King Kong

So last week I was recapping an old conversation I had, to my friend ChickLit about Denzel Washington and his depth of characters. In the original conversation, burgeoning director Matt McGlennon stated that Denzel was incapable of playing a character of low stature. At the time, maybe a few years ago I couldn't quite agree with him. When recapping the convo with ChickLit, I realized I had come full circle on the idea, and now agreed with him. Everyone he plays is a strong willed, emotionally strong, fist pounding, top of his lungs yelling, bad ass. Even when he plays struggling characters, or bad guys, even “quiet” characters seem to have at least one moment where he stares someone in the face and says something along the lines of “King Kong ain’t got shit on me!” I think he said it to an HMO in John Q.

[Even Denzel playing a retard would be the most strong willed retard ever. “I will not ride on the SHORT BUS!!”]

So I was not quite surprised to find him monopolizing my dreams last night. He had something to prove. It started with me hosting something of a Inside the Actors Studio episode. I asked him about his craft, his biggest iconic rolls. He told me about how he was starting to venture into improvised theater. This is probably the highlight of my dream, cut to a clip of him and Wayne Brady yelling. Denzel yelling in the scene and Brady yelling at him for yelling. It was classic. But then things got serious. We went to his home and met his wife. She walked us to the nursery where his very sick daughter was. It escapes me what was wrong with her health, but as Denzel started to cry at a level 8 or 9, I knew that if I didn’t wake up soon, I was destined to sit through John Q 2. Even my subconscious knows he cannot play a humble, chilled out character. Where is his Brad Pitt like disappearance into a small supporting role. Why not do a comedy. Don’t get me wrong, when Denzel is on, he is on. But I’m not a 45 year old black woman. Your smile and cackle works on Oprah, but not me. Just surprise me Denzel. I’m hoping King Kong still has nothing on you.

Fringe Festival

So I'm new to performance, at least on this scale. I did the Stevie Ray's thing, but everyone that came to those shows I pay rent to or used to claim me as a dependent on their tax returns. Not a lot of unbiased praise. I have no doubt that these people, friends and family, truly enjoyed what they saw, but you take their pride with a grain of salt.

Well snap to Sunday at the Fringe festival. I'm walking out of the show Flops, a musical revue of songs from failed Broadway plays. Good Stuff. One song had a verse about a sperm defeating a diaphragm, I kid you not. As I was enjoying the rice crispy treat the cast handed out, a kid, maybe 11-15 years old (I have no age-dar, so yeah, that's a wide range of ages) stares at me and says “Whooooaaaaaaaa.” So, confused, I stare back.
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“You were the chef from last night!”
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Finally it clicks( he went to see my show The Quest (www.fringefestival.org/2010/show/?id=1345), where I in fact played something of a romance languages dancing pizza chef. I say romance language(s) because quite frankly, my accent could have been French, Italian, or possibly Irish dependent on the sentence.

“Oh, yeah, ah, thanks...” As I shuffle away like a four year old who drags his feet. My mood lies in some purgatory between cool, ecstatic, embarrassed, and awkward. First legit Fringe experience. Unless you count the overwhelming waif of b.o. at an other was very cool (and soon to be extinct) Bedlam Theater aka Fringe Headquarters.

Also see Speech if you can, totally worth it for Tim Hellendrung’s closing speech about rolling rocks alone.

Gone Fringin’