Great Moments in New York Theater: Catherine Zeta-Jones
It’s been some 17 or 18 years that I’ve been living in New York, seeing New York theater, both on and off Broadway; and, before I moved here I had paid a few visits to this magical city, all of which featured many a trip into the show palaces that draw the crowds. Oftentimes, Pat or I are asked by friends to remember some of the greatest moments we’ve spent in these temples of art. It’s fun to reminisce about these trips to the theater, as we are devoted audience members. We go to the theater looking for something to love – and there are a lot of people these days who go to the theater looking to hate. Tch. That’s all I have to say about that. Tch.
I sat in the Walter Kerr Theater yesterday, beside Brady, tears on my face and sniffling (I don’t think Brady would mind my sharing that he was affected in pretty much the same way) as Catherine Zeta-Jones finished singing Send in the Clowns in the current revival of A Little Night Music, the famous musical by Stephen Sondheim. This was the second time Brady and I sat side by side, crying and sniffling as the great star finished the song and the scene. It is a moment in American theater that is so famous that the audience waits for it all night. People who go to the theater when A Little Night Music is playing may enjoy the entire play but when this moment comes up, there is a hush as everyone holds their breath and waits to see how it’s going to go down. This is not a unique phenomenon. Consider Man of LaMancha and The Impossible Dream. Think about A Chorus Line and The Music and The Mirror. How about The King and I and Shall We Dance? Dare I even say it: Cats and Memory. American musical theater is laden with moments like this that audiences await and embrace, breathlessly. However, the three times I have seen the current production of A Little Night Music I have noticed the extreme level of reverence shown by the audience. No secret that theater goers these days do have a bit of difficulty observing theater etiquette; but not at the Walter Kerr. It is not only silent during the scene and the song; it is peaceful. I believe it is partially because people are, genuinely, interested (almost curious) to see and hear how this (one of the most) famous song is going to go down… but I know it is, mostly, because of the performance being given by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I have seen A Little Night Music before. I have seen regional productions and dvd bootlegs (that I did not make) of productions. I have not, though, been privy to a moment like this; have not been privy to a performance like this.
This is one of the performances I will always remember; one of the performances that I will speak of whenever people say “which performances have left their mark on you?”
Reba McEntire in Annie Get Your Gun…
Antonio Banderas in Nine…
Judith Ivey in The Glass Menagerie…
Cherry Jones in The Heiress…
Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town…
Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods…
Pat and I have our lists. They are, a lot, the same. They can veer off in different directions.
My list has a new addition.
Catherine Zeta-Jones in A Little Night Music.
I did not see Glynis Johns in the original cast of A Little Night Music. I have seen photos, I’ve seen Youtube videos, I’ve heard stories, I’ve read stories. It is a legendary performance – one I did not get to see. I had to walk into the theater to see this production with my mind open. I was going to find MY Desiree Armfeldt. I found my Desiree Armfeldt. I found the woman within the character. To me, Desiree Armfeldt needs to be warm, likable, accessible, all the while being riveting, so beautiful that you can’t look away, yet petulant (as both women and actresses can be) and sexual, not to mention possessing of a perfect balance of strength and vulnerability. She must be a real woman; but she must also be a real star.
I studied theater in college; but not theories, criticisms, philosophies, histories… I studied acting. I’m no theater brain; I am an aesthete. I watch the beauty of the actor, of the performance, and I allow it to move me. I walk into a theater and sit down and say (inside) “go ahead, artists, take me on a ride”. That is what Catherine Zeta-Jones did for me. The first time I saw the show was only a week or so after previews and the entire cast was still finding their way. I blogged about it and said that Miss Zeta-Jones was still finding the “who” of the woman. The second time I saw the show, she had it. Oh, yeah. And it was only a week or so, later – just before Christmas – that Brady and I sat in the fifth row and watched CZJ (as she is called by the chatteratti) give a fully realized performance. That night he and I sighed and wept. Yesterday, he and I sighed and wept. It was more than a fully realized performance; it was an onion. It was layer over layer; it was real, natural, funny, silly, pouty, angry, jealous, tender, affectionate, jaded, hopeful, wise and it was sexy. In the months since this play opened on Broadway, Miss Zeta-Jones has blossomed into the Desiree Armfeldt of which I have always dreamed.
It must be the one the rest of the audience dreamed of, too, because they were all right there with her, the entire time (and this was a matinee audience, remember). Every time she moved, they sighed. Whether she said something funny or simply reacted, facially, to something, they laughed. If she was sad, they were sad. And at that climactic moment when the strings swell and all the instruments are at their highest notes and Desiree and Frederick embrace, the entire audience burst into applause. This was no “And I am telling you I’m not going” or “Shriner’s Ballet” – it was just two people embracing and a theater full of people sighing, grinning ear to ear and applauding them. It is because, for two plus hours, everyone had been thinking how MUCH they wanted these two people to get together. So we were happy when they did. We were invested. And we got our pay-off.
As Brady and I left the theater, we agreed, we said it out loud to each other: “THIS is magical.”
The entire production is wonderful and, natch, the performance turned in by the legendary and luminous Miss Angela Lansbury adds to the magic… but it cannot be denied that the heart of A Little Night Music rests on the audience’s affection for Desiree Armfeldt. Three times I have seen this show and three times the audience loved her.
And so did I.
Please join me as I use future blogs to name some of my other favourite moments on the New York stage.
I sat in the Walter Kerr Theater yesterday, beside Brady, tears on my face and sniffling (I don’t think Brady would mind my sharing that he was affected in pretty much the same way) as Catherine Zeta-Jones finished singing Send in the Clowns in the current revival of A Little Night Music, the famous musical by Stephen Sondheim. This was the second time Brady and I sat side by side, crying and sniffling as the great star finished the song and the scene. It is a moment in American theater that is so famous that the audience waits for it all night. People who go to the theater when A Little Night Music is playing may enjoy the entire play but when this moment comes up, there is a hush as everyone holds their breath and waits to see how it’s going to go down. This is not a unique phenomenon. Consider Man of LaMancha and The Impossible Dream. Think about A Chorus Line and The Music and The Mirror. How about The King and I and Shall We Dance? Dare I even say it: Cats and Memory. American musical theater is laden with moments like this that audiences await and embrace, breathlessly. However, the three times I have seen the current production of A Little Night Music I have noticed the extreme level of reverence shown by the audience. No secret that theater goers these days do have a bit of difficulty observing theater etiquette; but not at the Walter Kerr. It is not only silent during the scene and the song; it is peaceful. I believe it is partially because people are, genuinely, interested (almost curious) to see and hear how this (one of the most) famous song is going to go down… but I know it is, mostly, because of the performance being given by Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I have seen A Little Night Music before. I have seen regional productions and dvd bootlegs (that I did not make) of productions. I have not, though, been privy to a moment like this; have not been privy to a performance like this.
This is one of the performances I will always remember; one of the performances that I will speak of whenever people say “which performances have left their mark on you?”
Reba McEntire in Annie Get Your Gun…
Antonio Banderas in Nine…
Judith Ivey in The Glass Menagerie…
Cherry Jones in The Heiress…
Donna Murphy in Wonderful Town…
Joanna Gleason in Into the Woods…
Pat and I have our lists. They are, a lot, the same. They can veer off in different directions.
My list has a new addition.
Catherine Zeta-Jones in A Little Night Music.
I did not see Glynis Johns in the original cast of A Little Night Music. I have seen photos, I’ve seen Youtube videos, I’ve heard stories, I’ve read stories. It is a legendary performance – one I did not get to see. I had to walk into the theater to see this production with my mind open. I was going to find MY Desiree Armfeldt. I found my Desiree Armfeldt. I found the woman within the character. To me, Desiree Armfeldt needs to be warm, likable, accessible, all the while being riveting, so beautiful that you can’t look away, yet petulant (as both women and actresses can be) and sexual, not to mention possessing of a perfect balance of strength and vulnerability. She must be a real woman; but she must also be a real star.
I studied theater in college; but not theories, criticisms, philosophies, histories… I studied acting. I’m no theater brain; I am an aesthete. I watch the beauty of the actor, of the performance, and I allow it to move me. I walk into a theater and sit down and say (inside) “go ahead, artists, take me on a ride”. That is what Catherine Zeta-Jones did for me. The first time I saw the show was only a week or so after previews and the entire cast was still finding their way. I blogged about it and said that Miss Zeta-Jones was still finding the “who” of the woman. The second time I saw the show, she had it. Oh, yeah. And it was only a week or so, later – just before Christmas – that Brady and I sat in the fifth row and watched CZJ (as she is called by the chatteratti) give a fully realized performance. That night he and I sighed and wept. Yesterday, he and I sighed and wept. It was more than a fully realized performance; it was an onion. It was layer over layer; it was real, natural, funny, silly, pouty, angry, jealous, tender, affectionate, jaded, hopeful, wise and it was sexy. In the months since this play opened on Broadway, Miss Zeta-Jones has blossomed into the Desiree Armfeldt of which I have always dreamed.
It must be the one the rest of the audience dreamed of, too, because they were all right there with her, the entire time (and this was a matinee audience, remember). Every time she moved, they sighed. Whether she said something funny or simply reacted, facially, to something, they laughed. If she was sad, they were sad. And at that climactic moment when the strings swell and all the instruments are at their highest notes and Desiree and Frederick embrace, the entire audience burst into applause. This was no “And I am telling you I’m not going” or “Shriner’s Ballet” – it was just two people embracing and a theater full of people sighing, grinning ear to ear and applauding them. It is because, for two plus hours, everyone had been thinking how MUCH they wanted these two people to get together. So we were happy when they did. We were invested. And we got our pay-off.
As Brady and I left the theater, we agreed, we said it out loud to each other: “THIS is magical.”
The entire production is wonderful and, natch, the performance turned in by the legendary and luminous Miss Angela Lansbury adds to the magic… but it cannot be denied that the heart of A Little Night Music rests on the audience’s affection for Desiree Armfeldt. Three times I have seen this show and three times the audience loved her.
And so did I.
Please join me as I use future blogs to name some of my other favourite moments on the New York stage.
I did not take the photo of Catherine Zeta-Jones used in this blog. It was scanned from the souvenir program, where photo credit is given to Joan Marcus.
posted by StephenMosher at 8:57 PM
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