Harvey's Broadway Blog: John Doyle and The Big Fish!

Welcome to the debut of a very special new series on BroadwayWorld.com - four time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein's personal MySpace blog of bringing his brand new musical, A CATERED AFFAIR to Broadway. We'll be exclusively picking up Harvey Fierstein's blog as he shares his first hand reports from rehearsals, to out-of-town tryouts to Opening Night (and beyond).  A CATERED AFFAIR also features a score by John Bucchino and is being directed by Tony Award-winner John Doyle. Prior to Broadway, the new musical will play at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre beginning September 20th and then hit the Great White Way at the  Walter Kerr Theatre with previews beginning on begin March 25. The cast includes Broadway favorites Faith Prince, Tom Wopat, Harvey Fierstein, Leslie Kritzer and Matt Cavenaugh. Group tickets for the show are now on sale. 

Okay, I was definitely not going to blog again until the day off, but I just couldn't resist sharing this stuff.

SO, HERE'S A QUICKIE FOR YOU:

 When John Doyle first started conversations with me about directing the show he spoke a lot about wanting to do it in a "cinematic realistic" style. To that end, when we began to work, every actor was handed a ton of props. If you were supposed to be washing windows you got a pail and rags and cleaner... If you were cooking you got pots and pans and every utensil imaginable. And when we talked about the various foods consumed during the show, Mr.  Doyle let us know that we would indeed be handling real food. That meant real coffee, real eggs, and for one scene MS PRINCE would have to handle a real fish; cutting off its head, gutting and scaling it... Oh, yes!!!!

 Well, a few days, as we started rehearsal, Mr. Doyle asked the stage manager to bring him a LARGE cardboard box. As we moved from scene to scene, Mr. Doyle would sneak up into the scene and snatch away any prop that he felt unnecessary to tell the story. Slowly but surely, the cardboard box filled to overflowing, to the giggling delight of the cast. I joked that we had not seen the end of these props. Since they obviously cost the producers a pretty penny, we should expect them to be wrapped and given back to us as our opening night gifts.

But while we joked, FAITH PRINCE prayed that among the props cut from the show would be her LIVE FISH. Well, no such luck. Today, when she went to the prop table to pick up her paper wrapped dinner, there was a large fresh RED SNAPPER waiting.

Now this girl is game for anything and she attacked that fish with gusto and a great big knife. But have you ever tried to sing, remember lines and cut off a fish's head? Collapsed with laughter, a few of the other ladies decided they might help with the fish duties. KRISTINE ZBORNIK volunteered her expertise. Seems she watches a lot of FOOD CHANNEL TV.

When all was said and done, the beautiful RED SNAPPER found itself in the box of props no longer needed to tell the story. Poor fish, happy Faith. But if I know John Doyle a bigger and better fish may take its place by tomorrow morning. This is not a man who gives up what he wants without a Herculean battle. Watch out Ms Prince!

Meanwhile, here is a photo of sweet TOM WOPAT for you:

And one of THE WOMEN singing from their fire escapes...

And an unflattering photo of me at a costume fitting. I only include this to prove that I am willing to show myself as candidly as I make my fellow cast-mates show themselves in this blog. YIKES!!! Being fair sucks.

And I leave you with a cute photo of LORI WILNER hiding by the prop shelf.

Now I need to get some sleep as rehearsal comes around early tomorrow. So you...

STAY TUNED!!!!

Group tickets for A CATERED AFFAIR are now on sale. Click here to visit/subscribe to Harvey's blog.