I wrote Vanessa yesterday saying how proud I am of how she has raised her kids to eat healthily. I felt so bad when I ordered them Shirley Temples and she had to send them back. I should have known better. The red dye in cherry juice is very very bad. Here is what she replied to me today: “I’m amazed by how good they are about what they eat. Not that they wouldn’t drink a shirley temple if offered, but if they knew it was Sprite or some other Coke product, they’d have said “no.” Parents are always telling me that my kids ask what’s in something before accepting. And what other kids ask for seconds of broccoli, and will leave half a desert uneaten? ” I am so proud. Here’s what else she wrote today: ” Just read the blog to kids and showed them photo from dressing room. Viva says, “it’s weird…in a good way.” She also said it was snowing in Atlanta and now here, this morning!!!
Grand children left yesterday after a visit to the Museum of Natural History. How lucky we are to have such a magnificent place for people to learn about the natural world and other indigenous cultures. We spent much time in the section about climate change. My daughter is an informed and avid environmentalist whose column on the successful Mother Nature Network (Ask Vanessa) shows the depth of her knowledge. She has raised her children to be very conscious about being environmentally conscious in every way including how they eat. It was an impressive exhibit. Just heard the former President of Brazil, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, will be coming to the play soon. My awareness of over population was on high alert while in the Museum. We were in line outside in the rain waiting to get in for 45 minutes and, once in, the crowds were so dense!! On the one hand, I was glad so many are interested in what the museum has to offer. One the other hand, I kept remembering back in the fifties when one could walk around easily and see everything without being jostled and crammed. I’m fighting a cold today. Must have been the rain. Downing much vitamin C fizzy stuff, etc. Still, though, I am about to go to Pilates class. I’ve missed too many and am beginning to feel slothful. Much to say but I’m off to Pilates. No one coming tonight that I know so it’ll be right home to bed after the early (7pm) show. I was so happy to have the wonderful, soulful actor Marian Seldes come back stage. We did a reading together a few years ago of Eve Ensler’s play, “Necessary Targets.” Marion said as soon as she got to my dressing room, “I had an epiphany right at the end of the play. It’s a love story–between you and Beethoven.” That touched me a lot because it’s how I feel, too, but I’ve never said it. It’s why the scene he and I have together near the end is so joy-filled. See you next time.
Last week’s interview with Leonard Lopate at NPR—enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/c7jw29 #
Last week’s interview with Leonard Lopate at NPR—enjoy! http://tinyurl.com/c7jw29 #
My dear pal, Larry King, is out there today and so is my daughter and grandchildren. Frankly, I’m more nervous about them than about Larry-and I don’t usually get nervous about anybody. Will they get bored? After all, it’s not a show for kids. Will they be proud of me? I hope so. Maybe, even if they forget everything about the play, they will remember after I’m gone that they saw their grandma perform on stage. I bet there are things about the play they won’t forget-some of the visual effects, for instance; Beethoven’s amazing scene where he creates a fugue; the scene where we all sing together. In about 10 years I will ask them to tell me what they remember. Oops. The stage manager just called “5 minutes” so it’s time to grab my binoculars and go stand next to Don Amendolia in the wings. Maybe I can spot Larry and the kids. Later- My daughter Vanessa Vadim and Vanessa’s children, Malcolm and Viva (photo: Michael Rudd) Larry King (photo: Michael Rudd) I’m in a scene break before I have to go back on. It’s weird. I am feeling far more emotional and fragile in this show. I think it’s because my daughter and grand kids are out there. For those blog readers who have never acted, it’s a particular type of experience-you are in the character, feeling, behaving as the character, yet at the same time you’re partially conscious of who is in the audience that you care about. Today this split is particularly acute and it is tending to split me open…not necessarily a bad thing given the story. I probably won’t have time to write any more when the play is over and then I’ll take them to dinner. But you’ll get some photos. Don’t know if my daughter will let me photograph the children. Ricky Jay, an artist of the sleight of hand and actor See you next time
Carole King came to the show and came back after. She was clearly blown away by the play # moises kaufman our writer/director was there tonight she was able to express her admiration for what he has created. # she also agreed to let me interview her for my book on ageing due out in fall of 2010. She surely makes ageing a graceful, fulsome, passage. # See my blog for photo. #
Having the grandkids here is tiring but fun. Today I showed them all around the set, explained the story (which they will see at tomorrow’s 3pm show) the props, showed them my dressing room. They watched me get my first wig put on. That is to say, Viva watched. I couldn’t get Malcolm to look up from some iphone game he was playing where he creates creatures. Viva’s comment afterwards was, “I never want to wear a wig!” I showed them the wonderful Illy coffee machine some nice person gave me and asked them what it reminded them of. Right away Malcolm said, “Wall-e.” Totally right on. Spit and image of Wall-e! Carole King came back last night. I didn’t know she was seeing the show and it was a wonderful surprise. As I would have expected from someone as musical and soulful as she is, she adored the show. Moises was in my dressing room when she came back so she had a chance to express her feelings about the various aspects of the play to him directly. Carol King (photo: Michael Rudd) Singer/actor Lanie Kazan is coming backstage tonight. Lanie Kazan (photo: Michael Rudd) So is Keven Bellows, a friend who attended Emma Willard boarding school with me and later married Jim Bellows, a brave newspaper publisher par excellence who died very recently. He was the publisher of the Herald Tribune before moving to the Los Angeles Times. Jim mentored and developed such great journalists as Clay Felker, Tom Wolfe, Jimmy Breslin, Tom Brokaw, Maureen Dowd and others. I haven’t seen Keven in quite a while and am looking forward to spending some time with her. Also at tonight’s show are my goddaughters, Tess and Kate Hodges. Their parents, David and Laurel, who ran the Laurel Springs Children’s Camp near Santa Barbara, Calif. for me and my then husband Tom Hayden, saw the play several weeks ago and decided their daughters should see it too. My friend from Emma Willard, Keven Bellows (photo: Michael Rudd) with my goddaughters, Tess and Kate Hodges (photo: Michael Rudd) Geoffrey Horne-He was one of the very first actors I met when I decided to become an actor and began studying with Lee Strasberg. In fact, Geoffrey took the first press/fan photo of me ever. He has played a nice role in “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” and was also a student with Strasberg. He and I auditioned together for Elia Kazan’s “Splendor in the Grass” for the roles that Warren Beatty and Natalie Wood eventually ended up with. We played together in “No Concern if Mine” at the Westport Country Playhouse. That must have been in 1959. And we played together in the Actors Studio production of Eugene O’Neill’s “Strange Interlude” with Gerry Page, Franchot Tone, Ben Gazzara and others. Geoffrey now teaches at the Strasberg Institute in New York. Geoffrey Horne (photo: Michael Rudd) When I come home tonight, I know that Malcolm, my grandson, will be sleeping in my bed. Maybe Viva too, But Malcolm for sure. Sleeping with him is a special treat for me, one I’ve missed for 3 months. They are coming to see the show tomorrow with Vanessa. See you next time.
Sally Field stopped by. So exciting. Read more here http://is.gd/qydy #theatre #actors #nyc # Colin Hanks heard someone say as they were leaving our theatre last night, “Well, I know Jane Fonda. We communicate on twitter.” #theatre # That’s kinda great except—what has “know” come to mean? #theatre #
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