Gettin' Out of Town: Our Trip to 42nd Street

Lately, I’ve been writing about my favourite times in New York theaters over the last three decades. It’s a fun series to be writing because I am, deeply, dedicated to the theatrical arts. As a child it was my wish to be a performer – a wish that I carried into my adulthood; also a wish I eschewed by my mid-twenties, when I realized I had neither the talent nor the patience for the job. Now, my greatest show business talent is the one that puts me bumm, firmly, in the seat and my voice, cheerfully, raised in praise.

This last week I had a rewarding experience doing what I do as a theater-goer; but not in New York City. This experience came in a seat in one of this great country’s regional theaters. My dear friends and fellow bloggers Steve On Broadway (http://steveonbroadway.blogspot.com/ ) and Marc Harshbarger ( http://networkedblogs.com/68SIK )are also theater aficionados who spend time seeing theater both in and out of New York and I am aware that they are big supporters of the regional theater community. I found myself wishing, this week, that I saw more regional theater. In fact, I wondered if I could take it upon myself to keep up with the goings on in the theaters across this nation, taking time out to visit them when schedule and finances permit it. Over the years I have traveled to Rhode Island to see Helen Reddy in SHIRLEY VALENTINE, to Hartford to see Kate Mulgrew in TEA AT FIVE as well as Marci Reid in KISS ME KATE with Rachel York and Rex Smith… I have traveled to St Louis to see beautiful productions of HELLO, DOLLY, BIG and SHE LOVES ME, all starring David Schmittou. I traveled to Ohio to see Elizabeth Meadows Rouse play the DIRTY BLONDE. I crossed the river to New Jersey to see Laurelle Rethke in DONG AND DANCE, Happy McPartlin in THE FULL MONTY and Stefanie Powers in APPLAUSE; and I’ve taken the train to Pennsylvania to see Jennifer Houston in SMOKEY JOE’S CAFÉ, and I don’t even remember the northern state I had to go to to see Natasha Harper in CARNIVAL. I have returned to Texas any number of times to see my loved ones in plays there, with great commitment and affection. And, of course, I have traveled to California expressly to see my dear friend, Brady Schwind’s, directorial work in stunning productions of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF and THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. Leave us not forget trips to Barrington to see Carole Shelley, Cherry Jones, Blythe Danner and many others at Williamstown. It should be clear that the theater and my friends and idols mean enough to me to put out a little effort.

Last week I traveled to the Surflight Theater in Beach Haven, New Jersey, to see 42ND STREET. This was my second visit to the charming beach town and super charming Surflight, this summer.

Only someone like Marci Reid could cause two road trips in one summer.

I often wonder if the writers of Will and Grace had a private window into my life when they created the characters. Marci and I ARE Will Truman and Grace Adler. College mates, we have known each other longer than almost any of my other friends; and there are times when our, mutual, behaviours reminds me of the (sometimes, rather repugnant) sitcom characters that I feel a strong sense of guilt and recrimination for us. Nevertheless, real life Will and Grace we are and I have, long, admired the acting talent of my alternate reality Grace Adler enough to cause occasional road trips – when the part demands it. These parts demanded it. Marci booked five shows and four months of work at this enchanting theater this summer: ON YOUR TOES (one of my favourite shows), THE DROWSEY CHAPERONE (as the titular character, a role for which she is tailor made), 42ND STREET (more than one of my favourite shows – it’s a big deal for me), HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL (I don’t know what that is) and CABARET (the show I have seen more times than any other except, possibly, for GYPSY). I knew when she booked these gigs that Pat and I would be seeing DROWSEY and 42ND. No question. I’m very lucky to have a husband who not only supports my devotion to the theater and to my acting loved ones, he joins me in it, making these trips with me whenever he can. With great excitement, we grabbed a close friend whose favourite musical is DROWSEY CHAPERONE and hotfooted it to South Jersey for a swell night at Surflight. We were completely enchanted by the space, the town and things like the Ice Cream Parlour’s walk up window outside the theater and the line of actors awaiting their audience after the show. It’s so Mickey and Judy! And the production of DROWSEY was sheer delight, absolutely.

It was 42ND STREET, though, that left a mark on my heart.

I was a teenager when the original production opened on Broadway. I bought the album and listened to in nonstop until my mother asked me to, please, just give her a break and play something else for one day. I fell in love with Tammy Grimes and, on a trip to New York with the family, I actually got to see the original production! I didn’t see Tammy Grimes but I saw Mr Orbach, Lee Roy Reams, Wanda Richert, the great Peggy Cass and a lady with whom I would also fall in love, Miss Millicent Martin. Over the years the play continued to be one of my favourites; and one of the shows that would be revived, making me feel old, as I had seen the original and the revivals, in one lifetime (not an especially comfortable feeling but part of the aging process). On a snowy day Pat and Brady and I took in a deliriously happy performance of 42ND STREET starring one of the few celebrities to make me starstruck, the incomparable Christine Ebersole. I was having a bad day when I walked into the theater, I was having a great day when I walked out. That is what 42ND STREET does to me.

When Marci told me she was playing Dorothy Brock I knew she would be amazing. It is a part for which she was born to play. Marci fits, perfectly, into those old musicals where women are glamourous, larger than life, elegantly dressed, standing center stage in a perfect bevel and belting out classic Broadway melodies we mouth the words to, along with them. Marci is one of those big shouldered belters, making her perfect for Mrs Sally Adams, Lili Vanessi and Dorothy Brock. I can’t wait to see her play those other women and all the other big shouldered belters; but, for now, I am just elated to have sat in that theater and watch her embody one of my favourite characters ever.

In a production that stunned me! I mean, this is a little theater in South Jersey; the kind of theater where the funding shouldn’t allow a show like 42ND STREET! It’s such a big show, such a glitzy show… taking it on should be a daunting task for any producer! It is a combination that, in the past, I have seen yield disastrous results, the kind one might see at a Juniour College. Not at Surflight, though. There are some really young people in this cast… who tapped their ASSES off! The director didn’t ease up on them because they were young – she demanded they rise to the occasion, and they did! I was astounded by the level of talent on the stage. The production numbers amazed me because there were times when I thought “oh my gosh.. this big production number is coming up; how are they going to pull it off?” And they DID! I’m telling you, for a small theater, they stepped it up – I couldn’t stop smiling.

Especially when Marci was on.

First of all, she looks amazing. The time period is perfect for her, her wig was wonderful and very natural looking and she sure can bevel in those shoes. Secondly, she had a great handle on the character and had a lot of chemistry with her fellow actors. And, lastly, she is amazing voice. I’ve known the girl for so many years that she will no longer allow me to say how many years it has been. Suffice it to say: I have had enough opportunities to see her work to say that this was a definitive role and performance for her.

In my favourite moment of the evening, Marci sat in a wheelchair and sang mine and Pat’s favourite song from the show; and she was so relaxed, so at home, so in the moment that it became as though we were simply watching the scene through a window of a real life moment which the ladies had no idea was being witnessed. I knew I was seeing something special when Pat leaned forward in his chair, put both hands to his chest and then, gasped and sighed – a gesture more regularly made by the more reactionary and dramatic me. He has spoken of the moment several times since we saw it. It makes me happy to think he has had a 42ND STREET experience like my own.

There’s something so wonderful about supporting your loved ones. I’d like to think that we all do it but I know, for a fact, that we don’t. I know people who cannot get the support of their kinfolk, let alone their friends; and I know people whose friends beat them down rather than lift them up. I have some friends who offer me their support; and I have friends that I would carry through their most complex and unhappy moments in their lives. Simply going to see one of those friends or loved ones in a play is easy, compared to some of the things we must do for them in their lives. On a sad day last week it looked like we wouldn’t make it to see Marci in this show and it upset me, greatly; not just because it would be letting Marci down (which it would) but for myself – because I really wanted to see her in this part. Believing that I control my destiny, I made the trip to Surflight happen by negotiating and planning it out with my husband. And even though it was happy to support Marci and even though it made her feel good, it was we, Pat and I, who were really rewarded for the effort.

So, HOW could we POSSIBLY miss seeing her as Fraulein Schneider in CABARET?!

Another road trip!!

Regarding the photos above: The black and white still from 42nd Street was taken from their website and I turned it into a black and white, to recreate the feel of the original Busby Berkley movie. The colour photo is Pat and Rachel (who always goes to see Aunt Marci's shows) with Marci in her finale costume, after the show