"Welcome hither, as the Spring to the Earth"

Shakespeare by the Sea is finally back!  And so is the blog.  I know you missed it, my four loyal readers.

So this summer we are doing The Winter's Tale and Merry Wives of Windsor.  I am playing Leontes in Winter's Tale, and understudying Dr. Caius in Merry Wives.  After trying to do both shows last year only to end up beaten, broke, and nearly abandoned by my family, I decided that doing only one show was the way to go this summer.  But when I learned that BJ needed to miss a performance this year, I jumped at the chance to knock Merry Wives off my career canon bucket list. (I checked with the family first.  I think we're all good.  Give Annie a couple of glasses of wine and ask her and you may get a different answer...gulp).

I missed a lot of the auditions this year, because I was performing "Balcony Scene."  So I wasn't as familiar with the new folks when they came into callbacks.  But, man do we have a great group this year!  A few of us were able to hang onto our spots, but the new blood coming into our company is impressive.  So, you'll see yours truly, BJ, Olivia, Cy, Greg, Ryan, and Chris but everybody else is brand new.  And they seem lovely.  So far. I mean, we haven't even had a six hour rehearsal in the heat of the Little Fish parking lot yet to separate the wheat from the chaff, so I'm withholding final approval of their heartiness.  heh. 

I'm very excited to be working with Leah, who is playing my Hermione.  Mine.  Mine, I say.  I met Leah last year after I saw her in a production of "King Lear" at the Rubicon.  She played lots of small roles, but was so present and focused that, for me, she stole the show.  I sent her a message a week or so before auditions to pitch SBTS, in hopes to woo her to our company.  But she already knew of us, and had scheduled an audition.  So, I can't really take credit for bringing her to us.  But if there's one thing you should know about me, I take credit for this kind of stuff all the time.  So, you are welcome SBTS family for the awesomeness of Leah!  You are welcome.  Oh my god, she's so good.  Breathtakingly, stupidly good.  (No pressure there, Leah, my friend).

I have wanted to play Leontes for many years.  And coming to it now is interesting, because I am a father and husband.  The humanity of Leontes is so much clearer to me now than it was when I was in my 20's and just wanted to blow up the room with my passion and saw this as a role to do that.  We are just dipping our toes in the water, but I am super excited about where this is headed. 

I love this play so much.  It's almost never done, because it is considered "a problem."  But for me, I think it's one of his most beautiful plays.  And those plays we can't quite pin down are the ones that are still beyond us because Shakespeare was the best ever and we are still trying to catch up.  Besides, we have a habit of slaying these "problems" at SBTS.  "All's Well" was a delight (if I do say so myself...and I do) I'll put our "Tempest" up against any.  "Cymbeline" was a blast.  You say problem, we say nay. 

So that's it for now.  I'll fill you in on things as they happen.  I think a storm is brewing between Greg and Steph.  He really wants to be the bear, but Steph is pretty firm in that we are going to use sounds. Somebody is going to cry.  My guess is Greg.