NBY. November 2020 – RICHARD BURTON’S HAMLET - 1964 - Broadway.

Legend has it that when Richard Burton and Peter O’Toole were filming “Becket” they each decided they wanted to play “Hamlet”- in either New York or London - under the direction of either John Gielgud or Laurence Olivier. They tossed a coin and O’Toole won London and Olivier, while Burton got Broadway and Gielgud. Burton himself approached producer Alexander H. Cohen about the project that we all now know was a smash hit.

Gielgud, the renowned Shakespearean actor, conceived of this production as a final rehearsal, with the actors appearing in street clothes. This pleased Burton who said he always disliked wearing period costumes. Following in the tradition that Shakespeare himself portrayed the Ghost (Hamlet’s dead father), Gielgud depicted him as a shadow against the back of the stage wall and voiced the character himself on tape. Eileen Herlie repeated her role from Olivier’s 1948 film as Queen Gertrude; Hume Cronyn got a Tony Award as Polonius, and Alfred Drake was King Claudius.

This became the longest run ever on Broadway for “Hamlet” with 137 performances and a number of Tony Awards. However, the shows popularity was also due to the public’s fascination with the romance between Burton and superstar Elizabeth Taylor that started during “Cleopatra.” While the Hamlet production was in Toronto, on its pre-Broadway tour, they married, and every night huge crowds gathered outside the Lunt Fontanne Theatre to catch a glimpse of Burton and Taylor, after the show.

The filmed record was created using a process called “Electronovision,” that used 15 cameras during three performances, then edited the footage into a single b/w 191-minute film. Now on DVD at your local public library.

MORNA MURPHY ON BROADWAY - 1964

In 1964 I was a NYC actress with two Broadway shows accomplished (“A Taste of Honey” and “Semi-Detached”) and a passion for live theater that has never left me. So, of course, I went to see Richard Burton in “Hamlet” and bought a seat in the orchestra right in the center of the tenth row. I had never seen Burton perform onstage and I’ll never forget how sublime I found the first half of his Hamlet. The following is my explanation of why I dared not go back in after intermission.

I see a lot of shows and have a tendency, when I’m in the theatre, to get quite emotional and a tickle starts in my throat that can grow into a cough. I usually have a bottle of water and some cough drops in my purse to quell this before it can erupt. However, unfortunately, on this occasion I had neither. Therefore, when the great Burton began to recite the most famous Shakespeare aria of all – “To be or not to be, that is the question...” a great surge of joy and ecstasy overcame me and I began to cough.

Not a quiet little tickling cough – oh, no – this moment inspired my deepest emotional trauma and I coughed and croaked and gasped loudly and uncontrollably. Hardly able to breathe, I rose to my feet coughing, I clambered along the packed seats, over people’s laps and feet, to the aisle. Coughing, gasping for air, I staggered up the slope, through the doors into the lobby. There I stood, still choking so loudly, I’m sure the entire audience, let alone the star onstage, could still hear me. In retrospect, I’m pretty sure Burton never forgot me and maybe, ever after, he approached that famous soliloquy with a tinge of trepidation.

NBY. October.2020 - JEREMY BRETT AS SHERLOCK HOLMES * DRIVING MISS DAISY * DEATH OF A SALESMAN.

This month I have found two more great stage plays brought to you live, on film, via BroadwayHD. However, I must confess, I am also hooked on the BBC-TV series “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” starring Jeremy Brett, with 41 hour-long episodes available on You Tube for Free!

DRIVING MISS DAISY. – 2014 – Australia 

In 1987, when I was Theater Critic for The Hollywood Reporter, I reviewed this gentle play when it opened Off Broadway, with Dana Ivey and Morgan Freeman, then went on to win The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. There have been countless productions worldwide, and an excellent film with Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, but this stage production, recorded in Australia, is not to be missed.

Why? Because it stars Angela Lansbury and James Earl Jones! Yes, they are what makes this so special. As Lansbury, 88, commented at the time, “The great thing about theatre, you see, is that it’s all about illusion. At my age, I’m too old to play a 72-year old in the movies. But on stage with makeup, I can!” Said Jones, “I have two favorite characters, Lennie in “Of Mice and Men” and the chauffeur in “Driving Miss Daisy.” They’re both men without language: they have to start from scratch when it comes to communicating. As a result, what they say comes from deep within.”

Inspired by the actual long-term relationship between playwright Alfred Uhry’s Jewish grandmother and her African American chauffeur, this classic play is timeless, and an ultimately hopeful meditation on race relations in America. It’s told through the complex relationship between a 72-year old woman, and a 60-year old man, in Atlanta, throughout the Civil Rights Movement. It’s over 30 years since it was written but its examination of issues around race still resonate.

 DEATH OF A SALESMAN – 1966 – CBS

“For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don’t put a bolt to a nut, he don’t tell you the Law or give you Medicine. He’s a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a shoeshine.” This is dialogue from Arthur Miller’s 1949 Pulitzer Prize winning play, that I have seen with numerous actors in the lead role, and even acted in once in Summer Stock. If you’ve never seen this deeply moving play, now you can see a live performance with the stars from the original Broadway cast.

When CBS presented a filmed adaptation of Miller’s classic drama, they brought back the two original leads: Lee J. Cobb as Willy Loman and Mildred Dunnock as his loyal wife Linda. This version of the play was adapted by Miller himself, and runs 100 minutes, with no substance lost in the changes. Directed by Alex Segal, it was filmed live after several weeks of rehearsals and still has the powerful effect of the original.

In the play, Willy, who has been a salesman for 34 years, is forced to face the crushing disappointments of his past, especially the loss of the respect of his son Biff. George Segal gives a strong dramatic performance as this favored son, and James Farentino is his cynical brother Happy. One surprise is young Gene Wilder, comical but sensitive as the goofy Bernard.

This production received 11 Emmy nominations with the result of winning three Primetime Emmys, as well as Director’s Guild of America and Peabody Awards. In addition to being Emmy nominated for their awesome performances, both Cobb and Dunnock were also both nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of “Best Spoken Word Drama Recording.”

NOT BORN YESTERDAY. Sept. 2020. Boys in the Band; Billy Elliot the Musical; Les Miserables in Concert.

Dear Theater Lovers: In my search to find live recordings of brilliant stage plays from the past to share with you, I came across the following three that I still recall, with emotion and admiration, their original New York Productions.

  

BOYS IN THE BAND (1968, Off Broadway)

Once regarded as shocking, this play is about a group of gay men in Manhattan who get together for a birthday party and spend much of the evening hacking away at each other’s submerged emotional truths. When each one is challenged to phone some-one they once loved, the results are sad, revealing and sometimes hilarious.

Laurence Luckinbill is a schoolteacher who, when he realized he was homosexual, left his wife and family; Cliff Gorman is a flamboyant interior designer who flings campy jibes at Reuben Greene, a soft-spoken book-store clerk. Frederick Coombs, (who was on Broadway in “A Taste of Honey” and I toured with in that show) is Donald, a self-described “underachiever” who has fled New York. The party is thrown into turmoil when sexy “Cowboy” Robert La Tourneaux arrives as a present for the Birthday Boy!

The play was never recorded, but in 1970 William Friedkin directed a movie version that stays true to the original production. With screenplay by original playwright Mart Crowley, this film conveys with singular brilliance the way “Boys” played on stage. The nine actors in the film, who by then had performed together onstage a thousand times, give performances so bold and fearless that it captures the original dynamic that I remember from so long ago. On You Tube: https://fando.trosck.com/ywmi3sq and Amazon.

 

 BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL (2014, London)

This beautiful show, with music by Elton John and book and lyrics by Lee Hall, won 10 Tony Awards in New York and, after it closed on Broadway in 2012, the London West End production was filmed live for worldwide distribution. In case you missed the movie version, it’s about a young boy from a coal mining village in England who wants to become a ballet dancer. This is during the 1980’s miner’s strike that created tension and poverty throughout the country. As his coal-miner Dad is against the idea, the boy takes his boxing lessons money and uses it secretly for dancing lessons. Realizing that Billy is a prodigy, his dancing teacher gets him an audition with The Royal Ballet School in London. The confrontation with his disapproving father, and the outcome of the contest, makes for a highly emotional yet persuasively honest revelation about artistic passion and family love that will bring tears to your eyes. On BroadwayHD, Google Play and iTunes.

LES MISERABLES IN CONCERT: THE 25^TH ANNIVERSARY (2010, London)

On the anniversary of the original West End production of this dynamic musical, based on Victor Hugo’s 1862 novel, an ensemble of over 300 performers and musicians, that had appeared in its various incarnations worldwide, came together to perform. Tenor Alfie Boe is the noble Jean Valjean; Norm Lewis is the relentless Javert, and Lea Salonga is the tragic Fantine. For a surprise encore, four stars sing “Bring Him Home” – Colm Wilkinson from the original London and Broadway cast; John Owen-Jones from the touring company; Simon Bowman from the current London cast, and Boe. Producer Cameron Mackintosh introduces composer Claude-Michel Schönberg and librettist/lyricist Alain Boublil. The concert was shown live across the UK, Ireland and around the world, and, on March 6, 2011, aired on United States television as a PBS special. Available on BroadwayHD and DVD.

NOT BORN YESTERDAY. August 2020. Live Theater on BroadwayHD

ELAINE STRITCH AT LIBERTY 

(2002 Broadway)

Stritch was as famous for her onstage performances as she was for her offstage person - and here she takes you from childhood to Broadway, in Noel Coward’s Sail Away and Stephen Sondheim’s Company - where she stole the show singing The Ladies Who Lunch! She does this Tony Award winning show wearing nothing but a white blouse and black semi-sheer pantyhose. 

So, if you love backstage anecdotes, show tunes, and dry wit, don’t miss this one!

PRESENT LAUGHTER. (2017 Broadway)

In this revival of Noël Coward’s zany comedy, Kevin Kline earned his 3^rd Tony Award playing a jaded matinee idol in his 50s who is estranged from his wife (an elegant Kate Burton), needled by his secretary (a delightful Kristine Nielsen) and irked by his vacuous work. He fills the time by sleeping, griping, and bedding silly debutantes who claim to have lost their latchkeys. This busy schedule is interrupted when his business partner’s wife (a predatory Cobie Smulders) attempts his seduction.

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1982 Broadway)

Charles Dickens’ novel, about a young man who has to support his mother and sister following the death of his father, was brought to the stage in sections that added up to 8 hours. Engrossing theater but not an experience for the faint of heart. The show started in London, and, when it transferred to Broadway, won Tony Awards for Best Play, and Best Leading Actor for Roger Rees. Given the play’s immense length, home viewing might be the best way to watch because you can take an intermission whenever you like.

THE KING AND I (2018, London)

Set in 1860s Bangkok, this Rodgers and Hammerstein favorite is based on British schoolteacher Anna Leonowens’ presumed romance with King Mongkut of Siam. After opening on Broadway in 2015, the production transferred, with all its New York leads, to the West End, where it was filmed for a limited cinematic release. Starring Kelli O’Hara, Ken Watanabe, and Ruthie Ann Miles, this show features a memorable score that includes Getting to Know You, Shall We Dance, and We Kiss in a Shadow.

SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (1986, Broadway)

A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grand Jatte, by Georges Seurat, is one of the great paintings of the world, and book writer James Lapine, and composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim, created a story to illustrate the work and bring it to life. Starring Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin, while the painting depicts people gathered on an island in the Seine, the musical goes beyond simply describing their lives. It is a visual exploration of art, of love, and of commitment. Seurat connected dots to create images; Lapine and Sondheim use connection as the heart of all our relationships.

AN AMERICAN IN PARIS (2017, London)

Starring Robbie Fairchild, Leanne Cope, and Haydn Oakley. Filmed live from London’s Dominion Theatre in 2018, An American in Paris follows Jerry Mulligan, an American GI who moves to Paris to pursue his dreams of becoming a painter. After a chance encounter with Lise, a young dancer, Jerry finds himself caught up in a complicated love triangle. Featuring music and lyrics by George and Ira Gershwin, the New York production was nominated for 14 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

NOT BORN YESTERDAY. July 2020

Dear Readers: I hope you are able to watch some live theater from home this month, as YouTube and Facebook are serving up numerous challenging theatrical experiences. However, if you feel the need to get out of the house for a bit, there is a benefit concert series starting in Ventura that you can attend in your car - and children under 12 are FREE!

LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY: THE MUSICAL - on YouTube.

If you are locked down at home with the grandkids, here is a charming 45-minute show, taped live at the Staten Island Children’s Museum in 2007, that will be fun for all. Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett (“The Secret Garden”) this is about 7-year old Cedric, a gentle kind-hearted boy, living in New York City in 1901, who learns he is heir to the Earldom of Dorincourt in England.  When he meets his grandfather, the Earl, his challenge is to melt the heart of this crotchety old man who doesn’t like children! Music and lyrics are by Ralph Martell, and I wrote and directed this production, with David Yourke as Cedric, Nancy Yourke (who really is David’s mother) as his Mother, Richard Bartels as the Earl, Diane Fisher-Flores as the Solicitor, and Staten Island favorite Kevin Lobat as Mr. Hobbs. This show was made possible by a grant from the Arts Council of Staten Island and funding from the NYC Dept of Cultural Affairs. Go to: https://youtu.be/NmLnz_Jejug

DEAL – also on You Tube

Here is a delightfully funny and surreal 10-minute play where a housewife (Sarah Drew) is addicted to watching “The Price is Right” and imagining herself a super winner. Meanwhile her husband (Sean Astin) patiently humors her, until she actually makes it on to the show with startling results. This was originally a published short story by award winning journalist Barbara Isenberg, and director Sonia Malfa cleverly brings it to life without changing a single word. In fact, even while keeping safe distancing, the actors perform the story, word for word, in a creative new way that infuses it with an infectious vitality. Produced by L.A. Theatre Works with support from Good Company. Enjoy at: youtube.com/watch?v=o8xe86id40w&feature=youtu.be.

SAFE-DISTANCE DRIVE-IN THEATRE CONCERT SERIES – LIVE!

Rubicon Theatre Company patrons will be able to enjoy live 75-minute concerts from the safety and comfort of their cars (parked 6’ apart) in the parking lot of the Ventura County Fairgrounds. Performers from Broadway, Pop and Rock, will perform on an elevated stage with live video projected on large screens. All CDC guidelines are observed for attendees, singers and musicians. Artistic Director Karyl Lynn Burns says it will be “…a cross between a drive-in theatre experience and a live concert.”

July 6-8. Christian Hoff and Travis Cloer celebrate the era of Drive-Ins, Muscle Cars and Music in ‘DRIVE-IN HITS’ with songs from icons such as Sam Cooke, The Everly Brothers, Smokey Robinson, Brian Wilson, Little Richard, the Beatles, Frankie Valli and The Four seasons –for example there’s oldies - “Sherry” and “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You.”

July 20-22. Baritone Andrew Samonsky sings Sinatra favorites in “2 AM AT THE SANDS” with a humorous musical trip back to Las Vegas in the late 60’s when the Rat Pack ruled. He’s backed by a nine-piece swing band performing arrangements by Quincy Jones with songs such as “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” “Fly Me To The Moon” and “Amore”!

At The Fairgrounds, 10 W. Harbor, Parking Lot A, Ventura. To buy tickets: (805) 667-2900 or www.rubicontheatre.org - they will not be available for purchase onsite.

NBY Column. June 2020. THE WINDSOR FOLLIES - IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES - ART GOES ON - SKYLIGHT LIVE

Even though we are all confined at home there is no need to be starved for some exciting theatre experiences and already I am discovering companies adapting to the crisis in various ways. Here are a few exciting programs that you can experience through your computer, your I-phone, or other online scenarios you are familiar with.

THE WINDSOR FOLLIES. With all the news about the Royal Family and an American divorcée, it seems appropriate for me to share a video of this musical based on the 1930’s Romance of the Century when a King gave up his throne for the woman he loved. The show ran Off Broadway and was invited to give a special command performance in the Royal Suite at the Waldorf Towers. Notable British actor Keith Benedict portrayed King Edward VIII, as well as The Archbishop of Canterbury, in the show. 

Someone secretly taped the performance and when Keith returned to England he put it onto You Tube. The music and lyrics are by Ralph Martell, while the script and direction are by Yours Truly! To see this historic live performance at The Waldorf click on: http://youtu.be/WIHdzGISakc

IN THESE UNCERTAIN TIMES. Source Material, a nomadic theatre company, has devised a digital performance piece created specifically for these uncertain times and presented weekends on Zoom. Director Samantha Shay started this project as a way for the company to feel connected. “As it evolved, I started to realize our performance vacillates between humor, sorrow, and open love-letters to the art of theater. This has kept my mental health steadier, and has helped me touch the deep magma core of why I love theater, why I miss theater, and I think the jury is out on what theater is, was, and shall be in the coming days, months and years.” Their work is anchored in reverence for the classics, often adapting literature into performances with highly original staging. This show is a tragicomic, Chekhovian happening, from drinking competitions, sad monologues and corona-virus meme collages. For information: www.sourcematerialcollective.com

SKYLIGHT LIVE. Los Feliz’ Skylight Theatre Company are already presenting a number of new plays inspired by the COVID-19 crisis, all performing live on Facebook and/or YouTube. Skylight has brought together a number of Los Angeles writers, directors and actors for weekly presentations of uplifting stories created specifically for the online medium. The series includes an interactive conversation with audiences after each performance. On Thursdays at 3 pm. For info: https://skylighttheatre.org/event/skylight-live/

ART GOES ON. Los Angeles’ Center Theatre Group just announced a new project “Theatre Skills @ Home” – a series where directors, designers, actors and artisans give tips on how to inject stage magic into your home. Videos feature costume designer Ann Closs-Farley (Zoot Suit) creating a fairy costume out of odds-and-ends in your home; while fight-director Edgar Landa (Homebody/Kabul) teaches the art of onstage Physical Combat!!! Lindsay Allbaugh, CTG Associate AD, says her friends are giving themselves haircuts, baking bread and making soup, while parents are looking for fun projects to do with their homeschooled children. So, who better to turn to than theatre-mavens who have made a career of transforming bare stages into Brave New Worlds.  ART GOES ON projects also include “Artists Create”- videos produced by CTG’s family of artists; “LA Theatre Speaks” - where they share ideas, strategize and support each other, and, “Scenes from the Vault” - a series of favorite moments from CTG’s history. All of these can be viewed online at CTGLA.org/ArtGoesOn; Or at youtube.com/CTGLA; Or the hashtags #ArtGoesOn and #ScenesFromTheVault.

NBY Column. May 2020. WHY I LOVE LIVE THEATER

There are many opportunities during this crisis to check in online and stream videotaped performances of classical live shows. Supposedly this gives us a chance to see great actors and actresses in action – as if we were actually there - but I find myself hesitant to tune in.

Movies and television have never given me the joy that I recall from being there, in person, when great theater is happening. On the screen, shows feel manufactured to me and, even though I am often moved to laughter or tears, they hardly ever satisfy my hunger for live performances.

I can recall witnessing moments in theater that haunt me to this day. I am a child of the last century and my first experience of live theater was when I was 9 years old and the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta “Iolanthe” changed my life. However, that is another story and, for now, let me share just one of these remembrances.

   THE ENTERTAINER (Broadway 1958)  .

Laurence Olivier portrayed Archie Rice, a second-rate song and dance man in British Music Hall, in this play by John Osborne, directed by Tony Richardson. The show with its corny songs was engrossing, the audience silently attentive, all delighting in seeing the great Olivier bawdily singing and dancing.

In one scene, Archie admits to his daughter Jean that he is aware of his mediocrity having once witnessed a great performance in the American South. It was a black woman, a great blues singer (Bessie Smith?), and at that moment he realized the difference between schlock and genius.

It’s a family drama with three generations in conflict over loyalties, infidelities and past hurts. Meanwhile, his youngest son Mick, who is overseas in the army, is reportedly a prisoner of war while negotiations are underway for his release. Then suddenly the play turned, the mood, the suspension of disbelief shattered when Archie’s eldest son Frank ran into the theatre and down the aisle gasping and raging, “They killed him. Mick’s dead! The bastards killed him!”

Silence. The horror was too real. The audience stricken. And then Olivier, overcome with pain, staggered to the proscenium, grasped at the carved wooden frame and, in a voice redolent of a glorious black singer long dead, he sang the blues! Sang with the deep throaty magic of a great lost woman whose pain was in her voice.

That is live theater! No movie screen could ever capture the power of that event that has stayed with me for over 60 years.

Other scenes in live theater that are etched forever in my mind include Fredric March in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night” 1956; Elizabeth Bergner in Romain Gary’s “First Love” 1961; Ralph Fiennes in Brian Friel’s “Faith Healer” 2006; Godfrey Cambridge in Ossie Davis’ “Purlie Victorious” 1962, John Shea in Arthur Kopit’s “End of the World” 1984, and Richard Burton in “Hamlet” 1964, directed by John Gielgud (available on DVD)

If you are interested in hearing about any of these Great Moments in Live Theater in future columns please email me at dramatist2006@yahoo.com

RESPONSES:

GWEN VAN DAM: Loved your article re Theater...it's so true. I have indelible memories of great performances too, that have remained in my mind & have inspired me from the beginning. Some are: Gertrude Lawrence in "Tonight at 8:30", Julie Harris in "Member of the Wedding", Jason Robards, Jr. in "Long Day's Journey into Night", Ruth Draper(I was a child but I remember her), Kim Stanley in "Travelin' Lady", Geraldine Page in "Summer and Smoke", etc. So wonderful! Thanks for reminding me of them & others.

KAREN HEBERT: Brillant article Morna. Makes me want to go to the theatre!

CHRISTINE DIXON: Wow! Oh Momma, this is a fabulous column! I was moved to tears as "Frank ran in saying Mick's dead." I was able to see all of your words play out in my mind, which is a gift of a truly great writer. Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful work with me. Also, the details of a throaty Blues singer. I could hear the pain in my ears.