1. I have graduated from college and am so petrified of adulthood that I am moving in retrograde towards infancy--like Benjamin Button, except less hot than Brad Pitt--and...
2. The movies I watch repeatedly are not necessarily brilliant (although this one is pretty great.) The movies I watch repeatedly are the ones that have the best scores. A good plot is helpful; a brilliant score is imperative. This score is perfect. No, really.
You know how I keep fixating on the transcendent? The score of How to Train Your Dragon is transcendent. Download "Test Drive" on iTunes right now. Then, watch this video:
I'm not a huge figure skating fanatic or anything, but I was in a very mellow, soul-searchy place today and "Claire de Lune" is always a go-to either to play on piano or listen to and this video came up. Yu-na Kim floats when she skates. It is balletic and gorgeous and perfect. She transcends.
For the past month, I feel I have been a part of a work of theatre that is that ethereal and other worldly. Joel Ferrell managed to re-conceptualize Cabaret in potentially the most accurate and compelling fashion ever, and I feel overwhelming gratitude to be a small part of it and complete admiration/awe over its manifestation.
You know who else is a genius? I'll give you one guess. If you've been following my blog, you know I'm ever so slightly enamored of Kate Wetherhead. I want to be her when I grow up. She is generous, she is stupid talented, and she is so smart it's ridiculous. Sally Bowles is an icon, and I'd rather watch Kate as Sally than anyone else in the world. She has re-invented Sally. But you want to know her most endearing quality? I suspect she is as in love with what she does as I am--perhaps moreso. Granted, she's way cooler about her musical theatre affair than I am, but it's totally there. She writes (and stars in) a webseries called "Submissions Only" about actors in New York trying to make it. Youtube it now; it's pretty hilarious (and the guest stars are phenomenal.)
Tonight, in the talkback following the show, a friend of mine got choked up asking Kate to discuss Joel's brilliant choice to have Sally stop singing in "Cabaret." Kate began to respond, and as she started to articulate her thoughts, she became choked up herself. "I'm sorry," she said. "I have to return to New York in a week and I won't necessarily get to do things like this there." As Kate elegantly re-composed herself, I felt an energy shift in the room. Joel is always talking about "feelers" and "receptors" and feeding off of audience energy; it's imperative for the Kit Kat kids. As a result, I feel like I'm way more receptive to the energy of an ensemble at any given point. At the point when Kate started to cry, I immediately felt two things 1. the instinct to hug her and 2. that this instinct was shared among the entire cast sitting onstage. Kate and my co-actors are as in love with their jobs and this transient magic we're sharing as I have been. They are as grateful to be apart of this as I am. This cast, guys...
The artist's job is tricky. I think regardless of whatever becomes of artists over time--whether we become jaded and cynical and over it or ultimately do it strictly commercially (and at some point, you have to consider finances/your livelihood, right?) we're tasked with creating magic because at one time or another we became enchanted by it on the other side. Honestly, creating anything is intimidating. This show hasn't merely been about people doing their job. This show has been a gift in every way: from the writers, through Joel's lens, to the cast, then back to the audience. A shared experience. A blessing.
“You can throw away the privilege of acting, but that would be such a shame. The tribe has elected you to tell its story. You are the shaman/healer, that's what the storyteller is, and I think it's important for actors to appreciate that. Too often actors think it's all about them, when in reality it's all about the audience being able to recognize themselves in you. The more you pull away from the public, the less power you have.”
No comments:
Post a Comment