[Some theater stories are just too good to go unshared. Life in the theater can be more bizarre than even the world of espionage, accounts of some of which I’ve related several times on ROT. (In fact, I’m in the midst of posting a series of reminiscences of my tour of duty as an intel officer in West Berlin in the 1970s.) I also recounted some ”Theater War Stories” on this blog on 6 December 2010. Below are a couple of stories, both from the New York Times that demonstrate what I mean. They’re not ”war stories” in the sense that they don’t concern a problem or disaster onstage or backstage, but they certainly illustrate that in the world of professional theater, you’re likely to run into all manner of odd occurrences.]
WHITE RODENT FINDS FAME ON THE GREAT WHITE
WAY
by Corey Kilgannon
[The following
story, which is about the Tony-, Drama Desk-, and Theatre World-winning Broadway
production of Simon Stephens’s The Curious
Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Ethel Barrymore Theater, 5 October 2014-4 September 2016) ran on the Times
website (https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/11/nyregion/white-rat-in-the-curious-incident-is-unexpected-broadway-hit.html) on 10 November 2014. It appeared in the print edition of 11
November in the front section with the headline: “A White Rat Finds Fame on the
Great White Way.”]
‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the
Night-Time’ Has an Unexpected Star: A Rat Named Toby
The
Broadway cast was less than thrilled when it found out who one of their fellow
performers would be. It made them squeamish — not because of who it was but
because of what it was.
They
would be sharing the stage, it turned out, with a live rat.
“The
idea of a rat was not exactly familiar to me,” said Alex Sharp, an actor who
plays the leading role. “It was just a thing you see in the subway that has
diseases.”
But
Toby, the name of the rat kept by the teenager with autism at the center of the
show, “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time,” has managed to win
over the affection of audiences and the cast — so much so that the rodent role
has been expanded.
“She’s
a special rat,” said Benjamin Klein, the associate director of the play, which
opened in October to critical acclaim.
Indeed,
Toby is not your subway-scampering, stomach-turning gray varmint. She — Toby is
a female, but plays a male in the play — is a 9-month-old, affable albino who
has the cast and crew of the play thoroughly wrapped around her long, tapered
tail.
“I’m
just a rat servant now — I’m the rat butler,” said Lydia DesRoche, Toby’s
trainer, who says she has become sort of a social secretary, chaperoning Toby
as she interacts with the smitten cast and crew backstage at the Ethel
Barrymore Theater. “People come to visit me after the show just to meet Toby.”
Toby is
even more popular than Dr. Watson, a cuddly golden retriever puppy who also
appears in the play.
“She
just makes being backstage a completely different experience,” said Francesca
Faridany, who plays a special-education teacher to Christopher Boone, the
British teenager who is the main protagonist.
Ms.
DesRoche, who runs a service called Sit Stay dog training, has prepared animals
for the stage — in fact, she trained two dogs for the current Broadway
production of “Of Mice and Men.” But she had never worked with a rat until the
producers of “Curious Incident” called to offer her the opportunity of
furnishing and training a rat for Broadway.
“I was
terrified of them; I run screaming when a rat crosses my path,” she said. “But
I wanted the job, and if that involved touching a rat, I’m going to do it.”
Ms.
DesRoche adopted Toby in September from Social Tees Animal Rescue in the East
Village.
“They
told me she was going to be” — and here, she put her hands over Toby’s little
ears and whispered — “snake food.”
Toby
was initially afraid of people and would not venture out of her cage, said Ms.
DesRoche, who began by getting Toby more comfortable to being handled in small
doses.
Then,
in rehearsals, she held Toby offstage to acclimate Toby to the flashing lights
and loud noises.
She
said she trained Toby “the same way I would train a dog.”
“Instead
of being motivated by treats, she likes to explore and meet new people,” she
said. “So if I wanted her to do something, that would be the reward. I’d praise
her and let her go meet somebody.”
While
Ms. DesRoche takes Toby home on the weekends to her apartment on the Upper West
Side, the rat goes home on weeknights with members of the cast and crew. There
is no shortage of takers; members with children usually get first choice.
As she
sat in the greenroom behind the stage before a recent Wednesday matinee, Ms.
Faridany fed Toby string beans from her lunch and described how thrilled her
4-year-old daughter was when she got to bring Toby home for a couple of nights.
Sitting
nearby was Mr. Sharp, who, after initially being daunted by Toby’s presence,
now says, “She’s a clean lovely rat, like a little puppy.”
“At
first, she just stayed in the cage, and that was the relationship we had,” he
added. “Then they convinced me to take her home. Toby is one of Christopher’s
best friends, so it’s very important” to be on friendly terms.
Mr.
Klein said, “When we first told the cast we were having a real rat, people were
not very excited we would have a live rat around.” But now, he added, “this is
our star.”
Befitting
Toby’s status, the rat has her own dressing room alongside the other actors’
dressing rooms. She shares it with Dr. Watson, and a sign on the door reads,
“Puppy and Rat Room.”
Inside,
yes, there are light bulbs around the mirrors and fresh roses on the makeup
counter (Toby likes to nibble on roses). Also, on the counter is a long tube,
for scampering through, and a glass of water, which she climbs up onto, and
nearly hops into, as she drinks.
The
cage in the room is a formality, since Toby has free range. To satisfy the
rat’s insatiable appetite for playing with people, Ms. DesRoche allows her to
stay in the greenroom where the cast passes through. Ms. DesRoche has also made
a preshow ritual of escorting Toby throughout the backstage area, for short
play-dates with those she encounters.
Since
rats like small spaces, Ms. DesRoche said, Toby had little problem going into
the small carrying case that Christopher carries onstage. Plus, Ms. DesRoche
said, Toby does not run away “because rats don’t leave when they have it good.”
Toby
displayed such skills and appeal that the decision was made to amplify her
stage presence. During rehearsals and previews, Toby, who appears for much of
the second half of the play, was kept inside her cage.
“But
seeing how good our Toby was, we said, ‘Let’s see what we can do,’ ” said Mr.
Klein, the associate director.
Now,
Toby hops out to nuzzle, and sometimes scamper over Mr. Sharp. Ms. DesRoche has
also taught Toby to run up Mr. Sharp’s arm, across his shoulders and down the
other arm.
Toby is
also popular with audiences. She elicits hearty laughter when she appears
onstage, and Ms. DesRoche said that when she walked out the stage door with
Toby on her shoulder, fans swarmed and snapped photographs.
There
are a few holdouts in the cast who have not joined the Toby fan club. “But,”
Ms. DesRoche said, “at least they don’t jump and scream anymore when they see
her.”
Before
a recent performance, Ian Barford, who plays Christopher’s father, passed a
crowd of fellow cast members gathered around Toby, and mouthed the words, “I do
not like that rat,” as if not to let Toby or her fans hear.
It was
getting close to show time and in the dressing room, Ms. DesRoche held up the
cage. “Toby, five minutes,” she said, and the rat scampered into her cage.
* * * *
THAT BROADWAY BABY, NOW IN ‘IN TRANSIT’
by Joanne Kaufman
[The story below, concerning
the a cappella
musical In Transit (book, music, and lyrics by Kristen
Anderson-Lopez, James-Allen Ford, Russ Kaplan and Sara Wordsworth)
currently-running at the Circle in the
Square Theatre (opened 11 December 2016), was posted on the Times’
website, (https://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/28/theater/broadway-baby-twan-in-transit-from-pittsburgh-civic-light-opera.html) on 28 December 2016; it ran in print
on 3 January 2017 in the “Arts” section with the headline: “He’s Short and
Phony, but Finds Steady Work on Broadway.”]
When
Margo Seibert joined the cast of the Broadway show “In Transit” this past fall
and learned that the script called for an infant, she knew who’d be perfect for
the part: the theater veteran Twan Baker.
He made
his debut in a 2009 production of “Into the Woods,” as the newborn offspring of
the Baker and the Baker’s Wife at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera. Since then,
Twan — an 18-inch-long, 10-pound (just a guess) blue-eyed doll with an alert
expression — has appeared in five Broadway shows, including “Cinderella,” “The
Bridges of Madison County” and “Honeymoon in Vegas.” James Earl Jones cuddled
him this summer in “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” in an “Encores!” Off-Center
production.
And
yes, that was Twan as Marie (he’s clearly versatile), the love child of George
and Dot in the recent Encores! rendition of “Sunday in the Park With George.”
(Word is he’ll be auditioning to join the human stars Jake Gyllenhaal and
Annaleigh Ashford when the show moves to Broadway in the spring.)
“Prop
babies are usually hollow,” said Hunter Foster, who played the Baker in that
Pittsburgh production. “When they handed us Twan it was the first time I had a
prop baby that felt like a baby.”
Credit
Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera’s prop coordinator, Marty Savolskis, who bought a
large doll off the rack at a toy store and filled it with beans to create heft.
“It
sounds simple, but the actors got so excited,” Mr. Savolskis said. “Adding that
weight really seemed to change their experience onstage.”
An
infant so special — and so solid — apparently deserved a name. “We thought
Antoine suited him,” said Mr. Foster, who shortened it to Twan, in homage to a
character in the R. Kelly rap opera “Trapped in the Closet.”
When
the Pittsburgh run ended, Mr. Foster and Brynn O’Malley, who had played his
wife, kidnapped Twan, and from that day forward have shared custody and
occasionally performed in the same shows as their charge: with Mr. Foster in
“Bridges,” Ms. O’Malley in “Annie” and “Honeymoon in Vegas.” They have also
served as talent agents, publicists and stage parents — creating accounts for
him on Twitter (@Twan_Baker) and Facebook, and dropping him off at stage doors
and rehearsal studios all over town.
“If
there’s a dog in a show, it’s usually a real dog,” Ms. O’Malley said. “If
there’s a baby, it’s a doll and you really appreciate it if it feels real.”
“The
less you have to pretend the better,” added Ms. O’Malley, who was at first
given what she describes as “an old CPR baby” when she reprised her “Into the
Woods” role at the Kansas City Repertory Theater.
“It was
really bulky and had big plastic arms and legs and smelled like stale talcum
powder,’’ she recalled. “It made me queasy, so how could I pretend I loved it?”
(At her request, Twan stepped in instead.)
Ms.
Seibert made Twan’s intimate acquaintance in a 2012 production of “Pregnancy
Pact” at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont. When she learned that her “In
Transit” character would have a baby by that musical’s end, she texted Ms.
O’Malley to see if the doll was looking for work.
“It’s
fun to have a bit of Broadway lore,” Ms. Seibert said, leading the way
backstage at the Circle in the Square Theater, where Twan dangled
unceremoniously from a hook on a wall near the stage, his head covered in a
white cap, his body encased in a Baby Bjorn.
Frankly,
“In Transit” doesn’t ask all that much of Twan, who, by the looks of it, is a
slave to his art. For other roles he has been covered in blood or dirt. One of
his eyes opens while the other tends to stay shut, perhaps the consequence of
reported rowdiness at the “Bridges” cast party.
“He’s
been through a lot,” Ms. O’Malley said tenderly. “And it’s only made him a
better actor.”
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