It's "Smash" night tonight (NBC,  9:00pm EST) and on my last visit to NYC, there was more "Smash" filming adventure for me!  On Feb 15 '13, the show was filming at The Longacre Theatre on W48th St in the afternoon, and that evening at The Lyceum.  I was able to get some photos and watch Anjelica Huston, Christian Borle, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Megan Hilty and  Leslie Odom Jr. do their "Smash" thing!

The scene being filmed was the arrival at a performance of a fictional show, "Gathering Storm," by Tom (Christian Borle) and Eileen (Anjelica Huston).  They are joined by Daphne Rubin-Vega, reportedly playing a Broadway publicist (Rubin-Vega was the original "Mimi" when the musical "Rent" opened on Broadway in 1996). 

I was able to get a close up photo of one of the faux Playbills, and peeked inside at the "filler pages," which ironically were taken in part from an actual production from some years back starring Will Chase (the actor who played Julia's paramour and "Joe DiMaggio" in "Bombshell" last season).

Anjelica was the first in front of the entrance, met by Christian and they exchanged greetings, to be joined shortly by Daphne.  The three chatted briefly and then entered the lobby together.  There was a large crowd of extras playing the theatre-goers, some holding Playbills, who filed into the lobby before, during and after the principals "met up" in front.  

I was not quite as fortunate with photo quality at The Lyceum Theatre that evening while the show was filming a "Bombshell" scene; the equipment and extras were inconveniently placed (and the crew dogged in their pursuit of keeping us at a distance) this time :).  But it was fun to catch glimpses of Megan Hilty (Ivy) and Leslie Odom Jr. (Sam) exit the stage door to greet "fans" waiting for Ivy after a performance of "Bombshell."

Blurry, but the only photo of any quality I was able to get of Leslie Odom Jr.   He walked right by me shortly afterwards, and we exchanged "hi"s, but it was too chaotic for me to take a close up :).  Nice guy!

If you had asked me over the years if I'd seen Tennessee Williams' "The Glass Menagerie," I would have answered "of course!," without hesitation; but this would have been an inadvertent misstatement.  This play is such a part of the American theatre lexicon, that I assumed I must have seen it; hadn't everyone?  But I now realize that the lovely new production of this classic play was my introduction of sorts and oh, what a first meeting it was...a perfect storm of talent and creativity that swept me away!  It is fittingly referred to as a "memory play" in Willams' script, and for me, the memories I have of this production will surely last.  

The American Repertory Theatre (A.R.T.) in Cambridge, MA is the incubator for many a marvelous production that may or may not move to Broadway, but is likely to enrich the theatre world either way.  The artistic director, Diane Paulus, seems to have a particular knack for seeing the past with new eyes.  Witness the Tony® Award-winning revivals of "Hair" (from The Public Theater, for which she was Tony® nominated as the director), "Gershwin's Porgy and Bess" (at A.R.T.) and the current revival of "Pippin," (A.R.T.) opening on Broadway in April  '13.  I had seen her immersive, boundary-pushing rock musical version of "Prometheus Bound" at A.R.T. in 2010, and knew, no matter what else happened, I would be surprised and challenged.

So I did not hesitate to make the trip to Boston to see how Williams' famous work would be interpreted.  The team assembled for the production definitely inspired confidence:  John Tiffany as director ("Once" for which he won the Tony® Award, "Black Watch"), Stephen Hoggett ("Once," "American Idiot") doing the "movement" design (he does not refer to it as choreography) and a cast made up of Cherry Jones, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Zachary Quinto and Brian Jacob Smith.  

As an interesting aside, the WBUR, Boston Public Radio website has a marvelous article about John Tiffany's condition for signing on: Cherry Jones (Tony® winner for "Doubt" and "The Heiress," and with many other stage and film credits) must agree to be Amanda, the determined southern matriarch struggling for survival during the Great Depression; a mother tightly woven into the psyches of her children.  For her part, Cherry Jones wanted nothing to do with it.  Thankfully for all of us, she changed her mind.  Her Amanda is expansive and amusing; at her best when spinning the tales of her youth.  We can see her as a carefree young girl with potential beaux lining up to fill her dance card, only to be brought harshly back to reality when she cruelly points out her children's failings to them, justifying her motives the whole time.   Cherry Jones has a wonderful, throaty laugh, making it almost impossible to resist trying to understand the confounding Amanda.  And her quieter, gentler moments with her children give us just enough insight into a mother's protectiveness to go with her on this journey.

Zachary Quinto ("24," "Heroes," "Star Trek," and multiple theatre credits)  is Tom,  Amanda's son and younger child, and sole breadwinner for the family.  Tom is trapped in the suffocating world of the tenement apartment he shares with his equally suffocating mother and his beloved sister, Laura.  As Tom, Zachary conveys the character's simmering pain and the depths of his regret from the first line; his low, considered drawl commands us to listen.  I felt an urgency to the story, despite the measured cadence, and I knew I was in good hands with this storyteller.  His tenderness with Laura and ambivalence with his mother softened the bitterness, and he moved easily between narrator and player.

It has been said that "The Glass Menagerie" is the most autobiographical of Tennessee Williams' plays, a subtext that makes the work all the more poignant, and lends an interesting layer to Tom's (Tom was Willams' real life given name) pent up frustration.   While it is never discussed, Willams' homosexuality, perhaps a part of Tom's story, is a comfortable fit in the play, and in Zachary Quinto's portrayal of Tom.

Celia Keenan-Bolger ("The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," "Encores: Merrily We Roll Along," "Peter and the Starcatcher") is Laura, the emotionally and physically fragile daughter who finds peace, and her equilibrium, in her collection of tiny glass animals, represented in this production by a single glass unicorn.   Celia's Laura is vulnerable, yet not without sparks of strength.  She summons her courage against her mother's fury, as she defends her decision to secretly drop out of the dreaded business course in which her mother enrolled her.  She also conveys a fragility that is not without awareness or determination.  It is a satisfying laugh from the audience when, as soon as her mother leaves the room, she removes the "breast enhancers" her mother has insisted she wear to compensate for her regrettable "flat chest," and stuffs them away under the sofa cushion.  But Celia is remarkably capable of moving us with merely a tightening of her jaw, or a far away gaze.  I saw the show from the third row the first time, and halfway back in the theatre the next day, and Laura's silent pain was equally powerful from near or far.

The pivotal "Gentleman Caller," (Jim) who pulls Laura out of her comfort zone, if only for a brief moment, is played by Brian Jacob Smith, who has just the right affability and ease to convey the promise of a savior for Amanda, Laura and Tom.  Jim's entrance into the action brings a relief of sorts; as if a dusty window was cracked to let in the sun, even if only for a minute, and Brian radiates good cheer and an athletic ease of movement.  When Jim teaches Laura to dance, the chemistry between Brian and Celia gives us all hope.

It is Jim who called Laura "Blue Roses" during high school, after he misunderstood when she told him that "pleurosis," was the illness that had kept her out of school.  As Amanda is given to rose-colored memories of her youth as the quintessential southern belle, it is perhaps appropriate that her daughter, who lacks the joie de vivre that her mother tells us often she had in abundance, has this somewhat melancholy nickname.  

For Amanda, the flower of choice is jonquils.  She describes  being obsessed with collecting jonquils to bring home from outings as a young girl, despite her mother's admonition that there was no more room for them in the house.  No problem, says Amanda, "I'll just hold them myself."  She seems to have collected "gentlemen callers," with equal abandon, but ends up marrying an alcoholic who fails to live up to the expectations for providing a pampered and privileged life.  Instead, he abandons the family early on and exists in the play only as an unseen portrait to which Tom, Laura and Amanda gesture in disappointment.  

All of the weight of the family's survival is on Tom's shoulders.  He grimly endures his existence working at the shoe factory (when he'd rather be writing poetry) by "going to the movies" each evening, to the chagrin of his mother who is appropriately fearful that it is not the movies that are providing Tom's entertainment.  One of the most powerful (and darkly entertaining) moments in the show is when Tom finally snaps at his mother's haranguing, and acts out a laundry list of imaginary dire deeds and alter egos in accordance with her suspicions.

Amanda's desperate hope that Laura will, despite her physical and mental limitations, find a man to marry who will save her from certain institutionalization once Amanda is gone, drives the play.  It is clear that Laura will not be able to hold a job, so marriage is her only possible haven, and Amanda is determined to conjure some southern magic to make it happen.  

Tom is pressured to bring home a "gentleman caller" for Laura, and inadvertently brings home the only boy that Laura had ever recalled as an object of her affection (from afar during high school), who possesses all the requisite charm and kindness, but suffers from a fatal flaw that had escaped Tom's notice: he's engaged to someone else.   Although Jim does not appear until fairly late in the play, his role in Laura's story is a crescendo, and the scenes between them are riveting.

There are those productions in which the set is truly another character in the show, with its own ability to interact with, and even speak for, the human characters.  This is one of those shows.   The series of angled, tiered platforms that make up the stage are isolated from the audience by an inky pool of liquid.  The characters sometimes stand at the very edge of the stage, staring into this abyss; Tom even stops just short of touching the surface at one point.  It represents the challenges faced by the characters, the unknown darkness of the future, the depths of memory and imagination and even the promise of distant hope.  There is a soaring fire escape that rises into nothingness, and a sliver of a neon moon rising out of the water.   Fittingly, there are no actual walls.  Instead the walls are created for us by the actors, closed in by their despair and circumstances.  This also gave a somewhat timeless quality to the story, allowing the focus to be on the universal themes of internal and external human struggle.  Stephen Hoggett's "movement" continues this opening up of the story through the series of pantomiming actions performed occasionally by the actors; movements that only suggest activities such as clearing the table, lighting the candles or just wordlessly exchanging stylized touches.  It was particularly effective in reminding us that the story is a memory being related by Tom, not a realtime telling.  The lighting works its magic as well, as when the single tiny crystal unicorn reflects like a prism as Laura caresses it and holds it to the light.  I felt as I was in a constant twilight of the mind.

I was fortunate to be able to see the show once in the evening, and then again the next day before I left Boston, at an early student matinee, after which there was a post-show discussion with the cast.  It was fascinating to be a part of two very different audiences; the high schoolers were involved  in a much more vocal way than the older audience the night before.  I was particularly struck by their audible delight in Laura and Jim's kiss, only to be seemingly stunned into silence when the tragedy to follow became clear.  Some of them had clearly studied the play prior to attending, and I heard some interesting discussion between a chaperone and some students about the choices the actors were making.    I also spoke with one of the theatre's staff after the talkback, and he said that this is one of the reasons they make such an effort to hold these events for students, and that many of these schools had participated in others in the past.  We both remarked at how, after an initial hesitation during the chat with the cast, hands were shooting up everywhere with questions; a true testament to the effectiveness of these actors and the creative team.

The moderator first asked about each actor's prior experience with the play and what had drawn them to this production.  Celia had the least experience with the play, never having seen even the film (but had read the play in school).  Her primary motivation for doing the A.R.T. production was the opportunity to work with John Tiffany and Stephen Hoggett.  After seeing their work in "Once" and "Black Watch," she would have "gone anywhere," as far as necessary, to work with them, and was delighted that she had only to come to Boston.  The chance to work with Cherry and Zachary was also key to her decision.  

Zachary had read and seen the play, but it had not been his favorite Tennessee Williams work.  He felt that, in this case, fate brought it to him at the right time in his life, after he'd had more life experience to bring to the role, and now found the play to be layered and complex in a satisfying way.  

As it turned out, Cherry had auditioned for Laura six times during her career, but had never gotten the part.  She laughingly attributed it to perhaps being too "big-boned," and not right for the fragile Laura.  But she was clear that she had never wanted to play Amanda, and flatly refused when it was proposed.  John Tiffany prevailed on her to at least read it again, and this time, she said, she saw something different and was hooked.  She had previously seen Amanda as unappealing, annoying and overbearing.  However, she then realized that, as a mother dealing with a child with limitations, she had no choice but to be a "locomotive" so that Laura didn't end up in an institution, and that energy drove everything she did.  

Other questions asked by the students included the significance of the miming; of the set design feature of the pool; what part of the play was the most challenging for each actor and how the play is evolving over the run.

As far as the miming, the actors discussed John Tiffany having them do exercises to get in touch with how they would suggest the physical world as if they were experiencing it internally. Celia noted that the characters don't say everything that they're thinking, and the silent movement is a way to relate to their internal experience, and that it can be taken in different ways, so that there is no "right" interpretation.  I enjoyed the Celia first responded to the student's query by countering "what did YOU think it meant?"  Zachary also praised Stephen Hoggett's ability to integrate the movement into the action in such a meaningful way, and how it helped give an extra dimension as they were in rehearsal and developing their characters.

When asked about what parts of the play are the most challenging,  Cherry immediately brought up Amanda's constant talking and frenetic energy.  Personally, she said, she's a "slow" person and she was getting tired of hearing herself talk, and was fearful the audience would also find Amanda tiresome.  She dealt with the challenge by working to convey Amanda's deep love for her children as the driving desperation.  Celia's choice was the scene before the gentleman caller arrives, as it touches all of the character's vulnerabilities.  She mentioned feeling a great connection to the character of Laura, which was a "great gift" as it doesn't always happen, and some roles require much more work to develop.  Here, she felt that some part of Laura was just "in her" from the first time she read the script.
 
Brian talked about having to watch the other three be brilliant for the whole first act, and then coming on for the final scenes and feeling the pressure to "make himself useful" as he is walking up the fire escape for the first time to enter the action.  

For his part, Zachary said that the biggest challenge for him was having to create nuances in his performance to suggest the character as an older Tennessee Williams relating to the audience and a younger Tennessee Williams relating to the other characters.

When asked about how the play is evolving, Celia said that the audience makes it different each time; this audience, for example, was very "vocal in a good way" and it made her braver and she tried some new things.   She also mentioned that this production is an amalgamation of the three different versions of the play, the reader's, actor's and London versions.  John Tiffany allowed them to adapt as needed, and Celia fondly referred to it as the "Cambridge version."  

Brian also talked about each performance being different; case in point being the night before, when he went to take the prop stick of gum from his pocket to hand to Celia, and the gum wasn't there.  He and Celia had to improvise around the missing prop.   Having been there the night before, I can confirm that they did such a good job of covering, I didn't know until I saw it with the gum the next day!  

Both Cherry and Zachary talked about how the openness of the set is a different approach to the play, and gives them more freedom to explore different options, leading to an evolution over time.  

On a more practical note, one student was quite concerned about the glass unicorn prop that must break each performance, and how they dealt with it.  Celia answered that, in fact, it doesn't usually break on its own and that she surreptitiously breaks off the horn most times, and that a new figurine is used every night.

For my part, I am hoping that they need many more tiny glass unicorns in the future (they will if the talk about this production moving to Broadway comes to fruition)...this "Glass Menagerie" deserves to be seen by many more audiences!

There's been much discussion recently about the idea of having "tweet seats" at designated performances of shows, much of it heated and, being a tweeter myself, I thought I'd weigh in with what I think is an alternative plan.

"Tweet seats" are grouped seats from which using your mobile device of choice to tweet about the show as it's happening is allowed, and even encouraged. Let me be clear, I am 100% against the idea. The potential for extreme intrusion on the theatrical experience of others is just too high. Never mind the impact on actors.  Live theatre is a different animal than movies/television, where "live tweeting" the action has become more common; the showing of filmed entertainment does not depend on the attention and involvement of the audience. And there are no live performers who may suffer from the distraction.

The notion that we are not capable of sitting for 90-120 minutes just experiencing what's happening on the stage without commenting (other than normal audience reaction of course), is more than a bit distressing to me. You absolutely take the risk that you will not be engaged by the action; but that's what catnaps are for :). Better you quietly doze than tap and glow while others are having their moment with the show!  

I'm a marketer from way back (undergrad degree + practical experience), and I am wowed by, and completely appreciate, the boon that social media is to the theatre.  It can wave a magic wand over a show's promotion budget and strengthen its impact exponentially.  Virtual word-of-mouth is incredibly powerful, and I encourage theatres and theatre companies to use it generously, but with some restraint as well.

Here's what I would do if I wanted to use Twitter to market my show, but wanted to avoid committing to "tweet seats": 

• set up a Twitter account (and website/facebook page) at the very beginning of the development process;
• use the accounts frequently to connect with fans, other shows & theatres, bloggers, etc;
• follow my followers back if possible, especially those that tweet me more than once and are early-adopters (don't underestimate the effect it has on fans to feel appreciated: responding to tweets begets more tweets :));
• gauge interest in a tweet-friendly performance by asking those interested to "register" their openness to attend and indicate availability;
• schedule the special performance for right before regular previews or, at a minimum, early in previews to allow sufficient time for impact;
• offer reduced ticket price for this performance;
• offer an incentive to these social media users by having a pre-performance insight presentation providing background info on the show, cast, etc.
• set up a "lounge"-type space for use before, at intermission and after the show with seating and refreshments, show marketing materials and a theatre/show staffer to answer questions and spark discussion;
• limit actually tweeting/device use to before, during intermission and after the show;
• give extra incentive in the way of future ticket discounts to encourage a return visit to the show (or the next show) with friends;
• if possible, hold a talkback with the cast/team after the show;
• listen and take the feedback seriously, even if it's not all positive!

I have attended a couple of social media events held by theatres, and it has provided a whole new dimension to my appreciation of the show, even if ultimately, the show wasn't my favorite.  An incentive to try something new without a risk other than the time invested is always appealing.   I can never say never about actual "tweet seats"; but at this point, I can't get behind encouraging audience members to  be distracted during a performance (and possibly distracting others or the cast) and then putting their potentially distracted reactions out into the twitterverse for a wide audience to see.

I can, however, get behind marshaling the power of social media by courting savvy social media users through other perks.

In honor of the Season 2 premiere of "Smash," tomorrow night, I offer this fun, behind-the-scenes gift that fate gave me a couple of weeks ago!

So I was sick.  Something sinus-y, but not contagious.  Just bad enough that I was miserable, but not bad enough to cancel my theatre weekend, and forfeit the tickets I'd already bought.  My Muse hotel friends made sure my room was ready, made me tea and sent me popcorn.  I holed up in the room until hunger for hot soup drove me out onto W46th St. to the Europa Cafe on the corner (great soups!).  It's a good thing I was too broke for room service, because when I went out, I was greeted by a line of unmistakably filming-related trailers parked along 46th St. outside the hotel.  I saw the "Universal" stamp on the side of the otherwise unmarked trailers and realized that there was a good possibility that one of my favorite television diversions (see previous blog post below), "Smash," was likely filming that evening.  Sure enough, the last trailer in line had the photo to the left on its door!  I struggled with my geeky angel sitting on my shoulder whispering "ask someone when/where they're filming!" but was saved from extreme geekiness when there was really no one around to ask anyway. 

I got my soup, and returned to the hotel, extracting a promise from the front desk staff that they would call me immediately if they saw any evidence of filming going on.  I sniffled and coughed and rested (feeling properly sorry for myself), until it was time for me to leave for "Golden Boy" at the Belasco Theatre on W44th St.  As I was heading that way, I encountered an official-looking young woman near the trailers wearing a badge-thingy, and my geeky angel beat me into submission, and I asked her when/where filming might be happening.  "Oh," she replied, "we're filming right now over on W45th St.!"  Perfect!  It was on my way to the show!  But time was limited and in the most nonchalant manner I could muster, I calmly sauntered towards the next block, pulling my camera out as I broke into a walk-run.

Sure enough, there was the commotion in front of the Lyceum Theatre, standing in for the fictional "Lily Hayes Theatre," home for "Bombshell," the musical at the center of "Smash" (so far, anyway :)).   I love watching filming of movies, television, etc., and got to do it a fair amount when I lived in Los Angeles; but it's been a bit of a dry spell in DC.  So "Smash," or no, I was still excited to get to see a bit of the fun.  They appeared to be filming an "opening night" for the show, with a crowd of extravagantly dressed extras milling about the front of the theatre.  The scene being worked on had "Tom," (Christian Borle), tux-clad, being driven a few feet in a limo and stepping out amid a flash of cameras.  

I was able to mingle with the extras for a few minutes and watch the limo moving up and back a few times, with Christian inside (the photo to the left shows a very serious Christian right before he glanced up and we exchanged smiles through the limo window :)).

Realizing that I was flirting with the disastrous possibility that I would miss the curtain of the show I was actually paying to attend, I took as many photos of the marquee and crowd as I could and then dashed to the Belasco just in time. 

After my show let out, I walked back by the Lyceum on the way home, to see if anything was still going on.  The crowd had dispersed but the lights were all still on and this time I was able to get close-ups of the front window cards with the fictional show information.  What a treasure!!  You can see that the detail in the props; the characters' names, etc.  But my favorite part is the tape covering the star's name and then the director's name.  

[WARNING~SLIGHTLY SPOILERY-SKIP TO FINAL PARAGRAPH IF YOU WISH]In one of the photos you can see an "Iv" peeking out at the beginning. Whether the tape was there to avoid spoilers, or whether the tape is a plot point (last minute substitution, for example), remains to be seen.

In the meantime, I had a wonderful respite from feeling lousy that made me completely confident I'd made the right decision in dragging myself to the city that was going to make me feel better no matter how sick I might be!!