"Around the World in a Bad Mood" Creator and Lead Actress Rene Foss and Actor Hector Coris discuss the elastic nature of this show about Airline travel and perform two songs as an in-studio exclusive with Composer Michael McFrederick.

"Around the World" is a one woman show written and performed by real life flight attendant Rene Foss. It is a humorous look at the flight attendant profession and the air travel industry from the perspective of a 20 year veteran. A 90 minute romp through in flight debacles, security strip teases, pistol packing pilots, a six week unpaid training program, and brief historical overview of the profession. Aside from Foss' stage antics, the show is enhanced with a PowerPoint presentation that includes, music, slides, voice-overs and video. Anyone who works in the airline industry or has ever traveled on an airplane will appreciate the material. There is also a book that Foss has written that is a companion piece to the show and is often sold and autographed after the performance. It is published by Hyperion under the title, "Around the World in a Bad Mood...Confessions of a Flight Attendant."

 For more info and tickets click here .

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Broadway Bullet Interview: Rene Foss and Hector Coris of Around the World in a Bad Mood 

Broadway Bullet:  The joys of airline travel have really gone downhill over the past year, but we have an artist who seemed to spot the trend quite a while ago, and has been frequently been putting up the musical, Around the World in Bad Mood, in New York, and around the country.  We have creator and actor, Rene Foss, with us, as well as another one of the actors in the program, Hector Coris.  So how are you guys doing?

Rene Foss:  We're great.  We're in a good mood.

Hector Coris:  Great.

RF:  Not in a bad mood yet.  It's because we're on the ground.

BB:  So, I guess start off by telling us a little of the history of this show.  It's kind of a different thing...

RF:  Yeah.  Well this is what I call -- you know how they have reality TV?  I call this reality theatre.  Or reality cabaret, because I'm a flight attendant, for real.  I've been flying for twenty-three years.  And the way it kind of came to be was:  I wanted to be an actress.  My dad didn't like that idea so much; he wanted me to get a job with benefits, a pension.  I took his advice, and I became a flight attendant, and was based in New York.  Then, I discovered that maybe I could be a flight attendant half the time -- keep my dad happy, and be an actress the rest of my life.  Then I'd be discovered, and become famous, and quit the airline.  That's not quite what happened.  In fact, I was a huge failure, and I decided the only way to make it in show business would be for me to write my own show.  So, I decided to write what I know, which is, really, being a flight attendant.  So, that's how I kind of came up with the idea.  I thought I would make myself the star of the show, and then I realized that I would need some help.

BB:  Nepotism.  Nepotism.

RF:  Yeah. (Laughter) So, I enlisted some wonderful actors, one of whom is here with me: Hector Coris.  Maybe Hector can talk a little about his experience and how he came onto the five-person show.

HC:  Yeah, Rene initially had a couple of actresses in the show.  One of the actors had to leave, and they called me up and said, "You want to do this weird little show in The Village?"  And I said, "Sure, send me the script and I'll come on down and do it."

BB:  Everybody wants to do weird little shows in The Village.

HC:  Weird little shows in The Village.  It's done down at Rose's Turn, which has been one of my haunts for many, many years.  So, I of course said, "Yes."  I've been very fortunate in this show; I think it's an actor's dream because I get to do everything under the kitchen sink, from playing in drag, to singing my ass off, to doing these really whacky sketches and characters.  The show is a whirlwind; I mean, it flies by; a lot of costume changes.  And I've also been fortunate to go with the show to Seattle and Dallas.  Where else have we gone?

RF:  Canada.

HC:  Canada.  That's right, we did a great gig in Canada.  And one fateful performance at a Jewish Center up in Monsey, New York.

RF:  Oh, yeah, we've had a lot of fun.  We really have gone on some traveling expeditions with the show.  Hector's got a great part because he gets to play Mona Lott, the unhappy, bitchy flight attendant.  Hector has created this character -- she's German, she wears a dress, and some lipstick, and an eye patch. (Laughter) You really have to see it, you have to come down to Rose's Turn and see Hector as Mona Lott to believe it.

HC:  It's a sight to behold.

BB:  Now, I understand you guys are going to perform a couple of numbers here for us.  Maybe you should do the first song.  Your composer, Michael McFrederick, is going to be playing piano for you.

RF:  Yeah.

BB:  Anything we need to know about this first song?

RF:  Well, this first song is called "The Safety Demo Shuffle," and it is very recognizable to anyone who has flown, if you've been paying attention like you're supposed to because this is the part of the flight when we point out the emergency exits and the seatbelts and all that sort of thing.  I've just noticed in my experience as a flight attendant that most people at this time are reading the paper, or they're sleeping, or they're not really paying attention.  So, it occurred to me that maybe if we did a song and a dance with the safety demo shuffle, that maybe people would really pay attention, and the FAA would be very happy because everyone would be well informed about their safety positions in case of -- in the unlikely event of an emergency.

Listen to "The Safety Demo Shuffle" on Broadway Bullet Vol 117

BB:  You know, I have found that by wearing ear buds on my iPod, they don't notice that I'm wearing them, especially with my hair covering them.  I get to ignore the flight thing.

RF: (Laughter) Oh, you're a bad passenger.

BB:  It hasn't changed in ten years.  I know to grab the seat.

RF:  Right.

HC:  It's on that handy double-sided thing, anyway.  That laminated board --

RF:  Right, I'm going to keep my eye out for you on my flights.  No free drinks for you.

BB:  This musical has multiple incarnations because you do it here in New York, and it's been a five-person show; then you go out on the road and it's a one-person show; now, it's a three-person show.  So what is the elastic nature of Around the World in a Bad Mood?

RF:  Budget cuts.  Budget cuts.  Basically, I always wanted it to be a big splashy musical, and that's what I was going for when I initially produced it, and put it up at Rose's Turn.

BB:  I hear an assistant for Cameron Macintosh listens to the program.

RF:  Well, good, I hope he's listening to this program, because I could use all the help I can get.  In any event, it did start as this five-person musical, and I would have to give these guys a dollar a show, because that was about all the money I was making.

HC:  Nice.

BB:  That covers transportation and food; that's the Equity thing

RF:  Right, basically -- barely.  Anyway, what had happened was: The New York Times was writing a big piece on flight attendants, and they got wind of the show.  They called, they asked if they could come down and see Around the World in a Bad Mood, and take some photographs.  And I said, "Of course!  Come on down, and bring five photographers."  So, The New York Times came to see the show, and they wrote a story about it,  it was sort of a companion piece to this big huge thing on flight attendants.  From there, everything just blew apart because after that, the Rosie Show was calling, and CNN was calling, and people were calling to book the show, and people were calling to come and see the show.  One of the people that called was Hyperion Publishing, and they thought it would be a book.  They asked: "Would you like to write a book?"  At the time, I didn't even know who Hyperion Publishing was –- it's Disney, so I'm kind of an idiot –-but I know who they are now.

BB:  We also have a producer for Disney, who also listens to the show.

RF:  Well, hello.  Welcome aboard.  I love Hyperion. (Laughter) I know who they are now.  I love Mickey Mouse.  But, in any case, they thought it would be a good book, so I said, "Sure, I'd love to write a book."  From that, after the book was published, a producer here in New York approached me -- Richard Frankel Productions, actually his partner, Mark Routh thought this would be a terrific little touring show, but the condition was -- there's always a condition in life -- that it would have to be a one-person show.  

HC:  Boo.

BB:  So Hector stays home.

RF:  Yeah, so, Hector was out.  I took the opportunity though, because I thought I could write a one-woman show, and perform, and it could be a big huge flop, and then I'd have to get Hector back on my good side again, amongst the other actresses as well.  Anyway, the Frankel office produced it as a one-woman show, and it premiered at the Edinborough Fringe Festival, in Scotland in 2002, I think.  So, I did perform it as a one-woman show, and I still do perform it [as a one-woman show] around the country.  I'm going to be going to Salt Lake City in October, I'll be in Phoenix in January 2008, I'll be in Chicago in February.  So, when it goes out on the road, it is a one-woman show, indeed.  It's a little bit different than when I perform it here in New York at Rose's Turn like we'll be doing this summer, and that's my three-person show now.  It just depends; it's like a flight, you know, sometimes you have five flight attendants, sometimes you have three flight attendants.  It's depending on where I am.

HC:  I think the great thing Rene did was: there is so much material that has gone in and come out, so we're able to…we had a four-person show at one point.  It went from five to four to three to one, back to three, and we just put that scene in and that scene in, and cut that scene.  So, we have a whole mish-mosh of things we can do, depending on how many people we have.

RF:  Right.  The thing with actors is, they're not always available.

BB:  What?

RF:  Yeah, it's hard to imagine.

BB:  There's only five or six percent of them working at a time.

RF:  It's amazing that when you have a booking somewhere, someone is always not available or can't do it that day.  The hardest thing about the show right now is just scheduling people: just to get them for rehearsals and get them together to perform.

BB:  What like, "I've got my gig at Outback"?

RF:  Right, exactly. (Laughter) "I'm busy that night at Friday's."  So, it's good to be flexible.  And the other thing that's great about this show is that it does change based on what's going on in the world.  Like, you may well know,  now you can't bring liquids on airplanes.  So, then that becomes a whole plethora of material.

BB:  That has made me say that I'm not going on a plane.

RF:  Really?

BB:  Yeah.  It's ridiculous.

RF:  Well, what kind of liquids do you like to bring?

BB:  KY?

HC:  (Laughter) KY and Jack Daniels, everybody.

RF:  Can't go on an airplane without that.

BB:  It just seems so ridiculous.  At a certain point, isn't enough, enough?  If someone really wants to do something, they're going to be able to.

RF:  Absolutely; I agree.  I know, and people are still…

BB:  I saw this skit about, that they were going to create Ninja Airlines.  Somebody comes and knocks you out in your sleep, and you wake up across the country.

RF:  That's the kind of flight I'd like to work.  I'd like to be working that flight, all those people passed out on the way to LA.  I wouldn't have to do anything!  No service!

BB:  Well, you guys and Michael want to do the next song here?

RF:  Sure.  The next song is the title song: "Around the World in a Bad Mood".  It is sort of… oh, it just encompasses the whole travel experience of the modern day traveler, I would say.

Listen to "Around the World in a Bad Mood" on Broadway Bullet Vol 117

BB:  All right Rene, you spent twenty-three years as a flight attendant.

RF:  Yeah, I started when I was five.

BB:  It looks like that, I was gonna say; you look far too young to have done that.

RF:  (Laughter) Yes, thank you.

BB:  How many flights does that translate to?

RF:  Too many.  Far too many.  I don't know, I usually go on a trip every week.  Sometimes it's a two-day trip, three-day trip…In the course of my career, I've been mostly based in New York, but I used to do a lot of flights to Asia.  We would leave here on Friday, go over to Tokyo, stay twenty-four hours, and come back.  You would cross the international dateline two times in three days, then you have a couple days off, then you go and do it again.  That was a little exhausting.  Did a lot of Europe flying.  Primarily now, I just like to stay in the United States; it's easier here.

BB:  How do we get an extra bag of chips?

RF:  Well, it's going to cost you.  You know, all the flight attendants, we've all taken a lot of pay cuts, so if you got a lot of cash to flash around, you might even get more than a bag of chips.

BB:  How do we get the meal while it's still hot?

RF:  What meal?  (Laughter) There is no meal.  Wow, you really haven't flown in a while.  You're in for a rude awakening next time you go on a plane.  Don't ask for a pillow either.

BB:  Do you ever worry that at twenty-three years now, that it's placing odds, that your number's up?

HC:  Keep crossing that dateline a couple more times, she'll be able to go back a couple years.

RF:  I think my number is up.  Nah.  You mean like, am I afraid to fly?

BB:  Yeah.  We know statistically, it's safer than car travel, but at a certain point don't you go, "I've done this many flights without an accident--"

RF:  You know, I don't -- I never really think about it.

BB:  I've now made you think about.

HC:  Way to jinx it.  (Laughter)

RF:  Now I'm going to be thinking about it, when I go to Alaska on Sunday.  That'll be about the first thing I'm thinking -- I don't think about it.  I'm sort of a believer that when your number's up, your number's up.  I just hope the pilot's number isn't up.  (Laughter)  I don't know, no, I don't think about that.  Really, It's like, when you come to work, do you take the subway to work?

BB:  Yeah.

RF:  Okay, do you ever worry that when you get on the subway, like: gosh, I hope they're not going to gas the subway today?

BB:  Oh God, after 9/11, I experimented with taking the bus down from 181st Street, and after two days of that, I was like okay, I guess I'm just going to have to live with the anthrax --

RF:  Yeah, that's the way I feel, too.  It's my job, I do it.  There's a lot of other things I worry about, before that:  I'm just worried that somebody's going to puke on me, or someone's going to give me some communicable disease, some passengers going to flip out, somebody's going to write a bad letter.  There are so many other things I can worry about, prior to the big bang.

BB:  What do you do when you catch people joining the Mile High Club?

RF:  Well, I ask if I can watch. (Laughter) What do you do, you're the one with the KY Jelly.  I'm just an innocent bystander needing to use the lavatory.  Come on, knock, knock, knock, "Hurry up."

HC:  Does that happen often?

RF:  Apparently it does, because everybody always asks me about it.  But I have to confess, I've never walked in and caught anybody.  I have walked in when people forget to lock the door and witnessed that. That'll wake you up.

BB:  I've always wondered how they -- there's not enough room for one person in that room.  Tell us how.  Give us a tutorial.

RF:  Do you want me to show you?  Oh, I can't show you, that won't work, this isn't TV.  Okay, I guess you won't get to see.  You have to come to the show, and see Around the World in a Bad Mood live.

BB:  Is that part of the show?

RF:  Well, it might be, depending on who's in the audience.  I have seen two people come out of the bathroom.  I don't know what they were doing in the bathroom, a man and a woman, but it leads me to believe they were joining the Mile High Club.  And I know a lot of people --now there's a whole new thing: sometimes, the line is too long to get into the bathroom, so it's called the Solo Mile High Club, and it's just in the seat, and we just throw a blanket over those people, and let them have their jollies. (Laughter) That's for the people who don't want to wait in line, and can't find a partner.

BB:  And because we've been spending so much time with Rene, we should also mention that, Hector, you also work within the industry.  Correct?

HC: Yes, I'm the director of marketing at Second Stage Theatre.  I've been there for two years, and it's been great.  We do really decent shows there.  We just closed Terrence McNally's Some Men.

BB:  I heard about that, and we've had some Spelling Bee stuff.

HC:  That's right, Second Stage is all over Broadway Bullet.

RF:  And it's right across the street.

HC:  It's right across the street, which is very convenient.  We have Sarah Ruhl's Eurydice coming up.

BB:  You have to help me get her on the show because she's so hot and busy.

HC:  I'd love to, yeah.  I will definitely let her know.

BB:  So we've got to get all the information out here about the show:  the website, and especially since it's going to be touring all over, we'll just give them the most generic information possible.

RF:  I'll start with the basic and most easiest way to get information: www.aroundtheworldinabadmood.com.  That has the schedule.  The next performances are going to be here in New York City at Rose's Turn, 55 Grove Street.  We're going to play every Thursday at 9:00PM ($15 cover charge, two-drink minimum, cash only).  Then we'll be back at Rose's Turn in September on Fridays at 7:00PM, and then, as I said, in October in Salt Lake City at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center.  I'm going to Phoenix in January in two weeks, that's at the Mesa Arts Center, and then outside of Chicago in a town called Crystal Lake, at the Row Center for the Performing Arts.

BB:  Have you ever thought of putting this on at bar airports?

RF:  I put it on in the back galley to a select audience, yeah.  That's where I'm really just taking my notes.  That's where I get my material.  People always say, "When are you going to quit the airline?", and I'm like, "Quit the airline? This is how I get my material.  If I quit the airline, there won't be a show."  Aside from that, I've given them the best years of my life, and now I plan on sticking around and giving them my worst.  I'm not leaving.

BB:  Well, I thank you two so much for coming down and sharing your stories, and Michael McFrederick for joining you on the piano and sharing these great songs.  Best of luck with the run and its continued return to New York.

RF and HC:  Thank you.

RF:  Safe travels.

 

PHOTOS:  1.) Dust Jacket - Hyperion Books; 2.) Rene Foss - Around the World in a Bad Mood; 3.) Rene Foss - Around the World in a Bad Mood; 4.) Hector Coris

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You can listen to this interview and many other great features for free on Broadway Bullet vol. 117. Subscribe for free so you don't miss an episode.

 or MP3 Feed with XML