Tag: The Sunshine Boys (2004)

Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys

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Audition #10 – Sylvia at Big Top Theatre

There was only one guy who auditioned on Sunday. And by phone calls, the director was only able to get two more guys to audition. Out of three guys, the director has to fill two positions. That has to be tough. I know it sounds easy: pick two, toss the third. But it is not easy building a solid, compatible cast out of so few people. None of the guys may be suitable and then what do you do.

I auditioned for the role of GREG. GREG finds SYLVIA in the park and brings here home. The audition went well enough from my perspective. But do I want to land a role by default? Well, I was given a role in The Sunshine Boys. But it was a very very small role and the director could have said no. The director of Sylvia could do the same, call for more auditions or cancel the play all together.

But what am I worried about here. That I might be in a bad production? Am I being arrogant? Creative Differences with the director? Obviously I have some reservations, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe I am worried from a directorial perspective.

From what little I know about Sylvia, it is a cute play, very funny. I would like to read the script even if I do not get a part.

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Beau Jest – Rehearsal – Week 1

OK, we finished our first week of rehearsal, “blocking” Act I. It went well all things considered. This is my first time going through this process. My last play, The Sunshine Boys, I did not come on board until after all this was done.

I think I have figured out what the director (Lane Teilhaber) wants out of his cast. I have been trying to make things as real and natural as possible. But what the director wants is for each action to be obviously clear the intentions of each statement, a little “over the top”.

JOEL, the brother of SARAH, becomes suspicious of “DAVID” (BOB) and asks a few directed questions about DAVID’s medical practice. Here the director wants to questions to be “grilled” at DAVID. No holds on what my intentions are in my questions.

In real life this would be rude and maybe even offensive. But this is not real life, it’s a play and the intentions of the characters have to be made absolutely clear.

In another scene (Act I, Scene I, page 23):
JOEL: I notice you’re not wearing a pager.
BOB: No. No. I left it at home. I didn’t want to be disturbed.
JOEL: You left it at home?
BOB: Yeah, well… It’s my day off.
JOEL: What if there’s an emergency?

Here too, I need to be a little over the top. JOEL is a doctor of Psychology with a practice. Even he knows that a medical doctor would never ever be without a pager in case of emergencies. Hippocratic Oath.

On the “all things considered” front: I hope I am doing OK. It’s hard to tell. The other members of the cast have a lot more experience than I do. Most of them have worked with Lane before and knows what he wants. I feel really awkward at times.

Play Details and Photos

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The Sunshine Boys second weekend update

The second weekend of The Sunshine Boys was successful. Friday and Saturday nights were Sold Out. We have done 5 shows and 3 have been Sold Out. Only 3 shows left.

I finally fluffed a line. I knew it was going to happen someday and was not going to worry about it. There’s no avoiding it so why waste time, energy, sanity worrying about it before hand with “what if’s”. Don’t get me wrong, I do want to do my best. Nor am I saying you shouldn’t know your lines. I want to know the lines inside and out, but this simply is going to happen at some point.

My line (well EDDIE’s line) was “I don’t know. There’s a problem with makeup. Mr. Clark wants a Number 7 Amber or something.” And what I said was “I don’t know. Mr. Clark? There’s a problem with makeup. Mr. Clark wants a Number 7 Amber or something”. Was this noticeable by the audience? Probably. Only because of “Mr. Clark? There’s a problem…”. Now if I would have kept going after I said the first Mr. Clark with “has a problem with makeup. He wants a Number 7 Amber or something” nobody would have noticed.

But all this is after the fact. When you are live with no chance of doing a second take, you just have to accept the fact that this is going to happen and not worry about it.

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The Sugar Creek Gang World Premiere

The DVD Series, The Sugar Creek Gang, is having its World Premiere at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta on Friday, November 19th. I believe they will be showing Episode One: Swamp Robber and Episode Two: The Great Canoe Fish.

I was an extra for a later episode. Unfortunately, I will be busy with The Sunshine Boys and cannot make the premiere.

Where: Fox Theatre
When: November 19, 2004, 8 PM

Tickets are available at Ticketmaster

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The Sunshine Boys opening weekend…

…was a complete success. Saturday night was the first of two dinner shows. And Sold Out I might add. Food was good and being in an Episcopal Church, wine was also available. So the audience, now stuffed and tipsy, went in to see the play. I was told by the other actors not to expect much in the way of audience participation due to the drowsy affect of the food and wine. Well, they must have eaten little and drank nothing, because they laughed at everything. The been-here-done-the-dinner-show actors were amazed at the audience participation.

So what does this say? Just that maybe we did a good job. Even in my small part, where I am on the stage alone interacting with the “director” in the imaginary booth, we had to pause at a spot to let the laughter die down. And all I do is give the straight lines. This is a very funny play and the actors are doing a very good job.

So remember, just two more weekends.