Fey (adjective, "fay") Slightly suggestive of an elf in strangeness and otherworldliness. This is a fun featurette on Tina Fey that was made after she wrote Mean Girls and before 30 Rock was created. What leaps out the most is all the footage of her from her days at Second City in Chicago. But second most is the video of her early partnering on stage with Rachel Dratch -- both at Second City, but also later in a two-woman show (which is what got Dratch noticed and signed for SNL, where Fey was already the head writer).
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Dick Van Dyke turned 98 the other day. And on this Thursday, December 21, CBS is going to broadcast a two-hour tribute to the fellow. Here's a nice piece that CBS Sunday Morning did on him the other day. It's thin as a career retrospective, leaving out mention of much of his work, but fun for the conversations they have. This is a really great article in the New York Times about composer John Kander who wrote Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spiderwoman, the scores to the movies All That Jazz and New York, New York, and so much more. And clearly such a deserving subject, at age 96, still working on Broadway. It will not shock you that my favorite line had nothing to do with the theater, but was the description by the reporter about Kander still -- "...making the bed, tight as a drum, as he was taught at Camp Nebagamon when he was 10." For the record, I started at Nebagamon at age 11 (though my friend, Los Angeles Times journalist Patrick Goldstein, who was in my cabin, was a mere kid of 10). And, yes, we did have to make our cots each day, because every cabin was graded by the Day "Push" (a lumberjack term, since the camp was in Wisconsin's North Woods, on the grounds of the original Weyerhaeuser lumber mills) on how clean it was. What the article doesn't note is that two other people at camp with John Kander at the time were brothers William Goldman and Jim Goldman. They all stayed lifelong friends, were roommates in New York, and even collaborated on a musical together, A Family Affair. Later, Kander went off to his legendary career, William Goldman went off to write Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Mean, and James Goldman went off to write the play A Lion in Winter and the musical, Follies, with Stephen Sondheim. My one quibble with the article is when the reporter says that Kander doesn't like the song "New York, New York." I've never heard him say that. All that I've heard him say is the same thing he says in the article. That he "doesn't get it." But not getting why something is SO popular is not even remotely the same as "not liking it." Anyway, how great that he's been getting all this attention -- finally -- at age 96. You can read the terrific article here even if you don't subscribe to the Times, because I've embedded it with a gift subscription link. It will come as no shock to people that I love the Chicago Cubs. And I particularly love the radio team, headed by Pat Hughes. In fact, when I watch Cubs games with my MLB.TV subscription, I use their "overlay" feature that syncs up the radio broadcast to the TV picture, rather than the TV play-by-play. It's not that I have anything against the TV team, they're pretty good. But I love listening to Pat Hughes, teamed up with analyst Ron Coomer. Pat Hughes is just warm and knowledgeable and funny and observant and wonderfully entertaining, just a really terrific broadcaster. And as I noted here a few months back, he was just elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving their Ford C. Frick Award. And the induction ceremony was over the weekend. By the way, Pat is wonderful partnered with Ron Coomer, but when he was previously teamed with another Ron, former Cub great Ron Santo (who was posthumously elected to the Hall of Fame), the two were special -- in fact "unique" might be a better word. As an announcer, Ron Santo bordered on the good side of incompetent but was SO human (he once apologized for being late after an inning break because "I was in the bathroom" and another time brought the family's cleaning woman to the booth), SO funny (intentionally and otherwise), had such an other-worldly phenomenal rapport with Pat Hughes (who clearly protected his broadcasting limitations...) and loved the Cubs SO much that when the two did a broadcast, people in Chicago didn't say they were going to listen to the Cubs game, but rather "The Pat and Ron Show" (something Pat Hughes referenced in his induction speech). In fact, the station's email address for the radio broadcast was "@patandronshow.com".) Anyway, I can't let the day go without embedding Pat Hughes' acceptance speech. It's only 15 minutes, tells some good stories and some funny ones, and much of it is spent praising other people, rather than talking about his career -- which is just so Pat. If this isn't something everyone here wants to listen to, I understand. But hopefully you'll give it a couple of minutes, just to hear how warm and personable he is. And today we have Jane Horrocks starring as...Jane Horrocks. After those rough, gutsy performances from Cabaret, it occurred to me that we need a bit of a palate-cleanser, so here is Jane Horrocks being herself, so you have a better idea of who exactly it is we've been featuring here the past three days. This is from nine years ago in a TV interview segment called “Five minutes with…” Low-key, a bit self-effacing and open. We'll return tomorrow with the first of the final two videos with Jane Horrocks to close out our Fest, both of which I think are a lot of fun. And both highlights in her career. Back in 2013, I posted a video of a tremendous performance of the title song by a British actress, Jane Horrocks, who starred in a now-famous 1993 revival on the West End of Cabaret. It was a completely re-imagined production that presented the show in a more bleak setting, befitting the material’s history and subject matter. Famously, too, from that production, Alan Cumming starred as the sleazy MC, later coming with the show when it crossed to Broadway, where a variety of actresses stepped to each briefly play 'Sally Bowles." Worth noting, as well, is that the production was directed by acclaimed director Sam Mendes. But the most famous of performances came from Jane Horrocks with a remarkably gutsy interpretation. For years, her rendition of the title song was the only video of her in the show that I could find. But over the weekend, I came across two more. So, I thought it best to bring back first her version of “Cabaret,” since it’s been a decade. And since Jane Horrocks is a pretty special performer, I've tracked a few other videos of her that show how special. So, consider this a mini-Jane Horrocks Fest, of sorts. As I wrote back then, the name of Jane Horrocks might not be familiar to most people, but she herself might be, at least a bit. She's best known for playing the loopy assistant, 'Bubble,' in the British TV series, Absolutely Fabulous. However, she also starred in the fascinating 1998 film, Little Voice, which she created initially on stage. (She plays a painfully shy woman who comes alive when she sings magnificently in the voices of other famous singers she learned from old records, like Judy Garland, Marilyn Monroe, Billie Holiday and others. Horrocks did all her own, extraordinary, spot-on singing -- in fact, the show was originally created for her by her boyfriend.) The movie is well-worth checking out, with terrific performances also by Michael Caine, Ewan McGregor, Brenda Blethyn and Jim Broadbent. But back to Jane Horrocks in Cabaret. One thing to keep in mind is that, unlike Liza Minnelli’s dynamic, Oscar-winning performance, 'Sally Bowles' is supposed to be a very-mediocre performer. And she's caught in a terrible, horribly-desperate situation that's tearing her apart, breaking her down. That she's performing in a shoddy Berlin nightclub at the rise of Naziism is indicative of the low level of her talent and the depths she's reached. And Jane Horrocks throws herself into that, diving off the high-board free-fall without a net. (Keep in mind that, for all the slightly off-key notes, she really can sing wonderfully.) She gives a grippingly risky performance, showing all the incompetence and terrified neuroses of the character. And is electric for it. I have a good friend I've mentioned here before, John Kander -- not "the" who wrote the music to Cabaret, but his nephew. And John has seen more productions of Cabaret than anyone I've ever met. He knows the show inside and out. And when I sent him this video, he was blown away. Whether or not it was his "favorite" performance -- he's probably seen too many to have a single favorite -- he said it seemed as close to who 'Sally Bowles' was supposed to be than any performance he's seen. High praise. The performance won't be for everyone. It's very edgy, to the point of almost uncomfortable. (The still image on the video below should give you some idea...) But it's hard not to admire the visceral chances that Jane Horrocks takes with her interpretation. And I suspect that for most people -- even if it's not a "favorite" and easily accessible performance – it will be enjoyed, appreciated and remembered. So, here -- introduced by Alan Cumming at his utterly sleaziest best -- is Jane Horrocks singing and throwing every ounce of herself into the title song, "Cabaret." |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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