Wonderland Burlesque's 'The Big Interview' Quiz - Part Two

Wonderland Burlesque's

'The Big Interview' Quiz

Part Two

Today, we continue with our focus on the arts. 

Imagine if you were a television, radio or newspaper reporter and it was your job to conduct interviews with people you either admire intensely or from whom you would like to demand answers.

That's the fantasy that fuels today's quiz. I want to know whom you would like to interview, and just as importantly, what is it you want to know. What's the burning issue? What's that one question you're dying to get the answer to?

Explain your reasons for picking the individual. What is it about them that intrigues you?

Oh, and you should approach this as if - they have to answer the questions you ask them! They have no choice. They have to answer and answer honestly. And they can't walk out on you.

This one had so many applicable categories that I actually had to split it into three parts. Last week, we tackled certain aspects of the arts. Today, we complete them, and next week, we'll move onto other facets of life.

Let's begin! Here are another dozen...

1/ A Female Actor

Bette Davis? Joan Crawford? Emma Stone? Jessica Lange?

Nope. 

I am going with Frances Farmer - pre-commitment, when the spark and fire in her was still burning bright. 

She was an original. Beautiful, yes. But also... her style of acting was light years ahead of anyone else's. It was instinctual and truly challenged whomever she was acting opposite. That's why it's a pity she got caught up in the sausage factory that was the Hollywood studio system. She belonged on stage. In the theatre. Her gifts were made of and for the moment. To see her tackle something like Hedda Gabler? 

There would've been a fire in the theatre every night. 

Her choices? Why did she feel so powerless? I know she was aware of her gift;. people told her who and what she was constantly. Why didn't she believe them? What part of her was so damaged that self-preservation never became part of her picture? 

Even if it meant going away and hiding.

Hiding, as a means of survival? Very underrated.

2/ A Male Actor

Speaking of hiding...

Monty Clift

I've read the biographies. They're good, but left me wanting. He remains a bit of cipher. People keeping secrets tend to live their lives compartmentally - sort of like when food on a plate doesn't touch one another; any cross contamination could remarkable affect the neighboring dish. I don't know if you've had the pleasure of the Jello melting while abutting your mashed potatoes... but as I child, I was expected to eat it anyway. 

Monty was physically very beautiful. He was also troubled and a bit of a mess. But he was a very passionate actor, involved in a number of incredible films. I want to discover if he was intellectually and emotionally stunted.

Beauty protects. 

Some use it as a shield, but a shield can just as quickly become a cocoon... or a sarcophagus.   

3/ A Male Comedian

Randy Rainbow.

He's a modern delight. Very creative. Very quick. Very prolific. He's the sort of social media influencer I can get behind (in more than one way!). His on-line and stage personas are very clearly defined, but what about the man pulling the strings. And such strings. How does he do it all? So frequently? With such high standards? He's a candle burning like a blowtorch. His output astounds me. Where does all that energy spring from? 

Of course, there are those who are simply energetically gifted. Driven, their passions rule their days (our dear Miss Maddie springs to mind.) I'm not one of them. Next to someone like Randy or Maddie, I come off looking like a damn sloth (though my nails are considerably shorter.)

Where does it spring from? All this energy? What drives him? And he can't possibly be all fairy dust and 'let me entertain you' twenty-four-seven. How does he recharge his batteries? And what's the big picture? The long plan? 

4/ A Female Comedian

Kathy Griffin or Kathleen Madigan? 

This is difficult because I heart both. Madigan is a classic storyteller and someone I would love to have a drink with. That said, she's not an open book by any means. Yes, she shares stories about her parents and her best friend, Louis Black... but she never touches on the dark stuff. Not that there necessarily is any, but when you drink that much?? I mean, come on. Or is that just part of the act? Possible. 

Kathy is an open book. She's been sharing it all - all along. The scarier things get, the more she shares. I adore her, and am so grateful that she's come through this cancer scare somewhat in tact (though she did lose half a lung.) 

I'm going with Madigan. She's about to go on tour again - and I would buy tickets but - Ticketmaster (ick) and Covid-19 (sick). She's an incredible entertainer, but remains a very unknown quantity - I'd like to meet the lady behind the act.

5/ A Dancer or Choreographer

Rudolph Nureyev or Tommy Tune, Twyla Tharp, or Bob Fosse? 

Nope. I want to talk to Daniel Ezralow. Who? 

He's the mastermind behind the choreography for the hideous monster that pummeled Broadway for 182 preview performances and a three year run, known as Spider Man: Shut Out The Dark. 

These interview quizzes have brought out the theatre nerd in me. I forgot how much I love/loathe this stuff. 

First, there's that title. Let's start there. Then the subject matter. It's a freaking comic book hero. I get that Cirque du Soleil made flying on strings magical again. It hasn't been this popular since Mary Martin hoisted herself around the stage as Peter Pan. But it's a comic book, which are static in nature and broadly drawn - not aesthetics that transfer well to live theatre, and, based on the photos I've seen of the production, I would conclude that it, indeed, did not come to life at all. It looks pointlessly ridiculous and dead on arrival. 

Then we have the matter of all the injuries. Seriously? They did a poll. People were buying tickets in the hopes of seeing someone get hurt on the night they attended (welcome to America!) 

Oh, and the topper - music by U2! 

Whaaaaat? 

Who thought this a good idea? What do they have to do with Spider Man? 

Okay, I realize that Daniel is only responsible for the, er, umm... 'choreography,' but other than the paycheck, exactly what was he getting out of this? Did he enjoy hurting actors? Risking injury? Did he like making a mockery of  Broadway and the theatre?  Did he feel like a god? Or merely an eight-year old boy playing with his plastic action figures? 

Quite frankly, put in a room alone with him, I'm not sure if I'd want to shake the man, slap the man, shake and then slap the man, or merely pepper him with questions until I made him cry. 

 

6/ A Screenwriter

Orson Welles

He wore many hats, and that's part of his appeal as an interview subject. And it's not his major successes that I'm actually interested in, but his misses, his almosts and the ones that got away. The Magnificent Ambersons would be thoroughly covered, of course. And his relationship with Eartha Kitt fascinates me, as well as what it must of been like to work with notoriously thorny Marlene Dietrich. 

I'd like to start the evening sober and keep plying him with the alcoholic beverage of his choice (no cigars, though, thank you for not smoking) - and it had better not be that syrup Mogen David crap. Of course, Welles is a masterful storyteller, and therefore, a skilled liar. I imagine him getting all huffy and puffy when I call him out on his bullshit, but also imagine him much too large of girth to extradite his bulk from the comfy, deep chair I'd provide for him in order to prevent him from storming off. 

7/ A Playwright

Edward Albee? Tennessee Williams? Joe Orton? Christopher Durang? John Guare? Paul Zindel? William Inge? Simon Gray. 

Gray is primarily known for two (among many) plays; Butley and Otherwise Engaged. 

In the mid-eighties I had the pleasure/misfortune(?) of participating in several phone conversations and a number of correspondences regarding a production I was mounting of his 1976 play, Dog Days - a show I still consider his best work. I had certain ideas for the production and the managing director insisted I pass them by Gray to obtain his permission. Permission was not granted, as Gray seemed to believe that my ideas were in fact his ideas, only he hadn't gotten around to incorporating them in a rewritten version he planned to one day mount (which he never did and never will.) 

Negotiations quickly broke down. He felt I was impertinent, while I found him to be a bit of a pompous ass. In any event, my production was scrapped a week before opening with a ton of money invested, actors to appease, and an empty theatre to fill. It marked the beginning of the end for me and my company.

I didn't possess the business acumen or the networking capabilities necessary to soldier on, so, after a second show folded minus an opening night... I threw my cards down on the table and folded, too.  

What do I want of him? I want to ask why, since he clearly possessed the ability and sensibilities of Edward Albee, did he not follow through and finish Dog Days? Or write anything in a similar vein? Why did he get lost in academia when he had so much to offer as a playwright? Granted, he went on to write many more successful (debatable) shows, but nothing that comes close to the bite of the universal truths found in Dog Days. 

I'd also like to apologize because... I wanted what I wanted. I was stubborn, as only the young can be, and rather naïve. That he bothered with me at all? Well... that was rather nice of him, actually. 

8/ A Film or Stage Director

George Cukor? Billy Wilder? John Waters.

I adored John Waters early works. I could relate to their DIY esthetics. His early work has proven incredibly creative and durable. He understood the potency of the deplorables long before the days of the covidiots. It's a pity that he won't seize the day and exploit our run of recent lunacy with a new movie. Only he could get to the marrow of this country's current embrace of absurdity. 

I've often wondered if he regretted going 'mainstream' and if he ever considered returning to his roots of guerilla-style filmmaking. There was something more immediate and satisfying about his work back in the day that has gotten lost beneath the gloss of traditional Hollywood. 

But then, everybody loves money, so who could blame him. 

9/ A Film or Stage Producer

Harold Prince

Imagine all he's seen, heard and knows. The talent he has had the privilege of working with! The Sondheim stories alone, worth the price of admission.  The shows and the stars! Evita, Company, A Little Night Music, Cabaret, Follies, Candide, Phantom of The Opera, Fiddler On The Room, to name but a few. Some he produced, some he produced and directed, some he directed. 

I'd love to hear about the making of the film A Little Night Music starring Elizabeth Taylor. There had to be a bit of drama behind the scenes, as it involved Taylor... and wherever Elizabeth goes, there goes...

10/ A Costume Designer

Edith Head? Fascinating. But, no.

Adrian. 

Gilbert Adrian. Adrian Adolph Greenberg. Gowns by Adrian.

I don't know if I have a full appreciation of his designs, as they lack the sort of lines and shape I treasure, but they were certainly of their time and proved quite successful for him. 

It's the films he worked on and the people he worked with and for that fascinate me. What must of it been like to work with Harlow, Hepburn, Shearer, and Crawford... and go up against the formidable Louis B. Mayer when it came to costumes for Garbo's first (and last) romantic comedy? 

Ah, the films. The Women, The Wizard of Oz, Camille, Grand Hotel, Dinner At Eight, The Philadelphia Story... 200 in all. 

To work with such powerful women, he must have been very good at keeping secrets.

Ah, but then... only Gloria Gaynor knew for sure.

11/ A  Newspaper Reporter or Reviewer

Hmmm. Frank Rich. Ben Bentley. Peter Marks. Clive Barnes. Carol McCauley. 

Can I do a panel interview? 

No. It would last a week. 

Carol McCauley is the most clever. I've always admired her tongue. 

Frank Rich has certainly seen it all. 

But it's Peter Marks who shares my current distaste for what's become of the Broadway Musical. And since I like it when people agree with me, I'll have him over for tea and we'll compliment each other on our astute assessments. 

He can also tell me about all the horrors he's had to sit through and share gossip. Although, to ensure the latter I might have to put a little something in that tea.

12/ A Television Interviewer

Barbara Walters

I rather despise her. I admire what's she's managed to accomplish, but disapprove of her methods and the way she's conducted herself since. Ethics? None. Though she'll defend her actions, no doubt. 

I will never forgive her for what she did to Rick Martin. That's not how you 'out' someone. In fact... you don't 'out' someone. That's a private matter for the individual to decide. She saw him as a means of getting something for herself. I have a feeling she has no soul and I'd love to grill her about the careless ways she treated people in order to forge a career. I'd also like to ask her to justify her haughty and implausible, "I take the high road" attitude. Such bunk. She's a hypocrite. Her utter lack of integrity, coupled with her single-minded ambition is the only thing she should be remembered for. 

And she can cram that whole 'a woman struggling to make it in a man's world.' A man would never behave or get away with what she pulled. Because she was a woman, people felt they could trust her. 

Well, she certainly proved them wrong.

--- ---

Oh, that's enough of that. Oh, my. You get me started talking about the arts and I become so persnickety - such a cynical snob. Ick. (And, let's be honest, a bit of a bore.)

I'm nothing but an armchair critic; a part of me I do my best to keep in check. He's a snore. 

Okay, your turn. Who intrigues? Who do you adore? Whose feet would you like to hold to the fire?

Leave your answers in the comments section. I do enjoy hearing from you. These quizzes are a great way of 'getting to know you.' 

That's all for now. 

Next week, we'll visit more reality-based topics. Real life is so much more interesting, don't you think?

Until then...

Thanks for reading (and sharing!)

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