Interview with Stephanie Zimbalist

Actress Stephanie Zimbalist certainly needs no introduction. With her star turn on Remington Steele on TV in the 80s, her multiple MOWs and frequent stage appearances all over the country, she is an actor in demand. In this conversation she talks about the challenges of playing Katharine Hepburn in Matthew Lombardo's Tea at Five, which she recently completed for the Rubicon in Ventura and is about to open at the Falcon Theatre in Burbank on October 22.

  Just how difficult  and challenging is it to play Katharine Hepburn? How does one prepare for this?

A lot of luck! Reading her autobiography and combing through it for what’s between its lines was very helpful. I started the first rehearsal four years ago already basically off-book. I think frankly that was a great suggestion on both John Tillinger’s and Matthew Lombardo’s parts, for that first Ordway production I did.

Had someone suggested the part to you or did you yourself feel you were right for it?


Daryl Roth, one of the original NYC producers of TEA – who cut her producing teeth with Linda Purl and me on THE BABY DANCE, by the way – asked me to do Wednesday matinees for that first NYC Promenade production of TEA with Kate Mulgrew , back in….2005, was it?  I declined, too much work for too little payoff.  Then Matthew Lombardo himself was producing a production at the Ordway in St. Paul, MN in 2006 and asked me to do it, on his director John Tillinger’s “nudge.”  Thank you, Joey.  P.S. There was a scheduling snafu, Tillinger was in Italy, so Chris Catti the fab stage manager put me into the show at our MTC rehearsal space, and I basically directed myself the first time I did it!  What a trip THAT was!  I left out six pages in the first act one night, and the playwright, in the audience that night, didn’t even notice!

If the play has a purpose - like Hepburn writing a memoir or giving an interview - what do you think it is? She has always been so private!

          

I think what the audience walks away with is that marvelous dichotomy of the young, The Screen Icon morphing before your eyes into The Triumphant Old Lady Survivor – just like US.

Your association with Jenny Sullivan and with the Rubicon in Ventura has always been wonderful. Talk a little about that.

Thank you, Jenny, thank you Karyl Lynn and Jim!  For TEN times at bat at the Rubicon.  Wonderful place to work, actor-oriented, Ventura is charming, easy, COOL, and lovely, and close to home.  Jenny and I go way back to Jane Anderson’s The Baby Dance, KLB and Jim saw it and first hired Jenny and Linda Purl for their inaugural Little Foxes production (I heard every detail from Minneapolis where I was having a GREAT time tackling ‘Terry’ in Side Man at the Guthrie).  Then they asked me to play ‘Lizzie’ in The Rainmaker (with fellow Baby Dancer, the great John Bennett Perry), which we reprised the next season.  Another Hepburn role.  After I met KH (she ran up the backstage stairs of the Lortel in NYC to congratulate all of us Baby Dancers in 1991), I played Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story for Sheldon Epps at the Cleveland PlayHouse – another Hepburn role.  I haven’t seen a lot of her movies, but I have many to look forward to!  My favorite so far, acting-wise, is her ‘Mary Tyrone’ in A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. 

 What about roles you've played? Do you have a favorite? Why ?

Loved playing Sylvia, close to my dog-like heart.  I’d do it again, if asked, at the right venue.  A.R. Gurney’s beloved play About The Dog.

You were terrific in Sylvia. Is there a role you really want to tackle?

         

Would love to do The Rose Tattoo amd Margulies' The Loman Family Picnic, among others.

Maybe you should consider bringing back Coco, now that you've done Tea at Five. You are a terrific singer and could do your own thing with that. Any desires to do a musical?

Love musicals, never saw Coco, but if KH says it sucked, so be it, she's probably right.

So you are happy at present with Tea at Five?

          

This might be the best thing I’ve done to date, and this is my fifth time at bat with it, a really solid text that is a real crowd-pleaser, a beautiful set and delicious lighting, great music, lovely costumes if I can lose that last 10 pounds, and Jenny Sullivan’s wonderful touch at the helm.  I’d say, all a bargain for the cost of the ticket!

For tix, visit
www.falcontheatre.com

Interview with Salome Jens

Actress Salome Jens is an actor's actor. She considers acting a pure art form and is ever respectful of every single role she plays. From films like Angel Baby to Mae Olinski in TV's Mary Hartman Mary Hartman to her one-woman play About Anne, her work is passionate, thoughtful and evocative. She will be performing About Anne @ Group rep in NoHo November 19 and 20 as a benefit for the theatre. In our chat recently conducted on the stage of Group rep, she talks about the roots of About Anne (poet Anne Sexton, who struggled her entire short life with mental illness and committed suicide) and other theatrical passions.


How did this project first evolve?


I was asked by Los Angeles Actors Theatre when they were on Oxford (80s)...Dana Elcar asked if I wanted to do this particular piece. He said he would produce it there with Hank Hoffman who was already working on it in the women's prison; he was already doing the part that I eventually did; it was dance choreography and a dramatic combination, all poetry, and they were taking it into the prison. The Transformations, as it was called, is about Grimms Fairy Tales. It opened up a lot of wonderful exciting things with movement. Dana asked if I would do the front part of it, about 20 minutes of poetry, so I went to the prison, and it was just so interesting, because these women...and he was doing it in a strange way...he was doing it like he thought Anne (Sexton) did it (she deepens her voice as if performing)...A story, a story, let it go, let it come...all in that poetic way...I felt I would never want to do it like that, because all those poems have events, things are happening in her life. She was the first confessional poet. I thought I would want to do it in such a way that would be more interesting for the theatre. What I noticed was the women, they responded to this poetry, and how rapt they were and how they were healing themselves and their lives. Some of them (the prisoners) were writing at that point, because they had writing seminars, which I thought was really exciting. So I decided to look into this, and I had not known Sexton prior to this. I started to delve into who she was and what she did and how extraordinary this was. I saw that this poetry would be exciting for me to do out of the event and really make the event happen. I did it and it got fantastic reviews. I was given the opportunity to put together a whole evening to open the McCadden Place Theatre. So I thought, "How can I turn 20 minutes into a whole event?" I had gotten the best reviews of my entire life, so something was happening with me and Anne. I started to go through the poetry and in about two nights put together what I wanted to say, after I had learned about her and lived with her for a while. All the elements of her life were there...her mother, her father, her husband, her marriage, her children, her divorce, her search for God and finally what she saw about life. Fascinating to discover, she did her poetry to rock bands, so I thought, "This is not a depressed suicide; this is a woman who loves life like I do and has an enormous appetite. Those leaping metaphors are absolutely incredible. It is someone who eats up life, who absorbs it and is feasting on life." I also discovered in the midst of doing her that I was an alcoholic - and I now have, by the way, 29 years of sobriety...


Bless you!


...but in some way Anne saved my life, because I thought I could go that way (suicide), but I see who she is, I have what she has, and I have my own love of life and my own passion...and so what I get to do is to take her into the world...


How therapeutic for so many people!


...It just took off, and people loved it. 


Am I correct... I believe I read that it was a therapist that recommended that she write poetry?


Yes, but not poetry. He said, "Write! You need to write." And the interesting thing is she had a mother who was very jealous of her or least she thought she was. She stopped writing when she was a young girl and was very resentful of the mother. Obviously, they were very competitive. She left home at 18 and eloped with a wool salesman. There was a lot of pain, and she was obviously a rebel, a wonderful rebel. After the birth of her first baby, she had a breakdown. Then the psychiatrist recommended that she write. At that point in her thirties until the time she died, everything she wrote was published. Everything. And she was a Pulitzer Prize winning poet! It is astonishing that in such a short time, and being a woman on top of it, that it could have happened. She was certainly a friend of Sylvia Plath, and she studied at Harvard with Robert Lowell. So she really grabbed on and went to wonderful people to learn.


How often have you done this play?


After that initial 6 week run at the McCadden Place Theatre in 1985 ... my brother-in-law, Anthony Zerbe and Roscoe Lee Browne had a company called Poetry in Motion. Anthony started to book me into universities, women's clubs, places like that. I still do that.


Do you think that this is the best part you have ever played?


No. What it is, as they say, is something that I...a gift I can give when people need something. Every time I've done it, my students see something about the acting and what can happen. No. I was at Lincoln Center...After the Fall and A Moon for the Misbegotten, I think was perhaps for me and Mitch Ryan

...we were the first actors who did it off-Broadway at Circle In the Square...a major O'Neill play. Then they did it on Broadway, after we had done it.


What a shame that you didn't get a chance to do it on Broadway!


Exactly, I really feel sad about that. It was a piece we certainly felt very powerfully about. And I've done many other roles... Cleopatra, Martha in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? I also did a benefit of that for the Actors Studio. It's a hard play, but, boy, is it fun to do!


Do you still teach?


Oh yes. I work with the MFAs at UCLA. I will do the winter quarter now. I also have my private classes... I've been teaching for about 30 years.


You obviously love doing it ...and the word around town is that everybody loves you.


Well...I call myself not an acting teacher but an actress who teaches. It's not my profession. I would never make my living off of teaching. I can't ask the actors to pay. I'm very reasonable. I don't teach for profit. Coming from the Actors Studio and working with Strasberg...he was my teacher for over 25 years...I got it for free...that's where I met Lonny (Chapman)...having had the privilege of working with these geniuses...Harold Clurman, Stella Adler...but Lee was my mainstay, to have the Studio there, to grow in, for free, with all these wonderful people...I mean, amazing to see all the peer group working, that they had the same problems that I had, and I was learning, learning, learning...and the wonderful thing about Lee was, he was evolving too. We grow; we never stop growing. I still do a lot of moderating at the Studio. It made a home for all of us.


Let's switch to Star Trek and Deep Space Nine! Did you have fun with that?


It was fine. It was rather a Godsend in a way. I had no idea when I was doing it what it would turn into. It's amazing, because that character (Female Shapeshifter)...everybody thinks she's so evil...I love the character, "Why do you think she's evil?" She was looking at everyone saying, "You're crazy fighting. Where I come from there's no fighting. You can be anything you want. What are you doing?" The cast was wonderful; the stories were interesting. Like a Greek tragedy, there's something quite wonderful that happened with all of them. And the mythology around it now is just so lovely. I went to one of the Star Trek Conventions last summer, and there were 5,000 people there. All of them so dedicated and sweet...from all over the world. I get fan mail from Japan, Germany, all over the place. It's amazing!


What other film work have you enjoyed?


I loved working with John Frankenheimer on Seconds. That was with Rock (Hudson), an absolutely wonderful film. I certainly loved doing Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.


I'm glad you said that. That's one of my favorites. I still have an image of you in my mind lying on a bed wearing Tom's baseball cap and smoking after your supposed tryst with him...hilarious!


It was a wonderful group of actors, and we'd get the script the night before and shoot it the next day. You had to be up, to act on your feet!


Do you have a favorite director?


Jose Quintero.


I studied with him. What a lovely man and great teacher!


Genet's The Balcony. That was the big thing in my life. It was one of the first plays that put me on the map. 

Jose had seen me do the Ionesco plays at the Sullivan Street Theatre (New York). I'm walking down the street one day, and he comes up to me...and I didn't know him yet, I just knew that he did Iceman (Cometh). He said, "I'd like you to be in my play! Come and get a script. I have an idea." He asked me to do the Whorse Girl (Pony Girl), the whore that was a horse, like Napoleon's stallion. I didn't understand the play at all. The most creative, incredible experience of my life! We choreographed that thing in about 15 minutes. He told me to just work on the stallion. "Have you ever seen them tame a horse?" I told him I was born on a farm, so knew something about it. I said, "You mean, I can prance and whinny and bite?" (She joyously makes all the sounds.) He said, "Yeah, all of that!" He gave me a wonderful entrance down a staircase. I had a kimono on.The guy was there that was my Napoleon. He has me walk around him and disrobe. Out comes this tail. I have to dress him and take him to war, to Chopin's march (she intones music). The audience was on their feet! He told me to work on the horse...and he gave me everything! Now when a director does that...! He knew how to best illuminate it! He had a genius about staging so that you got it!


When you teach your students, what do you tell them?


10 years to make an actor, 20 a master. Are you willing to go to work? If you're not, this is the wrong place.
There is a craft to learn. If you can't commit to at least 2 years with me, don't commit, 'cause that's how much time it would take for you even to begin to get what I'm talking about. And when I'm dealing with my MFAs at UCLA, I have to tell them to forget everything they've learned. They're acting all over the place and screaming and shouting...all signifying nothing! I have to start from the beginning. And with my work with Lee I realized there are wonderful exercises to bring people home, not because I want them to be themselves, but I want them to be able to connect to being human. And how else, unless you are, unless you can be, human and look first, "What do I know?" And characters are about who, what, when, where and why? Not what they do in life. I have to get all the facts and then I can make character choices. I've got to be able to marry the character.


Salome Jens is that committed as an actress! How lucky students are to have her as a teacher! She is so joyously passionate about everything she does. 
See her in About Anne @ Group rep in NoHo November 19 and 20! Call 818-700-4878! Tix are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. The Lonny Chapman Theatre is @ 10900 Burbank Boulevard in NoHo.

Double Grande of Legendary Duets Fame Present STILTZ The Musical

(Johnson with musical partner Wayland Pickard in one of their Legendary Duets collaborations.)

Prolific musician Deborah Johnson has composed the music for an exciting new musical Stiltz! set to open Friday, September 24 at the Actors Forum Theatre in NoHo. On Stiltz!, Johnson also serves as musical director. Her partner Wayland Pickard (in photo above), another virtuoso, is co-directing the musical with Doug Engalla.

Tell me about Stiltz! and what makes it unique as a musical.

DJ: Stiltz! is a modern take on the Rumpelstiltskin tale set in Office #7 on the first floor with a computer nerd, inventor father and evil boss. It is unique as a musical because many of the songs can stand on their own. One of the biggest comments that I get is that people cannot stop singing the songs. There’s lots of singing and dancing in the show.

WP: Let me add, t

his version is also unique for another reason. Since it is set against the backdrop of contemporary corporate America, it has a timely message for us all...when you make a deal with the Devil, you have to pay the price!

What kind of music may we expect? Is it for kids as well as adults? Or is it geared to adults like Sondheim's Into the Woods?

DJ: Paula Miller , who wrote the book, and I researched several fairy tales and found that thankfully Disney would not be producing Rumpelstiltskin in the near future. We defined the main characters and Paula used the outline of the original tale to put together the form of the book. As we worked on each scene, there were themes that developed and I began writing the songs around the characters with some of the song titles that emerged from the themes of each scene. I make up real rough scratch song tracks in my studio, many times singing all the parts just to hear how the song will fit with the dialogue and story. The music is not formulaic in its approach, but uses multiple stylistic elements of rock, pop and even techno. It was very fun to write and I think it’s fun to listen to. Anyone from middle school to adult will enjoy Stiltz! It’s light, easy to understand and very entertaining.

Tell me about Double Grande: Legendary Duets and your participation in that.

DJ: Double Grandé is a vocal/piano duo with Wayland (Pickard). We perform Headliner shows and Corporate entertainment all across the country. What started out at Starbucks with a Double Latté after an ASCAP Musical Theatre workshop and ended up as Double Grandé. Both Wayland and I write musical theatre and decided to join ranks, which has been one of the best decisions I have ever made. He is an ultimate pro and it’s a pleasure working together. I don’t think there’s a musical team out there that works as hard and long at their craft or that has the combined pool of talent represented in this duo. We really do compliment each other. Of course, I’m the pretty one…

WP: (clears his throat, as they both laugh)

Thank you, Deborah, and I am proud to say that we were recent Grammy Award contenders. We present a variety act of music, comedy and impressions. It's "Sarah Brightman meets Victor Borge".

Deborah, what's next for you in the music world?

DJ:

I have a couple of music tours ahead. I’ve got a solo show in Wickenburg, AZ, then Wayland & I have a tour and a series of shows with Double Grandé, which I’m really looking forward to. I’ll also be working hard on getting another one of my musicals Tsarina ready for it’s world premiere at the Grove Theatre in Upland, CA March 2011.

Wayland, tell us a little about your successes with Polyester.

WP:

Polyester-The Musical was just published by Samuel French in New York and just completed a midwest tour. There is talk of adapting it for television sitcom consideration.

Congrats and your other musical E-Love was recently published as well, correct?

WP: Yes, thank you!

I understand Michele Bernath is doing the choreography for Stiltz!, so it seems you guys are in terrific shape.

DJ: I really appreciate the team that has helped to make Stiltz! happen. Just like it takes a village to raise a family, it definitely takes a town to launch a musical. So I’m glad I’m in a good town!

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Stiltz! The Musical will play Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm at Actors Forum Theatre on 10655 Magnolia Blvd in NoHo. Get tix @

www.theatermania.com

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LEGENDARY DUETS ON TOUR 2010 Southern California Dates

October 21, 7:30 pm - Group Rep in NoHo www.thegrouprep.com

November 6, 7:29 pm - Grove Theatre in Upland www.grovetheatre.com

November 20, 7:30 pm - Norris Center for the Performing Arts in Rolling Hills Estates    

www.norriscenter.com

Interview with Stephanie J. Block

Actress/singer Stephanie J. Block who recently starred on Broadway in The Boy From Oz, The Pirate Queen and 9 to 5: The Musical, as well as winning a Helen Hayes Award for playing Elphaba in the National Tour of Wicked, is about to open the new season @ Reprise Theatre Company co-starring with Jason Alexander in They're Playing Our Song on September 28. In our chat she talks about Song, Sondheim and other theatrical passions.

Q: I don't know if you knew, but I singled out your CD This Place I Know as the best of 2009 on my year-end list. Great stuff! Are you planning another one?

I didn't know I made your year-end list. Thanks so much for selecting This Place I Know. I am proud of that album and am SO happy to hear people are responding to it. So thank you.
I really would like to record a live Christmas album. I would perform 2-3 concerts and record each one, then choose the best from each performance. The timing can be a bit tricky with a live Christmas album though, as it would have to be recorded months before the holiday season in order for it to be mixed, mastered and ready to go by the holidays... So I would have to sing carols in June and that's a little weird for a live audience. Hmmm... it seems I need to rethink this idea.

Q: Tell me about your role in They're Playing Our Song and its challenges.

I play the role of Sonia Walsk in They're Playing Our Song. She is a lively, passionate, quirky lyricist. Sonia is wonderfully challenging and slightly challenged. She is so vibrant and honest, but her stream of consciousness is all over the place. She has an extreme case of A.D.D. And however fun and charming this may be to watch... memorizing her speech is extremely difficult.

Q: What has been your most challenging role thus far? How? Explain.

Grace O'Malley in The Pirate Queen has been, by far, the most challenging role of my career. The magnitude of that role was/is indescribeable. I believe I sang over 20 songs. I had 3 sword fights, I propelled from the proscinium, I "gave birth" onstage and then stage battled, I... I walked through a wall of "fire". It was 2 1/2 hours of pure adrenaline and energy. Grace was a powerful character and I loved her... but I was exhausted!

Q: I loved you in 9 to 5. Why do you think it was less successful than anticipated? It should have had a longer run on Broadway! You were all terrific in it and Dolly's songs were wonderful. Are you going to do the tour?

I agree with you that 9 to 5: The Musical should have run longer on Broadway. That show was pure fun and it was contagious. Its premature closing will be one of those questions I will be asked (and continually ask myself) and will never have an answer. I really believe that if we could have stuck it out a bit longer, word of mouth would have helped to keep us on Broadway. The response we got from the audience night after night, and the reception we would receive at the stage door was overwhelming. I miss it everyday.
I will not be going on tour. They have a brand new beginning with the tour and I know they are planning some significant changes. I wish them tons of success and hope that the level of respect and joy is as great as it was with our cast and crew on Broadway.

Q: What has been your favorite role to date and do you have one that you really want to play?

My favorite role is a toss up between Elphaba and Fanny Brice. But, I gotta tell ya, Sonia Walsk is quickly becoming a top fave.
As far as a role I would love to play in the future... I really have the desire to work with Stephen Sondheim. Any part. Anytime. Anywhere. I do think I would make one heck of a Baker's Wife in Into the Woods.

Q: Who is your favorite composer? Why?

Oh gosh, I have many composer/lyricists whom I just admire and adore. As I mentioned already...Stephen Sondheim... genius. I also think Stephen Schwarz is a tremendous talent. His music helped shape my love of musical theatre and his songs stand the test of time. And, my heart really responds to the music of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. Wow, that's a lot of Stephens.

Q: Is this your first show for Reprise? Do you think there may be a major revival of They're Playing Our Song? Would you like to go on with it?

I have performed with Reprise before. I was in their production of Call Me Madam with Karen Morrow (many moons ago). And I also played Gwynne in their Bells Are Ringing starring Carolee Carmello. Both were terrific experiences.

I do believe there is an audience for a revival of They're Playing Our Song. Everytime I tell someone I am doing the show, there is a happy gasp and then an "I love that show"!! Jason [Alexander] and I are having a ball. And the work that Lonny Price has done with us and with the material, has reshaped the piece in some really wonderful ways. I think any play written by Neil Simon is worth reviving... who doesn't want to watch two interesting characters deal with a complicated relationship through humor, heartache and music... It's life and it's real and it's done through Mr. Simon's words, Mr. Hamlisch's music and Ms. Sager's lyrics?! I mean, come on.

Q: What's next for Stephanie J. Block?

Well, I'm hoping if Sondheim reads this article.... he's going to call any minute.

I hope so too. This very talented lady deserves to be back on Broadway in a great big Sondheim show! Don't miss They're Playing Our Song playing Tuesday September 28 through October 10 at The Freud Playhouse @ UCLA. Call: UCLA Central Ticket Office: 310/825-2101 or visit: www.reprise.org

Interview with Monte Markham

Popular TV/ film/Broadway actor Monte Markham will play Antony in a scene from Antony and Cleopatra for CART (California Artists Radio Theatre) on October 9 at the Beverly Garland Hotel in NoHo at 1:30 pm. Markham is well known to TV/film audiences for his consistent work in TV series, MOWs and theatrical movies for the last 50 years. He is also producer/director of a series of acclaimed documentaries which have changed the face of Cable TV, since before the History Channel began. He started his Broadway career in 1973 co-starring in song and dance with Debbie Reynolds in the musical Irene, for which he won the prestigious Theatre World Award. In our interview he concentrates on his roots in and passion for theatre, and may I add with tremendous intelligence, wit and integrity.


If you had to sum up your career so far, what would you say?

I can say categorically that there’s very little that I haven’t done, pursuing every possible way of acting and doing, leading then to directing and producing…I did very well.

When and how did it all begin?

When I stayed at the University of Georgia 2 years as an undergraduate, they had a great theatre program and veterans had come back from the Korean War and were going to school. There was nothing we couldn’t do, so I stayed there and did theatre, everything from Stanley in Streetcar to Hector in The Tiger at the Gates to Shakespeare…it was grand…and then I would do summer stock or the Shakespeare Festival in San Diego, playing Antony and Benedict or at the Shakespeare Festival in Oregon, playing Hotspur and Horatio. It was all good.

Then on to Stephens College in Missouri with the Male Actors Resident Company… William Inge had taught there. I got an offer for a workshop, which was the first of four grants. They would choose 10 actors at $200 a week for 40 weeks. I came in at $110-$115 in a full company of 25 actors in the TCG (Theatre Communications Group) in San Francisco. That was the whole beginning of the Great Oedipus Complexes where Ford put the money in…the one that kicked it was Tyrone Guthrie…there wasn’t anywhere to go…except there was the Houston Alley. Ford went in and gave the money to the person, not the theatre…it was given to Irving and Blau to administer the Actors Workshop.

I walked in and did Beckett, Genet and Ionesco, castrating myself in the balcony as the chief of police with a bayonet and I said “It doesn’t get any better than this”. They were doing Godot and taking it to Brussels. It was a dynamite company and I was there for 3 years until they closed. It was the last real commitment I wanted to make. That was 1965.

You said that was in San Francisco?

Yes, it eventually became the famous ACT at the Geary Theatre.

So, where did you go when you left there?

In LA Pasadena offered a resident repertory season and they offered me Peer Gynt, but during that season I got the sequel to the famous film Gunfight at the OK Corral with John Sturgis directing…Robert Ryan, Jimmy Garner; I came in with Billy Windom and Lonny Chapman. Then I played twin roles in The Second Hundred Years for TV. That was 1966, 67.

Then in 68 I got a call to meet Ray Bradbury and to do his Irish plays at the Coronet, where I played Ray Bradbury in a wonderful play.Unfortunately, theatre in LA has been very minimal for me, because of the unpredictability of the Equity Waiver situation. It’s very easy to delude 8 people into believing that they’re doing something of value and then it fizzles.

Tell me about your documentary film making.

In 1992 I formed a production company and since that time I’ve done over 150 hours of documentary programming all over the world and that was the beginning of Cable Television: The History Channel, A & E, Discovery…it was a great time…the journey has been beyond belief.

What about your acting?

I stopped acting in about 1994 and I directed some episodes of Baywatch.

How did you enjoy that?

It goes under the heading of harmless…David (Hasselhoff) was perfect for the role: a straight arrow guy, funny, charming, and knows his limitations…

Let’s back up a little. I saw you in Irene in the early 70s on Broadway. You sang and danced up a storm. Was that a great experience?

Paul Gemignani  and I had been in the Actors Workshop in San Francisco together.  He was assistant musical conductor, and eventually became conductor for Hal Prince and Stephen Sondheim. I read the script of Irene in 1972.  I looked at the role of Donald Marshall, loved it, but realized it could be cut substantially. I learned tap with Al Antieri from the original Guys and Dolls and then went to Vegas to meet Debbie (Reynolds). It was three in the morning, she had finished her show and I got up and sang “Try to Remember”. She said “OK” and then they made the offer. I met Sondheim and Sir John Gielgud, who was directing, so I felt I should take it. Hugh Wheeler wrote the book, Peter Gennaro was choreographer. Billy De Wolfe was playing Madame Lucy and Patsy Kelly was in it …it was all there, this big thing. The crapshoot and the upshot was … in Philadelphia at the Shubert Debbie was concerned about Sir John, who had never directed a musical before - charming, funny man, we had a grand time. So, all of a sudden, Gower Champion shows up and Sir John’s told that he’s fired. Gower told me that Debbie wanted me out of the “Irene” number. It became a solo number for her and the guys. We opened at the Minskoff on Broadway– great opening night – spectacular, a big hit. I told Gower I wouldn’t stay, though. When I came into New York, I had been asked to do The New Perry Mason for CBS Fox, 26 hours, no pilot.

Did you get along OK with Debbie Reynolds?

I got along with her, but it’s that kind of show business thing I really abhor “Step aside, honey. This is my show.” When we opened in Toronto she’d come out on stage and I had just danced my ass off and she’d blot my face from sweating in the middle of the finale and she’d turn to the audience and say “He hates when I do that.” I finally told her, “I’m doing a legitimate show and you’re doing Vegas." And she said “That’s what I’m doing. It’s my show.” The other side of that terrible coin is that she wanted more numbers, so everything was added on for her. Broadway grosses determine your percentage each week…they gave away 150% of the pie. The investors could never see their million dollars, but the law was changed and they were paid back at the rate of 50% until they’re completely paid off before everybody gets full royalty. And that was the Irene law and that was an interesting time. It was a cluster hump of people, but it was Debbie Reynolds’ Irene and that was the big sell…

Is there a favorite play that you did?

Same Time Next Year was my best professional experience. I did it with Betsy Palmer, who was wonderful.

I saw you in that. How did that come about?

I got a call…Don Murray had been playing it and they were building the movie. Bernie Slade’s show, he had written my pilot of “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town” in 68. Bernie said “I want you for the play”, but Charlie Grodin opened it. Bernie’s new play Tribute was coming in to the Brooks Atkinson with Jack Lemmon in June – this was December of 77. We opened during one of the biggest snow storms in New York, but despite that we got audiences out the wazoo. The point was that the show was about to close in two or three or four weeks to make room for Tribute.  We got such good publicity that all of a sudden box office picked up, we were making money, so they moved us to the Ambassador and we played another two months.

Tell me about doing Antony. You’ve played it before, correct?

Yes, at Carnegie Tech in San Diego. Everything was great, but the gal who came in to replace the original actress cast as Cleopatra kind of wanted to have an affair…during rehearsal she said “we should do the same thing” and I laughed…I thought she was kidding. Hell hath no fury: I wouldn’t have laughed if I didn’t think it was funny. I was very straight arrow…so, needless to say, we had a tough time …otherwise it was great…

Now you’re working at CART. Who is playing Cleopatra?

Samantha Eggar. We read some scenes together. She’s wonderful!

I agree. You should be great together! You were originally scheduled to do the Norman Corwin evening.

Yes, and I knew Norman. I had done Jefferson Hamilton and Burr in 1976 with Dana Andrews and Howard Duff.  It was wild. There were ten of us on a bus for 20000 miles covering 40 cities. Norman’s changed the name now to No Love Lost.

You have done it all in the theatre. The classics, comedies, dramas and musicals. What’s your favorite time?

I love university theatre in the sense that you double cast it, you all work your ass off, there’s no money… there’s politics, but you’ve still got to perform, you’ve still got to do it…

What a great life in the theatre! Monte Markham, apart from being a great actor and a true gentleman,  is still a go getter and a very hard worker. Don’t miss him on October 9 at the Beverly Garland as Antony in a scene from Antony and Cleopatra as part of CART’s great 25th Anniversary Production.


visit: 
www.calartistsradiotheatre.org
for more info and to purchase tix

Interview with Del Shores

Del Shores' plays are unusual, and simultaneously funny and heartbreaking. Yellow has been extended again at the Coast Playhouse through September. In our chat he talks about the genesis of his plays including Yellow and a bit about the sad demise of the Logo Series Sordid Lives.

To what do you contribute your success as a playwright?

I write stories that I know and thankfully, it seems that my characters strike a chord with the audiences. I can't tell you how many times people tell me that they have an aunt like "Sissy" or their mother is "Latrelle". Lately, with Yellow, it seems that so many people have had the foundation of their family ripped from them by an unexpected life circumstance. I've never seen so many tears in a play.

What do you think audiences most enjoy?

I think they love the blend of comedy and drama. People love to laugh, but they also need to cry. And of course, the characters.

Yellow is advertised as your most dramatic play to date, but I found Southern Baptist Sissies just as dramatic and even shocking. How do you feel about that?

When we went out with that campaign, I wasn't for sure that it was right either. The tragedies of Sissies and in The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife.... both are very intense and dramatic. But I believe the blend of comedy that those plays have is throughout, where in Yellow, the comedy is much more uneven. It's in the first act, but sparse in the second act. But, Don, I'm not sure that if we debated this issue, that you wouldn't win.

Do most of the plot elements come from your own real life experiences or are they imagined?

They are a blend of my life, other lives, life observation and my imagination.

Separate and describe, if you will!

Let's take my last four plays. Sordid Lives was conceived because of my coming out to my Southern Baptist family. My imagination went wild and it got a little crazy. "Ty" and "Latrelle" are me and my Mom. I have aunts that I based "Sissy" and "LaVonda" on. Thankfully, I don't have an "Uncle Brother Boy." "Sissies" was me dealing with my upbringing. My Dad was a Southern Baptist preacher and all the "Sissies" were part of me, part of others I knew or know. "Peanut" and "Odette" were characters I created by observing a bar called the "Oasis" (no longer there) in the Valley.
I had a boyfriend who had a sister in an abusive relationship. Her story, then others I researched inspired Trailer Trash Housewife.
Yellow came to me by witnessing the lives of friends. I blended three stories that inspired the play and my imagination then took over. Once I create the characters, they seem to write the plays.

What happened to Sordid Lives the series on LOGO? It was so meticulously written, acted and executed! What's the bottom line?

The bottom line is that I was put in business with the wrong producer by my former agent. I'm trying to stay positive, so as the unions for the actors and myself try and collect the residuals that are owed us (over seven figures), we are moving in other directions. LOGO ordered a second season, the producer choose not to pay us. The series feel apart. Lessons were learned!

What's up next for Del Shores - the actor, playwright and director?

I'm looking to shoot a low budget feature of The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife in the fall with the original stage cast. It's coming together quickly. I'm going to continue to perform live my stand up and one man show. I'm playing the Rrazz Room in San Francisco, August 12-15 with some of my Sordid cast -- and I want to write more plays. I waited too long. The plays feed my heart and soul. I will of course pursue television and film, but I'm not going to worry to much about it. I may not have the money I once had, but I'm happy again. It was a rough couple of years with all the mess with the series, but I'm focused now, and Yellow has had so much to do with the healing. I would also like to return to the Sordid franchise in film and/or webisodes. The fan base is huge and I do love those characters and the actors. I will not replace Rue (McClanahan, who recently passed away). There is no other.

I commented in my review that most playwrights should not direct their own works, but that you are one director that can carry it off successfully without a third eye. Do you ever feel the need for that third eye?

And thank you for that. Many have said the same, a few have said I shouldn't direct. But directing is part of my writing process. I've directed all of my new work since 1996 and it seems to still be working.

Comment, if you will, about the film of SBS!

The film of "Sissies" fell apart when a major financial partner pulled out. I still want to make that movie, but this economy has not been helpful.

Anything else bursting to come out?

Let's talk about the kiss, shall we? First of all, thank you for such a glowing review. I love the way you write. The kiss scene in Yellow has become the most talked about scene, and the favorite with audiences and critics of the play. You said you "disagreed" with it. So allow me to explain. I wrote that kiss because there is something beautiful happening in this country with the new generation. "Gay" isn't a horrible thing. Many straight teens are very accepting and best friends with gay teens. I wanted to show in Yellow that change is happening. We have a Southern family that accepts this gay friend of their daughter, completely and unconditionally. Why? Because the father of the family has a gay brother. Putting a face on gay, so many coming out, is making a difference. And it's making a huge difference in teens (remember I have two daughters - 17 and 20). So, with "Dayne" (a straight boy) growing up with the attitude of "I'm cool with it. With you.", I wanted to show this very straight boy gives his friend a gift -- a kiss by someone he likes. "It's not fair you have to wait until you get to New York." So, there you have it.

Intelligently and passionately defended by Del Shores whose controversial new plays are the most anticipated in Los Angeles. Catch Yellow @ the Coast Playhouse through September...and perhaps beyond!

Interview with Fritz Coleman

Popular KNBC meteorologist/funny man Fritz Coleman brings his new show An Evening with Fritz Coleman/On the Fritz to the El Portal Theatre in NoHo August 19-22 only. Coleman certainly needs no introduction to Angelenos as he has been reporting the weather three times daily in his own inimitable style for the past 27 years on Channel 4. In our talk, he discusses the new show, his roots, his favorite comics and even explains a little about the whys of the fantastic summer weather we've been experiencing.

You did a hilarious show about a wedding at the Victory Theatre Center. How long ago was that? Five years back?

FC: Yes, and thank you for your positive response to that. I took that around and then I had another show after that called Tonight at 11 which was about the news business that I do.

I wish I had seen that. Tell me about the new show that you are about to open.

FC: This is an evening with Fritz Coleman. Before I wrote the plays I was a standup for many years. When I would do a standup set - an hour or an hour and a half, an hour and fifteen minutes - I would open it up to questions and answers, which was a lot of fun. Not only am I a comedian, but people know me from the news business and everybody has a passionate opinion about the media these days, for better or worse. Opening up for questions and answers at the end was awesome, and it would go anywhere from fifteen minutes to an hour depending on how long I could hold people's attention. Just asking about the nuts and bolts of the business, how it works and why we do things, and "Damnit, stop doing it that way!"... so it was a lot of fun. It was an organic birth. When I was invited to do these speaking engagements, a corporate event or a nonprofit event, the question would come "Do you mind taking questions and answers?" So it was born from that.

How did you develop the show?

FC: Tweaking this to where I've got it now happened at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse. I did two weeks down there a couple of months ago. I did two acts. The first act was the performance and the second, questions and answers. We may experiment with going straight through here so that I don't lose the momentum. No intermission, but we'll see.

Is the first act about your career?

FC: It's a monologue. It's everything: the news, about being a parent, about the new world that we live in, digital technology; there's stuff about religion, life in Southern California...(pensive) the odd nature of being a weatherman.

(laughing) You've been doing the weather for 27 years. How did that come about?

FC: I always enjoyed performing and being the center of attention as a child. In college I got involved in readers' theatre, learning how to use your voice in performance, not going off script with actors onstage reading off the music stand. I got an award for that...I went to a small college in West Virginia...after the navy and another round of college, I was in the radio business for 15 years as a dj (disc jockey) and talk show host. Part of the job of being a dj is you get invited to host events everywhere. I got this recurring job as an MC at a night club in Buffalo, New York.

You introduced the acts?

FC: Yeah, I was the concierge for the club. In jazz clubs, jazz bands are on their own time schedule. So even though the show was scheduled to start at 8 o'clock and you had paying customers in the seats, if the vibe was not right, the band would not go on until maybe 8:30. The club owner wanted to start at 8 o'clock, and so purely as a defense mechanism, I would write myself material to fill time. After a while, I developped a five, ten, fifteen minute block of material. At the Tralfamadore Cafe in Buffalo, a jazz club, the owner decided to give me my own night, a dark night, like a Monday night and we were packing the joint every week. I'd conquered Buffalo, New York, so I came out to LA in 1980 to pursue a career. I quickly had my self-esteem dashed by how ill-prepared I was. I did the open mic nights at the Comedy Store, and finally became a paid performer. One night my friends who worked at NBC brought their boss to see me perform, a director at NBC at the time, Steve Antonetti. Onstage I talked about doing radio and weather forecasting during vacation spots and made self-deprecating jokes about it. After the show he and his wife came up to me in the hall of the Comedy Store and said "This is a very weird question, but would you have any interest in vacation relief for me? I have a weatherman Kevin O'Connell who hasn't had a vacation in a year, and I need someone to fill in for him. Would you be interested?" And since I was making $45 a night at the Comedy Store, I said "When do I start?" I auditioned and did fill-ins for two years and then was bumped up to the main job. It's just a great stroke of show business luck. And that's how it happened.

And you've made thousands of fans who will now come and see you in this show at the El Portal.
(we laugh)
Who is your favorite comedian? Any mentor or someone from the old school that you love?

FC: No mentor. Comedians are deathly insecure and are not magnanimous enough to bring up this young comedian onstage "who hopefully one day will replace me". I have many friends and I have many heroes. (thinks) George Carlin and Robert Klein, who are heroes to 80% of the comedians out there. And of course, Richard Pryor. I love different guys for different reasons.

What stands out about George Carlin?

FC: His word play. His ability to maipulate the language. The first time I ever saw a standup comic perform live was George Carlin at the Valley Forge Music Fair in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I don't know if theaters do this anymore, this summer tent thing, quite high tech with a rotating stage. It was a transformative moment in my life. I was a freshman in college. Not only the humor, but a man's ability to walk out on stage, and for an hour and a half, talk to the audience with no notes and seemingly flawlessly and being able to manipulate the emotions of this crowd. This is the greatest amount of power you can have over a group of people. I was blown away and then became a student of it.
Robert Klein had this confidence and this charisma onstage. And Robin Williams, his speed and the ability to access parts of his mind in a split second. Richard Pryor for his bravery to talk about things that at first frightened and then convulsed people. And then of course there are my TV heroes: Carson (Johnny), and Hope (Bob) because of their charm and warmth and ability to make everyone like them.

Anything else you care to add about your show?

FC: I just want people to come out and have a good time. We'll share some common frustrations and you can beat up on the weatherman if something irritates you.

Speaking about the weather, why have we had such mild temperatures so far into August in Southern California? Does it mean we'll have a hot Christmas season? Does it have anything to do with environmental issues?

FC: We've had a cooler than normal first and middle part of summer. What comes later is not necessarily connected to what we have now. We're in what's called the La Nina syndrome. The eastern Pacific Ocean is cooler than it is supposed to be by five or eight degrees. And that changes the weather patterns over the water. When the ocean is cooler than it has to be, the air that sits over the top of the ocean is warm, and the contrast between the cool ocean air and the warm summer air causes this cloud cover called the marine layer. That marine layer hangs around in the morning... like the window shade keeps the summer sun away ... that keeps the temperatures five to ten degrees cooler. La Nina is the opposite of El Nino which causes wetter winters. It's weird.
Here's a problem too. Weather patterns can be a millenium long. And we have to look in hindsight to see if this is like part of a major change. I do believe in global warming because there's scientific evidence that the atmosphere is getting warmer. If you're asking me if it's manmade or not, I am not in a position to say that. This could be one of those cyclical things that we do over a period of time. But the beautiful thing about El Nino, La Nina and global warming is that it gives weathermen three good excuses when they blow the forecast. "It's La Nina, sorry it ruined the weekend for you." It's like pleading the fifth.

So there you have it folks, straight from the horse's mouth. Let's end with some more talk about comedy. Comedy styles have changed, don't you think? What do you think about the newer comedians?

FC: Well, I'm out of the clubs, but Chris Rock is obviously the Richard Pryor of this era. His bravery and his intelligence. I just love him; he's so good. You're right, humor is changing. I think the opening of the film Dinner For Schmucks is a great example of people's flavor. We're in a darker society now. The premise of that movie where you invite a man to dinner so you can beat him up and make fun of him, is a change. If you listen to monlogues on talk shows, we're much crueler than we used to be. Woody Allen once said "I'm OK, you're OK. This comedy is what we have in common." Now comedy has become "I'm OK. You're an asshole. And here's why you're an asshole." It's no longer what we have in common, but "You're different from me and I'm better than you."
Larry Miller and Jerry Seinfeld are pristine practitioners of the art that I appreciate so much.
Seinfeld is the perfect example of a comedy minimalist and we can all learn from him.

Happy to be performing at the El Portal again?

FC: I love working in theatres that have a wonderful history. It was a movie house and a vaudeville house. I love that ... and all the spirits that are flying around. I'm really looking forward to it. We'll have a good time.

With Fritz Coleman's intelligence, gentle nature and sharp delivery, the show will be guaranteed GREAT. Don't miss it! August 19 -22 only! Get tix now!
For Box Office and Ticket Sales, call: 818-508-4200.