#1576
Posted: 12/27/08 at 6:55pm
I imagine I am going to be hungry every time I listen - for food, of course.
The Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, Part Four — Page 64
#1577
Posted: 12/27/08 at 8:48pm
Just food. Of course. Suuuuure....
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1578
Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:59am
Got a ticket for tonight's performance of SPEED-THE-PLOW! I am very excited.
#1579
Posted: 12/30/08 at 2:34pm
Oooh, how exciting! Have a great time! The two of them together is such a high. I reeeeeeeeeeally wanna see it again before Norbert leaves.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#1580
Posted: 12/30/08 at 8:41pm
I think we’ve all heard the story Raúl tells of when he was in high school, he was a National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts finalist, but lost the scholarship when the judges told him he had no acting talent, the most he could hope for was maybe to be a director, etc.
Well, it seems the NFAA has caught up with their past mistakes and is attempting to rectify them. In 2006 they created the NFAA Alumni Award and according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, “Three-time Tony Award nominee, Raúl Esparza will receive the fourth annual NFAA Alumni Award” which will be presented during NFAA’s youngARTS program the week of January 12-17, 2009.
And to think they said he couldn’t act!!
Orlando Sentinel
Well, it seems the NFAA has caught up with their past mistakes and is attempting to rectify them. In 2006 they created the NFAA Alumni Award and according to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, “Three-time Tony Award nominee, Raúl Esparza will receive the fourth annual NFAA Alumni Award” which will be presented during NFAA’s youngARTS program the week of January 12-17, 2009.
And to think they said he couldn’t act!!
Orlando Sentinel
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1581
Posted: 12/30/08 at 10:54pm
Hahahahahahahah! UP YOURS NFAA!
That is awesome! I love how they don't include all the negative stuff.
That is awesome! I love how they don't include all the negative stuff.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#1582
Posted: 12/30/08 at 11:59pm
I went to SPEED-THE-PLOW tonight. The house seemed to be full, and the audience was very enthusiastic and attentive. Tonight's performance was so different from the Piven-era performances (which I saw two of, one in previews and one in mid-November) that I hardly know where to begin. Norbert was off book completely and I never heard a prompt - I was sitting close to the back of the orchestra. He is so much warmer a character as Bobby Gould - he really seems to be listening to Karen in the second scene, trying to hear her weird message, and when he cries out in the third scene that he is lost, he sounds like someone truly in pain. (The line actually got laughs the last time I saw Piven deliver it.) Moss is beginning to vary her vocal quality more, and she was breath-taking in the third scene -really nailed it! Raul slowed the first scene down a lot, and was almost pathetically desperate in the last scene. He had been playing a lot of anger at the end, but now it was sadder. He looked totally exhausted, though - his eyes were hollow. This can't have been easy for any of them. I loved this performance - and I had found a lot to like, even during Piven's "stay." But now there is greater depth and interest. I wish I could go back again while NLB is in it, but I recommend that if you can, you try to see it. And Raul - get some sleep.
#1583
Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:10am
Wow, you too? I went tonight, and ran into like, ten people I knew.
I don't think he's necessarily "warmer," per se, because Bobby is just not a warm character, but I think Norbert brings to him a much, much bigger sense of being lost. Which he is, that's the point, but I think with Jeremy, Bobby was working really hard to cover it up. Norbert's take lets the audience see just how much this guy is only barely treading water. I think that's so much more beneficial to the telling of the story. It makes the play about a lot more than -- pun unintended -- speed. I actually thought the first scene was the fastest I had seen it yet. Once they locked in at the beginning, it just totally took off, I thought.
If there were a prompt, you wouldn't have heard it. They don't like, shout out the lines to the rafters. It's not obvious at all. He dropped one line for a split second, but didn't let it throw him.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
I don't think he's necessarily "warmer," per se, because Bobby is just not a warm character, but I think Norbert brings to him a much, much bigger sense of being lost. Which he is, that's the point, but I think with Jeremy, Bobby was working really hard to cover it up. Norbert's take lets the audience see just how much this guy is only barely treading water. I think that's so much more beneficial to the telling of the story. It makes the play about a lot more than -- pun unintended -- speed. I actually thought the first scene was the fastest I had seen it yet. Once they locked in at the beginning, it just totally took off, I thought.
If there were a prompt, you wouldn't have heard it. They don't like, shout out the lines to the rafters. It's not obvious at all. He dropped one line for a split second, but didn't let it throw him.
#1584
Posted: 12/31/08 at 12:16am
There were a couple of points during the first scene when there seemed to be a hesitation, and I couldn't tell if there was a line call or not. The first scene seemed much longer - as though I had previously seen an abridged version or something!
#1585
Thanks for the detailed reviews, especially for those of us who are 3000 miles away!
Posted: 12/31/08 at 1:11am
Thanks for the detailed reviews, especially for those of us who
#1586
I think the entire East Coast must have been at last night's performance! Tons of blog mentions cropping up about it. Good, free publicity of the right kind.
I just opened my audiobook of THE BOOK OF UNHOLY MISCHIEF - 10 cd's - hooray!
Posted: 12/31/08 at 1:10pm
I think the entire East Coast must have been at last night's performance! Tons of blog mentions cropping up about it. Good, free publicity of the right kind.
I just opened my audiobook of THE BOOK OF UNHOLY MISCHIEF - 10 cd's - hooray!
#1587
Posted: 12/31/08 at 6:15pm
I guess it's that a lot of people are in town for the holidays. I generally avoid Times Square in the few days before New Years so I don't really experience the late-December flux of tourists and college students on break, but yeah, many coincidences last night!
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#1588
Posted: 1/2/09 at 8:03pm
Well, yeehaw and hallelujah, Sirius/XM FINALLY got around to broadcasting the Live on Broadway show with Raúl today. Pretty much as described by the people who attended (although they neglected to mention the game show portion of the entertainment...). I love how neatly Raúl managed to sidestep Seth's question about how and WHY he did Chitty.... 
The repeat schedule for the show: Sun., Jan. 4th @ 11 pm ET; Tue., Jan. 6th @ 7 am ET; Wed., Jan. 7th @ 12 pm ET.
The repeat schedule for the show: Sun., Jan. 4th @ 11 pm ET; Tue., Jan. 6th @ 7 am ET; Wed., Jan. 7th @ 12 pm ET.
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1589
Posted: 1/2/09 at 10:37pm
What would have been wrong with giving the same answer he always does?
Aww. Chitty.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
Aww. Chitty.
#1590
Posted: 1/2/09 at 10:55pm
Nothing, I guess, but there was something in Seth's tone of voice when he asked about Chitty that made the subtext to the question sound like "why on earth did you let yourself get sucked into that piece of DREK?? What were you THINKING???" and Raúl rather neatly just sort of side-stepped it and Seth got distracted and they went onto something else. I found it rather amusing. The whole show was quite....singular.
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1591
Posted: 1/2/09 at 10:58pm
Heh, I figured Seth's tone would be something like that. 
Much like the way he talks about plays, heh.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
Much like the way he talks about plays, heh.
#1592
Posted: 1/2/09 at 11:38pm
I still don't get why people hate Chitty, but I guess I'm a sucker for the big money spectacles.
#1593
Posted: 1/2/09 at 11:56pm
I loved it. I mean, I mock it, but I thought it was fun, sweet, and really, really well done.
A work of art is an invitation to love.
#1594
Posted: 1/3/09 at 1:05am
I think lots of it has to do with the big fat paycheck. Still, the thing I enjoyed most about Chitty was the amazing adult cast. Well, minus one person.
I also loved his sign language.
I also loved his sign language.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#1595
Posted: 1/5/09 at 1:33am
From Peter Filichia on Theatermania.com:
Moderated a Drama League panel with the director and cast of Speed-the-Plow, which meant Neil Pepe, Raul Esparza, Elizabeth Moss, and, arriving one half-hour late, Jeremy Piven. (As you can see, this luncheon took place much earlier in the month.) Because David Mamet’s play mentions that not-so-humble Hollywood executives give books “courtesy reads” — meaning they have no intention of making movies from them, but just read them to say that they’ve read them — I asked the group if they ever had a “courtesy audition.” Esparza virtually jumped out of his chair to tell about the time a friend of his arranged such an audition with Joel Schumacher, who was set to direct the movie of The Phantom of the Opera, and was looking for the actor who’d play the title role. Esparza was doing a courtesy call himself, for he didn’t think he had a chance at the role — until he entered the downtown restaurant and met Schumacher, who immediately exclaimed, “Oh my God, you’re just what I’m looking for!” And throughout the meeting, Schumacher just kept saying that so much that eventually Esparza came to think, “Oh, my God! I can’t believe it! I’m actually going to be the Phantom of the Opera!” Schumacher then said that he'd soon be in touch with him to make final arrangements.
Needless to say, Esparza didn’t do the role or any other in the 2004 non-blockbuster. But Esparza also pointed out that maybe Schumacher wasn’t so full of it — “for,” he said, “Joel cast Gerard Butler, and many people over the years say that we do look alike.” (Indeed, they do.) “So,” Esparza concluded,“I was the type he was looking for — just not the actual actor he was looking for.”
Peter Filichia's Diary
Moderated a Drama League panel with the director and cast of Speed-the-Plow, which meant Neil Pepe, Raul Esparza, Elizabeth Moss, and, arriving one half-hour late, Jeremy Piven. (As you can see, this luncheon took place much earlier in the month.) Because David Mamet’s play mentions that not-so-humble Hollywood executives give books “courtesy reads” — meaning they have no intention of making movies from them, but just read them to say that they’ve read them — I asked the group if they ever had a “courtesy audition.” Esparza virtually jumped out of his chair to tell about the time a friend of his arranged such an audition with Joel Schumacher, who was set to direct the movie of The Phantom of the Opera, and was looking for the actor who’d play the title role. Esparza was doing a courtesy call himself, for he didn’t think he had a chance at the role — until he entered the downtown restaurant and met Schumacher, who immediately exclaimed, “Oh my God, you’re just what I’m looking for!” And throughout the meeting, Schumacher just kept saying that so much that eventually Esparza came to think, “Oh, my God! I can’t believe it! I’m actually going to be the Phantom of the Opera!” Schumacher then said that he'd soon be in touch with him to make final arrangements.
Needless to say, Esparza didn’t do the role or any other in the 2004 non-blockbuster. But Esparza also pointed out that maybe Schumacher wasn’t so full of it — “for,” he said, “Joel cast Gerard Butler, and many people over the years say that we do look alike.” (Indeed, they do.) “So,” Esparza concluded,“I was the type he was looking for — just not the actual actor he was looking for.”
Peter Filichia's Diary
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1596
Posted: 1/5/09 at 11:51am
A great question, and an answer I had not ever heard before. Well done, Peter!
Wow - Piven is nothing if not consistent - half an hour late, and monosyllabic. I just keep picturing a 13-year-old who has been told that he has to go to his aunt's birthday party.
Wow - Piven is nothing if not consistent - half an hour late, and monosyllabic. I just keep picturing a 13-year-old who has been told that he has to go to his aunt's birthday party.
#1597
Posted: 1/5/09 at 3:05pm
Funny story. Sucks, but I guess it happens. I suppose he's better off, who knows what he would have missed out on if it had happened. And there are so many things wrong with that movie, I'm happy he can laugh about it now.
I could totally see Raul in a film noir version of Phantom of the Opera, though.
And Piven's a douche. Seems like he has a case of little man syndrome.
I could totally see Raul in a film noir version of Phantom of the Opera, though.
And Piven's a douche. Seems like he has a case of little man syndrome.
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#1598
Posted: 1/5/09 at 6:02pm
Hmmm.....
Sarcasm is an allergic reaction to stupid people.
#1599
Posted: 1/5/09 at 6:51pm
Whoa...not the best picture of William H Macy. I've always thought of him as an attractive guy, but lord. Here Raul looks thirty years younger than him. And it makes Elizabeth look like a teenager!
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
#1600
Posted: 1/5/09 at 6:54pm
Oh, awful, awful picture. Whose idea was that?
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