On-Stage with Tony Goldwyn

Tony Goldwyn ... presently President Fitz ... formerly Crow

He's the President of the United States now - on Scandal, that is - but in 1978 he was just a fresh-faced lad landing the second lead in a campus production of Sam Shepard's "Tooth of Crime," and we became friends.

Lights, Camera, Beer... in the Pub

My roommate and fraternity brother Chris Walsh played the aging and decidedly Jagger-esque rock star Hoss, who is challenged and ultimately unseated by the up-and-coming rock star Crow, played by freshman Tony Goldwyn.  This play was cast during the early autumn and produced that semester.

7 Truly Bold Plays by Master Sam

Four of us - Dave Scofield, Dave Schleifer, John S. Keim, and yours truly - comprised the band.  Billed as the "Overhead Lifters," the band was on-stage and the music was an up-front element of the play, particularly during Becky's soliloquy, and the scene when the two rockers square off inside a boxing ring as the Rolling Stones' "Sister Morphine" plays.

In another scene, Crow warms up for a confrontation by singing Cream's "I'm So Glad."

Following this exposure to Sam Shepard, I became a fan - and particularly loved seeing the Quaid brothers tear up the stage in "True West" at the Cherry Lane theater in 1984.  As for Tooth of Crime, I can recite every word of dialog in this fantastic play.

What I most vividly remember about our little Minor Theater production at Hamilton College are two mesmerizing, invigorating vignettes: Tony warming up behind stage using bizarre impressive and in-your-face method acting technique, and - in the second act, night after night - "Becky" taking her shirt off ten feet away on-stage, while delivering a bitter monologue.

Have a "Futchnerf's" Summer

Chris and I tried unsuccessfully to rush Tony for Psi Upsilon, but he went to Sigma Phi instead, and ultimately left Hamilton early.  Next stop was Brandeis University and I don't believe he even admits to having attended Hamilton, now.

I ran into Tony on the street in NYC the summer of 1980, and since then I've seen him as you have: a cad in Ghost, a lawyer in The Pelican Brief, behind camera (as Director) with the tremendous A Walk on the Moon, and now - his star turn on TV as Fitzgerald Grant, President of the USA, in Scandal.

I suppose that Tooth of Crime - the zenith of my own stage career, as I never auditioned for anything else, before or after - was a small but wildly interesting steppingstone on Mr. Goldwyn's path to craft mastery.  I remember Tony well as a genuinely nice guy,  unassuming - even quiet, while also full of energy and intensity - a totally committed thespian.

And he's really knocking it out of the park on Scandal!

"I'll develop my own image. I'm an original man. A one and only. I just need some help."

... as Crow, in Tooth of Crime

My Two Dates with Kathleen Turner... and a 28-Years-Late Thank You!

Do you remember where you were when you saw Body Heat in 1981?  I do... both times.

I had success on a first date with a college co-ed early that autumn, after watching the intensely seductive film together.  We spent the next three months together, and then parted ways when she had to leave town.  By December, I was barking up another tree and invited my new flame to watch Body Heat with me.  It had worked once, so why not?

"You're not very smart, are you? ... I like that in a man."

Well, this next relationship lasted two and a half years.

Nearly thirty years later, Kathleen visited our little burg of Amherst MA to help celebrate the Amherst Cinema and Pleasant Street Theater in our first annual Gala.  It was a beautiful night, and she really captivated the room.  No question that she's Still Got It.

Heat vs Humidity

After Q&A in which the Hollywood and accomplished stage actress shared brash insights and frank anecdotes, I saw my opening and pinned her down.  She locked on an listened to every word, every lurid detail of my story - chuckling, raising an eyebrow, tossing her hair...

"WELLDIDITWORK??!!" came the demand.

What do you think? was my reply.

We'll Meet Again...

Hearty-and-I-mean-hearty guffaw and a Big Wink from the star.  "I SHOULD HOPE SO!  ATTABOY!"

Twenty-six years ago tonight at the 1986 Academy Awards, Ms. Turner was a nominee for Best Actress in Peggy Sue Got Married.  But she and I go back a bit further than that, to two lovely, portentious nights.  We'll always have heat.

As I told Ms. Turner, I'll forever be grateful

Sir Howard Stringer: Spiderman Comes to Broadway

from CBS Eye to Sony Watchman...

Even the Chairman of Sony America has to use the w.c. once in a while, and so it came to be that Welsh mogul Howard Stringer - legendary CBS producer/executive & Sony paternoster of Spiderman 1-2-3 and (coming 2012!) 4 - and I shuffled together into the loo at the Broadhurst Theater on 44th street last night, before watching intense Al Pacino shred the stage as the magnificent Shylock in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice.

This Cardiff-lad-by-way-of-Oxford has a stake in everything you do, from listening to Taylor Swift to watching The Social Network, to looking forward to your new PSP Phone (coming December 9?). No doubt he'll be back on Broadway tomorrow evening for preview night of Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.

The Spider and The Fly:

Little Jeff & Big Fan, 2005

In an occurrence unprecedented in Broadway history, the line for the Men's Room extended past that for the Women's Room during intermission in The Merchant of Venice.  Also on hand, and gently pulled from the line by my wife for an autograph: Jeff Goldblum, whom we'd "met" just next door in 2005 during his run as Tupolski in The Pillowman.

Yes, Men's Room @ The Broadhurst: The Place To Be!!!
 

11/29 Update: Oy... first reviews not so hot. "Give it up for Natalie Mendoza!"...
                       Mendoza receives concussion in rehearsal...
                       ...and, like Jeff G., let's not for 1 minute forget Laura Dern's beauty