Added 10/31/05:
"Wow... That Was Just... Wow!"
On Giving Great Backstage
I was doing a show on the Broad Way and a great, big, old-timey movie star was in the audience. Real show biz royalty. Picture a lady with big eyes, short hair and pizzazz shooting out of her pores, and you're probably there. Word trickled down... MORE
Added 10/17/05:
"15 Minutes of Creepiness"
On Fame
There is a general assumption that all actors want to see their airbrushed face plastered onto the side of a building. If your photograph is so large that vandals have to use a push-broom and a barrel of tar to black out one of your teeth... MORE
Added 10/10/05:
"Homo Sapiens Dramaticus Mobilius"
On Touring
There are some obvious perks to working on the Broadway. It is sweet to get paid to do any combination of acting and singing and dancing. If you like to sleep in and only work a few hours a day, the hours can't be beat. Then there's the free underwear... MORE
Added 10/3/05:
"Mr. Cellophane... Tear Down That Fourth Wall!"
On the Fourth Wall
There is a delicate tug-of-war that is waged between an audience and the performers on stage. Not literally, although don't be surprised if in the next year some pioneering young producer pitches "Tug!" to one of the trendier spaces in Union Square.... MORE
Added 9/26/05:
"Hell On Earth"
On Auditions
I am not a particularly religious man. I don't spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating the afterlife: Which pet will greet me upon arrival? What will I be offered to wear, if anything? Will the scent of movie popcorn hang in the air? I don't believe... MORE
Added 9/19/05:
"Any Given Wednesday"
On the Two-Show Day
On any given Wednesday I go through 5 magazines, 4 pairs of underpants, 18 Kleenex, 6 t-shirts, 3 squirts of aftershave, 4 Ponds wipes, 2 Dove wipes, 1 Cottonelle wipe, 100 hairpins, 2 Nerf Basketballs, 55 ounces of water and, in the summer, a whole... MORE