Berkeley Rep Blog
Category archive: Backstage buzz
When Pixar came to visit...
posted by Margaret Whitaker on Thu, Oct 22, 2009
in Backstage buzz , Costume shop
...it was awesome!
Over the years, we in the Berkeley Rep costume shop have had some interaction with the tailors at Pixar. Kathy, our tailor, has an excellent book on tailoring odd bodies that they took guidance from during Ratatouille. Needless to say, a bond was formed between our shop and theirs.
There are a few things I never knew or thought about when it comes to animation. Being a fan of animated films, TV shows, and video games, I should have realized the amount of effort it takes to render clothes beautifully in this medium — doubly so because of my profession! But when I heard that Pixar had tailors, I was a little confused. But now I understand, and after you read this, you will too!
(This was explained to me last week, and hopefully I don't muddle it — Pixar lovelies, if you read this and I make a mess of it, post corrections and I will fix!)
Some of the Pixar group were tailors, and others did hair, skin, etc. The focus was largely on the body of the characters among our companions (much like it is with us). At Pixar, the tailors render the clothes to lay over the bodies of the characters. To do this, they have to take into account not only the garment that they are creating, but also the body under the garment and the accessories that may be moving freely over the garment. (So far, this sounds simple, right?)
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More good news!
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Oct 16, 2009
in Backstage buzz
Berkeley Rep is featured in a fantastic front-page story in today's San Francisco Chronicle.
The headline reads, "Berkeley Rep a big success on Broadway," and the story, about the shows the Theatre has sent and is sending to New York as well as the buzz generated by the world premiere of American Idiot, features interviews with our own Artistic Director Tony Taccone, Managing Director Susie Medak, and Associate Artistic Director Les Waters, along with American Idiot producer Tom Hulce, Lincoln Center Artistic Director Andre Bishop, playwright Tony Kushner, and The Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis.
Speaking about Berkeley Rep's rising national profile, Tony Taccone is quoted as saying: "It puts a certain spring in your step. For everyone at the company, in some unconscious way it's a validation for everything you've been doing. But it's certainly not what we planned."
Tony goes on to say of the exposure: "I think it's good for all of us. If something is great at ACT or TheatreWorks or Marin, it raises people's expectations at all the other theaters. Is it good for Chicago when Steppenwolf does August: Osage County? It's good for the Goodman and everybody else. When people come out from New York and other places, they check out other companies while they're in town."
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SF Chronicle spotlights Laramie
posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Oct 14, 2009
in Backstage buzz
If you were fortunate to be in the sold-out Roda Theatre last Monday night for Berkeley Rep's staged reading of Tectonic Theater Project's The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later, you experienced a remarkable piece of documentary theatre. They were also part of an international event, with similar staged readings occurring in 150 cities around the world. Via internet hook-up, the Berkeley Rep audience was able to watch the pre-show introduction from Tectonic's staged reading at Lincoln Center in New York.
Directed by Mina Morita, Berkeley Rep's Bret C. Harte Director's Fellow, the reading, which lasted a little more than two hours, featured some extraordinary performances by a fantastic cast of local actors, several of whom appeared in the 2001 Berkeley Rep production of The Laramie Project.
Robert Hurwitt of the San Francisco Chronicle captured the evening nicely for a piece in today's paper. Robert writes that the show "combined unexpected rewards in the script and of actors creating fully formed characters almost on the spot with the partisan passion of a gay rights rally and the sensation of being part of a historic international event. All of which it was."
Today's Chronicle also features two more Berkeley Rep-related mentions, both on the back page of the Datebook section. In his column, Jon Carroll mentions Passing Strange The Movie and the final days of its run at the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley. And right next door in her column, Leah Garchik mentions the Berkeley Rep screening of Passing Strange, which featured an appearance by original cast member Rebecca Naomi Jones, who is now starring in American Idiot.
Above photo: James Asher (left) and Alex Moggridge in Berkeley Rep's staged reading of The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later.
Photo by Lacy Atkins, San Francisco Chronicle
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American Idiot profile: John Gallagher, Jr.
posted by Chad Jones on Mon, Oct 12, 2009
in Backstage buzz
With American Idiot thrilling audiences and breaking box-office records, we though it was time to meet some members of the extraordinary cast.
When Passing Strange The Movie came out a couple weeks ago, we chatted with Rebecca Naomi Jones.
Now we sit down with the show's leading man....
John Gallagher, Jr. should be feeling the pressure. After a Tony Award-winning run as the troubled teen Moritz in the Broadway hit Spring Awakening, he’s starring as Johnny, a role tailored to his abundant talents, in the world premiere of Green Day’s American Idiot.
It’s an enormous show garnering an enormous amount of attention. But John admits he is “less worried and less stressed with this show than any other show I’ve worked on.”
There are likely a couple reasons for this. First, he is re-teamed with his Spring Awakening director, Michael Mayer (another Tony Award winner), and the two of them, according to John, “understand each other and trust each other in a remarkable way.”
Another reason might be that John has been a Green Day fan for a long time.
“I was in the fourth grade when Dookie came out,” he remembers. “We didn’t have cable TV in my house growing up, so whenever I was at my cousin’s I would watch as much MTV as I could. I remember watching the music video for Basket Case and being a little scared of Green Day. I was kind of a timid and shy kid, but I loved the band.”
Over a sushi break in Berkeley, John talked about his admiration for Green Day and his life as a musician and an actor.
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Passing Strange The Movie extends Berkeley run!
posted by Bert Reptile on Thu, Oct 8, 2009
in Backstage buzz
Great news from IFC Films, distributor of Passing Strange The Movie: because of the strong support of Berkeley audiences, the movie is going to stick around for another week at the Shattuck Cinemas.
Spike Lee's filmed version of the Tony Award-winning rock musical will run at least through Thursday, October 15 in Berkeley, and if audiences continue to come out and see it, the run could be extended further.
The run at San Francisco's Embarcadero Center Cinema concludes on October 8.
It hardly seems surprising that Berkeley audiences, many of whom first experienced Passing Strange at Berkeley Rep, would want to see the show again on film. A bunch of folks around here saw the movie this week and loved it (they're biased) and agreed that Spike Lee did right by the show and its creators, Stew and Heidi Rodewald.
Shattuck Cinemas are at 2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley. Show times for Passing Strange The Movie are 1:25, 4:05, 6:50, 9:45 in the screening lounge.
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Great reviews for Carrie Fisher on Broadway
posted by Terence Keane on Mon, Oct 5, 2009
in Backstage buzz
The first of two shows that moved from Berkeley Rep to Broadway this year opened in New York last night, and I’m pleased to share with you the great reviews.
Here are excerpts from (and links to) what they’re saying about Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking, staged by our very own Artistic Director Tony Taccone:
- New York Times: “Hilarious… You’re going to like it. A lot. Ms. Fisher – an actress, writer and sometime heroine of the tabloids – is the creator and cast of Wishful Drinking, the brut-dry, deeply funny memoir of a show that opened on Sunday night at Studio 54, directed by Tony Taccone… Ms. Fisher makes you feel you’ve arrived for a slumber party to swap confidences. Never mind that she does most of the talking. She has the gift, possessed by only the smartest and most charming of narcissists, of making you think that it’s somehow all about you… Ms. Fisher was blessed with a sense of the howling absurdity built into fishbowl lives… What she is doing, most cannily, is letting you see the Carrie Fisher Defense System in action. I mean the one that’s built on the transformational power of epigrams instead of pills.”
- Associated Press: “Confession may be good for the soul, but does it make for good theater? Yes, indeed. Especially when the author and star is Carrie Fisher, daughter of showbiz royalty, Star Wars icon, manic-depressive, alcoholic and astute observer of the Hollywood scene. Fisher is a raconteur in the best sense of the word. She knows how to tell a story. And Wishful Drinking, her hilariously perceptive journey through a world of celebrity and self-destruction, is chock-full of funny, fascinating tales. It helps that Fisher has enormous rapport with the audience at Broadway's Studio 54, where her autobiographical one-woman show opened Sunday... Wishful Drinking produces large laughs. Fisher's jaundiced view of the luxurious movieland lifestyle is priceless.”
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Rebecca Naomi Jones on stage and screen
posted by Chad Jones on Thu, Oct 1, 2009
in Backstage buzz
In the very near future, Rebecca Naomi Jones will be in several places at once: onstage as Whatsername in Green Day’s American Idiot and on Berkeley and San Francisco screens in Passing Strange The Movie.
Rebecca, who was last at Berkeley Rep in 2006 with the world premiere of Passing Strange, is winning a whole new legion of fans for her sizzling performance in American Idiot. With a pink streak coursing through her dark hair, she makes a phenomenal impression in numbers such as “Last Night on Earth,” a sexy dance with John Gallagher, Jr., and leading the women in the cast through a searing “Letterbomb.”
When Berkeley Rep audiences experienced Rebecca in Passing Strange, they were abundantly aware of her talents. So were audiences at The Public in New York and then on Broadway, where the show won a Tony Award for Stew, the co-creator of the show (with Heidi Rodewald), in the category of best book of a musical.
During the last weekend of performances on Broadway, celebrated director Spike Lee filmed the show, and now his vision of Passing Strange is finally arriving on Bay Area screens – for one week only. Lucky for us, the arrival of the movie coincides with Rebecca’s run in American Idiot.
On Monday, October 5, Berkeley Rep hosts a special screening of the Passing Strange The Movie at the Shattuck Cinemas (2230 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley). After the 7pm screening, Rebecca will share her experiences with the show and answer questions. Tickets are $10 general, $8 for seniors and students and are available online.
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Berkeley Rep shows brewing on Broadway
posted by Chad Jones on Wed, Sep 30, 2009
in Backstage buzz
This Sunday, Oct. 4, sees the official Broadway opening of Wishful Drinking, the Tony Taccone-directed show that Berkeley Rep audiences saw during runs in 2008 and last summer. Carrie Fisher, the show's author and star, stopped by NBC's The Today Show to talk about her return to Broadway.
If you find yourself in New York, tickets for Wishful Drinking range from $31.50 to $111.50 and are available now from the Roundabout box office at 212 719-1300 or roundabouttheatre.org. The show is at Studio 54, 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue. Fisher performs Tuesday through Saturday evenings at 8pm with Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday matinees at 2pm.
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American Idiot cocktail recipes
posted by Bert Reptile on Tue, Sep 29, 2009
in Backstage buzz
Because we've had soooo many requests for them, we begged John Gay, our patron services manager, to share the recipes for his specialty American Idiot cocktails, which have proven to be quite popular.
John happily complied, and herewith, a path to libation nirvana.
Whatsername
1 shot (1.5 oz) Absolut ruby red vodka
1 oz Torani pomegranate syrup
2 oz orange juice.
Shake together and pour into an ice-filled cocktail tumbler.
Jesus of Suburbia
1 shot (1.5 oz) Skyy vodka
1 shot (1.5 oz) Midori melon liqueur
1 oz pineapple juice
Top off your ice-filled cocktail tumbler with club soda.
St. Jimmy
1 shot (1.5 oz) Jim Beam bourbon
1 shot (1.5 oz) sour apple schnapps (Dekuyper Apple Pucker, preferred)
2 oz cranberry juice.
Shake with ice in a shaker and strain cocktail into a martini glass.
Letterbomb
1 shot (1.5 oz) Jack Daniels whiskey
A splash of grenadine.
Top off your ice-filled cocktail tumbler with Coca-Cola (or Diet Coke, if you wish).
Throw in a liquor-soaked maraschino cherry for garnish.
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Meet one of Green Day's biggest fans
posted by Chad Jones on Fri, Sep 25, 2009
in Backstage buzz
The whole American Idiot experience has taken us on a wild ride. One of the best parts, aside from the show itself, has been the opportunity to meet an incredible range of Green Day fans. Last month we held a ticket contest, and one of the entries caught our eye because — here's logic for you — it included eye-catching photos.
Lizzy in Fairfield is not your average Green Day fan. She’s an art school student in San Francisco, and she has translated her love for the album American Idiot into her own personal masterpiece.
This is Lizzy’s American Idiot bedroom (photos courtesy of Lizzy).
We asked Lizzy how the room came to be. Here’s what she said: “My room is my inspirational space. Because of Green Day and the American idiot album, I realized what I wanted to do with my life. I go to art school for directing film and television. The band’s amazing music videos have a special place in my heart, and being surrounded by wall-to-wall décor that reminds me why I go to school is a great motivator for me and my artistic style. I just wish I had more walls to continue painting more artwork from their album.”