Can actors really cry every night onstage?

[midtowngym]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:24pm

While watching Reckless, my friend noticed Mary Louise Parker crying. He said tears, but i didn't see it. Is it really possible for an actor to cry tears onstage (almost) every night? Examples?

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:31pm

i think mary bond davis crys a lot...at least she did when i saw hairspray.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:31pm

How is Reckless, by the way?

[Elphaba4]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:39pm

I think they can. I just did a production of Godspell at CTGSC and we all cried every night.

[StickToPriest]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:40pm

But there is crying and there is *crying*

Updated On: 12/4/04 at 06:40 PM

[musicalfandukie]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:43pm

when i was in titanic i cried at every show and so did most of the cast. it's very easy to cry on stage when it's a powerful emotional moment.

[SallyBrown]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:46pm

they made me cry for The Wiz for every show, so it's kinda easy if you're really into your character and the moment, you just gotta feel for Doroty lol (well in my case)

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:48pm

When I saw A Thousand Clowns with Tom Selleck, the woman who played the social worker was crying. I asked my friends who both had seen it five times before me if she cried at all five of their performances, they said yes.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 6:54pm

does that mean that you're someone who cries easy in real life if you can cry onstage? What makes it easy to cry in character if you're not a 'cryer' in real life?

[wickedfan]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:07pm

its different with every person. My friend who was playing a nephew in Richard III had a seuence where he found out his father was dead and began to cry for like a minute in his mother's arms. And I went to see him in it and he was really crying. He said he did that by like pinching himself really hard for a while backstage and it made him tear. Others probably do it by thinking of something horrible.

[birdboy782]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:17pm

Good actors don't always cry onstage every night...on the other hand, many actors who can cry onstage every night are not necessarily good actors...and that moment of tears usually will not make up for an evening of mediocritity or worse. In my opinion.

[wickedkiwi]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:19pm

i heard somewhere that u can't really fake crying, u just gotta really get into your character's shoes, maybe connecting it to a similar (yet more trivial) moment in your life. this is dangerous tho cause imagine playing 100 performances and thinking about your dead parents on cue every night! but if you think about your dead childhood pet, suddenly the emotion is there, minus the psychological damage.

but yea, crying onstage will only work if u find some sort of button for yourself during rehearsal, some way of looking at what is happening in the show, that will work every time.

personally i went to see little shop twice during the summer, and the girl that was audrey didnt cry the first time and cried the second, but the first was just as sad and believable so no damage done.

in other words, real tears are cool if you can get them and then control them (u dont wanna sob incontrolably during a song or line either), but regular "dry" acting works just as well.

[Becky]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:22pm

I never attended a performance of Aida when Heather Headley didn't cry during Past is Another Land.

[LaeloftheLakes]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:27pm

wickedkiwi, I have to disagree. As an actress, in a lot of roles I've had to cry, and even before I learned more about the whole Method and learned to live in the character I was able to make myself cry every single time. However, I know a lot of very talented performers (some of them much more talented than I) who can't cry on commmand...I guess it's a personal thing, but like you said, frequently good acting more than makes up for a lack of waterworks.

[Marquise]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:33pm

and sometimes an actor has the ability to make the audience cry...with an incredibly bad performance or an incredibly moving performance.

[Racetrack]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 7:48pm

In an experience I had this last summer in a Shakespeare class I chose to do a speech from Titus Andronicus(long story as to why) and it's set before everything goes to hell, but this woman is asking for her son's life to be spared right? Well I knew the piece I just needed to add a little bit more to the character. So one of the teachers explained how prevalent the situation was then to now and how true it can be and the power in the speech. Then he described situations to me(which while sad worked very well) and I got the feeling you get when you are about to cry, but I held it in. Then he told me to do the speech again and by the end of the first word I started bawling. I could do this everytime. But during the actual performance I found I couldn't cry. Lol kind of funny, but I think part of crying is if you get to the point where you do cry don't let it hinder your performance. If it doesn't get in the way of performing then use it, but there are no guarantees that you're always going to be able to cry. Some days you can and some days you can't.

Sorry for being so long just thought I'd say that.

[midtowngym]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:04pm

I find it AMAZING that actors can do this

[Racetrack]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:05pm

Undoubtedly it's hard to do sometimes though.

[jmaclover]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:16pm

Let's get one thing straight, crying on cue does not make you a good actor. Crying on cue makes you...good at crying on cue. I know people who can cry on cue when they want something, people my age. But couldn't act their way out of a fairy dust bag.

That said, I can cry on cue if the moment is powerful and if I am into it. Crying on cue is often confused with being a good actor.

On TV, they are usually preset crying before the camera takes action.

[Racetrack]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:30pm

I agree with that. Crying doesn't make a person a good actor, but if they do it in the moment and well than I don't mind it as much. Depends on the situation,etc.

[geri loves wicked]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:32pm

Ummm...Kristin Chenoweth in Wicked! In "For Good" till the end of the show she like busted her eyes out!

[Racetrack]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:36pm

I think that song could make anyone who is performing it cry. What I meant was that crying has to be more in the moment according to the scene and situation in play, etc. It can be quite powerful though.

[Idina's BIGGEST fan]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:51pm

oh I know JLT and KC cried in WICKED in the song For Good, so I guess if you can be an emotional person, then you can cry.

[LilElphaba]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:56pm

Well Wicked is an emotional show. I mean going through that and being a part of that journey, then having to sing that sad song at the end, it would be hard for JLT or KC NOT to cry.

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 12/4/04 at 8:57pm

When I did the national tour of Sunday In The Park With George, I cried every night - because, with a combination of excellent writint, direction and cast - anything is possible in a powerful moment.
By the way - Reckless is WONDERFUL.