Review by KT
5/16/05
First, it's very strange to be at a con not in L.A. But
very good to me because I personally have always enjoyed
Seattle. I like old American cities very much, those cities
that grew up before the horseless carriage came into general
use. I like that those cities are compact, filled with
walking people and buzzing with life. I do not see this in
either Burbank or Pasadena.
The hall is quite a bit smaller than Burbank so the con
has a nice intimate feel. There is also a very relaxed and
informal feeling compared to the LA cons. I think the crowd
being smaller, plus so many usual faces being present and
greeting each other with great surprise and delight with
multiple variations of 'Woah! I didn't know YOU were
coming!" (since it's a new place and who knew how many of
the LA con folks would be there?), plus the fact that there
weren't any guest stars today, created a more laid back and
easy-going atmosphere.
The main event of the con today was really Lucy's evening
show. We started around 3:30 with a "Music Video Salute"
which featured bunches of fighting female sci-fi characters.
Of which I recognized three-Sigourney from Alien, Angeline
Jolie from what I assume was Tomb Raider and I think about
three seconds of Buffy. Oh, and of course there was some
Xena and just un petite soupcon of Gabrielle. So actually, I
recognized five of the characters and then belatedly
realized that the yellow outfit somersaulting around I had
seen in ads for Kill Bill. And it wasn't somersaulting
around by itself--someone was inside it whom I assume was
Uma Thurman. So I "got" six, but there were many more
characters but I had no idea of who they were. I also didn't
know the music. (Nothing like a tightly detailed report,
eh?)
Okay. Then Sharon Delaney came out and played old tapes
of Lucy and Renee's early work. Of course, this was easier
said than done. First off, as soon as they put out the
lights, Sharon could no longer see the remote and so
couldn't work it very well. She said something like,
"Hmm-how is Renee going to see this tomorrow?" I suggested
that they put a head lamp on her but my suggestion was not
noted by the staff.
They figured it out very shortly and the tapes began.
While we were watching Renee in the one with James Garner,
Sharon's cell phone rang. She glanced down at it, laughed
and answered it. It was Renee. Of course many people started
to laugh and yell out "Hello, Renee!" Sharon explained to
Renee where she was and what she had been doing when Renee
called. She then informed us that Renee was "laughing". Then
some people started to demand that Sharon put Renee on
speaker phone. Sharon said she didn't know how to do that.
About a dozen people began to tell her, all yelling very
loudly and at the same time of course, how they got the
speaker function going on THEIR cell phones. Finally, Sharon
decided that she didn't have that feature on her phone.
Whereupon one woman yelled out that Renee should hang up and
call back on this woman's phone, which did have a speaker
function. That did not happen.
Sharon then extracted a promise from Renee to tell us
about the time that she and James Garner were filming a shot
of them driving in a car and managed to hit someone walking
by. Sharon assured us he was not hurt, but that it was a
good story.
Okay, Renee gets off the line and we go back to watching
the tape. We segued into some of Lucy's early work, just one
little piece of which I had never seen. (It was part of
Funny Business-a "trash car" sequence.)
I enjoyed this. I think Renee is going to show some more
early tapes tomorrow and talk about them.
Then we had a charity auction for the Make A Wish
Foundation, followed at 6:00p.m. by a cocktail reception for
the Gold ticket holders. VERY nice menu-salmon, duck, little
chicken quiches and New Zealand lamb. Good food. And good
company.
We headed off en masse to walk one block down (and I mean
down-our hotel is on the top of a steep hill) and about four
across to the theater. We were a loud and boisterous group.
Sharon had told us that they had had only one rehearsal
with the orchestra, chorus and actors together, because the
chorus member are volunteers who have day jobs and therefore
restricted rehearsal time. She also told us that the show
was "On book". Which means the actors held and read their
scripts.
It's quite a remarkable theater. I believe they said it
was about 90 years old. Very ornate, with many Chinese
themed carvings. First thing I noticed when I sat down was
that the roll down curtain was painted with a picture of a
dragon. And by gum, other than being tan, not green, it
looked just like the Green Dragon on the flag Lao Ma made
for little Ming T'ien. It was all curly and curvy with
spread and sticking out limbs just like that one.
Curtain rolls up. There's people skittering around on the
stage in front of the standing chorus. Then out rolls Lucy.
(Literally-I think she was sitting on a cart and somebody
pushed her out onstage.) For a slight second, we all just
looked at her. She had on a short black wig that looked just
like the one she wore in the Hercules crossover, "Stranger
in a Strange Land". And she had on the longest, most blatant
fake eyelashes I have ever seen.
Then you could hear the intake of breath from about 150
mouths (we Xena fans that would be) and then the eruption of
applause and yelling. She was for the first few bars just a
tiny bit shaky but settled down very soon. It was a real
high to see her on stage performing again. But heck, I
cannot remember what she was wearing for her entrance.
It was a fun show. Faith Prince is most definitely a very
seasoned theater star. Very nice voice. The men's chorus was
very, very good. The featured male singers were very good to
excellent. The acting was typical Broadway musical broad.
And Lucy was obviously having a ball.
Intermission. Then the Ming T'ien dragon curtain rolls up
again. People are onstage acting away and suddenly Lucy
appears from stage left. Wearing this sparkly, lovingly
draping itself to her curves blue/slightly aqua shimmering
gown. More (and sharper) intakes of breath. Then a barrage
of mostly female hooting to show their appreciation of
Lucy's outfit. (With yes, some male hooters joining in.)
Of course, most of us Xena fans constantly tracked Lucy
wherever she was on stage. And (Note: these comments are the
result of a formal poll conducted in the bar of the hotel
after our return from the show) we saw traces of Meg at
times and a few quick flashes of Xena peeking through. The
fascinating thing about watching Lucy constantly was
noticing that she was always Dorothy-she was always in
character and always doing something to show what Dorothy
was thinking and feeling. She didn't just stand around
waiting for her cue to come to life. Not that she was
mugging mightily or trying to steal scenes from the other
actors-it was just that if you were looking at her, you
could see from her facial expressions and small gestures,
her shifting slightly in her seat, the tilting of her head,
that she was Dorothy, reacting to the people and events
happening around her.
One woman who mentioned Meg added that this was a smarter
and less oblivious Meg. Another woman said that while a
third female character did a very sexy dance, we Xena fans
who were watching Lucy kept breaking into little chuckles
and giggles as Lucy showed Dorothy's reaction to that woman.
"I bet the dancer couldn't figure out why we thought her
dance was so funny" she said.
Lucy seemed joyous at the end of the play as the actors
all accepted the standing ovation we gave them. And we were
very good-we cheered and yelled for Faith Prince as well as
for Lucy when they took their curtain calls.
One of my companions wanted to join the crowd that was
waiting outside the actors entrance door of the theater, so
for the first time in my life, I became one of those Stage
Door Janies. It was fun standing out there in the alley next
to the overflowing dumpsters because as the members of the
chorus came out we yelled out our thanks and congratulations
for a great show. They looked startled and then very
pleased. There were plenty of stage door Johnnies in among
us stage door Janies and there was lots of hugging and
kissing as their performing boyfriends came out into the
alley. Then, finally, Luce appeared. She looked slightly
startled too and then broke into a huge beaming smile. She
walked rapidly down the alley smiling and nodding at people
and then we lost sight of her in the crowd.
Good show, great time. I can't wait to do it again
tomorrow.
KT
