Our regularly scheduled column will continue in a moment, but first this bulletin...
Len Cariou and Roberta Maxwell were my guests Friday on a special edition of "Demand Performance". They will visit during the 11am (Eastern) hour to discuss THE PERSIANS -- Aeschylus' eyewitness account of the Persian Wars was written in 470 B.C.; opening June 10 at the National Actors Theatre at Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University, Spruce Street, between Park Row and Gold. Through June 22.
Now, on with the column. And please, feel free to add your comments below. I can take it!
On June 10, Image Entertainment will release a DVD version of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's musical soap opera "Passion." (www.image-entertainment.com) This will be a "must have" for any serious collector of Sondheim's work. Running for a mere 281 performances, "Passion" garnered Best Musical, Best Book and Best Score Tonys in 1994.
This ain't yer typical love story where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. As is typical in the Sondheim/Lapine collaboration, things are much more complicated.
Jere Shea (in his only Broadway performance to date) is Italian Captain Giorgio Bachetti. Set in 1863, the musical begins with Giorgio rolling around in the sack with the lovely Clara (Marin Mazzie also of Big River, Into The Woods, Ragtime, Kiss Me Kate and Something Good). Wisely, he waits until afterwards to tell her that he's being transferred to a provincial outpost. There he meets Colonel Ricci (Gregg Edelman with a long list of credits, most recently a delightful Prince and Wolf in the 2002 revival of Into The Woods) and his baleful cousin Fosca (Donna Murphy, also seen in They're Playing Our Song, The Human Comedy, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and most recently, The King And I.)
To refer to Fosca as "tormented" is to understate the case. She is terminally ill and not the easiest creature in the world to look at. The first we hear of her is when she screams from her bedroom. Giorgio learns of her love of reading and, ever the tender soul, lends her a few books. Ever give a stray cat a bowl of cream only to regret your kindness when the cat adopts you against your will? This simple act of kindness (books, not cream...) causes Fosca to pursue Giorgio with a relentless determination reminiscent of the way the IRS went after Willie Nelson.
So here we are. Giorgio loves Clara. Clara loves Giorgio but won't give up her husband. Fosca loves Giorgio with an intensity that most mortal men would find frightening. At length, Giorgio comes to realize that no one has or ever will love him like Fosca loves him. And even though acting on their passion will certainly result in her death, they succumb. And then there's a duel!
Dark love. Haunting love. Relationships gone awry. The agony of unrequited love, which is only topped when that love is finally requited. Does it GET any more Sondheim than that?
During the first week of June, I'll be giving away copies of the Passion DVD on XM Satellite Radio's "On Broadway" channel. Tune in to find out how you can win. And I'm hoping against hope that we may even have a visit from the master himself, Stephen Sondheim. Stay tuned.
By the way, if you're a Sondheim fan, you'll love "The Sound of Sondheim" four hours of his music, every Saturday from 6-10 pm (Eastern) "On Broadway, XM-28".
GUESTS THIS WEEK on DEMAND PERFORMANCE
(Live, 10a-2p "On Broadway, XM-28)
On Wednesday, May 28, I'll be joined by Philip Rose and Richard Abrons to discuss the new play "Whose Family Values!" which opened May 22 at the Clurman Theatre on Theatre Row in New York. The play addresses the subject of abortion from the perspective of a family caught up in the pro-life movement. (Read Andy Propst's review www.americantheaterweb.com)
On Thursday, May 29, my guest will be Denise diRenzo. We'll talk about the upcoming Cole Porter revue "Let's Fall In Love," which begins a run of five performances on June 1. We'll also play some cuts from her CD "Sweet Refrain."
SAH-LOH-MAAAY?
In Sunday's New York Post, the inestimable Liz Smith wonders why Marissa Tomei was not nominated for a Tony for sitting on a stool grimacing and grunting before and after her veiled flail as the biblical bad girl in "Oscar Wilde's Salome: the Reading."
Then she goes on to laud Al Pacino saying he brought "a comic aspect seldom seen" to the role of the despotic King Herod. "A tyrant as played by Jackie Gleason" is how she put it, although it was Jerry Lewis that came to my mind when I forfeited 90 minutes of my life at the Barrymore Theatre last month
Liz says the audience adored him, and so did she.
Liz wasn't there the night I saw it, I guess. There was a standing ovation of 3. And I think two of them were just trying to beat the others to the aisle.
For more information about XM Satellite Radio, go to www.xmradio.com.
For more information about "On Broadway, XM-28" click http://onbroadway.xmradio.com.
Listen to Your Jovial Impresario, Broadway Bill Schmalfeldt, weekdays from 10a-2p Eastern on America's only LIVE, nationwide satellite radio show tune request show "Demand Performance".
