I Know I Said I Was Going to Get Back on a Schedule

Buuuut..I didn't. Sue me.

But I am back today with some movie/comic book/general bullshit commentary.

Finally got to see Looper the other night. Terrific film, I was very excited about it, due to my love of Rian Johnson's previous effort, Brick, which was a truly wonderful film noir pastiche, set in a high school. That film also starred Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and it truly blew me away. Johnson has a way with tone that is really interesting. I've not seen The Brothers Bloom, but after loving his other two films so much, I will be checking it out.

Looper, I think it's fairly well known by now, is about time travel, and I was particularly impressed with how it's used to warp the the storyline. It allows some pretty fun leaps away from traditional plot structure. In much the same way that the Back to the Future series set it's rules for time travel, and then allowed them to be exploited wildly, so does Johnson with his film. Though, of course, BTTF is primarily a comedy, and Looper primarily an action film, making the way each exploits the concept vastly different.

Mainly, I wish I'd seen Looper before I picked my top ten for 2012, because it would've made it. It's a really smart and entertaining sci-fi that is almost literally dripping with ideas. It sets it's rules, and hews to them. To top it all off there's winning turns from Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, and a really quite stunning, and pivotal performance from child actor Pierce Gagnon. Rian Johnson is the real deal, and I can't wait to see what he does next.

So, they killed off another Robin. It seems like it's almost becoming a joke, like it wasn't already, "Robin, the Boy Hostage" and all that. Still THIS time it's Damian Wayne, Bruce Wayne's son with Talia Al Ghul. Yes, the daughter of one of Batman's most fearsome foes, Ras Al Ghul.

I have to admit, despite a general liking for Damian, that this whole thing left me cold. Mainly because the writing on Batman Incorporated, by Grant Morrison, especially in the 8 issues since the series restarted as a part of the "New 52," has been...less than interesting. Or even coherent.

Grant Morrison has a tremendous imagination, when it comes to conceptual writing, he is unmatched, and I think he has one of the clearest visions of what our comic book heroes should be out there. (The panel where he lambasted a fan who suggested that Batman should carry firearms was amazing, "then he's just a soldier, and the last thing we need are more soldiers!") However, the execution of those ideas, especially since his run on the Batman book began in 2006, has become very, very abysmal.

What started out as a rather fun, if not altogether to my taste, working of the "James Bond"-style Batman, complete with ninjas infused with the Man-Bat formula (Giant Bat ninjas are always cool), ended up unfocused, rambling, and, at times, incoherent. In each of the last eight issues, I have had moments where I felt that pages must have been left out. The plotline simply made no sense, action scenes had no logic, and Batman was acting in ways that simply didn't flow from what I had read on the previous page.

Had the writer not been Grant Morrison, with critical and commercial accolades to back him up, I simply doubt an editor would've allowed this mess of a story to see press. Oh, I'm sure that there are folks out there, the Morrison converted, who will tell me that it all makes perfect sense. Y'know, what? You're right. The overall story does make some sense, it's the individual moments that don't flow logially from one to another. I'm also very much aware that Morrison isn't all that concerned with that.

Which is fine. I don't begrudge anyone who loves his stuff, I've loved a lot of it, too. His early Batman stuff is very fun, even if I prefer Batman not as a jet-setting Bond-type. I really enjoyed All-Star Superman, even while I think it's been overrated. His voice is absolutely unique, and that is precious.

I just think his voice is so unique as to upend good storytelling, sometimes. Damian Wayne, who Morrison created (or should we say Mike W. Barr?), is, in my opinion, been written better by the other writers on the Batman books currently. It's Scott Snyder's and Peter J. Tomasi's Damian that I will miss, not Morrison's.

So, Damian's time as Robin comes to an end, and we'll look for ward to Robin #6 (in continuity - if we take all of them into account we're probably over 10) shortly, because it doesn't look like they're cancelling the Batman and Robin book.

Peyton Place opened on Tuesday, so, for the first time in a good, long while...I am not in rehearsal.

I'm really not at all certain on how this show will be received. One review was very appreciative, but that particular critic tends to love shows more often than not. He also spelled my name wrong, but...pfft!  The other published so far was nice to the cast, but critical of the show. So, who knows what the consensus will be? I don't really care. I'm having a good time, and I enjoy this cast.

So, you should see it.

Outside of that, my main goal in the coming weeks to to get some real work done on these songs I've been playing around with for....well, years now. I re-strung the Les Paul last night, and I am ready to get it on.

I Shall Seek Out The Northernmost Extremity of the Globe...

...where no light shall shine on the sight of me, and there, I shall die.

One Hundred and Six hours of rehearsal.

Twenty-Two performances

Twenty hours putting on make-up

Fifteen hours taking off make-up

Two Hundred and Twenty temporary tattoos

Ten hours of fight call

Fourty-Four Ibuprofen tablets.

One package coughdrops

Nine dead characters

One strange performance where the stage monitor apparently stared playing the soundtrack of a porn movie.

Eight actors who impressed and inspired even in my darkest moments

One Stage Manager who handled a lot, and still managed to give a beat-up creature a ride home

One Director who gave us the chance, and trusted us all the way

Thank you to the cast; Ed Krystosek, Sandy Elias, David Fink, Evan Johnson, Lindsey Falls, Jennifer T. Grubb,Catherine Gillsepie, Daniel Pass, and Eustace Allen.

Thank you to our designers; Ian Anthony, Devin Caroll, Tom Kieffer, Robert Kuper, David Yondorf, and Ray Toler

Thank you to our Stage Manager; Norine McGrath

Than you to our Director; Terry McCabe

I'll miss the show, I'll miss the people, and I'll miss The Creature, but I'm ready to be away from the make-up, and the toll the role took on me, physically.

Bless you all, and thank you all.

**ADDENDUM**

I am completely ashamed of myself that I forgot to mention our lovely playwright Bo List, who crafted a lovely adaptation of Shelly's novel. Thank you for the words, good sir.

The Mind Is Strong, but the Body Needs a Minute

So, Frankenstein is underway, and, as usual, I've had a problem early on. It seems that it always happens to me, I get excited to dive into a rehearsal process, and then...something happens that spins me out of sorts for the first few weeks. In this case, I'm sort of in double crap.

First, this is a heavy fight show. I mean HEAVY. Almost every, single time I walk on stage there is some sort of violence. Wouldn't you know that my writ picks exactly this time to start hurting. I don't know if it's a sprain, or a twist, or what. I don't think it's carpal tunnel, which was my first, horrendous fear. I've done a couple of the quick checks reccommended online...looks like that's not it.

I think it's a sprain. Which at least should heal with some rest. I've been icing and using the heating pad at night, and wearing a brace all day and in rehearsals. Doing what you're supposed to do, but, the big problem is, with this much choreography, I can't just not do the fights. Man, I feel it every time my left hand turns just a tad too far the wrong way.

The worst part is, I have two lifts in the show, and, at this point, I simply cannot accomplish them. They're important to the story, and great character moments. Not doing them would break my heart.

Which, of course, I'm worried about. It's just a stupid sprain, right? Still, you mind races forward. What if I can't do it by the time we open? I'm not lifting weights right now, because of this. What if I get fat(ter)? What if it's like this forever!?!

Of course, I'm also just exhausted. I didn't even do cardio this morning, because I just wanted to sleep. Which is probably for the best, but you know how I get. Miss a day, and I start the guilt trip. It just reminds me that I should make it a priority to get in better shape than I am now. Not that I'm in terrible shape, but I could be better.

The worst part is I think this whole injury is making me paranoid about the whole show. I have started worrying about, well, everything. Is the mental growth of the Creature right? Am I going too far, emotionally? Not far enough? My Meisner work over the last year or so has pushed me even more toward the "listen and react" school, but rarely do you find a character who's given circumstances change and evolve so quickly. From a non-speaking, well, blank, if we get down to brass tacks, to a cunning and brutal strategist.

I find myself, each time we start a scene, trying to plot where the character is in his evolution. What that means for how he thinks and reacts. It's rare to have a character who's such a blank slate. In a way it would seem easier, and it honestly may be, once we start running the show in order. Now, however, with the scenes so out of context and order...It's just difficult.

Of course, I wanted this because it would be difficult. I just didn't really expect the physical toll. Use it, right? Use the pain.

Previews start September 28th.

My Fall Show and Role

"But it is true that I am a wretch. I have murdered the lovely and the helpless; I have strangled the innocent as they slept, and grasped to death his throat who never injured me or any other living thing. I have devoted my creator, the select specimen of all that is worthy of love and admiration among men, to misery; I have pursued him even to that irremediable ruin. There he lies, white and cold in death. You hate me; but your abhorrence cannot equal that with which I regard myself. I look on the hands which executed the deed; I think on the heart in which the imagination of it was conceived, and long for the moment when these hands will meet my eyes, when that imagination will haunt my thoughts no more"

My favorite version of the Creature - Bernie Wrightson

"But soon," he cried, with sad and solemn enthusiasm, "I shall die, and what I now feel be no longer felt. Soon these burning miseries will be extinct. I shall ascend my funeral pile triumphantly, and exult in the agony of the torturing flames. The light of that conflagration will fade away; my ashes will be swept into the sea by the winds. My spirit will sleep in peace; or if it thinks, it will not surely think thus. Farewell."

The Icon - Boris Karloff

"Like Adam, I was apparently united by no link to any other being in existence; but his state was far different from mine in every other respect. He had come forth from the hands of God a perfect creature, happy and prosperous, guarded by the especial care of his Creator; he was allowed to converse with, and acquire knowledge from, beings of a superior nature: but I was wretched, helpless, and alone. Many times I considered Satan as the fitter emblem of my condition; for often, like him, when I viewed the bliss of my protectors, the bitter gall of envy rose within me."

 Frankenstein 

City Lit Theatre

Performances September 28th thru November 4th

I consider myself humbled and honored to be offered this role. One of the great literary creations of all time. A being of monstrous vengeance, childlike wonder, and devoted love. I am terrified and excited all at the same time, and no actor can ever ask for more from a role.

And, no, Sean H. - "FIRE! BAD!" is not one of my lines. ;)  And now, as cheesy as I will ever get about this...

Where the Work Pays Off

We'll have an audience for The Copperhead tonight.

It's kinda funny, I don't think I've been this excited to open a show in a long while. I'm dying to see how people react to it. I think it's an interesting choice to kick off City Lit's Civil War Project, and I really don't know how people will react to it.

...And I don't care.

I know I bring up One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest a lot, probably too much, but it was a really profound experience for me. There were moments I had on stage with that show that still come back to me, vividly. I knew, early on, it was going to be a quality experience.

From the first read The Copperhead gave me a very similar feeling. Playing McMurphy and playing Milt Shanks are very different experiences, but the fulfillment I get, as an actor, is in the same realm. They both represent something iconic and American, to me. Both men asked me to believe and act on a confidence I would certainly not feel, in the situations they were in, places that I would be too afraid to go in "real life." That is a tremendous gift, and terrifying all at the same time.

I hope everyone sees this play, I hope the entire city comes out, but, even if no one does, I'll be content to walk this stage, and live this life in front of an empty theatre. I've always said I did this work for myself, and that the audience was a secondary consideration, for me. (As much as they can be...I'm not that big an egomaniac.) Sometimes you need a show, and an experience, like this to really put that into focus, and coming right now, at this point in my life, it is very, very welcome.

Of course, no show, no production is mounted alone, and the team assembled for this show was fantastic on every level. I cannot thank any of you enough for the joy, the confidence, and the camaraderie. I hope I have added to a rewarding experience of your own.

Our Cast:
Gannon Reedy, Judith Hoppe, Kate Tummelson, Thad Anzur, Susie Griffith, Grace Melon, Jon Stutzman, Kevin Gladish, Robert Dean, Miguel Cohen and Ed Krystosek.

Our Crew:
Set- Aaron Menninga, Lights - Jess Harpenau, Costume - Ricky Lurie, Props - Matthew Cummings, and Make Up - Jeffrey Lyle Segal

Our Fearless Leadership:
Director - Kathy Scambiatterra, Asst. Director - Peter Connors, and Stage Manager - Jordan Fleming

And the Fine Folks at City Lit:
Terry McCabe, Brian Pastor, Shawna Tucker and Katy Nielsen

If it isn't clear enough, I really want you to come see this show.

The End of The Week

So, here we sit. The week is....ALMOST....over, and all sorts of things have been going on.

Mainly, I've been reading plays. It's selection season for Stage Left's Leapfest festival of new plays. In the last few weeks I've read about...I think it was about twenty-four plays. Some I loathed, some I enjoyed, some I wanted to set fire to, but one...one was very, very powerful, to me. I was floored reading it, and I dearly hope it's going to be in the festival.

Of course, that's not a foregone conclusion, there's another round of selection to pound through. Things can swing in any number of directions, and I'm pretty aware of the fact that my tastes aren't necessarily the same as the rest of the ensemble. Nice thing is, since I made myself read so many in the early stages, I have very, very few I will have to read going forward.

There's something to this overachiever stuff.

No, I'm not going to discuss anything in detail. The selection isn't made, and, until that happens, mum's the word.

Of course, I'm beginning to wonder if I'm going to be able to work on Leapfest. It's scheduled for June of 2011, the dates are set, but not public, not final. Still, I know I'm booked until May 15th (more on that in a minute), and CByrd and I have tentatively set a vacation trip for May 20th to May 29th. It'll be overseas, but the exact destination and itinerary are still up in the proverbial air.

Still, Rush is playing at the O2 arena in London on May 25th. Definitely a thing to make you go...hmmmmm.

 

Gratuitous Rush Picture - I'll get 20-30 more hits for this, no joke

So, that MIGHT prove a problem for scheduling.

Ah, well...a bridge to cross when we get there, right?

So, as to my booking. I'll be playing the role of Milt Shanks in The Copperhead by Augustus E. Thomas, with City Lit Theatre this spring, under the direction of Kathy Scambiatterra. I'm pretty excited, and more than a little scared. Perhaps there's some sort of magic in whining on a blog, because this role is very much along the lines of what I was wishing for. Milt's a farmer, so yeah..."big guy," but there's also a whole load of things going on under the surface, and a great deal of physical change I'll have to go through as the show progresses. Here's City Lit's description;

A lost gem from the early days of American realism, and it kicks off City Lit's five-year commemoration of the Civil War during its sesquicentennial years 2011-2015. In the spring of each of those years, we will produce a show dealing with some aspect of the war: its issues, personalities and legacy. Thomas' play follows an Illinois man from the early days of the war through the turn of the 20th century, as he carries the weight of his town's disapproval for his Southern sympathies. 

 So, there you go, and I can't wait to start. Of course, that's not until the end of February. I have a tentative plan to try to get off book either before we start or very, very shortly after. I found a full copy of the play on line, and printed it out, so I have the script (unless there are cuts and changes...oy!). I do wish we were starting sooner, I'm itching to have something to do.

More time to work on music, right?

Speaking of which....

I'm playing an acoustic gig for the first time in a long, long....well, forever. I'll be doing a half hour, or so, at a low-key Stage Left fundraiser at our office on December 4th. Again, excited but a little freaked. It's been a LONG time since I played in front of anybody, and a long time since I played most of the acoustic-based tunes on my first CD.

So, I'm re-learning my own songs. LOL. I suppose that's probably not as unheard of as it would seem. I mean, do you think Keith Richards knows how to play every obscure track on the flip side of Out of Our Heads the second it's brought up?

...Yeah. You're right. He probably does.

Well, it's not like what I was writing at that time was incredibly hard, anyway. It's funny, going back and revisiting these songs is making me very aware of who far I've come with the guitar. It had been so long since I'd REALLY played when I started working on that first disk. Now I feel pretty comfortable moving around the neck. I still can't do everything I'd LIKE to do, but I can come up with some interesting riffs, I think, anyway.

One other thing that's become very apparent to me since I started going over these songs again is how long it's been since I've played acoustic. It hit me the other day, when my fingers started hurting, that it's been about 9 months since I picked up my acoustic guitar. It may seem strange that there's a difference, but acoustic strings are heavier, and the tension is higher. Harder to push down, and they cut into the fingertips a bit more.

So, I'm playing a lot just to re-build my calluses on the fingertips. So silly, really. I should be putting in time on both the acoustic and electric. It's just that the stuff I've been working on lately is so very much in an electric, hard rock vein. I've thought about putting acoustic sections into a few tracks, and this experience is plainly showing me that I shouldn't neglect that part of the deal.

As for the recording/demos I'm working on, things are proceeding fairly well. I've gone completely off the rails since I found out about this gig, but I have a track on the recorder that I think will be quite good. I really ought to take some time tomorrow to finish the music, and have that off the plate to fully work on my setlist. I do think that these recordings will, ultimately, be demos. I expect I'll be getting a new recorder sometime in December (12 months same-as-cash = time for a bigger purchase), or else just going whole hog into pro-tools. It's a big decision, but I do think there's systems out there that will give me more flexibility, and better sound. Certainly a jump to pro-tools would.

Another bridge to cross when I get there.