Archives for December 2017

“Habits are not unpleasant things for the old if not tyrannical.”

Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., letter to Harold Laski, July 27, 1930 (courtesy of Patrick Kurp)

Here’s the official video trailer for Billy and Me, my second play, which opens tonight at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was created by Cliff Burgess, a member of the cast:

To order tickets or for more information, go here.

Palm Beach Dramaworks’ production of Billy and Me, my second play, opens tonight in West Palm Beach. With two smooth public previews under our belts, I feel confident about the upcoming occasion. I wish Mrs. T could be here to share it with me, but saving her absence, I expect to have a perfectly marvelous time tonight.

Truth to tell, my opening nights have always been happy events. If past experience holds true, I’ll be excited, but not nervous. I’ve never been like George S. Kaufman, who found them so anxiety-making that he was incapable of sitting down to watch his own shows. As Moss Hart recalled in Act One,

Back and forth across the back of the theatre he paced at a tremendous clip, staring down at the carpet and heedless of what or who might be in front of him. The ushers threw him a sidelong look and gave him a wide berth. He paced up and down like a man possessed, as indeed he was possessed at those moments, by a demon that only the laughter of an audience in the proper places could exorcise.

For whatever reason, that’s not me. I sit quietly in my seat and watch the show, always aware of the audience’s unfolding reaction but nonetheless fully engaged with the actors on stage, and when the curtain falls, I breathe a sigh of relief and feel good about the whole thing. Go figure.

In preparation for the big night, I present—as I always do before my opening nights—the following clip, which I first saw on TV as a child and which in recent years has become increasingly relevant to my life.

Break a leg, everybody:

A scene from the second act of William Inge’s Picnic, directed by Josh Logan and performed by Scott Jackson, Eileen Heckart, Ralph Meeker, Janice Rule, and Kim Stanley, all members of the play’s original cast. This performance was telecast on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 17, 1953, two months after Picnic opened on Broadway, and is introduced by Sullivan:

(This is the latest in a series of arts-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

“Mr. Fennyman, allow me to explain about the theatre business. The natural condition is one of insurmountable obstacles on the road to imminent disaster.”

Tom Stoppard, screenplay for Shakespeare in Love

Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more information, click on the title.

BROADWAY:
• The Band’s Visit (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Dear Evan Hansen (musical, PG-13, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)
• Hamilton (musical, PG-13, Broadway transfer of off-Broadway production, all shows sold out last week, reviewed here)

OFF BROADWAY:
• Pride and Prejudice (comedy, G, remounting of Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival production, closes Jan. 6, original production reviewed here)

CLOSING NEXT WEEK OFF BROADWAY:
• The Home Place (drama, PG-13, closes Dec. 17, reviewed here)

CLOSING SUNDAY OFF BROADWAY:
• The Portuguese Kid (comedy, PG-13, reviewed here)

“He said that after he had written the first bar on the page of a full score, the rest was all mechanical drudgery and that in every art there was 10% of real ‘making’ to 90% of spadework.”

Ralph Vaughan Williams (cited in C.S. Lewis, diary entry, July 24, 1922, courtesy of Richard Zuelch)

Palm Beach Dramaworks has scheduled two public previews of Billy and Me, my second play, prior to Friday’s opening-night performance. The first one takes place this evening, and we think we’re ready for it. Yes, there’s a bit more work to be done before the curtain goes up, but Bill Hayes, the director, liked what he saw at the final dress rehearsal on Tuesday, and so did I. If you’re coming to tonight’s preview, you can expect to see a well-polished production.

This isn’t to say there won’t be any bobbles. My guess, though, is that you won’t notice them: the lines are learned, the blocking down pat, and the show we’ll be performing tonight is the same one we’ll be performing on Friday, give or take a few minor adjustments. After four and a half weeks of unremittingly hard work, the time has come to light the candle.

I’ll be in the audience, double-checking my copy of the script to make sure that it incorporates all of the changes that we’ve made in the past few days. For the most part, though, I plan to sit back and enjoy myself. I hope you do the same.

* * *

To order tickets or find out more about the world premiere production of Billy and Me, go here.