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And in London, at "Sweet Bird..."

Posted by:	Delvino 04:28 pm EDT 08/13/14
In reply to:	re: A few memories of Lauren Bacall - mamaleh 01:43 pm EDT 08/13/14

I had seats for my first night in London. A big mistake, of course, for I'd arrived at dawn that day (overnight from NYC) and by curtain time, enhanced by a couple of glasses of vino, was reeling from jet lag. I was smack in the front row of the stalls. I fought the fatigue, but was in what I call the head rolling stage, when drifting off resulted in my neck snapping me back to attention. Oh, it's a terrible visual, someone drifting off in the theater, then suddenly roaring back to attention. It happened to me at the end of the second act (the part without The Princess), and then, no matter how hard I tried, in the third act. Bacall's biggest scene with Chance. At the curtain call, Bacall looked down and gave me a deadly, withering look, the likes of which I've never experienced before. It was more than clear she'd seen a rude American behaving rudely. In my decades of theater-going, I don't think I ever did that before. Or since. Years later, I saw her buying whitefish salad in Zabar's. I was right there, and almost spoke up. Words failed, luckily. Can you imagine her reaction, if I had said "Loved you in SWEET BIRD in the UK. You won't remember, but the night I was there, I dozed off in the front row." No, there was no anecdote to summon, just my remembered humiliation. So I just glanced into her stunning grey eyes and manages a nervous smile. Not returned. Across the footlights or at a grocery counter, she was intimidating.

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Previous:	re: A few memories of Lauren Bacall - mamaleh 01:43 pm EDT 08/13/14
Next:	re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - lowwriter 10:42 am EDT 08/14/14

Thread:	re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - lowwriter 10:42 am EDT 08/14/14 re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - AlanScott 11:10 pm EDT 08/13/14 re: And in London, - SidL 05:10 pm EDT 08/13/14 re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - writerkev 04:55 pm EDT 08/13/14 (3) re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - JereNYC 11:31 am EDT 08/14/14 (2) re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - Michael_Portantiere 04:22 pm EDT 08/14/14 re: And in London, at "Sweet Bird..." - writerkev 12:31 pm EDT 08/14/14

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