Message Board Celebrity Of The Day (Part I) - papalovesmambo — Page 114

Margo, time to answer the ultimate question - are you REALLY real, or REALLY a computer chip?

Come clean once and for all, bitch!!

xoxoxoxoxox

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What movies do YOU consider old?

::runs from flames::

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Congrats and Merry Margomas!

If you were a flavored condom, what flavor would you be?
Who is your least favorite poster on BWW?

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CONGRATS MARGO!


i really look up to you on the boards... you know EVERYTHING... you OWN the main board. it's about time you got this title !

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1. What are your favorite theatrical/entertainment biographies and why?

I've always loved Moss Hart's Act One since I was a kid. There's just something beautifully nostalgic and hopeful about the story. I liked Frank Rich's Ghost Light for similar reasons. Helen Epstein's Joe Papp bio is a throughly researched and documented account of one of the most, flamboyant, passionate and larger-than-life figures in the history of the American Theatre. Ditto to Kissel's bio of David Merrick "The Abominable Showman."

Lorraine Hansberry's autobiography "To Be Young Gifted and Black" is powerful and inspiring. James Kirkwood's "Diary of a Mad Playwright" about doing "Legends" on the road with Mary Martin and Carol Channing is a hoot. So is Patrick Dennis' "Auntie Mame" and its sequel "Around the World With Auntie Mame." Oscar Levant's "Memoirs of an Amnesiac is also quite entertaining. Mel Gussow's Albee did a great job of capturing the man's complicated psychology (it became clear to me that Albee's mother is present in nearly every one of his plays).

Martin Duberman's "Paul Robeson" was an intimate portrait of the one of the most fascinating figures of the 20th Century. "Ridiculous!" by David Kaufman about Charles Ludlam and his Ridiculous Theatre Company (as well as Ludlam's own quasi-memoir, The Scourge of Human Folly, which lays out his philosophy of the theatre) both offer illuminating portraits of one of the most important (and copied and imitated) figures in the history of theatre.

There are so many more, but that's what I can think of now.


2. What are some of your favorite performances and why?

Oh man, way too many to name. I did compile a list that's in my blog and part of my Best of 2005 thread that you can access here:

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.cfm?page=3&thread=881818&startthread=1751484&boardname=bway

3. What's the most exciting trend that you see in American theatre today?

Hmmmm..... a positive trend? Let me get back to you on that one.

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Margo - I remember that list now - thanks!

It's almost scary how many of the same shows in the same areas and time-frames we've seen - and how many of the same ones stayed with us LONG after the fact. Of course, YOU actually learned from and formed well-rounded opinions on theatre because of it, I on the other hand still just like what I like - that's why I'm really glad you're exactly what Mamie said, an excellent teacher.

Congrats, again, Margo!

Is there a show on Broadway (or off) that you missed that you wished you could have seen?

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Or, perhaps, a show from before Margo's time that he would have loved seeing.

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Margo...who is your favorite performer?

Not sure. There are lots of people I really enjoy. Of the people currently alive and presumably I could go see again at somepoint (gotta limit this somehow), there's Vanessa Redgrave, Dench, Zoe Caldwell, James Earl Jones, Maggie Smith, Mary Testa, S. Epatha Merkerson, Jeffrey Wright, Nathan Lane, Stritch, Angela Lansbury, Rosemary Harris, Charles Dutton, Aretha, Gladys Knight, Dallas Roberts, Keith Nobbs, Mary-Louise Parker, Patti Labelle, Chaka Khan, Al Green, Jennifer Holliday (yes she's self parody and I lover her for it), k.d. lang, Jimmy Scott, Leontyne Price (technically retired, but alive), Deborah Voigt, Dolora Zajik, Renee Fleming, Cassandra Wilson, Prince, Rufus Wainwright, OutKast, Kiki & Herb, Jackie Hoffman, Eddie Izzard, Lily Tomlin, Dame Edna .......... I'm getting dizzy....

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Updated On: 2/2/06 at 01:21 PM

Vodka tonics. They're like mother's milk to me

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Were you nursed as a child? Just kidding!

Congratulations to Margo on his special day on BWW! You are extremely knowledgable and well versed with regard to NYC Theatre and its history. I really do enjoy reading your posts. Thanks for sharing your musings on theatre with us - you are appreciated.

Ignore my questions, will you? I will snatch that crown off your head faster than you can say "Mary Queen of Queens!"

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