An Evening To Remember: Some Enchanted Evening; The Ritz Theatre January 2005

In November 2004 near the close of Main Streamed, I got an email from Pat Mangano, the production manager at the time, to audition for the Ritz's production of Some Enchanted Evening. I ignored it. I was well aware that the Ritz was opening their 20th anniverary season with the show but knew it was a very "white" show. I just thought she emailed me to be nice. Sometimes theatre companies will call black actors to audition for white shows so they don't seem like they are ignoring ethnic talent. I find this annoying. It wastes my time. There was time when I would go audition for these types of shows. I don't anymore since I do my research on shows before I audition for them if I'm not familiar with the show. Some Enchanted Evening is a musical revue like Ain't Misbehavin' and Smokey Joe's Cafe. It puts 40 songs by Rogers and Hammerstien in a loosely themed concert. Songs like: Sound of Music, Oklahoma and of course the title song Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific. These shows are predominantly cast with white actors so I didn't think the Ritz was really interested in using me in the show. Pat called me twice before I called her back. After she called me the second time I realised my performace in Ain't Misbehavin' really opended some eyes at the Ritz and they wanted me to do the show. So when I auditioned it felt like a formality. There were a lot of white male actors at the audition but I knew they really wanted me. After my audition Bruce Cureless ( who directed me in Ain't Misbehavin' last year) asked me to come to the call back audition. I told Bruce I couldn't make it. I honestly didn't feel like going all the way to New Jersey to audition again when I knew they were going to cast me anyway! Bruce said that was fine and said he would be in touch. He called me the next week and offered me the singing role of Billy. It was a five actor musical revue. The cast was Maureen Corson ( who's brother stared on ER as the doctor who had a helicopter fall on him), Janet Wilkie, Fernado Gonzalez, Ellen Kirk and me. They were alot older than me and they could all read music fluently. I was behind my music by week two of rehearsals and Ellen secretly went to Bruce and suggested he replace me. I found out from Bruce. I wasn't offended. I understood. I am an extremly confident perfomer and I have a bad habbit of not going all out in rehearsal. I tend to mark myself. I'm a gamer. I need an audience. Rehearsal tend to bore me. So I took it as an challenge. Four weeks before the show opened I was off book before everyone in the cast. I knew my lyrics, harmonies and choragraphy and quickly regained the confidence of my castmates. I have genius when it comes to acting and performing. I just know how to do it well. I never had the training of my counter parts but I could allways hold my own and out shine them. Not upstage them, out shine them. There is a difference. I am a generous performer. I learned early on that you can never over commit to a role only over act. You over act when you haven't totally commited. I was totally comitted. The show opened to very good reviews though I recieved a luke warm review in the local newspaper. Robert Baxter who gave me a glowing review in Ain't Misbehavin' the year before gave me a medicore one for this show. It was jaring at first but I didn't have a good show by my standards the night he came so I agreed with him. Our last performace was actually after the run at the theatre had closed. We had a mini concert at the Kimmel Center for Perfoming Arts downtown to close the run. My next show was the role of my career...