The Tony Award experience is a lofty one…particulalry when you win one. Jessie Mueller won her Tony Award for her portrayal of Carole King in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. That was Mueller’s fourth Broadway show and her second Tony nomination.

She had previously been nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical for her turn as Melinda Wells in the 2011 revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.

She’s received two additional Tony Award nominations for her performances as Jenna in the musical Waitress and as Julie Jordan in the 2018 revival of Carousel. Most recently she appeared on Broadway in the play The Minutes by Tracy Letts. Not bad for someone who got their start singing The Wiggly Worm in a school production.

When Mueller takes to the stage of The Wallis in Beverly Hills on June 16th and The Smith Center in Las Vegas on June 17th with Seth Rudetsky, she’ll have plenty to talk about and to sing. I spoke with Mueller last week about various aspects of her career, new musicals on the horizon and finding a way to accept all that she’s accomplished. What follows are excerpts from our conversation that have been edited for length and clarity. To see the full interview (which does include some singing), please go to our YouTube channel.

17 years ago when you were playing Lady Mortimer in Henry IV, a character that doesn’t have any printed lines. A character that only sings in Welsh that nobody can understand. What were your thoughts then about what your career might be from that moment and how much does your career look like what you expected or hoped it might be? 

That was 17 years ago. I’m still stuck on that. So I was only four. [She laughs.] I mean, it’s incredible. That is wild. 17 years. That is so fun that you brought that up. My experience of that show, I remember, because I got to do it at Chicago Shakespeare Theater in Chicago. And then we got to do it at the RSC [Royal Shakespeare Company] in Stratford-upon-Avon. They were doing a festival of the whole [Shakespeare] canon and our show was chosen to represent the Henry IVs. 

It was just a magical experience for me personally. I remember feeling like I was starting to be treated like a real adult actor, because there were some folks in the cast that I knew because my parents are actors in Chicago. I’d seen them doing shows growing up, but I felt like everyone was treating me like a peer. I wasn’t the little kid of the actors, friends or whatever. 

I remember that really being a moment for me about thinking maybe I’m really doing this. But as far as what was in my mind of where my career might go, nowhere near what has occurred. I don’t think I could have imagined it. I don’t think I had that kind of scope. My model had sort of been a career in Chicago, which is what I was after. I wanted to be a working actor. Sometimes life takes you in different directions. It certainly did for me.

I know that Into the Woods has been published as your favorite Sondheim show. You’ve played Cinderella in that show. You played Mary Flynn in Merrily We Roll Along and Anne Egerman in A Little Night Music. You’ve done three Sondheim shows, but you have yet to do one on Broadway. Given that Into The Woods was just on Broadway, it’s unlikely that opportunity will present itself any time in the near future. So is there another Sondheim show that you would like to do on Broadway?

I feel like the music from Passion was going through my head the other day, but honestly, that’s not a show I know super well. Maybe I’ll have to wait until Into the Woods rolls around again. Maybe I could “witch” this time around. And then I could play Jack’s mother. That’s the thing about that show, you could just sort of cycle through all the roles. I don’t know. It’s very ironic that Sweeney is happening now. That’s one I’d like to do at some point.

Your career, for the most part in terms of musicals, has been revivals, re-imaginings of shows. Obviously Beautiful is a jukebox musical. But in terms of new musicals, with the exception of Waitress, most of your work in new musicals has been with recordings. You have the recording of My Heart Says Go that’s out right now. Upcoming is the recording for Diary of a Wimpy Kid. What do these recordings tell us about what your passion is for doing new work in addition to doing the work you’ve done already?

I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for new stuff just because I guess I find it so exciting. I mean, it also can be infuriating when you’re working on it in the room. Yes, Beautiful was a jukebox. So you had the music already written. We knew that was golden. Working on something like Waitress was so exciting because it was a story that had been conceived, of course, from the film by Adrienne Shelly. But the music was original, so it had never been staged before. It was an adaption.

There’s just something exciting about being in that incubator, being in the process of trying to figure out what’s working, what might not be working. But that’s also the part that can be infuriating is you don’t know. Do we trust what we’ve got? Have we just not cracked it yet? Or is it that we’ve tried everything? I find that stuff exciting depending on who you’re working with. I’ve gotten to work with very generous people that are very open to what you bring to it. There’s that openness about bringing yourself and your perspective and I think it’s a real privilege to originate a role and put your stamp on it.

It’s not often that that an actor gets to revisit a role. Eleven years ago you first stepped into the shoes of Miss Adelaide in a production of Guys and Dolls. You got to do it again at the Kennedy Center last fall. How did your professional and life experiences inform who Miss Adelaide is more recently than who she was when you performed that role 11 years ago?

It’s funny because the process is so quick for the Broadway series at the Kennedy Center. So I think in all honesty I was relying a lot on what do I remember. What is in my muscle memory of who this gal is? But sure, I’m older now, I have more life experience. I’ve been in the business for a while. I’ve been an entertainer for a while. Miss Adelaide has been an entertainer and she takes pride in that.

Half the fun, too, is getting in the room with all the new people. This is how this changes this. This is who this Adelaide is because of James [Monroe Iglehart] being my Nathan and all this stuff. So that’s half the fun of it. But it was a joy to revisit it. I wasn’t sure I would ever get the chance to revisit it again.

Honestly, I felt like I was a little young the first time. But I was like, I’m game. Let’s do it. It was my buddy Matt Raftery who was directing that production in Chicago. I went in for Sarah initially. Then he was like, “Would you like to take a stab at Adelaide? Would you go look at the sides and come back?” I was like, sure. I just always wanted to be the character actress with the fun costumes and the big funny songs. I loved doing it again.

It’s been 14 years since Guys and Dolls has been on Broadway. So you know what the math says. It could be time for a revival. 

There was a lot of chatter after we did it in in D.C. We were so glad that it was so well received. And Philipa [Soo], Steven [Pasquale], James and I, we were totally game. We would explore this, but rights were tied up in the [Nic] Hytner production in London which I’ve heard incredible things about. It has just been so well received, so I don’t know what would happen. I don’t know if they’d bring that over here. I know that it might be a challenge just because of the space and with their immersive production which seems so cool. But if the opportunity came around again, I would totally float that idea, especially if I could do it with those three. We just had a ball. 

Most people associate with musicals, but you also got to do Tracy Letts’s play The Minutes. Is it a challenge for you to be seen as somebody who can act as well as somebody who can sing?

That the perception from the outside that hey, I can act too? That sort of thing?

When you come out singing the songs a lot of audience members, I would guess, don’t necessarily think that was also a great acting performance.

Because you’re supposed to make it look easy. It’s not. There’s a difference between someone who can sing and has a great instrument, which is amazing, but someone who’s also a communicator. Then you have those people who have both who have the glorious instrument and the communication tool. I feel like Hugh Jackman says it a lot. It’s the idea of in some ways it’s almost harder to act in a musical sometimes because you have to make it seem believable that you’re breaking into song. You have these very heightened experiences, which is why the characters are breaking into song. I think actors, especially musical theater actors who appear in musicals, don’t get the credence sometimes they deserve for the acting that they’re doing.

I actually do go to the acting first, which is funny when I’m working on something; when I’m learning something. Or as you spoke of earlier, working on something new. I have to remind myself you can’t act it yet. You don’t know it. You have to learn it. You have to do the technical stuff first of learning it and then you can do the acting work because then it’s in your body. Then you can really get inside of it to deliver. Then go back and fix the technical things and all of that again and kind of go back and forth between those processes.

One of the things I love most about your collaboration with Seth Rudetsky is the social impact component of it. You did What the World Needs Now after the pulse shooting in Orlando. You were involved with him with the Concerts for America. What do you feel is your role as an artist in helping to bring about social impact and social change?

If I’m going to be honest, I’m still figuring that out; coming to terms with the idea that I might have a platform that people might be listening to. So if that is the case, I might as well use it for good. I think I’m starting to crystallize this idea more. I really appreciate people like Seth and his husband, James Wesley, because they are doers. I feel like I’m a helper. I like to help. I like to be of service, but I’m not necessarily the first person who’s going to say I will lead the charge. I try to come in and do my thing and do what I can to help.

You did an interview with Patrick Healy of the New York Times just after winning the Tony Award for Beautiful. You said, “I thought I’d get wrapped up in all the wrong things” of your move to New York from Chicago. You continued to say, “Now look what’s happened. It feels like a wonderful accident.” I love that expression: wonderful accident. Nine years later, does your career still feel like a wonderful accident? Is there perhaps something more complex going on?

I think so. I don’t think it matters how quote unquote, successful you are, whatever the heck that means. It’s hard on your heart. It’s personal. Even when it’s not personal it is personal because the work is personal. You bring yourself. That’s the job. You’re supposed to feel and think and move and act and talk in front of strangers sometimes as someone else, sometimes as yourself, and hopefully create an exchange of meaning and maybe memory and maybe a spiritual flow and all these things. That is hard.

But I think it’s not an accident. I’m working on owning my achievements and I’m proud of them. But the moment you hook into that and give that too much meaning you are often very quickly reminded that it doesn’t hold in a storm. It’s this constant evaluation of what I put importance on and not diminishing an accomplishment or achievement or how hard I have worked. But acknowledging that it’s not the most important thing. God has been so good about where I’ve been led and who I’ve been led to and the opportunities that have been put in front of me. But also I’ve worked my ass off with the gifts I’ve been given.

I think also at that time in my life I was really trying to figure out where I fit in the whole scheme of things. I mean, I still am. What is humble? What is self-deprecating? Where are those lines? How do you stay true to yourself, who you are and what you believe in, but also have the grace and humility to just keep it real.

To watch the full interview with Jessie Mueller, please go here.

Main Photo: Jessie Mueller (Photo by Jacqueline Harris for The Interval/Courtesy The Wallis)

The post Jessie Mueller And Her Beautiful Career appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, cultural events are picking up now that we’ve entered the traditional fall season. This week proves that point as we have 13 different shows for you to consider. Plus a few reminders, just in case you don’t find something you like. But seriously, what are the odds of that?

So here are our Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th:

Shipwreck – The Public Theater – October 16th – 12:00 PM EDT/9:00 AM PDT

Starting on Friday – for an open-ended run – is a radio play from The Public Theater called Shipwreck. This is a recent work from playwright Anne Washburn who was named a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009.

The play was scheduled to be part of The Public Theater’s 2020 season and has been recorded and produced for listening at home.

In Shipwreck a group of friends have gathered in upstate New York. What starts out as a glorious day, suddenly turns dark and stormy. That applies to both the weather and to the relationships. It turns out that even close, liberal friends, can find their belief systems challenged in present-day America.

Performing Shipwreck are Mia Barron, Brooke Bloom, Phillip James Brannon, Rob Campbell, Bill Camp, Raúl Esparza, Jenny Jules, Sue Jean Kim, Bruce McKenzie, Joe Morton, Jeremy Shamos and Richard Topol. Saheem Ali directs.

When the Almeida Theatre in London produced Shipwreck in 2019, the play earned strong reviews. Amongst them was this comment from Michael Billington writing in The Guardian: “…this is an important play that not only examines the Trump phenomenon but also asks why he was elected: one character shocks his friends by explaining that he voted for Trump because a failing democracy needs a shock to the system. It is precisely the argument you sometimes hear in Britain about a no-deal Brexit being a catalyst for change.”

Andra Day – Los Angeles Philharmonic Sound/Stage – October 16th – 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT

The fourth episode of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Sound/Stage online series starts running on Friday and it is the first one to feature a solo artist without the orchestra: singer/songwriter Andra Day.

Day is perhaps best known for her hit song, Rise Up. She’ll perform that song along with Gold (both songs are from her 2015 album Cheers to the Fall) and also Nina Simone’s classic song, Mississippi Goddam. She will also appear in an interview as part of the program.

Included in the program as well will be performances from Flypoet Summer Classic that was filmed at The Ford.

For details about the full Sound/Stage series, please check out our full preview here.

Henry IV – St. Ann’s Warehouse – October 16th – October 22nd – 7:30 PM EDT/4:30 PM PDT

Brooklyn’s St. Ann’s Warehouse has partnered with London’s Donmar Warehouse to stream Shakespeare Trilogy on Film, three of his plays performed by all-female casts. They began by streaming the 2013 production of Julius Caesar last week. (Don’t worry, you have another chance to see it).

This week the 2016 production of Henry IV is streaming.

Phyllida Lloyd (who, for better or worse, was the director of Mamma Mia! both on stage and screen) directed all three plays.

In this version of Henry IV, the two Shakespeare plays have been condensed into one 135-minute play. Harriet Walter, who is perhaps best known for her roles in Sense and Sensibility and Atonement, plays Henry.

Ben Brantley of the New York Times, called Walter “one of the great Shakespearean interpreters of her generation” in his review of this production when it played St. Ann’s Warehouse in 2015.

He also said of Lloyd’s Henry IV, which is set in a women’s prison, “It’s a multilayered act of liberation. Prisoners are allowed to roam the wide fields of Shakespeare’s imagination; fine actresses are given the chance to play meaty roles that have been denied them; and we get to climb out of the straitjackets of our traditional perceptions of a venerated play.”

The third play in this trilogy is The Tempest, which will become available on October 23rd – October 29th. But fear not, the entire trilogy (which includes Julius Caesar) will be available for streaming at will October 30th – November 1st. All viewings are free.

Mary Stallings and Bill Charlap Trio – SFJAZZ – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

This week’s Friday’s at Five concert from SFJAZZ features vocalist Mary Stallings with the Bill Charlap Trio (which includes Peter Washington on bass and Kenny Washington on drums). The concert is from March, 2018.

If Mary Stallings isn’t familiar to you, let me start by sharing this review from her concert.

“At 78, Stallings has entered territory that’s largely uncharted. Her voice sounds remarkably lithe and strong, and her gift for blues-tinged phrasing links her directly to matriarchs Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington.

“The only precedent for a world-class jazz vocalist sounding this good closing in on 80 is Ernestine Anderson (the extraordinary Sheila Jordan is still going strong at 89, but she’s a very different kind of jazz singer). Considering how relatively little Stallings has recorded, her performances feel like precious, ephemeral experiences, and she made the most of her time with Charlap’s trio, a unit that’s been touring and recording together for more than two decades.”

Those were the words of Andrew Gilbert writing in the San Francisco Classical Voice.

Stallings’ most recent album was last year’s Songs Were Made to Sing. She has kept some pretty fine company during her career: Tony Bennett, Billy Eckstine, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Williams and the list goes on. Her best known recording was Cal Tjader Plays, Mary Stallings Sings which came out in 1960.

This collaboration with the Bill Charlap Trio should be a great way to start your weekend.

Sticks & Stones – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

The story of David versus Goliath gets a new telling in the musical Sticks & Stones which was written by composer John McDaniel and lyricist/bookwriter Scott Logsdon.

A concert performance of Sticks & Stones will stream this weekend as a fundraiser for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation.

Teen bullying is the theme of Sticks & Stones with the Biblical story serving as the setting for the story.

An impressive cast has been assembled for the concert. Audra McDonald plays David’s mother, Nizevet. Javier Muñoz, who was the first actor to take over the title role in Hamilton after Lin-Manuel Miranda left the show, plays David’s father, Jesse. George Salazar, who appeared in Be More Chill, plays King Saul. Joshua Colley (2014 revival of Les Misérables) is David and Mykal Kilgore (Motown: The Musical) is The Prophet Samuel.

The concert will be available for streaming through October 20th. There is no charge to watch Sticks & Stones, but donations are encouraged.

Aaron Diehl Trio – Caramoor – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Because I think he is one of the finest pianists working today, I’ve written about Aaron Diehl a few times and have interviewed him. He plays both jazz and classical music. (You can read the interview here.)

For this concert he’ll be performing standards and some of his own compositions with Aaron Kimmel on drums and Paul Sikivie on bass.

Rather than reiterate his credits or offer more praise, just listen to the music.

This concert is streaming from Caramoor in Katonah, NY which is a bit more than 40 miles from Manhattan. They are presenting the Aaron Diehl Trio in association with Jazz at Lincoln Center.

Tickets are free for Caramoor members. If you’re not a member, there is a $10 fee to watch the live stream concert.

Ben Williams Live – Blue Note New York – October 16th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

At the 2009 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Bass Competition, the musicians had a mightily impressive jury to win over. Ron Carter, Charlie Haden, Dave Holland, Robert Hurst, Christian McBride and John Patitucci were the judges. They awarded 1st place to Ben Williams.

Williams will be performing live from Blue Note in New York on Friday.

In addition to the live stream listed above, there is an encore showing at 11:00 PM EDT/8:00 PM PDT.

Lest you think his competition victory was a fluke, he’s gone on to work with George Benson, Terence Blanchard, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Roy Hargrove, Chaka Kahn, Pharrell and many more.

His most recent album is I Am a Man which was released earlier this year. It’s a terrific album. He also released an instrumental-only version called I Am a Man: Mentals.

Tickets for either the live performance or the re-stream are $15.

Los Angeles Dance Festival Week #3 – October 16th – October 18th

The third week of Los Angeles Dance Festival is upon us. The show, which runs two hours, becomes available at 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT on October 16th and will remain available until 3:00 AM EDT/12:00 AM PDT on October 19th.

This week’s line-up features Charlotte Katherine & Co (modern dance), Nannette Brodie Dance Theater (modern dance), Kybele Dance (multi-cultural contemporary dance), Poets In Motion, MarieElena Martingano & Camryn Eakes, John Castagna (contemporary ballet), Louise Reichlin & Dancers/Los Angeles Choreographers & Dancers (contemporary dance), The Dance Narrative Project, Lula Washington Dance Theatre (modern dance) and SIDFIT South Korean Artists: Lee Jihee, Kim Jubin. 

Atilla – SF Opera – October 17th – October 18th (begins 10:00 AM through 11:59 on 10/18)

This marks the second weekend of opera productions streamed by San Francisco Opera this fall. This weekend finds a rarely performed opera by Giuseppe Verdi: Atilla.

Verdi’s opera, his ninth, had its premiere in Venice in 1846. The libretto was based on Zacharias Werner’s play Attila, König der Hunnen (Attila, King of the Huns) and was written by Temistocle Solera.

Atilla isn’t an easy man to please. Odabella, a prisoner of war, hopes to kill Atilla in retribution for his killing of her father. Ezio, a Roman Envoy, wants to cause havoc in the empire with Atilla’s help. Instead he infuriates him.

Amongst those who have survived the carnage that is dividing the empire is Foresto. He reunites with Odabella who had assumed he was dead.

Meanwhile Attila has a dream where an old man tells him not to enter Rome. He disregards the advice and marches in. In doing so, he sets off a series of events that will ultimately lead to his death.

This 2012 production marked the return of Atilla to San Francisco Opera after 21 years. Ferruccio Furlanetto sings the title role. Ana Lucrecia García sings Odabella. Diego Torre is Foresto and Quinn Kelsey sings the role of Ezio. Gabriele Lavia directed and Nicola Luisotti conducted.

In looking up reviews of this production, my favorite quote comes from Joshua Kosman writing in the San Francisco Gate. He wrote, “…it was a swift, short onslaught marked by ferocity and thunder. The difference was that only the title character died, and everybody else had a grand time.”

Atilla runs 1 hour and 50 minutes. It will become available at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT and ends on Sunday, October 18th at 11:59 PM PDT/2:59 AM EDT on October 19th.

Speaking Truth to Power – Orpheus Chamber Orchestra – October 17th – October 22nd

Most classical music fans are well-acquainted with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. Fewer are familiar with the subsequent nine pieces that follow which call for soprano, narrator and orchestra.

In Beethoven’s work (inspired by a play by Johann Wolfgang Goethe) he used the story of Lamoral, Count of Egmont, whose execution prior to the start of the Eighty Years’ War inspired a movement that led to Netherlands’ independence.

The composer was using this work as a statement against Napoleon.

The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has commissioned a new translation to reflect our present-day world. Egmont was adapted by playwright/translator Philip Boehm.

Joining Orpheus for this performance are Liev Schreiber as the narrator and Karen Slack singing the soprano parts.

Schreiber won a Tony Award for his performance in the 2005 production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. He also starred in the Showtime series Ray Donovan.

Slack made her Metropolitan Opera debut in their 2006 production of Verdi’s Luisa Miller. She also sang the role of Emelda Griffith in Terence Blanchard’s Champion at San Francisco Opera. (That production will be streaming next week by SFJAZZ beginning on October 21st.)

The concert was recorded in Beechwood Park in Hillsdale, New Jersey, following social distancing guidelines.

Speaking Truth to Power begins streaming at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on October 17th and remains available through October 22nd. Tickets to watch the performance are $15.

Lizz Wright – Mandolin – October 17th – 9:00 PM EDT/6:00 PM PDT $15

I’ve seen singer Lizz Wright several times in concert. From the first time I heard her 2003 record, Salt, I was hooked. She has a beautiful voice and has a unique ability to make each song she sings her own.

Rather inexplicably she has only recorded five other albums since her debut. The most recent was 2017’s Grace. She does appear on No Beginning No End 2 by José James which was released earlier this year.

If you don’t know Lizz Wright, I strongly encourage checking out this concert. If you do, you know how terrific it’ll be.

Ticket are $15.

March – Los Angeles LGBT Center Anita May Rosentein Campus Parking Lot – October 17th – November 15th

Our first live and in-person event (and the reason the title of this column was changed). The venue is the parking lot below the Anita May Rosentein Campus at the Los Angeles LGBT Center. Sixteen cars will be admitted per performance. The audio will be broadcast to you through your radio.

The title of this play is March and it was conceived and directed by Jon Lawrence Rivera. The cast has contributed to the writing of the play during exercises and rehearsals.

A pandemic is gripping the world in March. The time could be a quarter century into the future – or not. Three Trans/Gender Non-Confirming women need to find a place where The Military will not find them. Not much is known beyond that. A little mystique never hurt anyone, did it?

The cast of March includes Miss Barbie Q (MJ), Chad Christopher, Matthew Clark, Amir Levi, Marcelino Mendoza, Coretta Monk, and Roland Ruiz.

What makes this so appealing is that Rivera is one of the most interesting and talented writer/directors working in Los Angeles theater. I have no idea what to expect from March, but I have absolutely no doubt that it will be fascinating.

Performances take place only on Saturday and Sunday. There are two performances each night. One at 7:30 PM and one at 9:00 PM. The per car price to attend is $20.

Keala Settle & Seth Rudetsky – October 18th – 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

Anyone who saw The Greatest Showman knows who Keala Settle is. She introduced the song This Is Me to the world in her role as Lettie Lutz, the bearded lady in the film. She is Seth Rudetsky’s guest this week for his conversation/concert show.

If you only know Settle from that film, you’re missing out. She was memorable as Norma Valverde in Hands on a Hardbody. It’s a role that yielded multiple nominations including a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical. She’s appeared in the musicals Les Misérables, Waitress, Hairspray and South Pacific.

If the Sunday live performance does not work for you, there will be an encore showing of the concert on Monday, October 19th at 3:00 PM EDT/12:00 PM PDT. Tickets for each showing are $25.

That’s the official list of Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. A few reminders before we go:

Donizetti Week at the Metropolitan Opera concludes this weekend with Maria Stuarda on Friday; Roberto Devereux on Saturday and Don Pasquale on Sunday. You can read our full preview here.

Table Top Shakespeare: At Home has the following plays this weekend: Henry VI, Part 2 on Friday; Henry VI, Part 3 on Saturday and Richard III on Sunday. You can read our preview here.

Part 2 of Evelina Fernández’s A Mexican Trilogy is now streaming from Latino Theater Company. The play is called Hope and will be available through October 22nd. For details read our preview here.

That is my complete list of your Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th. Whatever you choose to watch, I hope you enjoy!

Photo: Aaron Diehl (Photo by Maria Jarzyna/Courtesy AaronDiehl.com)

Update: Center Theatre Group has changed the dates for Luis Alfaro’s trilogy of plays. Though originally announced to start this week, they have been rescheduled to start November 6th. We have removed “Electricidad” from this weekend’s Best Bets.

The post Best Bets: October 16th – October 18th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

“I find the audience is so intelligent and so with the play here,” he said by phone recently. “From the beginning they have been teaching us as a cast how to hear the play. They hear things in the language that we haven’t heard. It’s been a really refreshing surprise.”

Comparing his Central Park experience with the Japanese Garden on the VA Grounds in West Los Angeles, Linklater discovered a real difference between the two and was surprised at the result.

“In New York the tickets are free. So people pay with their time waiting in line instead of with their money. As a result people are really grateful for being there. I was frankly nervous coming into here. They are actually paying, they are going to sit back and say ‘prove it, show it to me.’ The audiences have been so wonderful and eager and I know that’s in large part because we have one of the great American actors of cinema and stage in our cast. [Tom Hanks as Falstaff.] We haven’t had a single night where we’re going to have to liven it up. Whether the mist is heavy or it is incredibly cold or muggy, to a person we have been buoyed by the response.”

Linklater, best known for his television roles (Legion, The Crazy Ones with Robin Williams and The New Adventures of Old Christine) has worked with director Daniel Sullivan on other productions of Shakespeare’s work. It was Sullivan who asked the actor to join Henry IV.

“I said, ‘yes please.’ I’m way too old for the part that I’m playing, so I chalked it up as one of the canon roles I would never get a shot at before I was dead. He was like, ‘No, I think you can do it if you get the right haircut and eat the right food for a couple months.’ I’m so thrilled it worked out.”

The role he thought he was too old to play is that of Hal, the son of Henry IV (Joe Morton.) He’s a young man who finds more joy in harassing Falstaff (Hanks) than in being truly serious about anything. Sullivan has combined Part 1 and Part 2 (two separate plays) into one combined play for this production which allows for equal parts humor and drama.

“A lot of people argue that the tragedies are the funny plays and the comedies are full of more pathos. Twelfth Night will make me cry. He’s a master of doing both things at once. But this one he made this character, Falstaff, who ran away with the play. Part 1 is a perfectly built play as far as Shakespeare goes. Then Part 2 he’s just sort of handed the keys to the sports car over to Falstaff. Then he goes into mortality in a really surprising way. These two massive succession plays, history plays, and it ends with his best friend saying they can’t be friends anymore. Why would that sum up English history? It’s a beautiful coming of age story in terms of just where the prodigal son is at the beginning and where he ends up and what sort of bad character traits turn into invaluable ones as a leader of a country.”

That Falstaff character, or rather that Tom Hanks is playing him, marks at least the second time Linklater has found himself doing Shakespeare with a major movie star (Al Pacino was Shylock in Merchant of Venice.) Does he sense a moment when the audience stops seeing the celebrities and gets into the rhythm of the production at hand?

“I think a lot of times movie stars are really great performers,” he says. “There a high ratio of that being the case. With both Al and Tom, [the audience] may be coming for the celebrity, but the celebrity is coming for them as well. They put on their big boy pants, particularly in Tom’s case they are very big boy pants. And they put on a really great show. Usually it’s pretty quick. Dan’s clever at getting Tom out there at the very top. Who’s that guy? That’s him? He’s got this fantastic fat suit and wig, but it’s a real transformation. They are going to get their cake and eat it, too.”

Linklater has a goal of ultimately making his way through the canon, including the next of the history plays, Henry V (best known for multiple film versions including those with Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh.) Since he is so well-versed in Shakespeare’s works, I concluded our conversation by asking how Shakespeare would write about our country today.

“I think he probably wrote about the state of America in a lot of those plays and it’s our responsibility to brings those aspects forward. I mean…” with that he laughs before continuing. “I have to say that actually makes me a little emotional thinking about it. We need more voices. We need more voices definitely. It’s pretty intense. At his time he was writing about kings from 400 years ago. He would probably say, ‘Lin-Manuel covered it.’ He wrote about the current situation with Obama. By writing about political figures from 200 years ago and shining a light on that moment. Lin’s got it covered and with better music.”

Photo by Craig Schwartz

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Hamish Linklater (The Crazy Ones) plays the young man who would be king. His father is played by Joe Morton (Scandal). And then there’s Falstaff. A buffoon of a man who serves as the source of much of the comedy found in the play. Tom Hanks plays Falstaff.

Sullivan has condensed and combined Henry IV Part 1 and Henry IV Part 2  for this production.

A couple suggestions should you plan to see Henry IV:

Wear warm clothes. It gets cold over the course of the production.

Either pre-order food from the website or bring your own picnic. The only other option is snack food like chips and cookies.

There is no alcohol allowed, so have your drinks before you get there.

Photo by Craig Schwartz

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Henry IV – The Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles at the Japanese Garden at VA West LA

Now – July 1st

Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson have long been supporters of the Shakespeare Center of Los Angeles. This year Hanks is upping his support by taking on the role of Falstaff in a new version Shakespeare’s Henry IV Parts 1 and 2. Daniel Sullivan directs the production that stars, along with Hanks, Hamish Linklater, Joe Morton, Harry Groener and Rondi Reed. This is an outdoor venue, so if you plan on going, dress warmly. And settle in for a comic tale of fathers and sons that also has its share of drama and pathos.

Brahms Requiem – LA Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall

June 9-10

There are three requiems that are beloved: Mozart’s, Verdi’s and the Brahms Requiem. The Los Angeles Master Chorale, under the direction of Grant Gershon, will be performing Brahms’ masterpiece in two performances this weekend. Also on the bill are compositions by two Pulitzer Prize-winning composers:  Fly Away I by Caroline Shaw and where you go by David Lang. The Lang composition is having its West Coast Premiere.

Soft Power – Ahmanson Theatre

Final Weekend

This is your last chance to see one of the most adventurous new musicals to come along in quite some time. Soft Power, which is actually described as a play with a musical, was written by David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly and Yellow Face) with music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Caroline Or Change). It begins as a play depicting the night when a Chinese diplomat meets Hillary Clinton. They fall for each other. After a brutal event in the narrative impacting a third character, the play becomes a musical. 50 years later that musical is being celebrated and revived. It is a very unique structure, but the creators were not afraid to be adventurous in finding a new way of telling their story. The show concludes its run in Los Angeles this weekend and will continue in San Francisco starting June 20th. What happens after San Francisco has yet to be determined. If you like theatre that challenges at the same time it entertains, don’t miss Soft Power.

Main photo by Craig Schwartz

The Tony Awards – CBS or Viewing Parties

June 10

For theatre fans the biggest night of the year is unquestionably the Tony Awards. The annual awards celebration takes place on Sunday. The broadcast is at 8 PM and by the time it runs tape-delayed on the West Coast we will already know who the winners will be. Will Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts 1 and 2 win Best New Play? Will The Band’s Visit win Best New Musical? Will Angels in America win Best Revival of a Play? Will My Fair Lady win Best Revival of a Musical? Okay, maybe those are my predictions. We’ll have to watch on Sunday to find out. And if you are looking for opportunities to watch the Tony Awards in a more public setting than your living room, The Actors Fund has their annual Los Angeles Viewing Party on Sunday at the Skirball Center. Tickets may still be available. The honoree this year is Winnie Holzman (book writer for the musical Wicked.) There is also a viewing party at the Segerstrom Center  in Costa Mesa.

Don’t forget:

The Playboy Jazz Festival runs Saturday and Sunday (Legendary jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and the Marvels with Lucinda Williams are the highlight on Sunday.)

Long Day’s Journey Into Night has two previews Friday & Saturday before officially opening on Sunday at The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. The production stars Jeremy Irons and Lesley Manville.

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