I thought my memory of Harand Camp was unusually sharp, especially now. (I’m writing about theater geeks in my current novel — yes, I was one.) But Nancy Goldman Greenberg, who put me up on the final days of my book tour, shook loose a memory simply by uttering the words: “Melody Flop.”
Trips to this Milwaukee theater-in-the-round were a traditional part of our summers at Harand and the nickname pretty much says it all. I hadn’t thought about Melody Top for years and the moment Nancy spoke I saw, in my mind’s eye, a tall figure emerging from behind a post, where he had been writing down Eliza Doolittle’s peculiar speech.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Leonard Nimoy IS Dr. Henry Higgins. It was only logical.
Anyone else have theater memories to share? Good or bad?
Theater in the round! Oh, Laura! I grew up in Connecticut and saw lots of performances of musical theater and other stuff at two of these summer theaters. What do I remember most? Harry (swoon) Belafonte – my mom and I both have lifelong crushes on the man. I recall almost none of the musicals but one – Camelot which we went to from summer camp (hmm, theme) and during which, in a scene between Arthur and Lancelot a bit of stage business I recall to this day. We were apparently in a flight path – or something – and the noise of a plane drowned out the dialogue over and over and they kept trying again. King Arthur saying “rise, Sir Lancelot” and finally Lance replying “would that I COULD, my lord”.
The YWCA in my town (West Hartford, CT) offered the chance to perform in summer musicals when I was in high school and I still have fabulous memories of working on them for several years. Never a lead, heavens no, but I had a strong voice that stays on key. At least one actor who was in “Oliver” with us went on to a real honest acting career along with his brother. And I made a lifelong friend there as well. My high school also was something like the first h.s. to perform “Funny Girl” – imagine if you will several of us trying to teach the lead, whose name was something like Maggie Flinn, how to tawk like Fanny Brice.
Andi
Oh lord, I could talk for hours about theater memories. I was a bonafide theater geek in high school and college and live theater is still my favorite activity to watch or perform. My first big theater memory includes my first Broadway play and my first trip to New York City. It was 1995, my senior year of high school and our choir was picked to sing in this mass choir at Carnegie Hall.
This was just as Times Square was starting to clean up it’s act, so the hotel we stayed in was the newly renovated Crowne Plaza which was gorgeous. It was also right across the street from a XXX theater showing Nympho Nightmares.
Because we were theater geeks and choir geeks, we were well versed in all of the classical musical theater songs and most of the contemporary stuff. Being in Flint, MI though, we were probably the only 40 people we knew who were involved with the theater in any way. It was amazing to be in New York and see billboards for the shows we had been singing in basement rec rooms for years and to see the stars of those shows coming out of the stage doors after the show.
During our stay, we would be able to see two Broadway shows and could pick from any of the current offerings. Of course most picked from the Phantom, Les Miz, Cats trifecta, but because I mix rock and roll with my showtunes, I went to see The Who’s Tommy.
Holy crap.
I still remember feeling the heat of the flames from the first act finale performance of Pinball Wizard. It was an experience so much more viceral and stimulating than anything I’d ever encountered. It was like going to see KISS in a 500 seat theater. Unbelievable.
There was also the time I was performing as the villain in a middle school production of Tarzan and had to go to the bathroom so bad I peed in my pants, but I’m saving that story for some therapist down the line.
Oh, Bryon…I had THE SAME Tommy experience. Visceral and stimulating are the words for sure. At least, for the first time I saw it, which was at the Kennedy Center, and which was clearly a seriously thought-through production. The sets were unique and gloriously trippy, and the cast and band were first-rate. My second Tommy experience, however, left more to be desired. It was at Baltimore’s Morris Mechanic Theatre, which, suffice it to say, is less exciting than the Kennedy Center. It looked like it was done on a high school budget, and it was simply depressing.
My other fave theatrical memory…I was a late comer to the world of theater, unless you count having a half-dozen or so actor roommates in college. My fifth year in college, I finally got the nerve to audition for something in the theater dept (as a music student, that line was rarely crossed). I auditioned for a workshop class rather than an actual show, but the teacher/director had ambitions to produce an actual show with the class. I ended up playing Federico Fellini’s alter ego Guido in a full production of Maury Yeston’s brilliant “Nine,” not necessarily because I was Antonio Banderas-quality material, but because I was the only male who auditioned, and it happens to be a one-man (and twelve-or-so woman) show. I think I pulled it off ok, but it’ll always be tainted in my mind for my lack of competition.
I came to the theater from behind the set, not in front of it. My first week in high school I attended a meeting for students interested in being on the stage crew (or s-crew as we came to be known). Most of us weren’t actors, we were just interested in the technical side of theater. When we toured the auditorium by way of the ceiling catwalks I was hooked. Over the next three years a whole new world was opened to me. I learned about electricity and lighting, how sound systems work, carpentry, painting, the concepts of stage perspective. Our high school theater was like being within a world inside a world inside a world.
I attended a high school known primarily for its athletics. Some of the jocks I had known for a long time would try to insult me by asking if I had “stage crew practice” or “are you guys going to be having a big lighting tournament?” That bothered me at first, but after a few months I realized I had hit on an activity that had lots of perks.
First, each fall the faculty produced and acted in a play they chose. You’d think the English Department would have had the most participants, but many of the actors came from the Math Department. I’m not sure what that says. By spending so many hours with teachers outside of the classroom we got to know them, and they got to know us. We saw and interracted with the teachers in many unguarded moments, and they came to trust us in a way I don’t think they would trust most other students. We saw them smoke in school (it was the mid-1970′s), swear, laugh, even get falling down drunk one night (OK, maybe that one was over the line). Those personal relationships came in handy more than a few times when I got involved in “activities” that bent school rules.
Being on the stage crew also meant I got to cut classes legally. Anytime there was an event in the auditorium some of us had to be there to work the stage lights and sound system, and make sure the stage was set properly. After an intitial flurry of preparation we could usually sit back once the event started. So while my jock buddies were in class listening to a history lesson on the Imperial Diet at Worms, I was hanging out in the control booth playing cards.
Another great perk of being on stage crew was that we had our own room backstage. And it had a refrigerator. We could go there to have lunch, and not be part of the cafeteria mob. A quarter paid for a soda from the stage crew frig that was double the size of the cafeteria offering, and we had many more selections. Sad to say this was pre-microwave days, so we were limited to bag lunches.
Best of all, though, was how much I came to appreciate the effort that goes into making a memorable production. I learned how hard directors have to work to get a jumble of competing, outgoing personalities come together. I saw how much actors and musicians and dancers put on the line when they go out in front of an audience. And working with them, I discovered talents in myself I had never known existed.
Sean–
Oh yeah, you hit on a great benefit of the arts in high school: legal hooky. Between choir and theater we used to joke that we only attended half of the 180 required days every year, and that wasn’t too far from the truth. It was especially nice around Christmas because while everyone else was fidgiting in class we’d be out singing for Sears retirees or practicing for our Christmas concert. Good stuff…
I’d grown up around community theater, but never tried out for any kind of major role until college. Took my JYA at the University of St. Andrews and figured, being a thousand miles from anyone who knew me, it was time to try a reinvention. Auditioned for and won the female lead in David Mamet’s Sexual Perversity in Chicago (later bastardized to the Rob Lowe/Demi Moore “About Last Night” Tour de Force). Completed 5 or 6 performances in a 100 seat theater with the guts to be seen in my underwear on stage (man, this was a long time ago). Home from Scotland a year later I’m Christmas shopping at the Ralph Lauren outlet in Freeport, Maine when the salesclerk approaches me: “Didn’t I see you in a play in Scotland a year ago?” We went out for coffee, became friends, and he ended up taking me to my senior gala. Guess that was some memorable underwear.