We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Daniel Beaty, who is currently starring at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre in the solo play Through the Night, which he also wrote. The acclaimed actor, who received an Obie Award for his other solo play, Emergence-See!, has blogged for Playbill.com all week; his final entry follows.
One of my core beliefs as a human being is that we are all connected beyond any labels of identity, like race, class, sex, sexuality, etc. This is a message I am trying to communicate by performing Through the Night as a solo show: If a single person can make all these varied people come alive through him, perhaps we all are connected.
At last night’s performance I witnessed this phenomenon firsthand. As I walked out on stage, I saw a theater full of men and women of all different races, backgrounds, and ages. There was even a group of young black boys dressed in charter school uniforms of black slacks and white dress shirts. My heart was so full. It was an amazing show, and the audience was electric. The laughs were louder, there were audible gasps, people even said things from the audience and spoke to each other. For example, there is a scene when a man with a food addiction eats out of the trash can. As some gasped in shock and others laughed in embarrassment or, perhaps, recognition, one woman said audibly, “I’ve done that except I was looking for a cigarette!”
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Daniel Beaty, who is currently starring at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre in the solo play Through the Night, which he also wrote. The acclaimed actor, who received an Obie Award for his other solo play, Emergence-See!, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his fourth entry follows.
Yesterday as I was leaving the gym, I received a text from a dear friend telling me to turn on CNN. A Bishop of a prominent 25,000-member church in Atlanta was being accused by two young men of sexual coercion from the time they were 16. They claim sexual acts took place and that they received lavish trips and gifts from this Bishop.
Now, I don’t know enough about the story to make a decision about if this Bishop is guilty of the crimes accused. But what I do know is that he has publicly led marches protesting gay marriage and said from his pulpit that homosexuality is an abortion from God. He also has a program in his church designed to make gay people straight.
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Daniel Beaty, who is currently starring at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre in the solo play Through the Night, which he also wrote. The acclaimed actor, who received an Obie Award for his other solo play, Emergence-See!, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his third entry follows.
As I prepare to return to my first performance of the week, I revisit my character’s physicality, voice, and emotional life. It is particularly interesting for me this week because I have spent much of my days off trying to find an outfit for opening night that will fit my body. First of all, I dread shopping. My mother was a shop-aholic (I diagnosed her) as I was growing up. She bought a new suit and a pair of pumps once a week. As a child I was often dragged along with her – cheaper than a babysitter – and I remember walking by the woman’s department and silently praying, “Don’t let her stop, don’t let her stop!” Inevitably, I would end up sitting in one of those uncomfortable chairs as my mother shopped for at least an hour.
Even worse was when we went shopping for me. I still remember my mother saying with frustration, “Your butt and legs are so big, we have to shop for you in the husky section!” I was never a fat kid, but I do have “strong” legs and a big butt. And it affects my shopping till this day. I decided to try to find something nice for opening night, so I followed in my glorious producer Daryl Roth’s Prada heel marks over to 5th Avenue. My director Charles Randolph-Wright always wants me to wear suits on opening night (he has beautiful ones), but they always feel too stuffy for the type of work I do when I wear them. (more…)
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Daniel Beaty, who is currently starring at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre in the solo play Through the Night, which he also wrote. The acclaimed actor, who received an Obie Award for his other solo play, Emergence-See!, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his second entry follows.
Through the Night is dark on Mondays and Tuesdays, so I am enjoying my “day off” as I type this.
Performing a 90-minute solo show straight without an intermission requires a great deal of focus and preparation. My body, voice and emotion have to be flexible and available to me instantly. So, my days off are spent in preparation for the show. In my show, I play 15 characters, male and female, old and young, six of which are principal characters. Each character has a distinct body, voice and internal life. And I have different routines to take care of them all.
I started my day with prayer and meditation to take care of myself mentally and spiritually. You know most artists are highly emotional – those who love us might even say a little crazy – I think I probably fit the mold. Centering myself as I start my day allows me to give thanks for this incredible moment in my life and reminds me that what I see with my eyes – my external reality – is ultimately less important than my internal possibility.
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Daniel Beaty, who is currently starring at Off-Broadway’s Union Square Theatre in the solo play Through the Night, which he also wrote. The acclaimed actor, who received an Obie Award for his other solo play, Emergence-See!, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his first entry follows.
Dear Playbill readers,
I write to you from deep within the preview process of my new show, Through the Night. This isn’t my first time going through this process, but I’m always blown away by the amount of work and thought that goes into mounting a show. The level of detail is mind-boggling, and I am working with a team who is deeply committed to getting these details right.
The past few days have been all about costuming. Now, Through the Night is a solo show. It’s just me up there. And I don’t have any costume changes. So when I say “costuming” I am talking about one, single costume.
Up until last week, I had been wearing a very light grey shirt and very light grey casual pants. It’s pretty simple stuff, and I thought it was working just fine. But my producer, Daryl Roth, is a woman of fine taste, and wanted it to feel a little dressier. Now, there are three things you need to know about Daryl for this story to make sense. First: Daryl is a very hands-on producer. Second: Daryl is also the producer of Love, Loss, and What I Wore, a show all about clothing. Third, and most important: she has great taste.
So, the next thing I know Daryl and Charles Randolph-Wright, our director, are taking a taxi to 5th Avenue to hit up every men’s store within a five-block radius in order to find me a few new wardrobe options. When they come back, shopping bags in tow, I have an all-new costume: dressier pants, still in light grey, and a sweater, also in light grey. Well, the pants were too long, but otherwise fit beautifully, so we shortened them. Then they were too short when I put my shoes on, so we had them lengthened again. Then the sweater sleeves were getting in my way, since I was used to a short-sleeve shirt, so we made some adjustments and ended up with a great costume that everyone seems happy with (especially me).
Well, I have to admit that I didn’t quite understand what all of this fussing over my costume was about, but I suppose if you are only going to have one costume in your show, you better make it right.
Finally, I got the chance to perform in my new, approved costume. When the show ended, an older woman, maybe in her mid-70’s, was waiting for me outside the stage door. As I approached her, I could see she had tears in her eyes. When she began to speak, she broke into sobs. “I saw everyone I have ever known on that stage,” she told me. It was clear from her reaction that we did something right. I don’t know how much my new costume affected her experience, but I do know that when theater works it’s because all the millions of tiny little details come together and create something magical. As this woman, through her tears, tried to articulate what the show meant to her, I was suddenly very grateful to be working with a group of people who care so passionately about my pants.
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Jason Danieley, who is currently starring opposite wife Marin Mazzie in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. The singing actor, who has also appeared on Broadway in Curtains, Candide and The Full Monty, has blogged for Playbill.com all week; his final entry follows.
“You be good… and I’ll try.”
As this is my last blog of the week (of which I’ve had a grand time), I’m reminded of a consistent salutation from my great grandfather, Martin Harrison, “You be good… and I’ll try.” It always made me giggle to myself (yes, I giggle… occasionally). My little sisters and I would often engage in an act of one-upmanship, “No, grandpa. You be good and I’ll try.” The message was clear. A great grandfather trying to impart words of encouragement to his great grandchildren; strive to be a good person and to be good to others, at the same time acknowledging the fact that we are human and fallible.
One of my favorite guilty pleasures to help me unwind, although there’s not a whole lot of guilt accompanying this pleasure, is watching copious amounts of the Food Network and the Travel Channel. When those worlds collide in a show with food and travel, adding a heaping handful of hysterical and cynical statements, I’m one sated singer. Anthony Bourdain’s show, “No Reservations,” is the perfect prescription for coming down after an intense Broadway performance. He recently celebrated his 100th episode. Congratulations, Tony! That episode was a return to the city of his first episode, Paris.
Marin and I have never traveled to Paris. We intend to remedy this within the year. We both are celebrating milestone birthdays and figure what better way to celebrate than a trip to “The City Of Love.” So we are soaking up anything and everything Parisian, particularly our share of Cotes du Rhone. This Paris episode (redux) touted a celebrity co-host in the restaurateur superstar Eric Ripert.
Mr. Ripert can be seen as a guest judge on “Top Chef,” hosting a new show on public television (”Avec Eric”), as well as running one of the world’s best restaurants (Le Bernadin). He’s a very busy guy and at the top of his game. He’s considered, in some circles, like the earth, as the greatest living seafood chef. This guy’s good, real good, and if his television persona is any indication of his normal everyday demeanor, he’s a considerate and kind person. Without knowing the man, I’d say he was striving to be, consciously or unconsciously, good.
This perception of mine, while watching the episode, reminded me of conversations I’ve had with Marin about performers we know who are also good people. The really great ones tend to be really great people. There are exceptions in every case, but this is no exception, the people/performers I particularly admire are good people. It’s a part of the package as far as I’m concerned. There are those, who shall remain nameless in this blog (only for fear of unconsciously omitting a few), whose enormous talents have the potential of being overshadowed only by their enormous ability to be giving and kind.
I don’t pretend to be flawless (don’t tell my agents I said that), but I strive to be good as an artist, fellow cast member and person. Sidebar: Don’t confuse being a nice person with the ability to play a bad guy or to inhabit a character of questionable character. That’s called acting. Good actors can act being bad. You don’t have to have a life full of strife to be able to tap into something/someone inside of you who is capable of wielding a knife (he says, carefully trying to avoid proverbially cutting his own throat).
I hope, in parting ways from our little Playbill.com experience together, to impart those words from Grandpa Harrison to you. “You be good… and I’ll try.” God knows it’s not an easy thing to do and it takes a lifetime of practice, but let’s try.
Now please open your hymnals to page 666 and let us sing Kumbaya. Oh, and please pass the Gin.
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Jason Danieley, who is currently starring opposite wife Marin Mazzie in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. The singing actor, who has also appeared on Broadway in Curtains, Candide and The Full Monty, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his fourth entry follows.
For the Record
“Records”? My, what an outdated term, Mr. Danieley. Whether you call them records (still), albums, CDs, downloads (I doubt if anyone is mentioning 8-tracks or cassettes today), these are still a necessary and vital source to get the music of young, and not so young – but new to you, songwriters, out to the rest of the country.
The days of Tin Pan Alley are long gone. The “headquarters” of the music business has flitted from New York to Nashville to Los Angeles to, now, pretty much anywhere where anyone has a soundproof room and Pro-tools. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I know the next Cole Porter or John Mellencamp is growing up in Indiana and getting ready to upload some great tunes to their Facebook or MySpace page. But as Tin-Pan Alley no longer exists as it once did, there are a few stalwart record labels trying their damndest to keep you up on what’s going on in the New York theatre and cabaret scene.
Believe me, selling records of a new Off-Broadway show or the first solo album of an up-and-coming young actor doesn’t rake in the dough. It’s a tough sell to a country that doesn’t have the same passion for theatre that preceding generations did. But those few who take the chance on recording, and investing in the recordings, of “Love on a Summer Afternoon” or “(Sorta) Love Songs,” are extremely important to the livelihood and encouragement of musical theatre and traditional songwriting. (more…)
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Jason Danieley, who is currently starring opposite wife Marin Mazzie in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. The singing actor, who has also appeared on Broadway in Curtains, Candide and The Full Monty, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his third entry follows.
Theatre Therapy
I woke up this morning [Sept. 11, 2010] thinking of New York. A bright, beautiful New York and at the same time a battered and bruised New York. I won’t blog about the travesties and heartache of 9/11/01. People who were directly and profoundly affected by the day’s events have written about it quite elegantly and eloquently. I count myself extremely fortunate to not have lost anyone on that day. But I was fortunate to be in New York in 2001, on Broadway, in a funny and touching show called The Full Monty . And today, nine years later, I’m in a heartbreaking and wrenchingly beautiful musical called Next to Normal. The shows couldn’t be more different, but they do have something in common, and that is to play a part in the healing process of the audience in their respective years, in different ways.
The day started off in 2001 as crisp and calm as anyone could hope for in an early fall day. The minutes, hours and days that were to follow were obliterated by smoke and sadness. What can you do? Give blood and plenty of it. Wait to hear what is needed by way of assisting anywhere and everywhere in the city. But the call to arms, as it was, for the theatre community was to go back to work. We needed to get back up on the stage in order for people to have a place to go, a place to go and escape, a place to go and be entertained, and a place to go and live life, if even for a brief two-and-a half-hours. (more…)
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Jason Danieley, who is currently starring opposite wife Marin Mazzie in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. The singing actor, who has also appeared on Broadway in Curtains, Candide and The Full Monty, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his second entry follows.
Play it Again, Gram
Theatre is an extraordinary way to make a living if you are fortunate enough to make a living at it. But even when you do there are the “down” times, the times between gigs where you are trying to keep yourself afloat financially and to challenge and grow in different ways artistically. Whether it’s through writing, painting or performing in a different medium, it can be a great opportunity of self-exploration that ultimately feeds you as an actor and a performer.
But finding your own voice is a tricky thing. You have to clear away preconceived notions of what you think other people think they want to hear from you. (Get that?) No one knows where you’re from and what outside influences have marked your life and character. It’s a journey into your essence, a fun, sometimes therapeutic and occasionally cathartic exploration… but mostly fun.
My earliest memories of music emanate from a spinet piano, circa 1950s, which sat in the front living room of my fraternal grandparents. The tinkling tones of the felt hammer to string were usually accompanied by the thwacking of a tortoise shell pick to a Gibson guitar, a finger-plucked four-string Washburn banjo, a hand crafted one-string washtub bass thumped with garden-gloved hand and various pots and pans or Tupperware bowls tapped with utensils. There were the occasional vocal solos by the pre-pubescent boy soprano “Jas” or “hotshot” Danieley. And the unofficial bandleader was the pianist Ruth DeGuire, or grandma, a.k.a “Snooks.” (more…)
We are happy to welcome guest celebrity blogger Jason Danieley, who is currently starring opposite wife Marin Mazzie in the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway musical Next to Normal. The singing actor, who has also appeared on Broadway in Curtains, Candide and The Full Monty, will blog for Playbill.com all week; his first entry follows.
A Labor (day) of Love
Howdy! Hope you all had a great weekend. I’ll be your celebrity blogger for the week. Please sit back, put all your own thoughts out of your mind and let me blog your brain with my own benign bent on things.
As a rule, entertainers are exempt from any and all holidays, “weekends” and most familial affairs. That is one of the occupational hazards of being an actor. You are there to provide entertainment on those days of the year that are on either side of Monday and Friday and that are highlighted in red on our calendars. It’s a pleasure and an honor to do so, but it also makes you feel slightly like an outsider. Occasionally we do break out and do something daring like going out to be entertained ourselves. So, late after our own Sunday evening performance on Labor Day weekend, Marin and I scurried down to the Blue Note jazz club to revel in the romantic notes of another husband and wife team.
