 Believe
it or not, I got to see GWEN VERDON and CHARLTON HESTON .....and then remember when SANDRA DEE made a comeback into
acting...well, I got to see her do it with an actor I had worked with JOHN SAXON who had been her co-star back in her movie days.
What I remember most was that it was like watching two different plays because the charcters emerge from the actors POV....I found it fascinating and
never in a million years did I ever think myself fortunate to possibly do this....but, hey, the G-ds of Drama were smiling down on me and I got to have a g-r-e-a-t emotional rollercoaster of reaching into the
soul of MELLISA and from the audiences reaction and comments I received ...by George, I got it ....or as my character would say “Yippey, yay!”
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playwright has very specific directions as to how it should be performed and our director ANNE KRAFT would have made him proud. I worked with her seperatly before I joined
my co-hort GREG LEUTE....I had asked for a couple of sessions with her so I could make sure we were on the same page ....and all I can say, is, its a good thing I did....KRAFT
showed me the way to go by telling me that if it was another person that she was directing in this role she might have that actress do it an entirely different way but she wanted my MELISSA to be strong
and very organic.....and that was not how I had started to develop her...so their was a lot of evolving to get to where I needed to go ....a true challenge.... |
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Working onstage without facing the other
person is also an interesting set of circumstances so everything comes from your "soul" to make these two contrasting characters come to life. Which we did ....honestly the audiences laughed at places
I couldn't have predicted in a million years and would be audible in places they related to by their sighs or tears.....and add to that the standing ovations we received and people waiting patiently to tell us
how moved they were ....people telling us that they had seen it in New York or in Canada and thought our undertaking was by far superior....oh, it made all that struggle I went thru all
worthwhile........yes....... “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” More truer words never spoken.
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One of the places we
played...which shall remain nameless for their sake...was a resort.....and for the life of me I couldn't put my finger on what it reminded me of...and then it hit me....FAULTY
TOWERS with JOHN CLEESE and instead of JOHN CLEESE we had JUDY...who runs a staff of SIXTEEN CHARACTERS IN SEARCH OF AN AUTHOR. To give
you a heads up....the handyman was the chef and ooh! you did not want to eat from that kitchen!...
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Rehearsing with Greg Leute |
Their was this sixteen
year old giant bird in a large cage that sat in the lobby and ruled the roost.......the lobby was adjacent to the theater and ..during one performance...they covered the birds cage so that he would remain
silent since he had a habit of just bursting out with cackles every so often.......well.... it was "a little too early for the bird to be covered" from the birds POV so all of a sudden I hear this
squawking like you wouldn't believe and it lasted until they took the cover off the bird's cage....at the same time ....an older woman had her cell phone go off not just once but twice..... she had never
learned how to turn it off....and after some whispering she exited ....of course, all this was going on during one of "my " monologues.....and during the second act....from outside the resort or maybe
it was in the hallway....a dog was barking about something.......I thought ...this must have been what it was like when my husband, JOHN BYNER did “The ED
SULLIVAN Shows”....
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Their were words in this
show I had never come into contact with ...philosophers, locations....etc....I told GREG LEUTE that we could do PGYMALION next with all the
run-throughs I did for him on the correct pronunciation of those words before each and every curtain.....he knew exactly how they sounded and I hadn't a clue so “it was a match made in heaven.” |
That and the Valentine I received from one
reviewer, “ANNIE GAYBIS as MELISSA, the other half of the letter-writing equation. She imbues her MELISSA with such
enthusiasm, neediness and vulnerability, you wonder what's keeping ANDY from dropping everything...and whisking her off. This production of LOVE LETTERS is a triumph.” Well, who could ask for more.....it was
a one of a kind journey with a happy ending. As MELISSA would say, “Yay! YIPPEE!” |
