Broadway, a blog, a brother and a birthday

Today is Steve on Broadway's birthday!

Many of you reading this know Steve and even some of you who've never had the pleasure have heard me kvell over him and what a wonderful friend he's been to me.

There's no doubt that Steve's passion for theatre has had an impact on my life, ever since he answered an e-mail I sent him, in 2006, when I was planning my first trip to Broadway to see Kevin Spacey in "A Moon for the Misbegotten."

In the five years before we met, the total number of plays and musicals I'd seen: 1. In the five years since: nearly 150. Before bloggers brunches, before Twitter, he was someone with whom I could share my newfound enthusiasm. And without his encouragement, I wouldn't have started a blog of my own. (The name Gratuitous Violins was his inspiration.)

I'm pretty sure that when Steve answered my first e-mail, saying "I'm delighted you found me," he never expected to get caught up in all of my drama. But he is a good and generous person and a loyal friend, with an amazing capacity to welcome new people into his life.

And having Steve for a friend means you never know when there'll be a surprise just around the corner. Two years ago, he threw me the best birthday party I've ever had. He took a day that I'd been dreading and suddenly made it all seem worthwhile.

Really, there's only one word to describe Steve - he's a mensch. I feel so blessed to have him in my life and I'm so proud to be his adopted Jewish sister. As he marks a milestone today, I just want to say: Happy birthday, Steve! Love you lots!

The play that changed my life

I've already ordered The Play that Changed My Life, a book compiled by the American Theatre Wing in which 19 playwrights talk about the works that influenced them and their careers.

If you'd like a chance at winning a copy, and a package of other theatre-related titles from Applause Publishing, the Wing is sponsoring an essay contest.

Just write, in 350 words or less, about the show that had the greatest impact on you, when you saw it in the course of your life and most importantly, why it meant so much to you.

I'm guessing most of the people who enter will write about shows they saw when they were young children or in their teens or twenties. I didn't become a regular theatergoer until I was - let's just say older. But as my story proves, it's never too late to start.

Of course, anyone who's read this blog for any length of time knows about the play that changed my life: seeing A Moon for the Misbegotten on Broadway with Kevin Spacey in April 2007.

Before that, I'd gone to the theatre a handful of times over the years but it was never a habit. I didn't grow up with theatre-loving parents. My friends weren't theatergoers. And it never occurred to me that I could go alone. Plus, I thought I'd have to get all dressed up.

I'd only been to New York City a few times, never longer than overnight and always for a specific event. And I'd never been to a show on Broadway. But the draw of Kevin Spacey was impossible to resist. The problem was, where to begin? I didn't even know how to get tickets. (Yes, I was that clueless!)

Enter Steve on Broadway.

I found his blog and e-mailed him asking for help. Along with great advice, Steve gave me his friendship, the first of many wonderful theatergoing friends I've made.

He was so excited about my first trip to Broadway that my nervousness, and any thoughts I might have harbored about backing out, evaporated. What began as a pipe dream became something I could see myself doing.

And as I pored through the archives of Steve's blog, peppering him with questions about all the shows he'd seen - and it seemed like he'd seen everything, his passion for the theatre was irresistible, too.

My Broadway adventure began on April 12, 2007.

When I walked into the Brooks Atkinson Theatre and saw the set for A Moon for the Misbegotten, the same one I'd seen pictures of from the London production at the Old Vic Theatre, it was thrilling.

The orchestra section was small - more intimate than I thought it would be. I was in Row A, Seat 109 and much closer to the stage than I thought I would be. And noticing how casually my fellow theatergoers were dressed, I realized that I'd packed way too much!

The first person I saw when the play began was Eve Best as Josie Hogan, and she made an entrance I'll never forget - bursting out the front door of this little ramshackle farmhouse with incredible energy and purpose. I was mesmerized.

As for Kevin well, I was a little bit in shock. All I could think was, "It's Kevin Spacey. I can't believe it. I can't believe I'm so close." My jaw dropped in amazement, a smile crossed my face, and I'm not sure it ever completely left for 2 1/2 hours.

It was such a different experience from seeing him in a movie - much more memorable because he was right there in front of me. I saw every wrinkle and line in his face, the little strawberry-colored birthmark on the back of his neck, the way his hair curls around his ears. At one point, I swear he looked right at me.

Afterward, I stood with a small crowd at the stage door, managed to say a few words to Kevin and got his autograph. I told him it was my first time seeing a play on Broadway and that I'd made the trip just for him. He said, "welcome."

You know what, I did feel welcome in New York City. I ended up walking around Times Square for about an hour, reveling in being a part of the huge crowd, snapping pictures of theatre marquees all lit up.

And I was hooked.

Happy anniversary, Playbill!

Congratulations to Playbill, which celebrates its 125th anniversary today.

Yes, of course I have all of mine, from every Broadway show I've attended. And all my tickets, too. Okay, that's only been since 2007, so it's not a remarkable number, but it's a start!

When I see one discarded on the floor of the theatre at the end of a performance, it makes me a little sad. Why wouldn't you want to take your Playbill home?

Some are covered with signatures I got at the stage door. One got a little wet from the rain but most are in pretty good shape, sitting in brown paper shopping bags from Whole Foods. (Yes, I know I need to get binders.)

And I wish shows would keep their color covers longer. I've written before that the black and white cover for the 9 to 5 Playbill looked a little washed out.

I've never attended a Broadway opening night but I do have two opening night Playbills, gifts from the sweetest SOB I know. One is from the first Broadway show I ever attended, A Moon for the Misbegotten, signed by Kevin Spacey and Eve Best, autographed to me personally!

I try not to obsess too much but I have badgered an usher once or twice when I was handed a Playbill that I considered slightly imperfect. I kept asking for new ones at Hairspray until someone finally pointed out that the smudge on the cover was Tracy Turnblad's nose.

Sorry! Maybe I'm a little obsessed.

The great magical quotient

I bought myself a shiny, silvery 120GB iPod Classic to replace the 20GB model whose hard drive expired. It wasn't easy. I felt like Tom Hanks in The Money Pit. I had to upgrade my operating system so the iPod would run on my PowerBook, and I had to buy a new case to protect the screen.

But it's up and running, with plenty of room for my show tunes and theatre-related podcasts. Now, while I'm waiting for Downstage Center to resume, I can download all of the Working in the Theatre podcasts from the American Theatre Wing and watch them while I walk on the treadmill.

Of course, I have to start with the May 2007 program on leading men, which included Kevin Spacey, who was on Broadway in A Moon for the Misbegotten at the time.

Kevin was the person who first sparked my interest in the theatre. I became a fan around the time he became artistic director of London's Old Vic Theatre, and he was so passionate whenever he talked about being on the stage.

Here's some of what he had to say:

"People come into a theatre and it's the most artificial surrounding you can imagine. There's big curtains, there's exit signs, there's chairs, there's programs. And yet somehow, if the elements have come together right, 20 minutes into a play that entire group of a thousand people or less go to a world that you're asking them to go to and they believe in that world.

And that collective experience, where a thousand strangers come into a building and believe, is what to me is the great magical quotient of when great theatre, great performances, happen. It's almost like a breath. We feel the audience."

Happy birthday Kevin Spacey!

If you asked me who first sparked my interest in theatre, I'd have to say that it's Kevin Spacey, who turns 49 years old today.

Way back in 2005, I watched Kevin sing and dance his heart out in Beyond the Sea, the Bobby Darin biopic. While it didn't get great critical acclaim, the movie was a true labor of love for the two-time Oscar winner, who also directed. I loved the movie, too, especially Kevin's singing.

I bought the soundtrack and listened to it pretty much nonstop for months. There was just something about Kevin's voice that really got to me. In fact, I did something I've rarely done in my life - I wrote him a fan letter in care of The Old Vic Theatre in London, where he serves as artistic director. And to my utter surprise, a few months later I received a short but very sweet personal note from Mr. Spacey.

Well, as you can imagine, Kevin pretty much vaulted his way to the top of my list of favorite actors. I caught up on all of his movies and television talk-show appearances, read every interview with him that I could find. In every interview what came through strongly and clearly was Kevin's love for the theatre. You couldn't help but catch some of his enthusiasm.

Here's a small sample of what I mean, from an interview with the British publication The Stage: “You get to come in every day and experiment and then you get a chance to get up every night and work on a different part of your game. I just happen to love the thrill of that - the high-wire act of it and the ritual of it. I love the ritual of coming into the theatre every night and working with the same people, creating a family, because everyone’s up for it."

Even though I hadn't been to a play or musical in years, Kevin's passion for the theatre made me want to give it a try. He made the experience sound positively thrilling. After that gracious note, I figured it was the least I could do for him, especially since there was no chance I'd get to London to see a show at The Old Vic.

I decided to go see the next play that the Trinity Repertory Company was putting on, which happened to be Hamlet. Kind of funny now that I think about it - the last show I saw before Hamlet was Fiddler on the Roof in Israel, in Hebrew. Two classics, both a little difficult to understand, but I had a great time seeing both of them.

And when Kevin announced in November 2006 that he'd be bringing the Old Vic's production of A Moon for the Misbegotten to New York the next spring, I knew I had to make my first trip to Broadway. Soon, I found Steve on Broadway's blog and the rest, as they say, is history.

I watched Kevin last night on The Tonight Show. He was as witty as ever, doing impressions of Bill Clinton and Johnny Carson, talking about his Emmy nominations, his work on the HBO movie Recount and playing opposite Jeff Goldblum in Speed-the-Plow in London.
He told a funny story that I'd heard before, about forgetting his lines one night during a performance of Lost in Yonkers on Broadway, for which he won a Tony award.

So happy birthday, Kevin - and come back to Broadway soon!

August company

This appeals to the theater geek and history buff in me.

I was so excited when I saw LoveMusik at the Biltmore Theatre last spring and realized I would be sitting in the very same place where Hair opened on Broadway in April 1968. I was listening to "Surabaya Johnny," but every once in awhile thinking about the dawning of the age of Aquarius.

Since then, from time to time I've browsed the Internet Broadway Database to see which actors trod the boards at theaters where I've been, and what shows opened there. The Imperial Theatre, currently home to August: Osage County, has in the past been home to Dreamgirls, Fiddler on the Roof, Cabaret and Gypsy.

One thing I didn't realize is that shows sometimes switch theaters, or at least they did in the past. Fiddler's 3,242 performances, between 1964 and 1972, were split among the Imperial, the Majestic and the Broadway theaters.

In 1944, 20-year-old Marlon Brando made his Broadway debut at The Music Box, playing Nels in I Remember Mama. It was the same stage where I saw Deuce with Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes, and The Farnsworth Invention.

Kevin Spacey won his Tony award in 1991, for Best Featured Actor in a Play, as Uncle Louie in Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers, at the Richard Rodgers Theatre. It's the same place where I saw Kevin Kline in Cyrano in November.

And Spacey made his Broadway debut at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in 1982, playing Liv Ullmann's son in Ghosts. Twenty-five years later, I sat in the second row at the same theater to see Spacey and Eve Best in A Moon for the Misbegotten - my first Broadway show.

Broadway, a blog and a brother

"I've heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason."

Sometimes, you just instantly connect with a song. I started to cry as soon as I heard that line from "For Good." I knew that there was one reason why I was sitting in a theater early in 2007 watching "Wicked" on tour and planning my first trip to Broadway - because one particular blogger had come into my life.

A few months before, I'd found Steve on Broadway while searching for information about "A Moon for the Misbegotten." (Regular readers of SOB will recognize those eyes!) Steve posted an item on the upcoming Broadway production and I sent him an e-mail asking a few questions. I told Steve that Kevin Spacey was one of my favorite actors, and I really wanted to see him in that play. "I'm delighted you found me," he wrote back.

Steve has never stopped being delighted to hear from me, whether it's through comments on his blog or numerous, sometimes lengthy, e-mails. Whenever I need to talk, and whatever I need to talk about, he's always there to listen and click on the reply button.

Like many bloggers, Steve writes about a topic that's not connected with what he does for a living. But he brings great skill, insight, dedication, enthusiasm and wit to the job, whether he's writing about his love for the theater, his love for this country and commitment to freedom of speech, or about the love of his life.

Steve on Broadway's comments section has been an outlet for my writing even when, as a novice theatergoer, I didn't have much to say. I've caught his enthusiasm for the unique power and emotion of a live performance, whether it's on Broadway, a local production or a national tour. Now, I have quite a bit to say!

Without Steve, this blog wouldn't exist. No matter how many times I told him I wasn't interested in starting one, he never stopped encouraging me, because he knew how much I loved to write. When I told him I'd finally decided to take the plunge, he even came up with the name, Gratuitous Violins. After I turned down his first half-dozen or so suggestions, most people would have given up and told me to find my own blog name. But not Steve.

When I started reading his blog, I'd never been to New York City for longer than an overnight stay, and I'd never seen a show on Broadway. Now, I can't get enough of the city. This fall, I'm planning my third trip there in six months. I've been in a Broadway audience 13 times, with more to come! One of those times was an unforgettable evening at "The Color Purple" with Steve by my side. We bought our tickets months apart, but fate was incredibly kind, and our seats ended up being right next to each other. Personally, I like to think it was the unseen hand of Oprah at work!

I've learned a lot about the theater over the past year, not just from Steve on Broadway, but from all the blogs on his list of daily reads. They each have their own distinctive voice and way of doing things. Some are just about the theater, and others delve into a variety of topics. I enjoy them all, and I'm glad to be among them. As Lt. Frank Cioffi, played by the talented and gracious David Hyde Pierce, says in "Curtains," it's an honor.

So Steve, thank-you for letting me borrow a song that I know holds a special place in your life. You've become my theater guide, my blogging mentor, my loyal friend, and best of all, my brother. And I am happy and fortunate and very proud to be your sister. Thank-you for welcoming me into your life. I'm here for good.