Blog Stage - Acting in Film, TV, Theatre - Backstage

'Sopranos' Sans Swearing, 'Sex and the City' Minus the Sex?

The fight to regulate violence, sexuality, and language on TV rages on in Washington, D.C. Two conservative congressmen -- with support from Federal Communications Commission chairman Kevin Martin -- are waging the war on a different front, one that most of us thought was safe from government censorship: cable television.

Yes, cable. That pay service on which groundbreaking shows such as The Sopranos, Sex and the City, and Deadwood flourished. The Family and Consumer Choice Act of 2007 -- introduced June 14 by Reps. Jeff Fortenberry (R-Neb.) and Dan Lipinski (D-Ill.) and endorsed by Martin -- seeks to apply broadcast indecency standards to cable programming and force cable operators to offer programming on a per-channel basis.

We couldn't help thinking of the (bewildering to some) Sopranos series finale earlier this month. Creator David Chase has said in interviews that he was reticent to put the show on cable at first. Originally the pilot was produced for the Fox network, which turned down the project, as did the other three major broadcast networks. That pilot didn't bear much resemblance to the Sopranos audiences came to love (nobody even got "whacked"), but HBO gave Chase the artistic freedom to deepen, darken, and evolve the series into a tale more true to not only gangsters' lives but also American suburbanites.

A show doesn't necessarily have to include violence, sexuality, or adult language to be successful with critics and/or audiences. But consider how dialogue between the excellent James Gandolfini and Edie Falco would have sounded without common expletives. Imagine Sex and the City without the sex. The shows' characters would not have been as in-depth and, more important, they would not have seemed as real and relatable.

Fortenberry and Lipinski insist children have too much access to such programming clearly meant for adults. "With so much to worry about in today's increasingly busy world, parents are asking for some help in protecting their children from TV material they find inappropriate," Lipinski wrote on his website. "It is time for Congress to act for America's families."

But are parents indeed asking for help? According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey released June 19, the majority of parents say they already supervise what their children watch and download. The national survey of 1,008 parents of children ages 2-17 found that 65 percent said they "closely" monitor their children's media use, while only 18 percent said they "should do more."

The survey also found that parents are less worried about their children being exposed to inappropriate content than they were nine years ago. Fifty-one percent of parents surveyed said they are "very" concerned about their kids seeing sexual content, down from 67 percent in a 1998 study. Forty-six percent were concerned about violent content, a sharp drop from 62 percent in '98. And though 59 percent worried about their kids' exposure to adult language in '98, only 41 percent were concerned about language in 2007. However, 66 percent of survey respondents said they favor government regulation of TV content during the early evening hours.

Lipinski and Fortenberry may also have ulterior motives in introducing the Family and Consumer Choice Act. We certainly don't have to remind our readers that elections are approaching. Lipinski and Fortenberry are up for re-election in 2008. Republican Fortenberry votes along his party's lines: pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and pro-Iraq War. Lipinski is a particularly conservative Democrat. Recently he was one of 16 Democrats to vote against a bill that would have allocated more funding for embryonic-stem-cell research. The Illinois representative also voted against a bill that would have set a deadline for troops' withdrawal in Iraq, and his anti-abortion voting record has earned him a 100 percent approval rating from the National Right to Life Committee.

In light of their voting records, the Family and Consumer Choice Act appears to be more of a feather in the congressmen's respective caps that will appeal to right-leaning voters in their districts. The two may be sincerely concerned about protecting children from the evils of cable television, but they are also probably interested in winning re-election in November 2008.

Whatever the answer, if this latest FCC-friendly act passes, hundreds of would-be Gandolfinis, Falcos, and Chases will pay the price of furthering two men's political aspirations.    

Was it Something We Said?

This could be a first. Or, it least it's the first time I have heard of it happening in L.A.  One of our regular Back Stage West critics decided to call to make press reservations for "Mental," a new small-scale musical at Edgemar Center for the Arts in Santa Monica. We had previously reviewed  this show (quite scathingly) in our June 21 issue. Our freelancer received a message back from the show's publicist asking him to consider seeing it later because "in response to early critical reaction, the creators..will be doing some retooling and revamping on it this weekend..."

Besides our less-than-glowing review ("mind-numbing...idiotic...grating and offensive characterizaton..rambling and banal...inanity... a mess...muddled soap opera") for this feel-good tuner about how a severly dsyfunctional family solves years of family-baggage problems--including suicide and physical abuse--within two days with the help of a sicker-than-they-are screaming-queen therapist,  Paul Birchall reviewed it none too favorably in the L.A. Weekly. To wit: "The work's odd structure lurches from one family member's half-baked problem to the next in a way that undercuts sympathy for any of them...production is chaotic...sluggish dramatic scenes meshed up against peppy musical numbers, whose forgettable lyrics and melodies are poorly integrated with the very talky bits.." 

Both Birchall's review and our review found a degee of compensation in certain peformances (and sympathy for the performers), but these were not the sort of  reviews that were awash with strong ad quote material.  We sincerely hope things are a lot better when this very peculiar piece finishes its retooling. In fairness, we should also perhaps report that the opening night audience on June 15 whooped it up and cheered, as if this was "The Producers" and "Hairspray" rolled into one. Come to think of, combining those two plots would make about as much sense as this one did.  To each his own, I guess.

--Les Spindle

Spike Lee's 'Stalag'

Of course as soon as I post a list of shows for 2007-08, another show is announced--Spike Lee's revival of Stalag 17, which is shaping up to be one of the biggest shows of the season. There was supposed to be a press conference tomorrow but somebody leaked the info to both Mike Reidel in the Post and to the Times. So the press conference has been postponed since it's no longer a surprise. The Post and the Times disagree over Clive Owen's possible involvement. The Times speculates the British hunk would play the William Holden role while the Post has him donning the leather boots of the German commandant, played by Otto Preminger in the film. Reidel has Mark Wahlberg as a possibility for the Holden role.

Lee also states the play will be rewritten by himself and Donald Bevan, who co-wrote the play with the late Edmund Trzcinski. The updates will include more profanity and some of the relations between the POWs will be more "intimate."....Hmmmm.

--David Sheward 

1408 Brings Chills, Revives Careers

When first reading that John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson were to play characters in a new film inspired by a Stephen King story, I quietly chuckled to myself. The last time I had  seen either of these actors, they were too busy making bad movies about loving dogs and fighting snakes. So, when I found out that Cusack would be playing  a character in a horror film, which happens to be one of my favorite genres, I was hesitant.

Last Saturday night, which is movie night in my household, it was my turn to pick the movie. The choices of new releases in theaters were slim and opting not to see POTC3 for a fourth time, I decided to gamble my nine bucks on the new Cusack flick. I mean, come on, it couldn't be as bad as anything else he's done lately. I chose a latter performance to attend, thinking that no one would be there, but to my surprise, I walked into an almost packed theater. And as the lights dimmed low and the movie started to begin, any doubts I once had quickly disappeared.

From the very beginning 1408, Cusack draws you into his world as renowned horror novelist Mike Enslin, who writes about haunted places he's visited . Enslin's character, who skeptical himself on the existence of ghosts, mysteriously receives a postcard telling him not to check into room 1408 of  a NYC hotel. So, being the skeptic that he is, he decides to go, bringing him to meet Samuel L. Jackson, the hotel manager who warns Enslin countless times not to check into room 1408. From here on out both actors hold strong performances on screen. Even though Jackson's performance is short, he leaves the audience fearing for the fate of Michael Enslin.  Cusack, who is basically on by himself for the remaining of the film, keeps you clinging to the side of your seat. And he does this with little or no interaction with other characters on screen. He brings the character's fears to life in such a way that you forget that you're watching an actor on film. It's not a rare occurrence for a movie patron to become so enthralled by what is happening on screen that he or she forgets that it's only a movie, but when it happens due to an actors performance, that's magic.

1408 is a smart, chilling and thrilling movie, that will have you jumping out of your seat and unlike other current horror films,  won't have you running out of the theater, demanding your money back.

--Diana DiSilvestro

Forecast for 2007-08

Old Acquaintance, the first show of the 2007-08 Broadway season opens on Thurs. at the American Airlines. Here's how the rest of the season is shaping up:

July 10--Xanadu (Helen Hayes)

Aug. 19--Grease (Brooks Atkins0n)

Sept. 13--Mauritius (MTC at Biltmore)

Sept. 14--Pygmalion (previews begin at the American Airlines)

Oct. 11--The Ritz (Roundabout at Studio 54)

Nov. 4--Rock 'n' Roll

Nov. 8 --Young Frankenstein (Hilton)

Nov. 18 (approx.)--The Farnsworth Invention 

November--Cymbeline (Lincoln Center at Vivian Beaumont); Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (return engagement)

Dec. 6--The Little Mermaid (Lunt-Fontanne)

December--The Seafarer

Jan. 17--November

Feb. 14--Sunday in the Park with George (Roundabout at Studio 54)

February--South Pacific (Lincoln Center Theater at Vivian Beaumont)

March--Guys and Dolls

April--Female of the Species

May--Top Girls (MTC at Biltmore)

Spring--A Catered Affair

Dates TBA--Cabaret (revival of Roundabout's revival); Treasure Island (postponed from this summer)

Maybes--9 to 5; 13; Cry-Baby; The Homecoming; Leap of Faith; Shrek

--David Sheward

Sterling Effort

Cabaret in  L.A. has never come anywhere close to matching the bountiful and ebullient  New York club scene, but in recent years, with the cessation of regular offerings at the Cinegrill and fewer offerings around the city in general, cabaret lovers have been forced to settle for slim pickings. Thankfully, there appears to be an upswing in this irresistible entertainment form. The Gardenia is still thriving and the wonderful Upright Cabaret at  West Hollywood’s La Boheme Restaurant is attracting a sophisticated crowd of music lovers. I finally caught up with Sterling’s Upstairs at Vitello’s, a classy Studio City venue that just celebrated its first anniversary. Run by veteran showman and public relations specialist Michael Sterling, a mainstay in L.A. for almost 30 years, the weekly Saturday night series is served up along with delicious Italian cuisine at one of the Valley’s most popular restaurants. The spacious and appealing upstairs room was filled to capacity on a recent June evening, and the performer was the charming and gifted Perry Wood (pictured), a resident of  Palm Springs. Along with ace musical director Richard Callaci at the piano, Wood presented Sinatra Revisited: All the Way, a one-hour set of tunes from the late great crooner. The quick-witted and relaxed Wood has a style of his own, which is far removed from Sinatra’s, but impressive in its own right. He has a strong and versatile voice and his phrasing is expressive and captivating. He’s the sort of singer who acts outs a song as much as singing it, capturing a range of rich emotions from wistful yearning to lush romanticism to unbridled joy. From the seductive early number “Come Fly With Me” to the climatic showstoppers like “That’s Life” and “New York, New York,” he commanded the audience’s rapt attention, and the performance sped by much too quickly. He introduced one famous audience member, legendary actress Margaret O’Brien, and enchanted the crowd with his flirtatious appeal. It was a glorious evening, whetting one’s appetite for future offerings at Sterling’s irresistible piece of Manhattan in the movie capital. Reservations and information:  (818) 981-3077.

--Les Spindle

What Goes Up Must Come to Something

It's every actor's worst fear: Your mouth goes dry, your hands get clammy, and -- worst of all -- your mind goes blank. The dreaded "actor's nightmare." If it happens in a show, there are fellow actors to save the day. But what if it happens at an audition?

It was time again for the Southeastern Theatre Conference's preliminary auditions, at Hinds Community College in Jackson, Miss. In addition to a monologue, I decided to do a song: "As Time Goes By." The day before the audition, I found out that a girl from my acting class with the time slot before mine was doing the same song. Songs are often repeated at regional auditions, but back to back? I went through my sheet music for alternatives. "On the Street Where You Live," from My Fair Lady? Tired -- and I did it last year. "Food Glorious Food," from Oliver!? No, I'm petite and they'd only cast me as a kid. I had to use something I knew, had the sheet music for, and that was in my key.

Then I got what I thought was a brilliant idea: Since my classmate was starting with the intro, I'd start with the bridge. I ran through it with the pianist, and it sounded pretty good: "Moonlight and love songs, never out of date/Hearts full of passion, jealousy, and hate/Woman needs man, and man must have his mate/That no one can deny."

In theory it was a good plan. The trouble was, I had been working only on the prologue and first verse. That didn't mean I knew the rest, no matter how many times I had seen Casablanca.

My moment to shine came. The monologue went great (a selection from Strindberg's Ghost Sonata), the pianist vamped, and I started to sing. The first line came out okay, and then, well, I "went up" -- the words went right out of my head, off to never-never land. I thought, "If I just keep singing, the words will come back!" They didn't. What came out was pure nonsense that went something like: "Moonlight and love songs, never out of date/People la-la-la…that we hate/Woman and man, going on a date/That's the la-la-la…."

It was difficult to show my face back in my audition class -- many of my classmates had been to the audition or heard about it -- but I did. People were nice, said it was cute, but I just wanted to put a bag over my head. I didn't know what to say. The experience got me thinking about what happens when we go up. At the time, Shirley MacLaine was in the news with her latest paranormal memoir. To be funny, I started telling people I had had an out-of-body experience. I played with this idea and wrote a comic monologue in which a Beverly Hills woman goes up in the middle of her audition and then proceeds to tell the judges where she went: "I was summoned to a high mountain in Peru by my Guru Baba Zwingli-Bahingli ('Barb' to her friends), only to find that all she wanted was my recipe for Transcendental Tofu Pot Pie," etc.

I tested the new monologue out in class and actually got some laughs. After grad school, I used it to get a museum theatre job at the Philadelphia Zoo that lasted three and a half years. I wrote and developed several plays for the zoo's Treehouse Troupe, in addition to three commissioned plays for other area museums, an award-winning one-act, and several workshop productions.

That nightmare audition not only led to an acting job but it got me started writing plays. More important, it taught me that life experiences can be an endless source of creative fodder. Thankfully, the worst ones can be the most inspiring.

--Patricia Lamkin

Patricia Lamkin is a freelance writer in Hollywood. She is a regular contributor to the Design Magazine of The Beverly Hills Courier and writes film reviews for the website The213.net. She is currently finishing a full-length play, to be produced later this year. For an archive of Lamkin's published articles, visit her blog at www.renaissance-red.blogspot.com. She is not currently pursuing acting.

Our View

David Hyde Pierce made news recently when he let it be known in an interview with The Associated Press that he is gay and has been in a relationship with Brian Hargrove, a writer-director-producer, for well over a decade. In 11 seasons on Frasier, Pierce received 11 Emmy nominations for best supporting actor in a comedy series and earned the award four times, all for playing a heterosexual pining for and then winning the affections of his father's physical therapist. He is currently starring on Broadway in Curtains, again playing the boy who gets the girl; on Sunday he won the Tony Award for best leading actor in a musical.

That Pierce is gay is not exactly news; it has been an open secret in show business for some time. Pierce's talents, however, are such that he has winningly and convincingly played heterosexuals, and we hope that his mild revelation in late May will not prevent him from continuing to do that. We wish the same for Neil Patrick Harris, T.R. Knight, and other gay and lesbian actors who are now out to the general public. But for that to happen, members of the industry's straight community have to be actively involved. It is no longer enough for them to be tolerant; they now have to be vigilant to help create an atmosphere in which gay and lesbian actors are not punished artistically and financially for living their lives as openly as they choose.

Although the belief that says audiences will not accept queer actors in straight roles is probably a canard, even if it is true, the powers that be in entertainment need to ensure that gays and lesbians get a fair shot in heterosexual parts. Rupert Everett, who has been out for more than a decade, has received rave notices for his performances as a gay man (My Best Friend's Wedding) and as a straight man (The Madness of King George, An Ideal Husband) but has not enjoyed the kind of leading-man success that his talent and looks would seem to dictate. Ellen DeGeneres and Rosie O'Donnell have not suffered financially by coming out, but one wonders if their successes as talk-show hosts resulted from lost opportunities as actors. If, as we are told, audiences are not ready for queers to play it straight, then executives have to get them ready for it by not letting actors' sexuality dictate the course of their careers.

The not-so-big secret, of course, is that a significant number of Hollywood's power brokers are gay (many of them closeted). The situation is strikingly similar to the one earlier last century, when actors such as Emanuel Goldenberg, Issur Demsky, and David Kaminsky changed their names to Edward G. Robinson, Kirk Douglas, and Danny Kaye so people wouldn't know they were Jewish. They did this because they were told audiences wouldn't accept Jewish actors; the ones helping to propagate that idea were Jewish studio moguls.

For their part, gay and lesbian actors could help the cause by choosing to come out. No one should browbeat anyone into jeopardizing an artistic and financial livelihood by assuming a personal/political stance with which he or she isn't yet comfortable. Pierce, Harris, and Knight, for example, came out after being nudged (and not always slightly). By contrast, Malcolm Gets, Nathan Lane, and Christopher Sieber declared they were here and queer of their own accord. With each homosexual actor who comes out, the momentum accretes and pushes us toward the day we hope for: when an actor's sexuality no longer qualifies as news.

Back Stage Staff

Send in the Scribes

On the June 7 opening night of the 15th annual Blank Theatre Young Playwrights’ Festival at Hollywood’s Matrix Theatre, a near-capacity audience enjoyed the impressive event, which brings together promising young playwrights from across the nation and professionals who work in the productions as actors, directors, and mentors. Blank’s artistic director-founder Daniel Henning enthusiastically introduced three teenage playwrights to the appreciative audience.

The youngsters’ plays were among a dozen that the Blank chose for production from approximately 150 nationwide submissions. Each week through July 1, a separate triple-bill of the plays is presented. Writers of the well received trio of plays in the opening week’s fare included 16-year-old Matthew Grossman of New York. His Counting the Sheep, a sharp satiric farce, lampooning the U.S. Supreme Court—somewhat reminiscent of David Mamet’s uproarious kangaroo-court comedy Romance—was mentored by legendary filmmaker Blake Edwards and directed by Kirsten Sanderson. Another offering was from 18-year-old Phoebe Rush of Highland Park, Illinois. White Woman is an intense interracial love story infused with political issues and set in Uganda. It was mentored by Murray McRae and directed by Ken Page. Finally, 16-year-old Gabriel Neustadt of St. Petersburg, Florida was the author of Strand in the Closet, a heartrending family drama about the contentious reunion two brothers dealing with financial matters after the death of their mother, mentored by David Holstein and directed by Barbara Bain. Hennings’ ambitious gift to budding scribes across the nation grows in quality and prestige each year. Festival information is available at www.youngplaywrights.com.

--Les Spindle

Class Acts

Talented singer-actors have a classy and prestigious Los Angeles performing venue, which has been steadily enhancing reputation since it first saw the light of night about 18 months ago. Young impresarios Shane Scheel and Chris Isaacson and music director Trapper Felides, a dynamic trio of energetic self-starters, have realized their dreams with the establishment of the fabulously successful Upright L.A. Cabaret. The biweekly show features cream-of-the-crop bicoastal and L.A.-based entertainers.

It originated as a monthly event a year and a half ago at Mark’s Restaurant in West Hollywood and has now relocated to the nearby La Boheme Restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, where it is presented every other Friday night, to SRO crowds. Audiences can savor top-drawer musical performers from Broadway and L.A, including prominent movie and TV actors. On June 8, at Upright’s Tribute to Judy Garland, the stellar lineup was astonishing—including but not limited to vivacious Tony nominee Valarie Pettiford (belting out a mean “Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries”), Ovation and Garland winner Jennifer Leigh Warren, Chad Kimball (recently star of Lennon on Broadway), and Barbra Streisand’s sister Roslyn Kind, delivering a showstopping “The Man That Got Away.”

Oklahoma-born singer-songwriter-guitarist Audra Mae, another relative of a showbiz legend—Garland’s great grand-niece and the great-granddaughter of Garland’s bandleader Bobby Sherwood—capped the show with a smashing concert of her eclectic original songs. Her distinctive style encompasses a bit of Garland, a hint of Janis Joplin, and a host of other styles—from Randy Newman to Cindy Lauper. Revered music director-composer Gerald Sternbach of Reprise and many other local venues and productions was another welcome guest. For more information on this red-hot talent showcase, visit www.uprightcabaret.com or  www.myspace.com/uprightcabaret. La Boheme Restaurant: (323) 848-2360.

--Les Spindle