Friday, August 29, 2008

Living in the Present

"Great athletes win in it. Great performers work in this state. Great teachers teach in it. The charisma emanating from a famous actor is tangible." They all live in the present, according to Patsy Rodenburg. And she should know.

Patsy is recognized as one of the world's leading voice and acting coaches and has coached such luminaries as Judi Dench, Helen Mirren, Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Holly Hunter, and Ralph Fiennes, among many others. She was voice coach at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London for nine years and Head of Voice at the Royal National Theatre for sixteen years. She also does much work with corporations,
all talking about "The Second Circle," ...How to Use Positive Energy for Success in Every Situation, a book which was just released in America in 2008.

So, when a friend of mine suggested I meet this incredible woman and sign up for a two-day workshop, I have to admit I was a bit intimidated. I needn't have been. For someone who has every right to have an ego, she appeared to have none. She was clearly there to help us achieve our greatest potential, not only in our profession, but our everyday life. At this particular seminar, there were 30 people, most of us actors. She spent the first day working on breath, voice, and body movements. The second day, Patsy generously critiqued each of us as we spouted off our memorized Shakespearean sonnets.

What impressed me so much about Patsy is how individualized her critique really was. A beautiful young girl stepped up, whom I thought had a really interesting voice, but Patsy was concerned for her. Apparently, the raspy quality that I found intriguing could be quite harmful for her long term. Because our class was so big, and because Patsy would not cut anyone short, we ran over an hour.

Many of the exercises we did in this class are found in The Second Circle, available at many of the online book outlets. Taking this workshop reminded me of that psych course my first year in college, where I came home and analyzed my family and friends ad nauseam. I could clearly see where the people currently in my life fall into either the first circle (those whose attention is turned inward and come across as shy and ineffective) or third circle, the people who turn you off by their overbearing speech, talking at you rather than with you.

Hopefully, my following up with the lessons learned here will help me connect with people in an ideal state, "The Second Circle." Check it out.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Pageant of the Masters

Mark your calendar for next July and August. It makes such a nice outing to go to The Festival of Arts in Laguna Beach. It's true. You can't find a more beautiful place to be on a summer day. The Festival of Arts is an outdoor gallery in Orange County, nestled in the canyon and only a few blocks from the ocean in Laguna Beach, one of the most picturesque places in the world.

Feeling the effects of the Great Depression and hoping to attract the attention of visitors attending the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932, a group of Laguna Beach artists came together to host the first Festival of Arts. They turned Laguna into one enormous art gallery, selling their artwork along the main street. The inaugural Festival was a huge success.

Over 75 years later, the Festival of Arts has grown into a world-renowned cultural institution famous for its fine art show and the Pageant of the Masters, which draws visitors from around the world. It had been years since I had seen the "living pictures," the Pageant of the Masters, where works of art are portrayed on a large stage with painted backdrops, live music and narration. It takes many wonderful volunteers to maintain that stillness in recreating these remarkable works of art. It's a tradition that they end the program with The Last Supper. Tickets to the Pageant should be purchased about a year in advance. It's always a sellout.

This year's theme, All the World's a Stage, paid homage to the works of William Shakespheare. The artwork of Edgar Degas, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Joshua Reynolds were presented, as well as Everett Shinn's painting, "Footlight Flirtation." Also incorporated into the evening was the Italian commedia dell'arte troupe .

Since I had recently attended a two-day workshop with Patsy Rodenburg, one of the world's leading voice and acting coaches, who was voice coach at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London for a number of years, I found the chosen masterpieces particularly interesting. More on Patsy in my next post.

The Irvine Bowl on the Festival grounds holds 2,600, and it was sold-out as usual the evening I attended. The Festival runs through the end of August. If you get there early, you can walk the shops on Pacific Coast Highway and the surrounding streets. There are lots of great restaurants along the way to enjoy as well.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

On a Sunday Afternoon

There really aren't enough superlatives to describe the talented pianist, Tamir Hendelman, to do him justice. You just have to hear him to experience something wonderful. I would encourage you to go and hear him live at one of the many venues locally, when he's not traveling the world, accompanying Natalie Cole, or performing with other great vocalists. But, until you have the opportunity to do that, you can now buy his debut cd, Playground.

On this particular Sunday afternoon, the concert was held at The Atelier of David Andersen Pianos, which was a beautiful garden setting, featuring wonderful scultures by Tanya Ragir. Tanya has her studio here and it was a treat to get a sneak peak at it when we took a break for food, drink and conversation after the first set. The garden displayed many pieces of her extraordinary work.

I first met Tamir at a Cathy Segal-Garcia workshop I attended over ten years ago.
What impressed me from the start was his ability to fine-tune the key to any song to fit each of the singers attending the workshop. Now, because my musician father had that ability, I thought all musicians could do that. I found out it takes a special talent. Tamir didn't need to see the music. He had all that in his memory bank. And he was (and still is) young!
Since then, Tamir has done many arrangements for me, which when other musicians see the charts are always impressed!

I must also tell you that I was very interested to see the pianos on display there that day. All exceptional...worthy of a world-class pianist such as Tamir. If you know of anyone looking for a concert grand or other fine piano, I'd check them out. David Andersen Pianos has just announced a new alliance with a fifth-generation Bavarian hand-built piano maker. If theirs are anything like the wonderful sound on Sunday's piano, I'm sure it will be a delight to hear.

What a special musical experience. Tamir's playing always touches my heart.

Saturday, August 9, 2008

WINTER

Just saying the word WINTER cools one off in this really hot weather we're having, doesn't it?
I find it so inspiring to go see theatre, especially if one of my friends is associate producing and directing, as in the case of WINTER and Janne Halleskov Kindberg.

This play, by internationally acclaimed Norwegian playwright, Jon Fosse, seemed to be dialogue challenged, as the same phrases were used over and over, eventually with different meanings. It made one listen and watch more intently. It was quite the opposite of David Mamet's works with his clever, terse dialogue, using arcane stylized phrasing.

A lot of talent went into this show besides the Norwegian lead actors, Terje Skonseng Naudeer and Lene Pedersen. Show design by Ray Woodbury (Backstreet Boys, Gwen Stefani, Kelly Clarkson), Lighting Programmer Andy Figueroa (Neil Young, Stevie Wonder), featuring music composed by Gabrial McNair (Green Day, No Doubt) all added to the interesting, innovative elements, which made me happy I came to see this play, even if the Opening Ceremonies of the Olympics were going on simultaneously. Janne had a nice crowd despite the competition.

And the locale, The Culver Studios, has such a great history, it makes one feel invigorated just walking through it...or on late nights, golf-carting through it. Gone With The Wind (my favorite movie of all time) was filmed there when it was the David O. Selznick Studios. Throughout the years, sets have been used and reused, from the days of Cecil B. DeMille's enormous stages for King of Kings, later used in King Kong, before they were burned down for the Atlanta sequence in GWTW.

RKO controlled it for 30 years bringing stardom to Bette Davis, Robert Mitchum, Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and those wonderful hoofers, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Desilu Productions took over in 1956, where television emerged as the primary business at the studio, where Andy Griffith, the Nelson boys, David and Ricky, with their parents, Ozzie & Harriet, and Lassie all could be seen on the lot.

Thanks to the $26 million renovation in the mid-80's by Grant Tinker and Gannett, much of the original luster and beauty was restored. So successful was the restoration that it has served as a model for other studio projects.

In 1991 Sony Corporation bought the studio and sold it in 2004 to PCCP Studio City Los Angeles. Numerous feature films (Rush Hour 3, State of Play) and television projects, such as Deal or No Deal, America's Next Top Model, and The Bonnie Hunt Show are all home to the studio.

Ghostly sightings, i.e., Gloria Swanson roaming the halls of the mansion as she did years earlier, have been unsubstantiated, but eerily similar reports occur year after year

Free Stuff

Don't cha just luv getting free stuff? I do. I mean, nothing's really free, is it? Example, I went to the Smart & Final...extra store opening a few days ago. Ask me why! Wall to wall, people. I even found out I could still have gotten the same savings throughout the coming week.

But, maybe they would have run out of free cups. Cups? With Smart and Final extra on them. So, now, I'm drinking my morning Starbucks coffee out of a white Smart & Final extra cup, instead of my glass Starbucks cup that I'm sure I paid for, since they don't give those away. Oh well, it was free, and it's sturdy. Even if it did cost me over $40 to shop there. They now have smaller quantities, but I'm not convinced the savings are as good as WalMart on some of those items. Yes, I shop at WalMart. I can get Starbucks Breakfast Blend for $7.

I'm sad...I just heard that Bernie Mac died...and I just wrote a post about him. As one of his many show biz friends said, "Heaven's a whole lot funnier now." I wonder if they give out free stuff.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Need a laugh?

If you missed the comedy, Guess Who, when it was released in 2005, and you could use a little laughter, I think you'll enjoy this movie. This modern take on the classic, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, has a great cast: Bernie Mac and Judith Scott as Zoe Saldana's parents, who meet Ashton Kutcher, who plays her fiance. I thought the direction by Kevin Rodney Sullivan was spot on.

I'm not really a fan of remakes, especially when they're a classic, but the script was quite different. It's interesting, however, that I had rented the former movie recently, with the stellar cast of Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy, to prepare for a scene in my acting workshop. While I wouldn't dare compare the acting, I thought this recent movie was far more entertaining.

While we're on the subject of Sidney Pointier, my actress friend, Barbara, who knew I loved autobios, loaned me Sidney's The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. I loved it!