Connie Danese
OPENING NIGHT CHAT: Lanford Wilson’s Burn This, directed by Nicholas Martin, opened Sunday at the Mark Taper Forum, the site of its premiere in 1987, followed by a Broadway run. Seen chatting together in the lobby on opening night were Martin Short and Victor Garber (looking suave and elegant in a perfectly tailored black suit). Both actors later greeted their former cast-mate from various productions, Brooks Ashmanskas, who plays Larry. In the case of Garber, he and Ashmanskas appeared in Present Laughter on Broadway this past January, which was also directed by Martin.
Cast and friends celebrated at Casa, a Mexican restaurant located in the Two California Plaza building. Tucked away in a corner, surrounded by skyscrapers and twinkling lights, Casa has an intimate modern feel. Guests selected warm tacos and filled them with pollo asado (scrumptious grilled chicken), carnitas (roasted pork), grilled veggies and toppings of guacamole and shredded cheese. Waitresses brought trays of melt-in-your-mouth flautas de pollo (chicken mixed with queso and jalapeno crèma in a crispy flour tortilla).
Adam Rothenberg, playing the role created by John Malkovich, is a thoughtful and charismatic actor who explodes onto the stage in his first entrance like a modern-day Stanley Kowalski. How does he get to that peak so quickly? “Uhh,” he grins sheepishly, “Jump rope.” He pauses to add, “And a little Tai Chi. Then, well, you just throw yourself into the language and get your heart rate up.”
Adam Rothenberg, Ken Barnett, Zabryna Guevara and Brooks Ashmanskas pose during the party for the opening night performance of Burn This at Center Theatre Group's Mark Taper photo by Ryan MillerCapture Imaging
When asked about his training, Rothenberg is both charming and generous. “I have a wonderful teacher I would love to mention by the name of Alan Savage. I never went to acting school. I learned in the trenches working in black box theaters in New York. But this teacher has helped me a great deal. He stresses working with the text, understanding why you’ re saying something based on what the other person just said. I don’t know how to explain it. A lot of actors feel they need to be doing so many things, when at the end of the day if the writer has done his work you just show up, trust you’re enough and throw yourself into it.”
In the second act Rothenberg’s character shows a surprising sensitivity. “To me that section was just about dropping the rage and going with the language, which is so brilliant and beautiful. I felt the more I thought about what I was saying, the sensitivity just took care of itself.”
Burn This continues at the Taper through May 1.
CHAT CHOICE at KING KING: The nightclub on Hollywood Boulevard is a packed happening space, where Terry Beeman’s Mental Head Circus takes his sold-out audience on a thrilling ride down through a demented dancer’s burlesque world and up to an aerialist’s defiance of time and space. Beeman, whose choreography is best described as movable art, creates the awesome production. “I wanted to bring vaudeville and artistic dance together into one show. Halfway through it, we take off the make-up and show the human beings behind the paint. We take everyone on this journey with us and hopefully they will see life more clearly through their own eyes and hearts.”
He literally takes dance to new levels as we watch the human spirit soar. After transporting us to his light and dark side of the universe, Beeman reminds us that life is laughter as his dancers don clown regalia and send the audience off with a joyful twist. Where do you get your inspiration? Beam me up Terry! “We call it Mental Head Circus because, though we have so much to do in our lives, we are all aching to become more. The show brings out that yearning. Sometimes life can leave us depressed and if I didn’t have my depression, I couldn’t create. Our journey is filled in so many ways with joy, sadness and love.”
Terry Beeman
Beeman is an artist who dances and paints vivid portraits with flexible humans utilizing massive upper body strength, emotional commitment and a wicked sense of humor. “I’m 45 and it hurts to dance now, but I don’t mind that at all. I just take a little longer to warm up, practice yoga and try to sleep. The show represents the fight for love and the ache for life. It changes slightly each time. We are at King King once a month but I would love to tour and take it to Broadway.”
Romp with Beeman and company in his twisted cabaret of life at Mental Head Circus when it returns to King King on May 22. Tickets are available at www.kingkinghollywood.com.
