Fall Colors

I never used to get why people would travel so far out of their way to see the changing colors in the fall. Now I know. After a few days in Manhattan last week, Kendall and I spent the rest of our trip traveling in New England, and we were lucky enough to hit the roads at the absolute peak of the fall foliage. In a word, it was SPECTACULAR. I grew up in the Midwest but our autumn colors paled in comparison to the brilliant reds, yellows, and oranges that lit up the New England countryside. It was so breathtakingly beautiful that I found myself gasping non-stop as we drove, trying to open my eyes wider than they would normally go just to take it all in. Kendall made an irritatingly accurate observation that sometimes my expressions of joy are similar to how I express pain and angst. As if it almost hurts to witness the glories of nature because I know how fleeting it all is. I need to work on my ability to live in the moment, that’s a major challenge for me. How can I learn to enjoy my surroundings without worrying about capturing them for the future or grieving their eventual loss? How many positive moments in my life have I squandered because of these fears of scarcity and loss? 

Besides our Yom Kippur romp with Patti LuPone, we saw two other plays before leaving New York. I wrote last spring about seeing the original cast of the brilliantly intense “August: Osage County,” but I returned to this play with Kendall and her mom to see their family friend Estelle Parsons who has taken over the lead role. Parsons was perfect as the drug-addled and vicious Violet Weston, matriarch of the Oklahoma clan. There is so much content in Tracy Letts’ Pulitzer Prize-winning play that a brief summary would be impossible and might scare you away. Like many of the productions that originated at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, the actors are so good, the story so rich that it makes for an incredibly rewarding and fleeting night in the theatre, even with its running time of over three and a half hours! When we visited Estelle in her dressing room after the show, I expected to find her slumped in a corner, exhausted from the powerful drama and sobbing from the emotion of it all. Instead, she was dancing around the room entertaining some Swedish visitors and looking about three decades shy of her 80 years. What an amazing actress. Kendall’s late father, playwright Oliver Hailey, worshipped Parsons. She starred years ago in his play, “Hey You, Light Man” and I remember some story about Kendall’s parents babysitting Estelle’s twin girls as she was making “Bonnie and Clyde.” The other new members of the cast were equally brilliant, including Jim True-Frost in the difficult and poignant part of Little Charles. Jim is the brother of a friend of ours from Chicago whose son Henry is the lead singer and songwriter in my nephew’s band.

Oy, is that enough name-dropping for one paragraph? Don’t worry—we didn’t know a soul in the final play we saw while in New York, the remarkable revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “South Pacfic” at Lincoln Center. Of all the musicals in the Rodgers & Hammerstein canon, “South Pacific” had always been my least favorite, probably because of trudging through the movie version as a child. It was a year ago, also on Yom Kippur, when I had the opportunity to re-evaluate the 1958 film starring Mitzi Gaynor and Rosanno Brazzi, and this time I found the stark themes of racism and prejudice to be way more powerful than I had remembered. The new stage version, the first Broadway revival since the play first appeared (way ahead of its time) in 1949, quadruples the power of those themes. I don’t have enough superlatives to praise the performance of Kelli O’Hara as Ensign Nellie Forbush. You know how you can love some actresses but still feel like you’re watching them acting, even if they have excellent technique? O’Hara disappeared into the role of Nellie, conveying the conflicted emotions of her character in ways that were so real and complex that we were reduced to tears on several occasions. (Sorry, Mitzi, but I never came close to being that moved by the film version!)

Is there a more recognizable and haunting overture in the history of musical theatre? The only one I can think of that packs the same wallop is from “Gypsy” which we saw that same day. I so want you to see an excerpt from this version of “South Pacific” but this hokey medley from the Tony Awards doesn’t come close to conveying the intensity of the actual production. Still, if you have a few minutes, take a look:

Considering its daring themes, it’s amazing that the play ever got produced during those terribly repressive post-war years. One of the many things we loved about this revival was that the casting wasn’t color-blind, as is the trend. Sure, there are African American sailors present on the South Sea island but they are never fully integrated into the white group, just as the real-life sailors were kept separated during the war. Everything about this musical was perfectly realized, even the set. The entire stage pulled away several times to reveal the full orchestra underneath, a move that was surprisingly effective. The backdrops were so gorgeous I wanted to rent a dinghy and have Seabee Luther Billis sail me to Bali Ha’i. The only thing that marred our experience was the woman sitting behind Kendall who was having major respiratory issues and breathing louder than a World War II foghorn. What's the appropriate response to such an annoying theatre patron? "Stop breathing, dammit!" Instead, Kendall and I simply found two seats on the opposite side of the theatre during intermission.

But let’s get back to name-dropping. In between “South Pacific” and “Gypsy” we had dinner at Sardi’s with the magnificent Marian Seldes. Do you know her? You should—she’s one of the most talented women ever to walk across a stage, something she’s been doing regularly since her Broadway debut 60 years ago in a production of “Medea.” Marian was married to writer Garson Kanin (after Ruth Gordon died) and was famous for never having missed a single performance of “Deathtrap” during its long Broadway run. She made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for playing all 1,809 performances of that play. Kendall’s dad also made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most plays open and close on Broadway on the same day. Gulp! But Marian was so great in Oliver’s “Father’s Day” that she got nominated for a Tony and won the Drama Desk Awards for that single night’s performance! Marian is an endless fount of great theatre stories, I could listen to her talk for hours on end. She knows everyone in town and still sees almost every play (she starred in the original “Equus” and told us that she thought Harry Potter’s Daniel Radcliffe was very good in the new one that just opened). Marian was a renowned acting teacher at Julliard whose students included Patti LuPone and many of today’s greats. I couldn’t begin to list all of Marian Seldes’ achievements so I won’t even try. I’ll just say that it’s always thrilling to be in her presence, she is truly the Grande Dame of American Theatre.

I know I’m fawning, it was just that kind of a trip. Highlights of our jaunt through New England included our bookend visits with our friends Julie and John and their kids Lily and Ryan. John showed us some of the new paintings he’s working on. My favorite was this superb portrait of his daughter called “Allegiances.” 

From there we headed to the New Hampshire mountains to the fabulous 1902 Mt. Washington Hotel (a four-year-old wedding gift from my former colleagues). The Mt. Washington looked like a giant luxury ocean liner sitting on top of a mountain. The hotel hosted an illustrious international clientele in 1944 when the World Bank and International Monetary Fund were created within its beautiful walls. Can those folks come back and help rescue us from the current economic nightmare?

We had a great lobster dinner in Maine with my former co-worker Jeff and his wonderful family including the two Wilco-obsessed boys I mentioned a while ago. They were able to attend the Wilco concert at Tanglewood last August and interact with the band members. Before dinner, Jack and Ben each played a Wilco song for us, Jack on his mandolin and Ben on guitar. Coolest. Kids. Ever.

Finally, we visited a former author of mine who’s an early childhood expert at her apple orchard in New Salem, Massachusetts. Paradise on earth. We were heading to the airport from there and I thought Kendall was clinically insane when she appeared with a huge bag full of Macintosh apples, a gallon of freshly made apple cider, sun-dried preserves, and enough cider donuts to feed the “South Pacfic” cast between their matinee and evening performances. How on earth would we get that stuff home, I asked. Kendall promptly pulled all her clothes out of her suitcase, crammed them into a shopping bag she carried on the plane, and packed her suitcase with the goodies. I still can’t believe her bag made it through x-rays without a hitch. How did they know that was apple cider and not nitroglycerin? But boy, was I grateful for her crazy gesture this week as I’ve been feasting on all of the delectable treats.

And now we’re back in colorless Los Angeles trying not to panic about impending doom and financial collapse. I find myself looking to my new friend Nellie Forbush for advice. If only I could adopt her hopeful attitude:

I have heard people rant and rave and bellow
That we're done and we might as well be dead
But I’m only a cockeyed optimist
And I can't get it into my head.

I hear the human race
Is fallin' on its face
And hasn’t very far to go.
But every whippoorwill
Is sellin' me a bill
And tellin' me it just ain’t so.

I could say life is just a bowl of Jello
And appear more intelligent and smart
But I’m stuck like a dope
With a thing called hope
And I can't get it out of my heart!

Comments

[Gordon]

Dear Danny,
That was a joy to read. Your descriptions are so vivid. You seem to get so much out of simple pleasures as well as bigger treats like the Broadway shows. Thanks.

[Jeff]

It was great to see you and Kendall and thanks for the kind words about Jack and Ben. As if to punctuate your remarks. Ben is listening to the bootleg I grabbed of the Tanglewoods show right now on the stereo, while Jack is competing full on singing and playing White Light at the same time -- it's only 7am and I haven't even had coffee yet...

That's a beautiful picture of the fall foliage at the top of the post and I'm glad you got a chance to see it at it's finest!

[Wanda]

I love living vicariously through your blog--sad, huh?

I miss the theatre and I love the "name dropping." I feel I am rubbing elbows with greatness when I read your posts.

[OldOldLady Of The Hills]

BEAYTIFUL picture of the foliage, Danny..And a great account of your wonderful trip.
About SOUTH PACIFC: They couldn't possibly do that kind of Color-Blind casting in this show. It would be against every point that the show is making. That they had men of color as part of the cast, but seperated in a way, is absolutely right in every way. I was glad to read that, and it IS correct in the sense that these soldiers and sailors were seperated, in almost every way.
I had seen The Tony's, of course, and thought it was too bad that they did not pick one powerful number and do it all the way through--BUT, on the other hand, for the many people who have never seen this show, it gave them a larger picture, I guess.
As to ALL the films of R&H's shows...None of them were ever close to the power of the shows themselves. They were all bland imitations, in my view. A shame, really, because that is ALL we have as a rememberence, except, for those of us lucky enough, what is in our memories from seeing these shows on Broadway in their Original incarnations.
I would so love to see this revival of SOUTH PACIFIC, for so many reasons, not the least of which is your review here.

[churlita]

I love the theater reviews. I've always loved Estelle Parsons' acting. What a wonderful trip you must have had. I'm glad you guys were able to do that.

[Mindy]

Was Marian Seldes in Digging To China?

[Danny]

Yes she was, Mindy. And in the more recent "The Visitor."

[Israeli Mom]

That picture of the autumn colors is amazing. I can only imagine what it's like driving through such scenery. Making a mental note to make sure we catch this time of year if and when we ever get to visit New England.

[liza]

I wish you had come to Vermont to visit me! Whaaa! Maybe next time?

I adore Marian Seldes. I met her once, briefly, after a play, and was as impressed with her offstage as I was with her onstage. I want to be her BFF. She was a legend at my alma mater (the Dalton School in NYC) for being an alum.