EYES ON BROADWAY

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 2:40pm

What are your favorite kind of eyes for actors on stage, including Broadway?

Do you like them big, oversized and showy? Loaded with lashes? Of a certain color?

What actor's eyes particularly steal your attention?

Sir Laurence Olivier used to steal scenes just by closing his eyes...

What surprises you about the mirrors to the soul, on the stage?


Updated On: 10/5/05 at 02:40 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 2:56pm

I really like this post. My answer may be extremely obvious, but I'm going to take this as an opportunity to explain it in terms that are *far* more than "'cause he's like.... so hot!"

Exhibit A:


Exhibit B:


Raúl Esparza's eyes are some of the most beautiful I've ever seen on anyone, actor or not. There's something about those big, bright, intense green eyes that captivates you right away; that was one of the first things I noticed about him the first time I saw him on stage. Because his acting style is one that allows him to be so thoroughly responsive to his audiences, I find that he often -- especially in a small space -- will make very strong eye contact with his audience. The first time I ever saw him on stage was in The Normal Heart, and I remember him once saying that he could and did make eye contact with almost everyone in that theatre. There would be monologues where his eyes would dart about, and if they caught you, they pierced right through you. It was almost as if planned, when to strike -- and if he caught you at the right moment, it had the ability to be a moment that stuck with you forever, and it added to how frightening the material was, in a huge way. Those big, beautiful eyes drove the emotion of his performance straight into me even more than just watching him could. Every time thereafter that I've seen him perform, his eyes have been his absolute most attention-grabbing feature. They're beautiful, and he acts through them brilliantly. I remember seeing him do a reading from The Normal Heart after it closed at the 92nd Street Y's tribute to Larry Kramer, and I remember writing about watching him snap back into character. It was all in the eyes. Suddenly at attention, darting about the audience once again. It was astounding to watch, really. I think that because he's an actor who puts every ounce of himself nto his work, he has the ability to be impactful even on such a minute level.

I close my small dissertation with something I found in an article about him that I always liked (I bookmarked the article):

Beyond abundant acting chops, I’d venture it has something to do with his green eyes: They hold your attention onstage, even when he doesn’t say a word.

From: "Raúl Esparza: The Exit Interview"
http://daily.nysun.com/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib%3AArticleToMail&Type=text/html&Path=NYS/2004/01/21&ID=Ar01800

PS -- your cat avatar is adorable!
Double PS -- blame the verbosity and rambling nature of this post on my pain killers. Thank you.

Updated On: 10/5/05 at 02:56 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:01pm

Never saw her live, but Miss Gwen Verdon's seem tough to beat...


Of the people I've seen, I like Jeff Goldblum and Swoozie Kurtz...so I guess I like kinda bug-eyed folks...no offense Swooz and J-Rod....

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:02pm

Idina Menzel has those really intense, captivating eyes.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:07pm

Jefferson Mays has big, showy, oversize eyes which almost command your attention. They kind of illuminate his acting as he takes on the many characters in I Am My Own Wife, which I see will be heading for Ireland very soon.
Updated On: 10/5/05 at 03:07 PM

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:09pm

Oh. That's a great example, too. You could see the character switches in his eyes.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:13pm

Have you noticed the evidence of possession in an actor's eyes? There is a wash that comes across the face, even can affect the form of the whole body, but it is almost as if the eyes have been seized and are full of some strange new energy...another spirit joining in the actor's "division of consciousness?"

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 3:33pm

Has anyone had an interesting experience with eye contact with an actor?

What is it about eyes that gets to you?

Updated On: 10/9/05 at 03:33 PM

[SorryGrateful]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 4:36pm

Well, I haven't seen that many shows on Broadway, but I do remember Denis O'Hare's eyes from Assassins. One minute his eyes would be full of joy and laughing and then the next they'd have this lost hope and it would break your heart. God, I love Denis O'Hare.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 5:02pm

Tim Curry has great big incredible stagey eyes...

[Phantom2]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 6:59pm

The eyes are the windows to the soul. Who said that?

[broadwayrose2]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 7:09pm

nomdeplume, I just have to say I think you put that whole eye contact thing perfectly! I feel the exact same way about everything you said. Eyes really are an extremely important part of performing.

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 11:22pm

I saw this thread right before having to bound off to class, and I've been pondering it all evening. Class was less than enthralling.

I've never been able to make sense of the human fascination with eyes. They really shouldn't be anything spectacular or out of the ordinary. After all, everyone has them, but people, at least songwriters, have been fixating on them at least as far back as I can trace the art song, and very likely further. But why? I suppose if the world is, as described by Georges in Sunday in the Park with George, only color and light, then our means of perceiving color and light would be our most important feature. But is it the eyes themselves, or is it the musculature around the eyes that adds expression to them?

(Sorry for being so technical, but I'm in full scholar mode.)

My most memorable experience with eye contact onstage happened during a production of Tosca I did a few years ago. I had known the actor playing Scarpia for several years, and he was one of the nicest men you could ever want to meet, not at all the type to strike fear into the hearts of the unsusupecting. But when I made eye contact with him as he walked onstage, I remember being literally terrified. He had a terrible amount of power radiating from him, and in those instants when you made eye contact it was all focused on you. Ach! I now know why the word frisson was coined.

And now, to round off my unwieldy post, my personal eye preference:

Blue or green and lashy! Don't ask why. I have no answer.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 11:52pm

i'm sorry to say this (and I haven't seen in live) but Raul's eyes scare me. Specially in the cupcake pic.

I must say that I like Terrence Mann's eyes. When I saw him in Les Mis, he definately tried to look at everyone too. and went I meet him at the stagedoor, he looked right into my eyes while he talked. it was cool.

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/5/05 at 11:58pm

Yes!

Terrence Mann has big STAGEY eyes, too!


(I dunno, Phantycakes; no match in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations) Updated On: 10/6/05 at 11:58 PM

[wickedwitchofthechest]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 12:06am

Oh, Terrence Mann! He was one of my first loves! I've never seen him live, and now I weep over having missed the chance to see such marvelously stagey eyes. Curses upon me for not wanting to see Lennon!

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/6/05 at 12:12am

Ah, witchie--

I assure you Terrence Mann will be back in some wild role quickly!

One with dramma

Dramamine

Drambuie

(crap--Tourettes again, up to my eyeballs)


Updated On: 10/6/05 at 12:12 AM

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/7/05 at 11:51pm

Oh, I'm gonna say it's a tie between Michael Cerveris and Raul Esparza. The funny thing is, they both have green eyes. And I thought I was a brown eyed girl.

[robin99]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 10:52am

In answer to nomdeplume: I've had quite a few eye contact experiences, and since I love to sit in the first rows I feel a particular responsibility to respond appropriately to the performance and to be ready in case an actor looks at me. Nobody should have to play to blocks of wood if they're looking for human beings.

Hugh Jackman made lots of eye contact and flirted during The Boy From Oz, but that was part of the show and just plain fun when I had a chance to sit down front. But for another performance I sat in the last row, brought binoculars, and was stunned to look through them and feel as though he were looking right at me while he was singing - he clearly made an effort to include the whole audience.

Some of the most powerful eye contact moments were Kevin Anderson singing while staring down into my eyes. When he walked away after the first time, I realized that we'd both tilted our heads in the same direction, and I wasn't sure who was following whom - it had been hard not to smile too much for the moment. The next time, when he was hanging right over me, he had so much intensity it took my breath away, and I'm sure my face was as full of compassion as though it were real life I was watching.

Most such moments are more fleeting, and I've certainly never been disturbed by eye contact. I did find myself with a dilemma at Movin' Out, however. I once saw the show from the side orchestra, front row - not ideal for watching the dance but I had seen it before so it was fine - and I found myself torn between watching the dancers' bodies in such beautiful and compelling motion and watching their also-expressive faces...

although, come to think of it I guess that was a problem with Hugh Jackman in BFO too!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 11:06am

My immediate first choice...

Updated On: 10/8/05 at 11:06 AM

[nomdeplume]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 12:10pm

Angela Lansbury has sure got 'em--big beautiful STAGEY eyes!
Updated On: 10/12/05 at 12:10 PM

[eyeonbroadway]

Posted: 10/8/05 at 1:00pm

How could I NOT respond to this thread?

When I saw Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in July, I was struck by how much John Lithgow expresses with just his eyes. The mischief behind those eyes adds so much to his character!