with Jay Leno

I did the final Jay Leno Show before their summer break.  Jay’s show is always fun. Before going on I surprised Jamie Foxx as he came off stage after singing. I am a total J Foxx fan!!!

with Jamie Foxx

Elizabeth Banks joined me for the second segment on Leno and I was happy to have had the chance to meet her. She is really nice, a talented actress and when I have some down time I look forward to seeing her new film.

with Elizabeth Banks

The next day I started a series of phone interviews from the UK at 6a.m. Calif time, then a few more interviews, then went to the big Barnes and Noble bookstore at the Grove where I gave a talk (about my book) and signed people’s copies. Then Richard took me to a wonderful dinner a deux at Cecconi’s.

Barnes & Noble

I can’t remember what I  did the next morning but by the afternoon I was in Pasadena doing a talk and book signing at Vroman’s. I remembered that last time I was there, 6 years ago when I did an event for my memoir, my friend, John Phillip Law who played Pygar, the blind angel in Barbarella, came to see me with his daughter. He’s gone now. Died of cancer two years or so ago. I sent up a prayer for him before I went in.

From Pasadena I flew to San Francisco where, the next day I began a really hectic 2-day schedule of radio and TV interviews, bookstore appearances and signings. One night we had 800 people in the First Congregational Church of Berkeley. The most wonderful crowd! The next day there were about 150 people at Book Passage for breakfast and  200 or more at lunch at the Left Bank and 400 that night at Kepler’s in Corte Madera. Ran into many old friends and was cheered by the sight of  my cousins, Alex and Cameron Fonda Dabney.

with Ronn Owens

A very blurry photo of First Congressional Church

Lunch at the Left Bank

Book Passage Breakfast

Keplers in Corte Madera

In Berkeley, Alice Waters treated us to a scrumptious dinner at Chez Panisse. (their 40th anniversary is coming very soon). Alice really pioneered the local, fresh food movement and her foundation supports the expansion of the Edible School yard movement– students growing, harvesting, eating, cooking, selling their produce.

The final night in San Francisco, I went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner with dear friends Vivian Schneider and her partner Ruth. Did we laugh!!!!!!!! Viv is Lily Tomlin’s lawyer and every bit as funny as Lil. I still haven’t quite recovered, truth be known, but now I’m en route to Toronto, one of my favorite cities. I spent a lot of time there making movies and, back in the day, I was a major cyclist…when I wasn’t filming I’d go 50-100 miles at a time. Toronto and it’s environs has the best, most beautiful bike paths…through parks, past rivers and waterfalls. Broke my nose coming around a corner too fast  in the rain and collided with another cyclist but it was near the end of the filming and they made it work though I lost a few close ups as a result. (That was ” Stanley and Iris,” i am referring to).

Toronto is my last book tour stop for awhile. I will do more later in the fall. When I go home on Tuesday, I won’t have to leave again till Sept 13th when my last film, “Peace, Love and Misunderstanding” premieres at the Toronto Film Festival.

I am looking forward to resting, starting tap dancing lessons, continuing tennis lessons and working on my next book(s) about adolescence and sexuality.

Stay tuned

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Yesterday, We had a 10:45 am show for 2000 10th, 11th, 12th graders from public schools all over Los Angeles. Here are some photos I took of the audience when, after the show, the cast all came out on stage and took questions from the students (and asked a few of our own)

They were an amazing audience. The most vocal we have ever had! It seemed clear from the responses we or that they really loved the show which moved me very much because this is not your usual “kid stuff.” This is not fluff—though there are plenty of laughs—but quite deep, with much that makes you think about new things, especially art. Our writer/director, Moises Kaufman, sent me this twitter about the play from one of the students: “carcarrsays: 33 Variations. Dope play! Very inspiring.”

There is some nudity in the play and kissing and we were curious how the students would react. Great!!! They went “Woooo, yeah!” at the kissing and applauded the (very subtle and tasteful) nudity.

I want to thank the generous patrons of the Center Theatre Group whose funds make this student attendance at plays possible and mention that, among the funders, is the corporation TARGET!!! Go Target!

Feb 22nd

Sylvia Perry, Richard’s 92 year old mother, his brother Andrew and some of Sylvia’s helpers and friends flew down from Salem, Oregon to see the play. I have been so looking forward to Sylvia seeing the show because, as I have written in previous blogs, she is a music woman and a pianist so I felt she would appreciate the play and the brilliant classical pianist who accompanies us, Diane Walsh. And I was not disappointed. She and all the others really were thrilled by the show and the music.

Over the last week, I have had backstage visitors that included Lily Tomlin, Jane Wagner, Pat Kingsley, Larry David, Martin Short, Kim Basinger, Theo Bikel, and many friends from my childhood.

The great PR maven and friend, Pat Kingsley, Lily, me, Jane Wagner, the writer who has created so much of Lily's brilliant shows.

The great award winning cinematographer, Haskell Wexler, came to the show with Rita Taggert, his wife. They met while he was filming “Coming Home,” in which she played a nurse and we did some cheerleading together. Chris Burrell and Sarah Churchill and I go far back as well, both as friends and as filmmakers with whom I have worked. Mark Wexler made a documentary about his father that I appeared in and he just finished a documentary about old age that looks wonderful. I am sorry I did not get to see it before I finished my own book about this subject.

Left to right: Cinematographer Sarah Churchill, me, Haskell, his wife, actor Rita Taggart, and film editor, Chris Burrill.

me with Haskell

Left to right: Haskell, his daughter-in-law and his son, filmmaker, Mark Wexler

Laurence Fishburne and his wife came backstage and said they loved the play. He stars tonight in “Thurgood” for HBO and I will tivo it and watch. He is such a multi-faceted actor. I love his work.

I know I am forgetting people…my brain is mushy right now…just sharp enough to come to life on the stage before it shuts down again. Somehow, when we go out there on stage, the cold or whatever ails us seems to disappear. Zach Grenier (who plays Beethoven) calls it “stage medicine.”

I have stuff to write about that is happening to me as the character but I have run out of time. I have to go try on the gown I am going to wear to the post Oscar parties next Sunday night. Yep, this will be after a 4-show weekend! I got to be well by then or I won’t go. I am wearing jewelry by my fav, Vhernier.

Today, I slept till noon!!!! This is an event for me. I don’t have to leave here till 3:15 so I have time, finally, to answer the question that some blog commentors have asked: What is my daily routine at the theatre. I don’t imagine this is something that interests too many people but I will enjoy answering it—because it necessitates my pondering it and because, in about 3 weeks it will all be over.

On Wednesdays and Saturdays, our two-show days, I arrive at the theater at noon. This gives me time to put food in my little fridge, nip off dead flowers, add water to the vases, hook up my computer (I don’t bring it every day but always on matinee days when there risks being more chance to write. If I don’t bring it, then I write on my Blackberry which is a pain because the reception isn’t good and to send and receive I have to put the Blackberry up against the window for several minutes).

By now, its 12:30, I have 15 minutes to put on my base makeup before Heather comes to wrap my head and put on wig #1. This always happens one hour and 15 minutes before the show starts because after me she has the men’s wigs to put on. Because the side wig lace is glued to my face at the hair line, the makeup, at least in that area, must be on and powdered before she cam do the gluing.

Lori will have arrived before Heather to start getting my costumes steamed and hung in place. It is she who prepares me a cup of decaf espresso made with the Wall-e coffee machine. These two women, Heather and Lori, are the faces I spend the most time looking into during the course of the play. Lori is 34 years old and besides being a dresser for theatre and TV, she has a holistic health counseling service She is tiny, quick, and usually smiling. She has, in her young life, lost a considerable amount of weight and has learned a great deal about maintaining health, what to eat, what to take for a variety of symptoms. The uneducated would call her a “health nut.” She has a boyfriend who, judging by his thoughtful birthday gift of 3 days ago and the way she speaks of him, must be very nice to her. She always wears jeans and a utility “belt” around her waist in which she carries various wardrobe items like pins, thread, cloth brushes, tissues and, for me, a bottle of grape-flavored Propel which she offers me any moment she sees me standing and waiting for my cue to go on. It is Lori who tells me “This is the break when you can use the bathroom” or “No bathroom this time.” I cannot tell you how important this is because on several occasions, I have found myself on the john hearing my cue about to be called. She also tells me as I enter the changing area what it is I need to change cause sometimes forget and start to take everything off when, in fact, it’s only the shoes that need changing. A few times, I’ve exited a scene and headed in the wrong direction. It’s Lori who is always there to steer me right. She walks with me to my starting position before an entrance and, with her little flashlight attached to her utility belt, she will examine to be sure all the props and things are in the right place and the gear shift on the electric wheelchair is set at the right speed. Lori traveled the world for five years in the Disney On Ice tour—a great way to see places she would never otherwise have had a chance to visit.

Lori Elwell, my dresser on the show (photo: Michael Rudd)

Heather is maybe 45 with beautiful, dark wavy hair and a ready smile. She is very well educated, grew up doing a variety of theatre-related jobs from acting, to singing and now wigs. Before that, she did marketing for Epic Records. Once she has me in my first wig, she leaves to do the others and then I meet up with her again backstage between my various scenes where she waits for me to change costumes and then tidies up the wig, sometimes back-combing the side so it won’t fall over my face. At the top of the second act, I change into the top I wear for my entrance  and then Heather removes wig #1, I repair the makeup from where the glue remover has taken it off, put more blush on and, when that’s all done, she puts wig #2 on. This wig is dramatically different than the first. Moises and I decided that by this time in the play, I have had to cut my hair because it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to wash and style it. So the second wig is very short, shorter than my own real-life hair cut and not as stylish. Both wigs are amazingly well made and real looking and feeling. Both made by Martial Corneville.

Heather Wright, my hair person on the show (photo: Michael Rudd)

Both Heather Lori have worked very large, demanding musical shows with dozens of performers to deal with, steeply raked stages and many difficult, fast changes. This show is a breeze compared to others they’ve done. They’ve both also commented on how nice everyone on our show is. We all get along well, no sourpusses in the lot. Heather is married to an actor, Dared Wright (she calls him her “Mister Right”) who, for years, worked as James Gandolfini’s understudy and has had roles in many TV shows and films. It is abundantly clear that this is a very happy marriage. Both Lori and Heather are easy going, pleasant to be around and make what might otherwise be stressful, very easy. I am grateful for them.

An hour before the show starts, Michael Rudd arrives. Michael is 18 years old, though he seems older because of his emotional maturity. He works at the company that manages our show (and many others)-Production 101. But after work, he comes and stays with Tulea while I am on stage. Okay yes, I may be spoiling Tulea. But she is a dog that is really sad to be left alone. She is very social, loves people and loves to be loved. When she was left alone at the beginning of our run, she came out on stage at the curtain call. She adores Michael. If I wasn’t so secure, I’d be jealous, because as soon as she hears his voice, she gets out of her bed and goes to greet him, tail wagging and (I kid you not) a grin on her face. Yes, the corners of her mouth turn up. She only does this for those she truly loves. Oftentimes, along with the grin, she will make a certain sneeze….a “gee I’m glad to see you” sneeze. Let me know if any of you have a dog that does this. Michael, by the way, is the kid who played my assistant in our recent Broadway Cares skit. You can see him in many of yesterday’s photos in white jeans and a neck scarf-usually carrying Tulea.

At 50 minutes before curtain time, the stage manager, Linda Marvel, calls over the intercom that it is time for the voluntary “Septet” rehearsal. Septet is the final scene in Act One where we all come on stage-past and present-living and dead-and speak, sometimes simultaneously, sometime mimicking each others words. It is an interesting and dramatic conceit. Tulea knows this is the time for her to join the other cast members on stage and the moment she hears the announcement she trots right along with me to the stage where Don Amendolia scoops her up into his arms. That’s the routine. Once we are all present we run the lines with the necessary pace and volume, just to get the feel of it back into our bones. We have just enough time to quickly touch base with each other, do a quick catchup since yesterday, wave at the ushers who have assembled because as soon as we leave the stage, the doors open to the audience. That means we have one half hour left before show time.

I take Tulea from Don and finish getting ready although I am usually done and use the remaining time to finish the newspaper, answer emails or start my daily blog.

I have mentioned in a previous email our actors’ backstage routines-what we say to each other at points along the way– so I won’t repeat those. During matinee days, Heather takes off the wig but leaves the head-wrapping in, I take off the costume, turn off all the lights, hang a Do Not Disturb sign that Lori made for me on the door, put in my ear plugs and then Tulea and I lie down on my couch to sleep for anywhere from one to one and a half hours before Lori wakes us up and we do the whole routine all over again. I cannot imagine doing this without taking that time to sleep in between. What that does is it “wipes the slate clean.” It’s like starting a whole new day instead of having the previous performance still on my skin. Because we don’t need to do the head wrap again, I have an extra 15 minutes to eat a little something, have another decaf expresso that Lori makes and maybe finish my blog or twitter.

At the end of the final show, Heather takes my wig and the wrapping off, I take off the costume, get dressed and receive visitors. Usually I have been told in advance who is coming and their names are left at the stage door. That is when the pictures are taken that you have been seeing on my blog.

Because my hair has been under a wig, it is always a mess, so I have a variety of caps and hats that I use to cover it all up. I was amazed the other night how Tovah Feldshuh managed to get her hair looking so glam right after her wig came off. Must ask her about that.

Anyway, I have used up all the time I had to write this. Now I have to decide what I will wear to walk the red carpet tonight for the opening of “9 To 5″. I’m being picked up in 15 minutes to go to get my hair blow dried and styled at the Roy Teeluck salon, then to our theater to get my stage makeup on (I do my own makeup), then the red carpet till 6:30. I won’t have time to do it over for my show so that how I’ve decided to make it all work. I tell you, you gotta have a smidge of executive skills in this business-to get it all working smoothly.

I will probably write more later.

The red carpet was fun-that is, it was fun to be with Lily and Dolly (who looked fabulous). The scene was a mad house and I was a little nervous about straining my voice for my own show. I was glad to have my own to come back to. Otherwise, I might have been a little depressed. The whole “9 to 5: The Musical” is a complicated issue for me but I love the show, wish them well and feel certain it will be a smash.

Me, Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin (photo: Bruce Glikas)

Now, in five minutes, I go on stage as Dr. Katherine Brandt, who I love and admire, and I will try to give it my all.

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Gene Saks who directed me in the film “Barefoot in the Park” saw the show and came back stage. He said, “It’s amazing, you have come so far.” I agreed. I understood what he meant–as an actor, in terms of range and depth. It felt good coming from him.

With Gene Saks (photo: Michael Rudd)

See you next time.

The friend in photo with me and Jessica Neuwith is Hibaaq Osman, a Somalia feminist who works with V-Day and founded a Women’s shelter in Cairo, Egypt. Jessica founded Equality Now, an international women’s legal advocacy organization who is currently working at the UN in human rights. They saw the play and we spent time catching up at Orso’s until Troy and Simone arrived for dinner.

Troy and Simone saw the play for the 2nd time and were moved this time in somewhat different ways. Troy is so smart about emotional themes. They say they’ll be back a few more times between now and when I leave the show, May 21st. I don’t like to think about this now.

I was so excited that Lily Tomlin saw the show tonight. She seemed genuinely loved. And was so happy to see Tulea who she hadn’t seen since Tulea was 2 months old and I brought her to Jane and Lily’s for dinner in L.A.(right after I got her–tulea, that is–in Montreal).

I was amazed by Yoko Ono. She looked spectacular. She wrote me the most beautiful email about the show.

Michael and Nina Lynne also came back after the show (which they said they really loved). Michael was co-CEO of New Line Cinema with Bob Shaye. They produced “Monster-in-Law” and were a part of Time Warner when I was married to Ted T.

Bonnie Schaefer who, with her sister, created Claire’s, also came back.

It was a fun night. See you next time

So—I had breakfast in Atlanta in the beginning of January with my friend, Matt Arnett. Matt really wanted me to meet a friend of his whose kids go to the same school as my grandchildren because he thought this tech-savy friend might be able to help my Georgia-based Non-profit, The Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention improve its website. (More about that another time). Actually, we never even got around to G-CAPP because I got so inspired to start my own blog. Matt, James (that’s his name—James Andrews) and James’s wife Sherrelle Kirkland-Andrews, pointed out to me that there’s such malarkey floating around the net about me. Why not begin to tell my own story, my thoughts, and activities (past, present and future) rather than letting others—sometimes hostile others—try to put out their own spin on me. That’s part of it. But the idea also occurred to me that I was about to launch into a new adventure in this third act of mine and that it might be interesting to bring people along with me.

The adventure is that I am returning to Broadway for the first time in 45 years. Why not try, with this blog, to convey what it’s like… day by day…the excitement, scariness, the highs and lows.

So, although I’ve just gone online today, I have, in fact, been blogging for three weeks now and you can follow all the posts from the beginning by clicking here.

Today, during lunch break, I took my dog, Tulea, for a walk and it really hit me how much I miss my dad. When he returned from his stint in the Navy after WWII he went straight to Broadway to star in “Mr. Roberts.” He played that role every day for four years, never missing a performance! It was not customary in those days—the 40s and 50s—for movie stars to go back and forth from Hollywood to Broadway. But theatre was Dad’s great love. My brother and I grew up knowing and respecting this about him. He loved the immediacy of playing before a live audience. The instant feedback. He was meticulous, always doing exactly the same things, the same moves, the same inflections, every night. I have heard this from so many of his fellow actors.

Now that I am doing theater again after a huge absence, I can’t help but wish he was still here with me–to see. Not that he would give me advice. That wasn’t his style. But I wish he knew that I’ve come back to his place of love.

There have been days during these weeks of rehearsals when I seem incapable of doing the same thing over and over…even twice, never mind for 4 years! I wonder how he was able to do it. I want to please him…still. Do we ever get over this need to please the parent we were closest to?

* * * * * * * *

Moises Kaufman, the writer and director, has us doing run throughs more frequently now and it helps so much to experience the sweep of the play. We begin tech rehearsals in the actual theatre—the Eugene O’Neill–next week (gulp!) so we are starting to fine tune and lock in the blocking.

I love watching the other actors in their scenes. So funny, so touching, so outrageous! I like how we are melding together as a unit, all watching out for each other. Colin (Hanks) has had a cold for several days and last night he had to fly to Las Vegas to perform a scene he did with the actors in the TV series “Mad Men.” We’re all worried about him and he left with all of us bombarding him with special remedies for stopping colds.

I couldn’t resist taking this picture of Don Amendolia who plays Diabelli, the music publisher whose small waltz is the inspiration for Beethoven’s great opus, 33 Variations. That’s him behind the paper, sleeping with Tulea during a break.

Susan Kellerman, who plays the librarian in charge of the Beethoven archive, is insisting that I grant them all visiting rights with Tulea when the play is over. “Over”! What a concept.

Tomorrow I have an early costume fitting so I’m off to bed.

See you next time.