First week of rehearsal for All Shook up is in the bag and so far so good. The show looks like a winner; much better than I anticipated. And I have not fallen apart with the grind of working all day at rehearsal and then working all night. Truth be told, I don’t have much to do at rehearsal other than watch. I will repeat myself; I will never understudy again. This show would be a breeze without the added load. Oh well, it’s an experience. Helps me empathize if nothing else.

The energy of these youngins is amazing and makes me feel both energized and old. Just about everybody is young or at least younger than am I. Generally day to day I am in denial of my age, if not my mortality and I do a pretty good job of it, but being with such a large, young cast all day, I cannot maintain the fiction. I am a geezer. Older than most of these folks parents! I struggle not to begin sentences with phrases like, “Back in the day…” or “When I was a young man…” or “You come here often?” Okay, strike that last one, I am a man of integrity and fidelity. I only lust as did Jimmy Carter (look it up kids).

As much as I love the energy of musical stage, I think I’m coming to the end of my time there. Straight theater has so many more roles I want to do that stretch me in interesting ways: Willy Loman, Dysart in Equus, Henry in Lion in Winter, Macbeth, Titus, even another go at Petrucchio and so many more. In musical theater I want to do Sweeney and/or Turpin, Jean ValJean and/or Javert, Tevye, Higgins, maybe Fagin and that’s about it. It’s a young person’s medium for sure.

I saw “The Last Days of the Dinosaurs” last night at Actors NET. This is an original, semi-autobiographical play, written by Joe Doyle who also directed it, about parents sinking into dementia and the effects on the adult children. Not the best show to watch when one is feeling as mortal as do I but a fine show nonetheless. Marco Newton and Virginia Barry are just excellent as the old folks while Jamie Bradley, Kyle Mostello-Donnelly and Chuck Donnelly are excellent as the sibs. These are folks that have acted together many, many times in repertoire and act like the family they are. Go see it. It runs through March 15th. Info is at http://www.actorsnetbucks.org .

I just returned from seeing the Sunshine Boys at Kelsey Theater. A very good production directed by Ruth Markoe (Martha in Woolf). Solid performances by Paul Saunders and Charles Leeder as Willie Clark and Al Lewis better known as Lewis and Clark. Doing a play like this that has such a memorable movie (George Burns and Walther Matthau) attached to it is difficult without channeling the other actors. Sanders and Leeder do a great job of making the roles their own. Mark Violi is excellent as the exasperated nephew. Special shout out to Melissa Rittman as the “comic nurse.” She seems to have walked right off of a burlesque stage. This is all the more remarkable given that she’s too young to remember a time without Facebook, let alone burlesque. Ruth Markoe obviously did a great job of teaching bumping and grinding. Go see it, good show. http://www.kelseyatmccc.org

I got the script for All Shook Up. I know this comment will come back to bite me in the ass, but this is the silliest script I’ve ever read. Makes Bye Bye Birdie look like Antigone. Don’t get me wrong, when it is infused with youthful exuberance I can see where it will be a fun evening but it reads…not so hot. I am psyched though to begin rehearsals on Monday.

Lou Stallsworth alerted the world that PinnWorth Productions has obtained the rights to do Equus in October. I immediately offered Lou the use of any of my bodily orifices for the right to do the role of the psychiatrist, Martin Dysart. If I had a “bucket list” of roles to play, this one is definitely up there, way up there.

Speaking of bucket list roles, I have an audition for Sweeney Todd at Kelsey. The show goes up in June. Either Sweeney or Turpin would just be a capstone for a fantastic season. I will do my absolute damnedest to make it happen.

I’m getting my life prepared for the show at Media upcoming. It’s aptly named “All Shook Up.” Although I’ve been waiting for this opportunity quite a while, it does involve some intensive maneuvering. First there’s the matter of my practice. In this regard I am actually pretty happy that we have only about 10 days before moving into Tech. Basically it means moving clients into evening slots instead of daytime which actually makes most of them pretty happy (I usually don’t work nights). Tech week I’ve decided to just take off so that’s settled. Then during the run I will be seeing patients during the day and performing at night. Other than perhaps being ridiculously tired, I should manage fine. Carolyn is worried though. She’s having some difficulty understanding how I’m going to do everything. She ought to have learned by now that I have two speeds; fast and off. I just won’t be able to shut off until April 5th at around 6PM at which time I will be ready for Happy Acres. Actually, given the disruption this causes at home, Carolyn is being a pretty good egg.
Got a letter from Vince Marini, the director of All Shook Up. This guy is enthusiastic and his enthusiasm is contagious. I am extremely excited as well as somewhat nervous. I feel as I felt as a kid going to a new school; where is everything? What do I do? Where do I go? Will I be liked? Yes my young friends, one does not outgrow certain insecurities. As I’ve said before, it’s only acting that makes me crazy. Thankfully it also makes me happier than anything else in my life… except for love, except for love…(okay that also makes me crazy sometimes. I guess with big potential rewards always comes big potential agita).

I was just cast in the role of Sheriff Earl in All Shook Up at Media Theatre. I’m very excited. It’s a small role; I’m on stage a lot but fundamentally mute and miming, except at the end of the show but it’s a return to professional theater after…40 years! (Oh, and I understudy the only other “adult” male in the cast, the role of Jim) I’ve been trying to go legit for some time but just have not been able to get cast…now I have. In order to pull this off and not lose my practice and my wife, I will need to be spry but I’m feeling up to it: rehearse all day, work at night then work all day, perform all night…simple actually. I’m sure I’ll have a lot to say in coming weeks but, the show goes into rehearsal February 23rd and opens March 11th! Promises to be exciting. The run is from 3/11 – 4/5. Go to http://www.mediatheatre.org for info.

Meanwhile, 40 years you say? What was that? Well, in a little known anecdote, my first job as an actor was as, what was then called, an “apprentice actor,” for an equity company performing children’s theater in the then extant Theater in the Round circuit ranging from Contact down to Washington in a bi-weekly cycle. As an apprentice I pretty much did what all community theater folks do routinely: built the sets, set up and tore down, acted in the shows, ran lights and sound (the only thing unionized apparently was the actors). I did all this during the summers for a princely sum of $60 a week. Eventually, when a friend of mine was hired, just to act, because she was equity, and was paid $150 for the week, I laid down the ultimatum; give me a raise or at least get me into equity, or I QUIT! They told me not to let the door hit me in the ass on my way out. Well, I showed them! I stayed off the professional stage pretty much completely for the next 40 years! Don’t screw with me!

So I’m giving it another go. The pay still sucks being non-union but at least there is now a point system in place which was lacking back then. I know that when I finally earn my card I will largely have to give up community theater but that looks like it’s not going to be for a while. Meanwhile, I’m going to do what I love to do; perform. Whether it’s pro or community, I love the theater, I love the people (mostly), and I’m so glad to be back.