The Official Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, Part 3 — Page 60

I heard something to that effect, but I thought it was about another show, not Chitty.

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Heh, where did that even COME from?

There was another night when some of the actors led the audience in a round of Row, Row, Row Your Boat. Hee.

Didn't he actually drag the guy up on stage, and then when he didn't want to accept the challenge, tell him to "get the f*ck off my stage"?

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Yeah, in Comedians. But that was an already-R-rated show in Michigan; hardly the same as the family-friendly Chitty where his character was the good guy.

Row Row Row Your Boat was the same night as Time Warp. I'm still so jealous that all I got was a stupid announcement when the car broke down while I was there. Then again, it was the same night I ended up seeing Sides, so it was for the best.

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Updated On: 7/10/07 at 05:05 PM

Yep. I so wish that something from Comedians existed somewhere in bootlegland, because it sounds fascinating. I spoke to someone once who's seen Raul in almost everything he's done since Rocky Horror, and she said that that ranks as one of he most disturbing things she's seen on stage (The Pillowman coming in second place). Didn't he also break the fourth wall when someone was being rude at The Normal Heart? Anyway:

“When I saw ‘Comedians,’” I started to say, “a guy in the front row — ”

“Oh, you saw that performance?” Mr. Esparza said.

“That performance,” according to my notebook, was the night of January 14, 2003. Midway through the show’s bizarre final act, in which Gethin treats the audience as if we’re the crowd watching his avant-garde stand-up routine, something remarkable transpired across the footlights.

“I challenged a guy who wasn’t responding to the act the way I wanted him to,” said Mr. Esparaza. “I said, ‘You’re so f—ing bored, why don’t you get up here onstage.’” The stage was only a step up from the audience, so the guy did. Standing nose-to-nose (or what would have been nose-to-nose, had the guy not been substantially taller than Mr. Esparza — broader, too), they jawed for a few seconds, and Mr. Esparza dared him to take the microphone. The guy didn’t move.

“Get the f*ck off my stage,” Mr. Esparza said. The guy got the f*ck off his stage.
Interview in question.

Raul is nothing if not Patti Lupone in training.

I adore that story about the car breaking down. I only saw Chitty once (and trust me, that was enough), but now I'm sort of upset that the car worked...

From what I've heard about his part in Comedians, wouldn't that little...conversation... be slightly in character?

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“Get the f*ck off my stage,” Mr. Esparza said. The guy got the f*ck off his stage."

That's AWESOME.


"Raul is nothing if not Patti Lupone in training."

See, I knew I liked him...I do love me a diva!


and i also just want to point out that i love this thread. as a newer fan of raul's, i'm learning everything i need to know (and sometimes more MORE than i need to know) from this series of threads.

Updated On: 7/10/07 at 06:13 PM

It was obviously in character -- I think he's insinuating that to him, that's what makes it possible. That's how he gets away with it.

PS, I wish I had seen that. Or the show, period.

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Raul's curtain speech quoted in Liz Smith's column on July 10th:

HERE'S Raul Esparza speaking onstage to the closing-night audience of "Company" recently.
The Tony-nominated actor in the revival of Stephen Sondheim's musical had received several standing ovations during this final performance - even before the climatic "Being Alive" number.
In his curtain speech, Esparza praised the composer, the show, which he called "a masterpiece," his castmates, and he even brought the understudies onstage. He said, "People ask - what happened to Broadway? But I think we are heading for another Golden Age. And when we talk about it, we'll say we were lucky to be there!"
He added, "I have always been ambivalent about being an actor, a silly profession where you put on other people's clothes and pretend to be somebody else."

Of course, she leaves that last quote just hanging in mid-air and leaves out the rest of the thought which, as I recall it, was something to the effect of go out and do something in the real world beyond the theater, or words to that effect.

I'm suffering from Raulito spotting withdrawal...no sightings, no press, no gossip... and his website hasn't even been updated since June 13!

I would really like to be able to see some archival footage from 7/1, especially the curtain talk in its entirety. It's tough living out here in the provinces.

I suppose all of us, Liz Smith excluded, must have slept through all of these ovations.

His website doesn't really get updated that often -- only when's there an influx of press happening.

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Kate, where's your avatar from?

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Ooh. Thanks!

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lol. I was about to post something perfectly hilarious that I read... well, let's just say somewhere on the internet, but I suppose I should keep it to myself.

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Updated On: 7/12/07 at 01:21 PM