The Adventure Continues


TT in the Blue Mountains and Sheldy in New York.

Culture Shock.





Sunday, January 19, 2014

Jerry Herman Day

In the middle of a most interesting weekend which started with a call from John Walton West, the brilliant director of the DOWNTON ABBEY MUSICAL video we did for YouTube last year with all the Broadway stars playing characters from the beloved series. John and his collaborators Kevin Duda and Jason Michael Snow are putting the finishing touches to their newest and even more spectacular short film and they grabbed me for a guest appearance on Friday morning. They showed me the footage that was already cut together and this time they have assembled more stars than are in the HEAVENS!!! So I hope I don't end up on the cutting room floor!
Then it was on a train to Goodspeed for the Festival of New Musicals where I was scheduled to speak at a seminar on The Actor's Life with my beautiful DOLLY, Klea Blackhurst (above). It was lovely to be back in the new company housing again, this time sharing with Klea, and our first stop was a reading of a new musical called ADAM LIVES by the talented Rob Baumgartner, Jr. I was due to attend a late night cabaret after the show but I have been jetlagged for eight days, not sleeping more than three hours a night since I left Sydney, so I headed straight for bed and mercifully slept almost eight hours straight. Next morning we did the first of our two talks which went really well, interspersed with another seminar on Casting which was interesting and informative, I wish I could have stayed and caught up with more people and seen more presentations but I was hurtled back on the train to NYC to appear in cabaret at the Laurie Beechman Theatre on 42nd St, in Peggy Herman's tribute to Jerry Herman, and it turned out to be a most exciting night. Julie Wilson was in the front row and I remembered that she had been the original choice to play HELLO, DOLLY! in Australia back in 1965, indeed she was announced in the press, but family matters prevented her from taking the role which went instead to Carole Cook. Anyway, I was introduced to Julie, whose only words to me were "You're cute!". Which made my night!!

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