My First Time
06/01/08 Filed in: Folderol
The New York Times has an article of about various
Broadway stars recalling the first Broadway show
they ever saw. Which set me to recollectin':
My first was a matinee of Chapter Two, at the Imperial Theatre, starring Judd Hirsch, Anita Gillette, Cliff Gorman, and Anne Wedgeworth. I remember the "split screen" telephone conversations between Hirsch and Gillette; watching Gorman and knowing he was the guy who originated the role of Lenny Bruce on stage in Lenny, the film of which I'd recently seen. Anne Wedgeworth won the Tony that year, and many years later I would direct and act with her daughter (by Rip Torn), Danae Torn, at FirstStage in Los Angeles. Whenever I see Hirsch on screen, I think of him in Chapter Two.
That evening–it must've been a Wednesday–I saw the revival of The King and I. It was playing at the Uris Theatre, which seemed (and was) cavernous compared to the Imperial, and though our seats were in the nosebleed section, it was evident that Yul Brynner was astoundingly good. Constance Towers was his Anna, tall, elegant, and a bit frosty, which gave the Brynner something to play off of. The king's right-hand man, The Kralahome (Michael Kermoyan) was particularly effective, and brought so much inner life to his character.
My first was a matinee of Chapter Two, at the Imperial Theatre, starring Judd Hirsch, Anita Gillette, Cliff Gorman, and Anne Wedgeworth. I remember the "split screen" telephone conversations between Hirsch and Gillette; watching Gorman and knowing he was the guy who originated the role of Lenny Bruce on stage in Lenny, the film of which I'd recently seen. Anne Wedgeworth won the Tony that year, and many years later I would direct and act with her daughter (by Rip Torn), Danae Torn, at FirstStage in Los Angeles. Whenever I see Hirsch on screen, I think of him in Chapter Two.
That evening–it must've been a Wednesday–I saw the revival of The King and I. It was playing at the Uris Theatre, which seemed (and was) cavernous compared to the Imperial, and though our seats were in the nosebleed section, it was evident that Yul Brynner was astoundingly good. Constance Towers was his Anna, tall, elegant, and a bit frosty, which gave the Brynner something to play off of. The king's right-hand man, The Kralahome (Michael Kermoyan) was particularly effective, and brought so much inner life to his character.
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