Amphibian Stage Productions

Yes, I am writing another blog, I know that i said Meryl Streep was my last blog, but I am sort of addicted to writing these things and it’s some pretty good memories, that i don’t want to forget! The Kevin Kline nose at last night’s show, Thursday, the 13th of December went for a whopping $3,000. The nose is auctioned in order to raise proceeds for Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids. My what a bidding war that was! The nose is autographed by Mr. Kline and Ms. Garner. Needless to say it was rather exciting.
David Leveaux was being wrangled by the sweet Jennifer Garner to the party he had no idea about. We set up a surprise party for him at the Paramount hotel across the street from the theater. Jennifer brought David to the lounge and we all yelled surprise, and he look on his face was too precious. His reation was pure surprise. In attendance were several David Leveaux alums, Sally Murphy from Fiddler and currently in August Osage County, The exquisite cast of Cyrano of course, Rufus Sewell, now in Rock N Roll, and Harvey Fierstein, who is starring in his own musical he wrote, directed by John Doyle, who directed Sweeney Todd. I spoke with Harvey for a while, and he has this voice you know, that carries, and yet is hard to understand sometimes. He said, ” John wants us to play instruments, or find a way for the actors to play some sort of instrument, but the only instrument I play is the skin flute.” I said, ” I can’t believe you just said that!!!! He laughed jokingly, and I said (like a moron) “You write?” and Jv Mercanti, who cast Cyrano and s an amphibian director, said, “Hello!!!! La Cage Aux Folles!, Torch Song Trilogy!” I was so embarrassed, and Harvey said, “Oh I love young actors!” I said please excuse my lack of knowedge, he was very sweet about the whole thing.

So, from a request from Martha Clutch butt we have a post from Chris Sarandon.  I informed Chris about Ms. Clutchbutt’s request and he is very happy to oblige.  Meaning he is happy to give more fodder for this blog!  One of Kevin Kline’s lines to Montfleury is “I have one wish that is simple to have the stage rid of this…pimple, this carbuncle, this absess….but Kevin always leaves out the word pimple…which is a very funny line, and every single night Chris leans over and says “I want my pimple!, where is my pimple!”  and then I reply Clearisil darling clearisil…  There are many more fun adlibs happening on stage which happen everywhere.

We are walking up the stairs and part of Jennifer’s dress is unbuttoned.  Chris masks this by standing next to her, while Concetta Tomei…Roxanne’s nurse, buttons her up…I say…”why is her dress unbuttoned?” (after it had been buttoned up) Jennifer looks back eyes wide open, and Chris says”easy entry my dear, easy entry!” Hilarious!  Of course he is just kidding around, and jennifer says…”your’re just having a great time today aren’t you?”

Chris is a great actor and a wonderful person.  He is sooo funny and dry with his humor.  He ad libs all the time when we are in the group scenes and says some of the funniest things.  I will try hard to remember all the different ones, what’s great is when someone catches him off guard, and he cracks a smile.

Among other things….

Having a great time in the show.  We will film the play for PBS after the new year so that will be exciting.  Tonight is David Leveaux’s birthday…looking forward to it.  The cast is surprising him with a party at a disclosed location…shhhhh…The fundraising for Cyrano’s nose is shooting through the roof.  I spoke with one of our producer’s today and he said we will break the record for Broadway Cares for a non-musical production.  Very exciting. Max Baker who plays Rageneau has a terrific band called Eelwax Jesus.  His band had a show at the Zipper Theater, a christmas show, and it was soooo much fun.  They are really quirky, edgy and they have a lot of fun.  I’m really lucky and very thankful, this really is a blast.  I’ll have more later. Thanks for reading. 

So, my last blog to you is very exciting as I met Meryl Streep last night.  While we were auctioning Cyrano’s nose, I was helping Chris Sarandon spot the people who were bidding, and I noticed that one of the first people to raise there hands was Meryl Streep.  I leaned over to Daniel Sunjata and i said that was Meryl Streep, then my world sort of went numb.  I was too excited that she saw the show.  She lost the bid for the nose, but the nose sold for 1100.00…not too shabby!  We have almost raised 20,000 in just four short days!  Pretty astounding.

I went upstairs to undress, and Elisa Acevedo, who is such a sweetie, and who does hair for the show, came to my dressing room, and said “Carman, you have to hear this, Meryl came in Kevin’s dressing room and one of the first things she said was…First of all, that fight was magnificent!” AAAHHHHHHH!!!!! was my response.  I gathered up my things and said that’s it, I’m going over there.  I don’t care!

I get to Kevin’s dressing room, and I knock, Sue Wright, Kevin’s dresser answers the door and says come on in, and I say, ” Uhmm, hello….I just wanted to come over, I heard you were over here, and excuse me for interrupting, but I just wanted to meet…(Kevin interrupts and says,”Me!…you came all the way over here to say hello to me!”  I said, “No! not you!, and he said “I know…Meryl, this is Carman Lacivita…Lachivita, LAcivita…(he’s singing my name) he was in the fight you were talking about.”  She comes over to me and shakes my hands and says, “you were terrific, what a wondderful job and opportunity.  Congratulations.!”  I say, “thank you so much, that means a lot coming from you.  I am just so excited to be meeting you, holy cow!, I’m gushing I’m sorry, i don’t mean to interrupt, but I’m a huge fan, and very glad to meet you.”  She says thank you and says I need to find Jennifer and say hello to her. 

At that point I’m more numb.  I leave and fly home with my buddy Bryan Stewart who came in town for the weekend to visit.  I come back to the theater, and thank Kevin for letting me interrupt his visit with Meryl, and he says, “Oh please, but you should know that just before you came in, she said, “The fight alone was worth the price of admission!”  I’m on cloud nine, needless to say. I’m usually not that star struck, but every actor wants to meet her, because…well…you know why…Brilliance! Hello!

I’m very greatful for this opportunity and so happy to be a part of it.  Thank you for reading my blog friends and family.  I hope that you enjoyed it.  Cyrano will forever be in my heart, for this experience has been everything and every bit a blessing to my career, my life, and my heart.  Have a great time Jonathan Fielding who will now be blogging for December!  Best wishes to all Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Carman 

Apparently…moolah!…So, We had our first auction of Cyrano’s nose, autographed by Mr. Kline himself, and Jennifer threw in one of her false eyelashes, and it sold for 1,400.00.  With proceeds going to Broadway Cares, Equity fights AIDS.  It was hilarious.  That person, will probably get twice as much for it on EBAY.  All in all on our first day we raised about 3500.00.  Not too bad.  We should be able to pull in a great contribution, in what is now a month left in the run.

Speaking of noses…my nose is returning to a normal state.  The right side of the bridge of my nose, feels like the cartilage might be loose in some way.  It sort of makes me nervous…This of course is from the time that I got mugged.  It certainly is not broken, but it might be cracked.  I have a neurology appt. tomorrow, so we will see if my brain is jarred …more than usual that is.   I know it could have been worse.  People keep sharing stories with me from their families and friends who have been attacked, and I am so greatful for the related stories.  All of the talking, praying, and confronting of this event has done wonders for my spirit.  I feel stronger, and I am gaining my power more and more.  God is good and more angels just keep showing up out of every crevis.

So, many of you know my mother…I spent about 15 minutes trying to get her to say Cyrano de Bergerac, and she could not do it.  She would repeat it syllable by syllable perfectly, and then she would say the whole thing, and it sounded like she had peanut butter in her mouth.  Very Funny…for those of you who know my mother.  I don’t think I shared this in my last blog, but she told Jennifer Garner she only recognized her because “my son tol me you wuh een da movie where you swing da knife…you were good in that one!”  (My attempt to write asian dialect.)  Jennifer said “that’s right you don’t like romantic movies, just action ones.”  I was pretty sheepish about it, but I love my mom, and she is so charming about things like that.  She also decided to extend her stay by a week.  She can be a bit nit picky about how I keep things.  I suddenly realize wher I get my control freak from!

The nose for the wed matinee yielded a 1,500.00 dollar fundraiser for Equity Fights AIDS.  The nose has the signature of Kevin Kline and Jennifer Garner.   Christmas is around the corner so it is nice to see people being so generous for a good cause.  The theater is also slowly turning into a festive atmosphere as dressing rooms are beginning to look holidayish!

I’ve been singing fun songs into Jennifer Garner’s ear while we have our scene together.  So far, some Atlantic Starr…The Carpenters, and some Spice Girls…all of which didn’t get the reaction I thought.  It didn’t even make her flinch.  She instead stared me down…I got a little worried, so I will stop singing the songs, and just converse.  She’s a good sport about it though.  Maybe my singing is just bad or off key?  Most likely both!

So, the big news of today the 2nd of Dec. is that the show was delayed by 30 minutes due to the infamous curtain getting caught in the middle of the stage during the balcony scene.  We had to pause for the stage hands to  come out and fix the traveler..in the meantime Jennifer Garner, Concetta Tomei, Kevin Kline, Chris Sarandon and Daniel Sunjata, came out on stage and fielded questions from the audience.  It was pretty funny.  Concetta proceeded to thank her friends who came out all the way from Kinosha(spelling) Wisconsin, who were in the orchestra row f…HILARIOUS…Some audience members asked Kevin when he will be doing a Shakespeare again and what is going to be Jennifer’s next play?…she said no one has offered me anything yet, but my chances are diminishing by the minute! It was a good thing they went out there…any longer it would have been a real MUTINY.  Kevin asked, “how many of you bought tickets before the strike?”  most of the audience clapped…”how many of you bought tickets after?”…a few clapped…”how many are regretting you bought tickets at all?”  Another question asked Daniel to take his clothes off like in Take Me Out…Real class..but he indulged the audience with a teasing smile.

My mother came to see the show as well as my brother, sister and High School theater teacher, with her husband.  My mom decided to see the show that afternoon.  I brought her down to meet Kevin in his dressing room, and he was very gracious.  He spoke with her for a while and let her sit in the box that he enters the stage from.  She had a great time meeting him.  She met most of the cast and got the star treatment from all of my great friends in the show.  They treated her so well…she was over the moon! 

That night my a few of my siblings saw the show with my mom again and my HS teacher and her spouse, and they loved it…Afterwards, they met Jennifer Garner and she signed autographs and spoke with my family for a while, She too was very gracious and my sister was fawning over her and hugged her.  My brother who had never been to NYC, and never seen a Broadway show, meets Jennifer all in the same trip…He was in a different world!  Jennifer signed a program to the drama students at my HS as well…made my teacher very happy.  My sister was also overjoyed to meet Mr. Sunjata…no surprise as every girl is very excited to meet him.  He too was very sweet.

I am a very lucky person, and am so happy to be a part of this show.  Since the strike the show has been pretty amazing…minus the fight today…my fight with Kevin that is…didn’t go as well as it normally does…but it happens…The houses have been full, the audiences have been receiving us and the stories with there whole hearts.  We are lucky to be able to do the things that we want to do on a regular basis…

So, the strike is over. I got to do the show after a 3 week abscence. It was exactly 3 weeks ago that this assault happened to me. Three weeks ago. It’s really hard to believe. It almost feels like a dream. Sometimes I am going about my day and completely forget that that happened to me. I found a therapist, and with the show back on, it is allowing me a chance to get my power back. I have a lot of love in me fighting a lot of fear. But for the first time since this happened to me, I feel like that fear is going away. They say time heals, and it does, alongside a lot of love. Considering I don’t have insurance, this therapist came recommended and compromising with her rates. Thank God.

I went to the hospital yesterday to have a Neurology appt. done. I waited for two hours to be seen an never got in. I was at Bellevue Hospital on the East side of NY. Marybeth, our stage manager for Cyrano called me at 1 and said “did you get the call for the photo shoot today? I said NO! And she said the PR person for Cyrano was supposed to call me. I was home till noon and got no such call. Mary beth said they want you ad Kevin for a photo shoot for the New York Times, rehearsing your fight with him in rehearsal clothes. I tell her I am at the Hospital, and My appt. is at 1. I should be able to make it by 3…well I waited till 3 and still I wasn’t seen, I spoke with the receptionist and she went back and came back out to say that i was next….well 15 minutes later…nothing…then I had to re-schedule as the Times was asking for me.

So, I bustled over and shot with Kevin, we played around quite a bit. They were shooting us just horsing around. God I would love copies of those pics. We had a great time, and then I stayed at the theater and rehearsed with him for about an hour, since we haven’t fought since the strike…3 weeks ago…We had the show that night and played to over 1000 people and received a standing ovation. I cried at the curtain call. I was very happy to be back in all sense of the word. The show was quite good, considering it had been a while, lots of new and fresh things happening, but after 3 weeks we still came down at the same time as when we left the show.

When I came out the stage door I was signing autographs and taking pictures, and as I was catching up with an old friend from work, a woman and a man said…”He’s the purple grape.” (for those of you who haven’t seen the show, Kevin Kline calls me this) And he said had you not smiled I would not have recognized you. He said “look at that smile, how terrific is that” It made me cry too. Then she said “Remember how you are right now this happy and this humble, don’t let the industry change you, people get famous and they change.” I was like wow, who are these people and how come they are being so terrific. It was nice to have all of that unsolicited love. Angels. I think.

Check out the New York Times…there is a pic today of me in it. Wishing you all well.

A word that has been coming to me quite a bit in the last few days. Restoration. A friend of mine, whom i have not seen in 5 years showed up 4-5 days later after I was mugged. She is terrific and full of light and love, and I know God has put her in my path for a reason. It’s been great to catch up with her on so many things, as well as having her support as a friend again.-Restoration

The show is back on!!! We finally got the go to do the show tonight. YAY!!!! We will have a show with many people there. Apparently we are almost sold out. I hope those people come, and I hope they know that we have a show! We had a chance to meet as a cast, sort of informally, and we went through our lines, just to touch up. It was the first time i got to see everyone together again, minus a few English chaps. I was sharing the story with JV Mercanti, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Garner and Chris Sarandon. My therapist says it is good to talk about the experience. She’s right. We had a great covert under the radar meeting and we found out that we will be extending and that PBS wants to film us for it’s Great Performances series.-Restoration

I came out of rehearsal, and I am talking to a few friends and I see Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Phil Hoffman, and Amy Adams come out of the buildin. They were rehearsing the film version of Doubt right next to us. Meryl was 10 feet away from me. I have always wanted to meet her and this was my chance, but it took me a while to work the courage up to say hello and then she jetted in her car. Very cool though. She has always been an icon to me, and it was jarring to see her so close. I was truly star struck.

God restores. I’m not preaching, just a believer is all. It’s this event that has happened to me that has made look all around inside and out. Break a leg everyone! Can’t wait to be back on stage!

God’s light is all around me, this is what has happened since my traumatic experience.

–Shows were cancelled thru Thanksgiving weekend so I was able to spend time with my family this weekend. I went down to Atlantic City to spend time with my sisters, niece, nephews, cousins and aunts. It was very special. I had two thanksgiving as one of my sisters, Wasana, cooked a meal with her husband Shawn, and the next day we had another meal with my cousin Diane. I brought Erin Cherry with me and she had her meat for the year between the two Thanksgivings as she is a vegetarian.

–I am still in the holding bin, waiting to get back on stage with my comrades at Cyrano…We have lost a total of 19 shows because of this strike and counting. I ran into a few of the Cadets and other residents of Arras last week when I went to sign in at the theater. I was only able to do it a couple of times as I was obviously not doing well. But nonetheless it was great to see them. They were all so sweet, gracious, and supportive.

–I also saw Lara Maerz who did not get to see my show becasue of the strike, but she flew out here from Missouri! She heard of my mugging and happened to have an ipod nano that she found on her transfer in Chicago and passed it to me. So, at least I can listen to music again. Thanks Lara! She also brought sweet faced Lesley Hilton to see me whom I haven’t seen in years and whom she ran into on the plane in Chicago, and along with Yvonne Campbell we all went out to eat at my fave thai place, Pam real Thai food, where pam, kept sending out appetizers for us. I received gift cards from Kathleen & Ibanez, Peter Kowalski, and Holley & John Williams, all of whom are on our board, so that I could get a new ipod. Thank you so much for thinking of me…I am going to use them to purchase a better ipod than the one I had. My friend Craig happened to have an extra Treo 755 that Sprint sent him, and he gave it to me hearing of my ordeal, and that my phone was stolen. Cherry has been working for me the last three weeks at Republic, and as I said earlier was able to spend Thanksgiving with me and my family. I received numerous cards and tons of well-wishing from friends from school, filled with support and love and goodies. Paul and Sara Rolfes came over and spent some time with me just before Thanksgiving and i got too see there beautiful daughter Anna Grace. I slept in my Grandmother’s bedroom over the weekend and last week when i was ill, and she visited me in my dream and told me I was going to be ok, gave me a hug, and then I asked her, “How do I know when you are around?” and she said, when you feel like someone is watching you it’s me” I cried in the dream and woke up so rested. I’ve been getting stronger since.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and remember the positive things in life, the things to be thankful for are more worth your time and efforts and feelings. I know this event has made me do so.

So, you may know by now, many of you, that I was mugged at gun/knifepoint, and beaten up a bit, healing nicely though, really. But rather than talk about the bad parts of this experience, I want to share the good parts of it. I am truly blessed and I have so many friends and so much family that support and love me. I never felt alone through this experience, and that would have been awful to feel that.Truly. I am so thankful that it wasn’t worse, that I’m alive, that I’m healing fast, that I have friends and family so close, that so many people are concerned and care about me, and what happens to me. I am ever so greatful for all of that, because like I said, not having any of that would be a more worse situation. So thank you friends and family for sending me your love and well-wishing.Some fun things that have happened since…The cast of Cyrano sent me a huge bouquet of flowers, as did Jonathan Fielding. Cards and sweets were sent in as well. My friend Monica Mateo came over and smoked me out that weekend it happened, and that made me feel great, actually. I went to my agent’s office the other day and they smoked me out too. That was hilarious to find out, but totally fitting at the same time. My phone was ringing off the hook with wonderful thoughts and the outpour of love that i received was and is immeasurable. My sisters and Yvonne have been taking good care of me, pampering me and such…Kevin Kline called me several times to check on me. He left several funny messages that made me laugh and it hurt to laugh… ”carman it’s kevin …kline…i play Cyrano, and i miss you…i just called to see how you’re doing, and will happily go with you once you identify these guys, and we’ll go out and skewer them… collectively, really fucking furious about this, anyway, i miss you and feel better, don’t come back till you feel like it…you know what i’m saying? although you’re missed, i hope i can survive the fight with out you, my cell phone is (can’t disclose that!but he left it with me…)anyway feel better, be brave, and much love.”My ribs were hurting and it made me laugh, and it was very thoughtful for him to call. The next day was the strike, and we have been on strike since, and i have been healing up nicely in the meantime. My agent said if you want to make lemonade out of your lemons, well…there you go! So…many things and people to be Thankful for…I’m counting them every minute of my days…Finally a picture of my opening night prada shoes, here they are…My camera was stolen, thankfully I got most of my pictures downloaded off the camera before it was taken. But My computer has a camera so…without further ado…

Friends of the phibs…here are some sweet pics from opening night! Enjoy!