarity.
I looked them up, and am delighted to share them with you:
Hawkins: I've got it! The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with the pestle; the chalice from the palace has the brew that is true! Right?
Griselda: Right! -- but there's been a change: they broke the chalice from the palace...
Hawkins: They broke the chalice from the palace?
Griselda: ...and replaced it. With a flagon.
Hawkins: A flagon?
Griselda: With the figure of a dragon.
Hawkins: Flagon with a dragon.
Griselda: Right.
Hawkins: ...but did you put the pellet with the poison in the vessel with the pestle?
Griselda: No! The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon! The vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true!
Hawkins: The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon, the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true.
Griselda: Just remember that!
Yeah...right!
Until next time,
Rick
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Slave Market Thriving on Facebook
Arguably, the most popular application on the social networking website Facebook is "Friends for Sale," a mildly diverting game in which one "buys" and "sells" friends--and total strangers--for fun and "profit."
Having discovered it a number of weeks ago, only recently have I begun to intuit the "finer points" of amassing large amounts of capital in the form of "human pets" and "cash."
Any Facebooker can add the app free and, upon logging in, receive $10,000 in the equivalent of Monopoly money. Logging in every four hours (but not before) gains additional infusions of 10 Gs, so that's always a wise thing to do.
Every player has a "price" which rises as s/he is continually bought and sold (and which earns the "slave" a small percentage for his/her own pot of money).
The more actively one buys and sells, the faster the capital builds, but it's possible to get "stuck" with a dud whom nobody buys or who is much less actively traded.
Mostly, but not totally, mindless, "FFS," as it's affectionately known, says a lot about the attraction of connecting with strangers. While not entirely anonymous (most Facebookers post real profiles and real photos since it's regarded first and foremost as a means to keep in touch with real friends), there's certainly a sort of thrill when purchasing someone you don't know from some far away land and engaging in some free market commerce.
I've developed a strategy that seems to be working, as my FFS coffers have more than $1 million and I own several hundred thousand dollars in virtual "slaves."
But nobody is pleading to "let my people go." There's absolutely nothing you can make your FFS slave do for you anyway.
Until next time...
Rick
Having discovered it a number of weeks ago, only recently have I begun to intuit the "finer points" of amassing large amounts of capital in the form of "human pets" and "cash."
Any Facebooker can add the app free and, upon logging in, receive $10,000 in the equivalent of Monopoly money. Logging in every four hours (but not before) gains additional infusions of 10 Gs, so that's always a wise thing to do.
Every player has a "price" which rises as s/he is continually bought and sold (and which earns the "slave" a small percentage for his/her own pot of money).
The more actively one buys and sells, the faster the capital builds, but it's possible to get "stuck" with a dud whom nobody buys or who is much less actively traded.
Mostly, but not totally, mindless, "FFS," as it's affectionately known, says a lot about the attraction of connecting with strangers. While not entirely anonymous (most Facebookers post real profiles and real photos since it's regarded first and foremost as a means to keep in touch with real friends), there's certainly a sort of thrill when purchasing someone you don't know from some far away land and engaging in some free market commerce.
I've developed a strategy that seems to be working, as my FFS coffers have more than $1 million and I own several hundred thousand dollars in virtual "slaves."
But nobody is pleading to "let my people go." There's absolutely nothing you can make your FFS slave do for you anyway.
Until next time...
Rick
Monday, June 2, 2008
Story Theater
Sad news today from playwright/friend Jeffrey Sweet ("The Value of Names"), who reported on the passing of Paul Sills. I was shocked to learn that Sills was 80. He had that perpetually youthful demeanor that made you feel he'd never die, and while I never had the opportunity to work with him, Jeff said he was a real piece of work--not easy at all, but brilliant.
My only experience of his work were the two Broadway productions he created in the early 1970s: STORY THEATER and METMORPHOSES.
These had a profound influence on me in teaching me that a bare stage and talented actors and an imaginative director were all that was needed to create compelling theatre. I have emulated that example on a number of occasions as a director, and Sills is definitely one of the key reasons.
So, RIP Paul Sills, and I hope you look down fondly upon those of us who continue to perpetuate your style.
Until next time...
Rick
My only experience of his work were the two Broadway productions he created in the early 1970s: STORY THEATER and METMORPHOSES.
These had a profound influence on me in teaching me that a bare stage and talented actors and an imaginative director were all that was needed to create compelling theatre. I have emulated that example on a number of occasions as a director, and Sills is definitely one of the key reasons.
So, RIP Paul Sills, and I hope you look down fondly upon those of us who continue to perpetuate your style.
Until next time...
Rick
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