Well, I did my little cameo appearance last night in the Workshop Theatre production of “The Producers.” It went fine. Although I’ve got to tell you that by the time my cue came early in the second act, I was much more anxious not to mess up than I had been before the curtain went up.
That’s because the show was so good. Everybody was turning in such an impressive, high-energy performance that if there had been ANYthing wrong with my part, short as it was, it would have stuck out like a sore thumb. The stakes had been raised. I was sitting there thinking that I was out in right field. You know that feeling? It’s the one where you stand there and stand there and stand there, and the ball never comes to you, and you get used to the ball not coming to you, and you never get warmed up, and then when the ball finally does come to you, the stakes, the consequences of screwing up seem so huge and overwhelming that… well, you screw up. (For that reason, I always infinitely preferred playing pitcher or catcher, where you’re involved with every pitch, to playing the outfield.)
By the time my bit was approaching, everybody on stage was SO warmed up — Matt DeGuire, as Max Bialystock, had worked up a visible sweat before the second scene — that I felt like I’d never be able to come off the bench and jump into something moving at this pace. I felt like the whole show would trip over me or something. But I guess it went OK, because no one threw rotten tomatoes.
After that, I was able to enjoy the rest of the show without that feeling of dread hanging over me. And I really enjoyed it.
Which, I can admit now, surprised me.
Not that I didn’t think the folks at Workshop would do a good job. I assumed they would. My problem was with the show itself. I tried to watch the movie version with Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane, and I got sick of it by the end of the first scene. I’m a huge Ferris Bueller fan (who isn’t?), but I found Broderick’s trying-too-hard impersonation of Gene Wilder really off-putting. And frankly, as I thought about that, I realized I hadn’t been crazy about the Wilder-Mostel version either.
For me, “Young Frankenstein” was Mel Brooks’ masterpiece, and “Blazing Saddles” had its amusing parts, but it trails off after that. And the movie versions of “The Producers” fell somewhere below “Spaceballs” in my estimation.
So I was startled to see that something that didn’t work for me on the movie screen was so entertaining in a live show. But it was. And it was more than the fact that “over-the-top” fits the live stage better than the wide screen, which prefers subtlety. It was the wonderful performances of these individual local actors — particularly DeGuire as Max, Kevin Bush as Leopold Bloom, Mandy Nix as Ulla, Kyle Collins as Franz and on and on (there are no weak performances) — and the chemistry of how it all came together.
This was the best thing I’ve seen on a stage in Columbia (except, of course, for the shows that my children were in…)
You should definitely go see it. Even though I won’t be in it anymore. Or perhaps, especially since I won’t be in it anymore…
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Oops, spoke too soon. Sheriff Lott has had to cancel, so I might be reprising my role next Friday, Sept. 25. Stay tuned…
You would have been OK no matter what you did, because great performers have your back. They would have supported you.
Let us know about the 25th as soon as you do. More notice would help!
Yeah, it’s a shame the sheriff can’t make it. But since he’s my twin, I’m like his double, so all is good.
““Blazing Saddles” had its amusing parts”… yeah, like the whole movie.
Yeah, but I have a problem with “Blazing Saddles” — my friends had built it up so much, and told me all the jokes in it, so that when I saw it it didn’t have the impact it should have.
And it’s just not as brilliant, as inspired or as perfectly executed as “Young Frankenstein.”
Oh, I also enjoyed “Robin Hood: Men in Tights,” but again, it wasn’t Young Frankenstein. It’s just in its own category.