Amphibian Stage Productions

So, I spent the last 6 days in Ft. Worth, Texas working with Amphibian.  The first day I was down there Kathleen had me busy working the crowd at our Benefit party for the Devonian’s.  We had the party at Beverly and John Snyder’s amazing house which was designed by our very own Chairman of the Board, Gregory Ibanez.  David Fielding, Judy Norman, Peter Kowalski The house was beautiful.  That is all I can say about it.  You really had to be there to see it’s splendor.  I thought it was a museum when we went into it.  The art work was nothing short of phenomenal.  Pieces from Andy Warhol, and many other famous artists were everywhere.  I wasn’t sure if some of it was furniture or art!!!  It was extremely elegant, tasteful, and classy.  It was a real sight to see where the company is clearly going…up. I met many fine folks including Whit Smith and his lovely wife, who came to see Cyrano, Bob and Kay Bolls, who were the sweetest, and the new president of the Art’s Council.Kathleen, Anne-Lynn, Bob and Kay Bolls I gave a speech at the end of the party, was very nervous, but I was reassured that it was a good one.  That Speech Communication class I took at TCU suddenly paid off!  Melissa Mitchell and GuestWhile I was there I stayed at Chateau Fielding.  Jonathan’s amazing parents David and Linda, who are also on our board. JV Mercanti flew down and stayed for a couple of days and the Fielding’s made us breakfast like every day.  Did I mention we love the Fielding’s?!JV was in town to direct Full Gallop and to have local auditions for “A Dark Play” by Carlos Murillo.  They went well, and we cast a local young actor named Josh Heard.  He will be great.  You know, something about going to Texas makes you eat so much more, but I think it has mostly to do with the portions you get there.  They, (meaning the restaurants) just give you so much food!   JV was insistent on Papasito’s, which is a TexMex Restaurant, that gives you way too much food for one person to eat.  We waited for a table for about 1 and 1/2 hours.  While waiting we witnessed many waddling ducks coming out of the restaurant, very disconcerting for several New Yorkers who are very health conscious.  But nonetheless we went in and enjoyed the onslaught of Tex Mex, and I consequently spent the next morning on the toilet!!!  I also drank every night that I was there, if not at a restaurant, at some party or other.  JV had never experienced the Eskimo Hut, which is a drive thru frozen drink, beer, liquor barn.  He couldn’t believe that we could drive thru and get our drinks and drive off and continue drinking…something about the sealed container laws in Texas that is clearly much looser there than anywhere else.  But I slept so well and enjoyed the spring like weather, went to a TCU basketball game that we won, went to a TCU Tennis match that we won and everynight went to bed early and woke up early.  It was a complete change of pace but it was much needed.   The other events happening included several meals with company members and participating artists, like Anne Lynn Kettles who was doing the reading of Full Gallop, Judy Norman, Melissa Mitchell, Desiree Fultz, and my friend from New York, Melissa Le.  The reading was a huge success.  We had a great turnout for both performances and Anne Lynn was brilliant as is the norm and Judy was a sweet french maid… The audiences loved this play about Diana Vreeland, former, editor in chief at Vogue.   I also gave speeches at both of these events.  I think I would have done better at these with a few drinks in me, but I just ran with it and it was all in good fun.  The people in Fort Worth are excited about us.  I really got the feeling that they knew they were being a part of something fresh and exciting, yet smart and sophisticated.  It’s really something to witness that kind of excitement for something that you created and are being a part of.Carman,Linda Fielding, Sara Jung

 Yes, we have closed, and yes, I am sad because i have been working on this play since August, but I couldn’t help but do one last blog just to wrap things up.  The last of the funnies, provided mostly by the wonderful Chris Sarandon.  I wish I could remember all of them, but I can’t sadly. I do remember a few things and these are all willingly comments from Mr. Sarandon, dedicated to the cadets and my friend Martha.  Thank you Chris! Chris Sarandon came up to the Cadets upstage left and said in the most serious voice, “Alright who is going to be my poodle?” There was silence and I pointed to Stephen and said “He is!” Chris said, “Great! Meet me in my tent in five minutes!”  and then he marched up the stairs as if he had given an order…Hilarious!”Parcheesey anyone? Who’s up for parcheesey? Alright meet me in my tent!”"Well…Who wants to play beach blanket bingo? Anyone?!”"Alright! Who’s got the condoms? I point to Macintyre Dixon…and Chris Sarandon says, “Great! meet me in my tent!”"Alright! Who’s got Roxanne’s hymen!” “Come on cought it up!”"Let’s see….Who wants to be stripsearched first?”  We all shake our heads then point to Macintyre Dixon and Sarandon says, “Great! he’s first, then your next!”"Ok, Here’s the deal.  I am taking you all to a spa for a treatment.  I imagine it’s been a long time.”   There were many more…but I can’t end this blog with out mentioning this, and if you are reading this blog and you might be, you had to know I would write about it.. some people felt some of the things I wrote in this blog were too personal, and private.  I assure everyone who has read this blog, that this blog was only meant to serve as a way to share my first broadway experience, no harm or malice or revelation of one’s privacy was intended to anyone.  I was even asked to stop writing if you can imagine that, and the way I was approached and handled after this “call to the principal’s office,” was less than professional let alone thought out.  Little do these persons know that everything that was written in this blog was seen by those they thought they were protecting, and little do they know these things were said to me specifically to be put in the blog!!!…But I digress…and that is all I will ever say about that again.My blog was about the positive experience I had on Broadway with some very REAL, generous, kind, and talented artists.  I was so fortunate to be a part of such a great experience, and to share it with so many warm souls.  I learned a great deal from the veterans to the more than 10 of us that had our broadway debut.  It was so much fun and I will sorely miss it.  All good things must come to a close.  I won’t lie.  I sobbed. Sobbed and sobbed some more.  It was a play for the ages, and anyone that has seen our Cyrano, cannot deny that.

So the PBS crew is here and everything is a bit brighter, shinier and lustier so the cameras can pick us up.  They will be shooting us for a few days.  It’s kind of exciting to have these extra crew men here in the last week of performance.  There is definitly an air of excitement permeating the theater as they get ready to shoot us tonight.  The producers and the director also returned for tonight’s performance.   The cast was sharing their thoughts about how the night went and it was definitly a wonky night.  Jennifer slipped twice in the same spot, same day, two different shows, and both times at the curtain call.  The audience gasped, but of course the Garner bounded up with such grace.  Kevin Kline comes in after her to take a bow, and he would mime slipping to take the focus off what could have been a disaster.  The audience responded both times with cheers and applause.This January 2nd performance also marked the first time the entire cast was back.  We haven’t been together for a while, due to illness, injury, and or vacations, but it was great to have the entire energy of the cast restored. Another incident happened during my on stage fight with Mr. Kline.  As soon as our swords connected at the time I attack him, just before I die, Cyrano’s sword broke off and flung into the onstage crowd, smacking an actress in the face. So, Kevin is left with the hilt of the sword in his hand, and he mimes a stab to my chest.  At that point I have a sword and he does not.  What was I supposed to do?  I just drop my sword, fall down and he mimes a stab to my chest!  I wanted to giggle about it, but I was to busy writhing across the stage to see where the damn sword flew!  No one stage was moving, so I figured nothing was wrong, so I roll over and die.  We get off stage and I see this actress holding her face.  The sword smacked her but luckily did not cut her.  She was clearly shaken, as was I.  Thank God, it wasn’t worse.  The show continued and we still got the usual standing O!  

 We love Baylen Thomas.  Especially when he came back as the Marquis de Cuigy.  In Act 2 he came in and shouted the wrong line.  “The chair and Porters!”  Then he stops and stays still for a bit, and shakes his hands and says “A message from De Guiche”  It was probably one of the funniest moments on stage I’ve ever been a part of.  We all were laughing hysterically.  What was hard is that it was a time in the show when we all are supposed to be serious.  It was so funny.  Nobody could look at anyone.  Poor Baylen.  He got ribbed so much but was a good sport about it.  He said he couldn’t remember De Guiche’s name! So with Baylen back in the Marquis role, we had Daniel Sunjata back, it was good to have the cast back together again.        The fog seems to want a role in this show.  Sometimes it is too much, other times it is too little, sometimes too high, and sometimes not on stage enough.  It’s definitly been interested in having a say.  Yesterday, the fog blew up in Jennifer Garner’s face when she was looking out in to the battlefield.  Not just a little bit of smoke, an absurd amount, poofed into her face at a very dramatic moment.  We all had a giggle offstage watching her try to negotiate the dramatics as well as the smoke.In my first scene as Valvert, Jennifer is insistant that we are here to watch O-KLA-HO-MA.  Chris Saranadon always asks her what are we watching today and she tells him a different play everyday.  We’ve gotten August:Osage County, Ibsen, Moliere, and a few others…but Oklahoma came back today.  Meanwhile Kevin was warming up to Chubby Checker’s “Twist”, warming up like it was a piece of literature from an Edith Skinner book.  He was even correcting the lyrics..”Let’s twist again, like we did last summer!”(in a “Shakespearean voice”) Then he says “Chubby!, it’s AS not LIKE!”  Sooo funny.  He was using it as a vocal warm up.  

Ok, so for the big news.  Kevin said he willing to help us out! My mind was racing with possibilities.  He said over the break he had a chance to really look through the pamphlet, I gave him.  I am glad that I didn’t rush him on it, because now he wants to help on his own volition.  I am so excited about it, and glad that he is interested in helping.  So we are planning the possibilities!

I had a great conversation with him about voice and speech work and how important it is to get the voice around classical text and that you can’t speak it just at a normal flat tone. It doesn’t mean that it has to be Shakespearean, it just has to be heightened. I asked him who is voice teacher was at Juilliard and he said it was Liz Smith. I asked him if he knew a Peggy Loft or a Margaret Loft and he said yes. I said, “Peggy was my voice teacher at TCU but I knew she used to work at Juilliard.” He said her name at the time was Peggy Freed. I couldn’t believe it. He said she was sexy, that he always thought she was so sexy! Funny, because when we were learning from her at TCU several of us had crushes on her too, although she was old enough to be our grandmother. I said Peggy, like Liz Smith was very interested in getting the voice around the words. She would make us come in the class and after warming up, would make us say “I am sound!” I told Kevin she was very interested in Henry 5 and the speeches from the chorus, and that every time she would hear “a little touch of Harry in the night” she would cry. Kevin said, “A little touch of WHO in the night?” I said, “Harry.” He said, “Don’t you mean HAArri!” I was saying Hairy…funny. My conversation with him went on to discover that he also had worked with my teacher and director at Rutgers, Amy Saltz. Amy had assisted directed a show that Kevin worked on and he remembered her fondly and also with Also Hal Scott, who was a mentor of mine and who took me under his wing my third year at Rutgers and my first few years out of school.

More correlations…or just coincidence? I spoke with Kevin about Shakespeare, and we both love love love it. And a few things we shared about his works. One being that we both don’t like it when people mess with the work. I was telling him about Rose Rage, The Henry 6 plays that I did. And he said how his good friend Austin Pendleton wanted him to go see it, that he would absolutely love it. Kevin had heard about the show and was not too interested in the concept of meat and innards being flung around. But he said his first production in New York City was playing a spear carrier in Henry the 6th. I told him my first big production in New York City was in Henry the 6th too! He said, “Oh who did you play?,” and I said, “Henry the 6th!” He said “You did!” and then we started quoting the mole-hill speech, and we both had agreed that it was one of the best speeches Shakespeare ever wrote. It was an awesome recognition to share that with Kevin Kline.

Welcome back from Christmas friends and family.  I hope you guys had a great time with your family and friends.  The 2 and a half days felt like a week.  We returned to Cyrano only to be flung into change.  I mean we knew it was all coming.  Daniel Sunjata is out of the show for today and tomorrow giving Baylen Thomas a chance to go on as Christian.  He is so ready to go on.  There would be a greater air of excitement had this not been the show after Christmas.  Christmasitis has kicked in not only for the cast but for the audience.  They are slow and going, but definitly here to see a show.

Baylen is totally ready to step up to the challenge. He was terrific! The cast was very supportive of him. We all had the itis, but the show was good and Baylen did a great job!

OK, so it isn’t quite Kevin as Cyrano as Santa, but the effect was very sweet. We had a christmas show for the cast put on by the cast, the female members of the cast plus a few other brave souls! It was a good time had by all. The girls got together and did a Sweeney Sisters inspired musical number that included church chat, family backgrounds and the singing of carols of course! They were hilarious and we had a great time singing along.

The girls got a bit saucy with Santa needless to say, not really child fare, but it was ll in good fun and we were all cracking up. The producers bought dinner for everyone, catered by Dos Caminos, Mexican and Italian food. It was delicious and we revealed Secret Santa’s and gave out final gifts. Daniel Sunjata was my recipient and John Douglas Thompson was my Secret Santa.

Very funny night…a few things happened that were quite funny. The first being that when I came out of the stage door, I decided to go straight to the fans and start signing autographs. I was feeling good, I like doing it, it’s fun! So I’m signing, and this girl pulls out a photo of Daniel Sunjata, and I’m like, I’m not Daniel, I’m Carman, I was the purple guy, the fighter in the show. She was like, I know…I signed a few more, and then I started to head out, and the other side was shouting “Daniel! over here! Daniel!!” I lean back in and say, “I’m not Daniel I was the purple guy in the show!” I left laughing. I should have went over there and just signed all there programs as Daniel, taken pictures and everything. It would have been hilarious. I guess I’m flattered that people thought I looked like him. He’s a great looking dude!

Earlier in the evening, we are in Act 4 and Chris Sarandon just cracks us up all the time when all the cadets are waiting for the king that doesn’t show up. Today he comes up and says, ” Damn I keep eating all this hair! All this hair is in my mouth! Then he looks at Stephen Balantzian and he is very hairy, and says, My God you need to shave! Look at you! It’s like a beast is in the front lines!” I’m cracking up, I have to tuck my chin to hide my laughter.

From the Post…
December 17, 2007 — IT was Wednesday night. It was Geezer gate. It was Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner’s “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Rich ard Rodgers Theatre. The respectful audience, as befits this celebrated revival, remained properly hushed. Not a candy wrapper crinkled, not a sneezer wheezed. But in Row Q sat a little bald old man. His heart was obviously in the right place, but his eardrums weren’t. Poor guy couldn’t hear a “wherefore art thou” from a “whithersoever goest thee,” and from the stage those “prithees” all knocked together with their “mayhaps.”

Finally, mustering up nerve, the gent actually cupped his hands and shouted through the packed house, “Speak up louder!” Kevin Kline never faltered. In character, right in the middle of his scene, he adlibbed, “Methinks I hear ghosts in the theater.” The audience broke up. They applauded. And the play moved right along. But from then on, the speech level didst indeed kick up a notch.

All true but what he really said was “Talk louder puhhhllleassseeee!” Hilarious. Kevin did hear and respond to it, but completely in character. After he said “I think there are ghosts in this theater, but that’s what happens when you go to the theater, you never know what is going to happen!” The audience was very respectful in Kevin’s handling of the situation. We were all backstage asking each other, “What just happened? Did you hear that?” After Kevin found his way back to his own text, the audience applauded. He did indeed speak louder, and the energy did pick up. The man who yelled at Kevin must have been 110 years old. In the orchestra and he couldn’t hear! After the show, Kevin started the auction, and said, “you have all been a terrific audience, with the exception of one!” The audience roared with laughter. Kevin was still gracious about it. What people don’t know about kevin is that he loves a challenge, and he is so poised and aware of what is going on around him that he is ready to react all the time. I mean…he’s Kevin Kline people!

So, Jonathan has closed his show, and so has Katya Campbell.  For those of you who don’t know, Katya Campbell is another amphibian who was on Broadway this fall with the play Mauritius, by Teresa Rebeck.  I was very sad for Jonathan, as I know I will be sad when our show closes.  Cheers to you Jonathan and Katya.

I have been staying busy with the show.  It is hard to get things done when the show occupies so much of your time.  I’m by no means complaining because I could do this forever, and i want to do this forever.  In the meantime, Republic, where i bartend has been very good to me.  I pick up a shift a week, and when the show closes will go back to doing three a week.  I’m not entirely looking forawrd to it, but i am greatful to have it.

On another note the Cyrano company raised 86,000 dollars for equity fights aids.  The Ritz raised the most on Broadway, with 140,000…They also had six weeks to raise money where we only had two weeks because of the strike.  Not bad, but had we had those weeks we would have done better.  In addition to auctioning the nose, Jennifer was taking photos with fans for 100.00 dollars a piece and for 200.00 dollars a piece the next nite, because the previous nite went so well.  Everyone chipped in to raise money for AIDS awareness.

Baylen Thomas, who plays Marquis de Cuigy, had a baby boy this morning, taking him out of the show, and putting Amefika back on for Baylen.  We had the first grade class from the Performing Arts School come and watch the fight call, that I led along with Tom Schall.  They were soooo precious.  They were the most well behaved kids ever.  Kevin was really great with them.  He answered their questions…mostly about his nose and not about the fights.  Something they could relate to…Then when he left “the purple grape” fielded questions about why I like grapes so much!  Very cute and funny!  I met Jessica Hecht, fantastic and beautiful, and Steve Martin came to the show and I missed him.  Sort of bummed about that, but I’ll meet him soon!