Bell, Book and Candle

Bell, Book and Candle was written in 1950 English-American playwright John Van Druten.  (He also wrote "Leave Her to Heaven" (1940) and "The Voice of the Turtle" (1943).  In 1958, Richard Quine directed Kim Novak and James Stewart in the movie version.


Bell, Book and Candle is also said to be the artistic parent of the long-running tv comedy, "Bewitched".
I played "Aunt Queenie Holroyd" in the Park City Players production of Bell, Book and Candle, at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, UT during the early 1990's.  Aunt Queenie is said to be the forerunner of the "Aunt Clara" character on Bewitched.  (Amongst other things, the Egyptian is now used for premieres at the Sundance Film Festival.)
I have fewer memories about what happened during the run of the play and more about things that happened around the production.  The man who played Shep was a newcomer to live acting, but everything worked out ok.  His family owned a large cosmetology school in Orem (or maybe Provo) and gave me a free spiral perm and acrylic nails for the production.  (I gave the students a hefty tip because they earned it that day.  Whew!  Not to mention, there is no way I could have afforded the treatments at a salon!)  My hair was about mid-back length at that time and when they started rinsing the solution out, I learned what it meant to want to "snatch myself bald-headed".  I have never, before or since, had that much weight pulling on my hair.  OUCH!
This was my first experience with an alcoholic drink called a "brain tumor".  We would usually stop by a club in Park City after the production to chill out for a bit and people bought us a round.  If I remember correctly, you put in some vodka, layer Irish cream on top of it and plop in a little grenadine, which will sink to the bottom of the glass.  It looks odd, but was oh so tasty.  Here is a picture:

I don't know if I've ever thought if it this way before, but I usually played characters who were older than my actual age at the time.  But that is a bit of art imitating life, or at least it used to be.  While my body ages physically, my mind is getting progressively less 'serious'.  Do I worry that I'm entering my 2nd childhood?  Heck, no!  I'm not done with my 1st one yet!

A...My Name is Alice

This post is serving double duty.  Usually on Mondays I connect with "Inspire Me Monday" at CreateWithJoy.com, but since I am doing the "Blogging From A to Z April Challenge" this year for the first time, I'm hoping this will serve double duty for today.

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"A...My Name is Alice" is a musical revue of about 20 songs, conceived by Julianne Boyd and Joan Micklin Silver, first produced in NYC in 1983.  Since that time, it has spun off two sequels, "A...My Name is Still Alice" and "A...My Name Will Always be Alice".

A complete list of the songs can be found on Wikipedia.  My connection with this play came some 17-20 years ago, when I was in college  the last time.  I do not remember which songs the producing company, TheatreWorks West included, but I do remember that "Bluer and You," was the song that closed Act I.  "Pretty Young Boys" opened Act II.

I would like to say that those particular songs have stayed with me for so many years due to the fabulous acting of the cast...and that is partially true (even though I was not one of them at the time).

This show opened the professional company's run at the new performing arts building on the campus of Westminster College of SLC.  The auditorium was huge compared to what we had been using and the sound and light boards were computerized and had more buttons and switches that I had ever seen before.  The room they were in at the back of the theatre looked like an airplane cockpit or an air traffic control tower to me.  Why do I mention this?  Because I was light board operator for the production.

This should have been a relatively simple job.  All the lights were set at certain levels to change at certain times and all I had to do was hit the "next" button when the stage manager gave me the cue.

Until, in the middle of "Bluer Than Blue", ON OPENING NIGHT, the light board decided to crash.  All the lights in the house went off at once, and the emergency lights came on.  The stage manager made it up the "outside the house" steps in seconds flat, I swear!  Somehow we limped through to intermission.  He was on the phone with the manufacturers of the light board.  We found out a repairman could only come out at the beginning of the week.  (Most plays in Utah at the time opened on a Wednesday or a Friday.)

Thankfully, once it was explained to the cast and the rest of the crew that it was not my fault, I think they stopped adding colorful metaphors to my name.  When the music director made his little speech before the play the next night, he mentioned the "hiccups' in the system and even said some nice things that I didn't go run screaming from the building or something like that.

Last, but not least, Theatreworks West has merged with another SLC theatre company and become Pygmalion Productions.  If you are in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area (living, visiting or just driving through) check out the paper and see if Pygmalion has something going on.  You won't be disappointed!