Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son

I have always loved Martin Sheen, but being a woman in my early 30's, I missed several of his big movies. They are all on my list to watch or re-watch during the holiday break, but in the meantime, I indulged in Sheen and his son's, Emilio Estevez's, dual biography, Along the Way: The Journey of a Father and Son. 

Martin Sheen, known to his parents as Ramon Estevez, was born and raised in the Midwest to an Irish immigrant mother and a Spanish immigrant father. He left home as soon as he was able to pursue acting full time, where he met and fell in love with his long-time love, Janet. At age 21 his oldest son, Emilio, was born, and Martin's life changed forever. Three more children, multiple movie sets, and one big move to Malibu later, Emilio follows in his father's footsteps. As they grow together, they will have their differences, but they will always be father and son.

This memoir is told with a throughline of the movie The Way, which I saw in a preview and really adored. It's a father/son story in which a father finishes his son's hike across the Camino de Santiago for him. It's a fitting grounding for Emilio and Martin's story, and I originally picked up this book as a follow-up to the film. It was more than worth it, as I really loved this story. I learned so much about an actor I respect deeply and his son, Emilio, that I now also respect in a way I didn't before.

This book is also an amazing history book for cinephiles. Every major film the two of them participated in is recounted here, from Apocalypse Now, Ghandi, and Badlands, to The Breakfast Club and The Outsiders. These stories are those that don't exist anywhere else, and if a few of them do, you get to read it here from a personal perspective. Particularly the Apocalypse Now stories--those are doozies. It was amazing to read about Sheen's move through addiction and finally choosing sobriety. Everyone has their own journey, be it as an actor or finding sobriety, and hearing two different people tell some of the same stories was really fascinating and eye-opening. 

Ultimately, though, it was the love that these two have for each other that made this book everything that it is. There is no guide to parenting, and everyone learns as they go. When Emilio has children and has to learn how to be a father himself, you see the wisdom dawning in him, and the respect he then has for his own father far exceeds the respect he could have ever had before. It's a strong read, and one that I railroaded through because it was just that interesting.

For purchase below.

Funny Girl: A Novel

I have a confession -- this is my first Nick Hornby experience. [Pause while I wait for book lovers the world over to yell in my face.] I can't quite tell you why that's the case, only that it is. I have added About a Boy and a few others to my list, but here is his newest -- Funny Girl. 

Barbara has known since she was a little girl that she is funny -- and that she should one day be a star. She competes in a local beauty pageant, wins, and immediately abdicates as she can't imagine spending one more whole year in her provincial town. Instead, she hightails it to London and work in a local department store. After a chance encounter in a club with a modeling agent, she skyrockets to fame in a comedy series that will entertain the UK for years. She is Sophie Straw, comedienne extraordinaire. As she seeks jokes, fame, and love, we follow Sophie through her career as a beloved star.

This book was just everything. I couldn't put it down, because it was just that delightful and full of gusto. I loved Barbara, and I grew to love the Sophie she became so early on in the book. Sophie was so full of spunk and relish of life and so full of love for everyone and everything. We follow her through her affair with her co-star to her discovery of her love for the quiet guy hanging out in the back (which was a reminder of Mr. Big's "Be With You," for all of you children of the 80's). Her trajectory through being "discovered" after a million auditions to insisting on auditioning for the smallest of parts, all the way through complete fame and lasting impact, was tinged with a twinge of happiness for a beloved member of the family. Someone who deserves the absolute best in life and got it. That friend you aren't jealous over, because it's just something that she deserved to have.

Charming. This book was absolutely charming. It was also full of substance, which is something you don't always get with books that have adjectives thrown around them like charming, sweet, lovely, and full of life. This book really was the whole package, and I found myself hoping that there was secret footage of Barbara and Jim hanging around somewhere on the internet. It sounded like a show I would really love, just as much as I loved this story and Hornby's incredibly prose to tell us about a girl with a dream. 

For purchase below. 

Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops

I try to read one book a month related to my field, and I have had this one on my shelf for quite a while.  I keep picking it up then have some other library book due, so this poor soul ends up getting pushed aside.  Since an Off-Broadway company revived an updated Carrie this season, I thought that it would be appropriate to take this with me to Los Angeles while on a business trip and indulge.

Not Since Carrie: 40 Years of Broadway Musical Flops is a lovely ditty from Ken Mandelbaum who happens to be a pretty fantastic theatre historian.  The title comes from what is arguably the most famous Broadway flop, Carrie, which is often referred to when speaking of other flops: "Rarely seen, not since Carrie."

This book, however, covers so much more than that (as can be assumed from the "40 years" portion of the subtitle).  If you are as big of a theatre nerd as I happen to be you will not want to miss this book.  Chances are good that you haven't missed it since it often makes "must read" lists of theatre books.  It's up there with Fre for All by Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp as well as Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon as far as I am concerned regarding the history of our business as we know it.  It is worth owning on your shelf at work/home.

You might be surprised at the big names who had even bigger flops. I won't give anything away because you need to purchase this book for yourself.

Fortune in My Eyes: A Memoir of Broadway Glamour, Social Justice, and Political Passion

Just the title of David Rothenberg's memoir, Fortune in My Eyes: A Memoir of Broadway Glamour, Social Justice, and Political Passion had me hooked. It's everything I love wrapped into one book of goodness!

David Rothenberg grew up in New Jersey, got involved in the Civil Rights movement in college, became a successful Broadway press rep and Off-Broadway producer in his 20's, and came out of the closet in his 40's. After producing the 13-month run of Fortune and Men's Eyes, Rothenberg became determined to make a difference in the lives of men recently released from prison and to have an impact on prison reform. His story is arguably a sweeping epic of a life well-lived and a man well-loved.

This memoir was a great read. Rothenberg writes the way he would talk to me if we were sitting at a local bar and he was telling me his story. I was absolutely fascinated by his move to create the Fortune Society and I found his call to fight for social justice to be quite moving. In my experience, few people would take the leap from the glitz and glamour of his theatre life (he worked intimately with Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor during the run of Hamlet on Broadway) to working for pennies, believing whole-heartedly in the difference he was making for hundreds of men and women just out of prison with nowhere to go, nowhere to sleep, and no money for food.

I have so much respect for this man who took a leap of faith and became an outspoken critic of our penal system while also serving others hands-on. He believes in the goodness of people and he practices what he preaches. His story integrates accepting others and learning to accept himself. This book was eye-opening as well as emotionally satisfying, and I am glad I took the time to pick it up.

The Rest of the Story

It's no secret that I work in theatre, so when I found out Arthur Laurents was coming out with a sequel to his first memoir, Original Story By, I picked up this one.  The Rest of the Story fills in some gaps and tells some new tales.

Arthur Laurents penned many movies (including The Way We Were), plays, and musicals in collaboration with some famous names (Gypsy, anyone?).  In this tale, Laurents picks up where he left off in 2000.  His partner of 52 years died in 2006 leaving him bereft, and he directed the revivals of his two most famous works, Gypsy and West Side Story, since then.  He completed this memoir just weeks before he passed on.

Most of this work is devoted to Laurents waxing nostalgic on his relationship with Tom.  They met when they were both young, beautiful, and carefree, and they spent five glorious decades together.  Even when discussing his political past (he was "informed" on during the HUAC McCarthy hearings) and his work, it all revolves around and relates back to his relationship with Tom.  I understand that he was grieving for his lost love until his dying day. 

If you are a fan of musical theatre and are looking for good dish, I would suggest you hit up Original Story By first, then come to this work.  If you, however, love love and can't get enough of those relatoinships that last a lifetime through good times and bad, come to this memoir first.  Laurents is honest and heartfelt; he lays his love on the table for all to see.  It's heatbreaking and slightly voyeuristic, but enjoyable nonetheless.

My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away

Happy Celebrity Memoir Friday!  Today we have Rue McClanahan's My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away. 

Eddi-Rue McClanahan, known as Rue, most famous for playing Blanche on The Golden Girls, is a veteran stage and film actress who has lived quite a life.  This memoir chronicles her life through her childhood in Oklahoma and on through her first five husbands (she is now on her sixth) and her many other engagements and entanglements.  Rue consistently reminds her readers to say, "Let me think about it."  If she had said that, she might have had a few less adventures--and marriages.

This was a truly fun read.  It wasn't heavy or deep, but it certainly was fun.  Rue has lived quite a life and it was a hoot to sit down with her tales of hilarity and misadventure to lighten up my week.  She has no qualms with making her love of men quite clear, and she is a riot on this topic.  She has said yes to more engagements than I have dresses in my closet!  She owns her mistakes and lays it all out on the table for her readers, warts and all. 

I appreciate this and I enjoy her writing style.  It's relaxed and it's fun, and it sounds an awful lot like we are sitting next to each other at a dinner party or in her living room late at night sharing secrets over a glass of wine.  This is what I love about Celebrity Memoir Friday--juicy gossip and a tall glass of wine.  Sit back and enjoy this weekend.

Spark: How Creativity Works

Spark: How Creativity Works by Julie Burstein is a collection of essays put together from radio interviews from the public radio program Studio 360.  It follows such luminaries as Chuck Close, Tony Kushner, Richard Serra, Yo Yo Ma, Alison Krauss, and many others as their stories are grouped into sections that explore such themes as devastation and loss, relationship with family, collaboration, and inspiration.  The common thread through all of these essays is the subtitle of this book--how creativity works in different facets of our lives.

This book was readable in a sitting or two but contained so much power in it's pages.  Reading all these interviews with such incredible artists like those listed above and so many others was inspiring and interesting and eye-opening.  This book ran the gamut from entertaining to moving; reading to a composer's account of taking his mother back to his childhood home in New Orleans for the fist time after the storm was heart-breaking.  On the flip side, Patti Lupone's story about her mother was funny and endearing.  Delving into the musical partnership between Alison Krauss and Robert Plant was educational as well as fun to read.  All of these stories have merit.

If you are interested in this kind of subject--how does creativity work and what kind of information do artists have to pass on to me--this is a great book to pick up.  Hopefully you will find inspiration in these stories as much as I have!

Admit One: Ten Steps to Choosing Your Acting or Musical Theatre College Program

Admit One: Ten Steps to Choosing Your Acting or Musical Theatre College Program by Chelsea Cipolla and John West is a hand book of the greatest proportions, and one that all high school students looking to join the ranks of prestigious alumni everywhere should use as their bible.  It's a step-by-step examination of how to about transitioning from being a high school star to further studying your craft in higher education.

The greatest piece of advice Cipolla and West offer happens to be in their preface.  I have seen this many times--young actors saying, "Why do I need to go to college?  I am super talented."  Well yes, I am sure you are, but you are in competition with highly trained people who have secured strong connections.  You need a training program and you need an education.  The authors here are adamant about this from the beginning, and it's wonderful to see.  They are encouraging while still being forthright.

When I say this guide is step-by-step, I mean it.  It goes through the nooks and the crannies, the details and the minutiae, and the do's and the don'ts of this crazy process called "college auditions."  It can be overwhelming and at times can feel exclusive, but this book demystifies the process--from simply deciding to go from the beginning to figuring out what you can afford.  Of course it hits the creative process as well, and each chapter has places for notes and enough margin area to take your own notes in.

It's a keeper for sure.

A Raisin In The Sun

Many of you don't know this, but I have been reading one play per week since the summer.  I see a good bit of theatre but realized this spring that I don't read enough plays, so I have been following one playwright at a time.  I started with August Wilson's Century Cycle, then moved on to the Wendy Wasserstein cannon, and followed this with Harold Pinter.  After the office fire, which destroyed the last of Pinter's plays I had not yet read, I discovered that I could rent A Raisin In The Sun by Lorraine Hansberry on my Kindle from the library.  Yessiree, that sounds right up my alley.  I rarely review plays, but it would be a crime to not express the love and thankfulness that this play was written and shared with us mere mortals.

It's the story of the Younger family in Chicago's South Side in the 1950's.  Living in a cramped two bedroom apartment with the shared bathroom in the hall, Lena lives with her daughter, Beneatha, who aspires to be a doctor; her son Walter Lee, who dreams of attaining riches through a liquor store; his wife Ruth and their son, Travis.  When the family receives a settlement of $10,000, Lena uses the money to put a down payment on a house for them--in a white neighborhood.

There are times that reading something so beautiful is not enough.  Feeling that my heart it taken from my chest and squeezed just tight enough to make me gasp for air--that's a mark of a stunning work of art.  I was halfway through this, considered a classic in the theatre, when it occurred to me that I may never be the same.  Mama's strength and her love for her children--even when they tear at her soul--is admirable and foolish at the same time.  Ruth's resolve is a killer, and at times you want to shake her awake.  Walter Lee's determination to provide for his family--that which eventually causes his downfall--is gut wrenching.  Lawd knows, we have all made similar mistakes.  Beneatha's youthful indignance is so relatable it's ridiculous, and 
at times it is painful. Oh, the follies of youth.

I closed this play both shattered and renewed, devastated yet hopeful.

Wendy And The Lost Boys

I am madly in love with Wendy Wasserstein in that oh-em-gee-your-plays-rock-my-world kind of way, so reading Wendy and the Lost Boys by Julie Salamon was a no-brainer.  I should give you a bit of background first...

About six months ago I realized that I was seeing a lot of shows but not reading many plays, so I took it upon myself to start reading one play a week to pick up on a large chunk of work that I was unfamiliar with.  To simplify my process, I choose one playwright at a time and read their whole cannon before proceeding, and I am working on alternating males and females while mixing up race as well.  I started with August Wilson's Century Cycle, then moved on to Wendy Wasserstein since the theatre I work for had a long-standing relationship with her, and my boss knew her well.  I thought it was appropriate.  (I know you don't care, but I am on Harold Pinter right now.  What this means is, you would have an additional book review each week if I were reviewing the plays--but I digress.)

I fell in love with Wendy and her characters.  I relate to her work and I am moved by seeing her in all of her characters--the search for oneself and the longing for the unattainably perfect life we were told we could have, or, even worse, the life our parents want us to have without regard for what we want.  Wendy and I might be separated by a few decades in age, but I relate to her work so deeply.  Reading Wendy and the Lost Boys was an incredibly enjoyable experience.

On top of getting down and dirty with Wendy's family (what a clan!), this book also added another chapter to the "History of Off-Broadway" cannon.  You can't have a history of Off-Broadway without a history of it's people, and this book is no exception.  It joins Free For All: Joe Papp, The Public, and The Greatest Theater Story Ever Told by Kenneth Turan and Joseph Papp as one of my favorite theatre history books.

I have no doubt that there are some inaccuracies as people claim--Wendy passed away over 5 years ago and was an incredibly private person anyhow when alive--but I appreciate the story as a whole and love the tribute that this book is to her and to her work, the work that I admire so deeply.