Fully Committed Returns!

The energy around the theater is revving up as it always does before an opening, but this opening  seems so doggone special! Nathan is just sensational in his role (Sam!) which (if you all remember) he played 8 years ago! Then he was in his early 20’s and now (time is a bird and the bird IS on the wing!)—now he is 30 and what a difference a decade makes! His performance has grown by leaps and bounds— for those of you who remember it from the first incarnation you know how brilliant it was then –NOW it is truly incredible. What a gifted guy he is!  And how lucky we are to get some of that good ol’ Jeune Lune magic back in town and HERE AT THE JUNGLE! Good things never die!

Nathan Keepers 2010 © Michal Daniel

Speaking of good things: Joel Sass’s production of 39 STEPS opens at the Guthrie on Friday night, too. From all reports, the preview audiences have been giving it a standing ovation nightly. Casey (the director of Fully Committed) saw one of the previews and reports that it is fun, funny and beautifully done. Bravo, Joel! And another Bravo to 39 STEPS star Sarah Agnew (who will ever forget her splendid Syringa Tree here at Jungle home plate?)

Now the election is over, the pendulum swings right and America is still America –“did you ever see a lassie go this way and that way, go this way and that.” That old song. We know it well. But whatever your persuasion, we keep on goin’, bangin’ heads, bringin’ in the joy, roaring our laughter, singing our “new days” at every table we join. It’s a People’s Republic and down here at the Jungle we are going to make the most of it! 2011 season tickets are now on sale (a great season line up – with a Jungle Hamlet to boot)—get ‘em for your family, encourage your friends to come along! Heidi’s Restaurant will be opening after the New Year (where Vera’s WAS), the Uptown Bar will be moving into the movie theater across the street—and our real life on the avenue just keeps getting’ better and better. SOOOOO—See you around!

Glass Menagerie Comes Down as Fully Committed Goes Up

The Glass Menagerie closed on Sunday with a post-show party in the basement green room. The next day the set started to come down. The nature of theater is ephemeris personified: a world is created, lives for a brief time and then all vestiges of it suddenly disappear. Like love letters in the sand: written in the afternoon with a stick and by evening completely washed away by the tide.

On Monday, Casey Stangl arrived from Los Angeles to begin rehearsals with Nathan Keepers rollicking performance in Fully Committed, which opens Friday, November 5 (get your tickets NOW). It’s always so much fun to see her. We are old theater buddies, Casey and I. As many of you may remember, she was the artistic director of her own theater here, Eye of the Storm Theatre. Casey now lives in Los Angeles with her husband John, directing plays and staging operas around the country.

So, yesterday Nathan read the play for the staff (a Jungle rehearsal period always begins with a read through of the play for the staff). Nathan is truly hilarious in this piece. Truly better than ever. It is amazing how new it all seems, how fresh and delightful! Casey and Nathan are now rehearsing at Old Arizona Studios (if you have never visited Old Arizona go on over – there is a charming little restaurant on the first floor and a groovy theater next to it. Go to Old Arizona.com for directions and info, and tell them Bain sent you!)

Today the stage is completely clear and Wu Chen, our amazing lead builder, and his crew are beginning to put up the Fully Committed set – a room in a funky basement, with a circular stair to the restaurant floor above. Incidentally, the play is actually based on the real life story of a young actor in New York who worked as a reservationist (in the basement!) of a high-end NYC restaurant, which, it turned out, was the same restaurant that J.P. had worked in when he was a young chef in training (you remember the now-gone J.P. Restaurant that was across the alley from the Jungle? That J.P.! Serendipity was never so serendipitous!).

Get your tickets NOW for what will surely be the funniest holiday show in town! Laughter and Joy—that’s a Jungle holiday!

Ilona Lazar Memorial and Other Jungle News

So much going on in Jungle Land! We are working on the development of plans for a mural on the back exterior wall of the theater that will be lit and seen from the parking lot. We are early in the process so no design ideas yet, although south-of-the-border flowers definitely come to mind (orchids, plumeria, hibiscus). AND we are planning a facelift for the front of the Jungle with colored lights and banners that will light up the night.



Ilona Lazar



Excitement on the avenue is also ramping up with the promise of The Uptown Bar moving into the movie theater across Lyndale! And Heidi’s restaurant (which, south on Bryant, burned down a few months ago) is moving into Vera’s just down the way on Lyndale. All fun stuff. 

We mourn the passing of Ilona Lazar (the comptroller for the Children’s Theatre Company in the old days when John Donahue was the Artistic Director; her husband Bela was the comptroller for the Guthrie for many years). The Jungle is hosting an evening in celebration of her life on Monday, October 11, at 7 p.m. All are welcome. There will be food and drink, speeches, a slide/video show, camaraderie, spirit and fun in honor of this great lady. Also, you may want to tune your radio to MPR this afternoon as the broadcast is being sponsored, in part, in memory of Ilona. The approximate times that message will be read are:

The News (91.1 FM):  1:19pm and 3:48pm

The Classical Music Station (99.5 FM):  3:04pm, 5:04pm, 6:58pm

That’s it for today. Come see Wendy as Amanda in The Glass Menagerie. She delivers the performance of a lifetime, the show is beautifully mounted with stunning lighting by Jungle resident lighting designer Barry Browning and a beautiful soundscape designed by Sean Healey.  Just call Ryan or Cody or Eric at the Box Office and they will get you set you up with tickets! It plays nightly except Monday AND only two more weeks to go!  When you see Wendy at the Wedge don’t say, “Oh it’s over?  I’m sooo sorry I missed it!”  BE there! Till next time: Live bright, hope high and plan to VOTE!  See you at the JUNGLE!

The Iveys!

Wendy and I were the hosts this year—which means you have to dress. Getting ready was something. As Amanda Wingfield says in The Glass Menagerie: “We have to wear something don’t we?”

David Brewster, Star Tribune

Our first idea was white: white tails and tie for me, and a white satin gown with a white boa trimmed satin coat and white cloche for Wendy. This, however, was not to be; time flew and before we knew it the “week of” had arrived. So I opted for a classic black tux and we went into the Jungle’s costume storage for Wendy’s gown and found a stunning tulle creation that had been donated a couple of months before – pale blue and tan tulle over a tan satin underskirt and a bodice that looked as if it were made of scrunched paper—so strange and unusual, like something Tilda Swinton might wear!

The “night of” I discovered the tux rental shirt was too small and the collar choked me! So I grabbed a white shirt I bought at Costco two days before, jumped in my car, ran over to the theater and covered the buttons with black gaff tape, raced back home, dressed and went to the Iveys! No one the wise.

Great fun at the show. As you know, Wendy won the Lifetime Achievement Award. All day we were bantering about who was going to win it – I kept telling her that it was definitely going to be her (I knew, of course) but she said, ”No, it couldn’t be me; I’ll be changing for The Full Monty (the number performed at the end of the show) so it can’t be me!“

And then when she came from the dressing room to the stage left wing where we were all watching the video of her life in the theater, she was so moved – we all were! And the Jungle‘s Mary’s Wedding won an Ivey for best production (all elements). I am so proud of the whole Jungle production team led by Jungle Associate Artistic Director Joel Sass (his concept, direction, costume and set design), Barry Browning (the Jungle’s extraordinary resident lighting designer), Sean Healey (sound designer), Carl Flink (choreographer) and Greg Brosofke (composer). Not to mentioned the exquisite performances by Alayne Hopkins and Sam Bardwell. 

The Jungle is now the proud recipient of FOUR Iveys, two for Joel (the other was for his set design for Last of the Boys), one for Bradley Greenwald for his splendid performance in I Am My Own Wife (directed by Joel!) and one for Sean’s sound design for Shipwrecked (also a Joel Sass production!). Kudos to the artists who make the theater!

IVEY AWARDS

For those of you who have not heard, Wendy and I are the hosts for the Ivey’s this year! Today, Thursday we did IVEY Interviews on Cities 97 and that was FUN! The interview will air early on the Sunday Twin Cities Insights show with Lee Valsvick, with a second airing on B.T. Turner’s Monday morning show. So, of course we had to pretend that we were talking on those days and not today! Like, “It’s going to be a great show TONIGHT and hope you will all come!”

By the way, if you haven’t reserved your seats for the IVEYs yet (Monday Sept 20^th at 7:30 at the Historic State Theatre), there are still tickets available. Go to IveyAwards.com.  For those of you who have never been, it’s a show like the Tony Awards, with a big set, an orchestra, beautiful and glamorous dresses, and celebrities in local theater, etcetera. So come and party with the Twin Cities theater crowd! Wendy will be wearing a sensational gown that we found in Jungle costume storage (it was donated to the theater some time ago but has never appeared in a play). I say, it’s a gown who’s time has come! I, of course, will be wearing the obligatory tux.

According to Scott Mayer, the head of the IVEYs, although awards are given (Lifetime Achievement, Emerging Artist, Best Actor, Scene Designer, etc.) the show is not just an awards ceremony but also a celebration of all Twin Cities theater.

If you have never been you will be amazed at how many people work in theater in our town!  Come celebrate theater in “our town” Monday at the Historic State Theatre at 7:30 p.m. See you there!   

Glass Menagerie Opening Weekend!



photo by Tucker Hollingsworth



The Jungle has just opened The Glass Menagerie, featuring the one and only Wendy Lehr. Wendy and I have known each another for almost 50 years, sharing the spotlight in countless productions. Working with her is now and always has been so much fun. Those of you who go back a few years will remember us in The Old Kieg Of Malfi at Children’s Theatre Company and, of course, in that legendary production of Cinderella (with me as the Ugly Stepmother and Wendy as my daughter Pearl). More recently we played in The House Of Blue Leaves here at the Jungle along with last year’s The Gin Game.

The trust that we have built over the years allows things to grow and bloom with such assurance and confidence. I always give opening night flowers and little gifts to the actors and stagehands and I found a truly delightful stuffed monkey (at Roger Beck Florists, who always contributes gorgeous flowers for the lobby on opening weekend).  I knew she would like it (along with the blue flower and box of chocolates). The monkey delighted her to no end and it will probably live in her dressing room throughout the run!

Wendy gives a sensational performance as Amanda Wingfield. She brings an empathetic and compassionate hilarity to the role and she imbues the famous jonquil monologue at the top of the second act with a lyricism that is pure, vintage Tennessee Williams, laced with flights of romantic fancy that never fail to entrance and delight me. Wendy (when she has her wig and make-up and costume on) looks exactly the way I imagine Amanda Wingfield would look. Amanda is probably 55 years old who and has lived her life in poverty, in the tenements and under great duress. She should look careworn, burdened by life, although resilient. When a younger actress plays the character, I don’t think you get the real Amanda.

photo by Tucker Hollingsworth

Opening weekend went smoothly, with appreciative audiences on both Friday and Saturday nights. The opening night party in the lobby after the show was so much fun: actors mingling with the audience, great food by Eric (of the box office): shrimp, cheese, pineapple upside-down-cake, wine and beer. There’s nothing like the energy of opening weekend, celebrating with actors and designers (like sound designer extraordinaire Sean Healey and lighting designer Barry Browning). Try it; you’ll like it!