One of the AllThatChatters on www.talkingbroaday.com mentioned something about the the play "Legends!" being "awful." I want to point out that the text we are doing on March 23, 2009 is not the version of the play that was published, and not the version that was performed by Carol Channing and Mary Martin, or Joan Collins and Linda Evans.
The agent for the Kirkwood estate and the literary executor are (so far) allowing my adaptation of the play to be performed for only this one night. Whether or not I have improved the play will be a decision voiced by many. I hope I have, and at the same time preserved Mr. Kirkwood's sensibility while injecting some of my own. The arc of the play is exactly the same as the published version.
On the surface, the play is a romp, a frolic. I do believe there are some universal, submerged themes in the play, but I'm not going to say what I think they are. In Uta Hagen's book "Respect For Acting" she says that the actor should keep his subtext to himself, adding to the mystery of the performance. So, as an actor and a writer, I would rather not say what I think the play is really about. Also, you might think be thoroughly pretentious if I told you!
It has occurred to me that some people might complain about the fact that in our marketing image for this event Whoopi, Charles and I are wearing real fur. We wanted the image to be a parody of the Blackglama mink print ads and we were having a hard time finding a wardrobe stylist for the photo shoot. And people were telling me that it would be difficult to find fake fur pieces that were glamorous enough. We finally did find a stylist and Whoopi is wearing the stylist's own fur coat.
A few days after the shoot I bumped in my friend Dan Mathews, publicist for People For The Ethical Treatment Of Animals (PETA). I told him, "Dan, you're going to hate me. I've just been wearing fur in a photo shoot." I explained to him what we were trying to do with the image and that fur is a rather important part of the text of the play. He suggested that PETA donate fake fur for the actors to wear in the actual performance. So that's what we're going to do. The fake fur for the fur pieces in the show will be donated by PETA and a fake fur company called www.fabulousfurs.com.
Someone has posted on my Facebook page that after reading this blog he realized I deserve a medal for fortitude. I'm sorry I haven't kept a record of everything involving this production. You just can't imagine!
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