• Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play, John Coscia as “Kit Carson”
• Outstanding Set Construction, John Coscia
• Outstanding Set Decoration, Chip Gertzog & John Coscia
• Outstanding Set Design, John Coscia & Chip Gertzog

Photos of the set are available in the photo gallery.

Laura: This is the ShowBizRadio podcast for November 26th, 2006.

Mike: This evening Laura and I volunteered down at Ford’s Theatre in downtown Washington DC. We saw A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas. We had a lot of fun. We got to meet some of the other ushers of course. We got to stuff inserts into the playbill and then help take tickets. We met a lot of people. The theater was basically sold out. It was a great show.

Laura: This was a standout show. Everybody did an amazing job. I enjoy ushering at Ford’s Theatre because they do such interesting things with the sets. It’s really a lot of fun to watch.

Mike: This show was just magical and it was incredible what they did with their set. I have never had so much fun watching A Christmas Carol. It’s almost the standard because there was so many unique things going on in the show.

Laura: Such as the entrances of the three ghosts: Christmas Past, Present and Future were incredible how they came out.

Mike: It was also the most colorful costumes I have ever seen for a Dickens’ play. It almost felt like Alice in Wonderland. You had giant hats and you had bright greens and just super colors. It was just so bright. The set itself was mostly white so the color just stood out. The lighting was incredible. It was a wonderful show.

Laura: Ebeneezer Scrooge was played by Richard Poe. He did an outstanding job. I was really impressed. When he first came out as Charles Dickens he looked up and acknowledged President Lincoln’s box with a nod that I thought was really classy.

Mike: All in all this was a very classy show. If you can get tickets to see A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas at Ford’s Theatre, you should do it. It’s playing through December 30th and we’re going to call this a standout show. We really encourage you to go see this show.

Laura: A couple weeks ago I went over to The James Lee Community Center in Falls Church, Virginia and auditioned for a part in the upcoming Spring show of the Providence Players, Good Help is Hard to Murder. Auditioning is always a nerve wracking process, but it was a lot of fun. There were some newcomers and there were some returning people that I had worked with as a Providence Players groupie for Mike’s play The Time of Your Life. Unfortunately I didn’t get a part, but that’s ok.

Mike: And she had a fun time, I could tell. It was an all female cast. So I was sitting there. There were basically three men in the audience and there were thirty women all trying for eight different female roles. So it was a lot of fun to watch.

Laura: It was fun. We all got to try to do southern accents and I came away wanting to go rent Steel Magnolias.

Mike: Speaking of auditions, we do have an updated list of upcoming auditions on our website.

Laura: If you do go to an audition and you found it out on our website, let the theatre know you heard about their audition at ShowBizRadio.net.

Mike: Getting ready for Thanksgiving, I took our digital camera out and made sure all the memory cards I had were cleared off of old photos. And I found a whole set of pictures from backstage of my show back in October, The Time of Your Life. So I’m going to put those up and make them available. There are even some videos of walking around the sets so you can see what it’s like going from backstage to onstage and then what it looked like from the theatre, looking out on the house from the stage.

Laura: And lastly, there are a ton of Christmas shows playing throughout the Northern Virginia, DC, Maryland region. Definitely recommend that you try to go see some of those shows. We have as complete a list as we can on our website: ShowBizRadio.net/Christmas/.

Mike: And now, on with the show.

The list is also available as a poster [PDF 112KB].

• Newsboy: It can’t hurt to ask
• Willie: Play games
• Joe: It’s ok to play with toys
• Kit: Take a nap
• Wesley: It’s ok to ask for help
• Dudley: Carry your address book with you
• Tom: Fall in love with someone
• Kitty: Dance, even if you’re alone
• Lorene: Be compassionate
• Blick: Don’t be a jerk
• Joe: Buy a newspaper
• Harry: You can make people cry or make people laugh, you don’t have to know which
• Nick: Appreciate the time you share with others
• Krupp and McCarthy: Real friendships last
• Harry: Never give up
• Society Lady: It’s ok to try something new
• Kitty: Dream of home
• Mary L: A great hat does wonders
• Newsboy: It’s ok to change careers
• Killer: Don’t let people insult you
• Sailor: You don’t always get what you want
• Kit: Telling stories is an art
• Joe: Share your wealth
• Tom and McCarthy: It’s ok to ask questions of authority
• Kit: Lie about your age
• Nick and Krupp: Live and let live
• Kit: Treat ladies with respect
• Killer: Never make eye contact if you don’t mean it
• Wesley and Arab: Play a musical instrument
• Elsie: Seize the day
• Society Gentleman: Think about how the hot cakes will taste and the sunsets will look after 28 years
• Arab: Don’t forget your past
• Kitty: It’s ok to be scared of change
• Drunk: The hardest thing in life is to change
• Society Lady: Change is good
• Joe: Take an interest in other people
• Willie: Set a goal for yourself

There are only two performances left! You are running out of opportunities to see a critic (Mike) on stage. This is your final chance to dish out to him what he dishes out to you! Reserve your seats now! Email providenceplayers@cox.net or leave a voicemail at 703-425-6782. See ProvidencePlayers.org for more information.

Mike: Welcome to the ShowBizRadio podcast for Saturday, October 21, 2006. We only have one review this weekend. We’ll be seeing 1984 on Sunday evening so we’ll bring that to you on Monday. So we just want to bring you up to date to the things that are going on.

I’m in The Time of Your Life with the Providence Players. We are half way through our run. It’s getting better every night. It’s really quite exciting. We were almost sold out last night. The people on stage and backstage were very excited. I made a couple minor mistakes. I just kind of oopsed. Laura noticed it because she knows the script so well, but I don’t think anybody else did. It’s going really well, though. It’s very exciting.

Laura: The show is going really well. I’m having a good time being a Providence Player Groupie. I will see the show again tomorrow afternoon for their matinee. One thing I find annoying is this thing about cell phones going off during the show. The director made an announcement before the show started. It’s in the program. It’s on the wall outside in the lobby. So don’t tell me you don’t know how to put the thing on vibrate or silent or whatever. That was the only distracting thing. The actors did great. Everything ran smoothly except for that stupid cell phone.

Mike: One thing I’m looking forward to after our strike next Sunday afternoon is to be able to listen to our podcasts again. Something I’ve gotten in the habit of doing as Laura and I travel to shows is burn some podcasts to CD and listen to them in the car. One I really miss is the Your Neighborhood Stage discussion. It’s at NeighborhoodStage.com. It’s a very interesting podcast. If you’re into theater you need to listen to it.

Laura: This weekend The Unexpected Guest opens at the Castaways Repertory Theatre in Woodbridge. I will be going over there tonight to help with Front of House putting out the cookies and non-alcoholic punch and setting up before the show starts. So I’m looking forward to seeing the show as well as helping out with the front of house stuff.

Mike: We will be back in a couple days with our review of 1984 performed by the Meat and Potato Theatre in Washington DC.

Laura: And now, on with the show.

Lisa Kay: We just returned from Fairfax, Virginia where we saw Providence Player‘s production of William Saroyan’s The Time of Your Life.

Lynne: The show opened this Friday and plays Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 PM through October 28th and Sunday matinees at 2 PM on October 15th and October 22nd.

Lisa Kay: The play takes place in 1939. It’s that time period right before World War II. It is a cross section of Americans who wander through a waterfront saloon in San Francisco searching for meaning and happiness. There are also of things we really enjoyed about his show. It was fun to see a wide variety of characters coming on stage. I know there are a lot of things you really liked, Lynne. What were some of your favorites tonight?

Lynne: Well, I would have to say when you first walk into the theatre the thing you notice first is the set. The set was just unbelievable. It was just beautiful. For me the standout performances were John Coscia as Kit Carson. He brought so much energy and personality to the stage.

Lisa Kay: He was fun.

Lynne: He really was. Patrick David as Joe was very believable. As a character study I really enjoyed his character. Barbara Gertzog played Mary.

Lisa Kay: Just the one scene and she was fabulous.

Lynne: She was wonderful I thought. She was a wonderful character study. Another person who I really enjoyed was Gerry Vans in his cameo role as the Arab. He didn’t have a lot of speaking parts, but his presence on stage, didn’t you think?

Lisa Kay: And I wish I remembered his lines because there were so many times in the show that the character would say the same line over and over again. It didn’t matter what the question was or what he was responding to. It was just that one line.

Lynne: Right. I thought he was very wonderful.

Lisa Kay: It was really pretty easy show to enjoy. There is a big variety of characters in the saloon. We never left the saloon. There were over 25 different actors that came on. Everyone from the policeman to the guy playing the piano and the kid playing pinball all night. Lots of little sub plots and lots of variety between dramatic moments and some really funny comic moments as well.

Lynne: I thought so, too. I said earlier about the set being so believable and just so realistic. In my opinion there was just one small distraction with the realism of the set and I know they were trying to keep the realism of being in a saloon. The pinball machine was a little bit distracting over the actors dialogue. That was just a tiny thing.

Lisa Kay: But it was a lot going on. I understand. That’s a hard balance to get that realism. Just like we’re both musicians so we were listening to the piano the whole time and every once in awhile I’d hear something and say, “Gosh, did he really want to use that chord?” And I’m like, “Ok, back to the show.” But for me it was the same distractions we’d probably have if we were in that saloon in 1939.

Lynne: Exactly. You know, I think it was a good show. It’s certainly suitable for most audiences. There was a lot of depth on stage and a lot of potential for depth on stage. Some of the little moments in the show were the best. We laughed considerably thinking about how much we wanted jelly beans after the show.

Lynne: We went out looking for jelly beans after the show.

Lisa Kay: So we certainly encourage you to figure out what the jelly bean appeal is if you get a chance to see The Time of Your Life.

Lynne: Yes, if you get the chance it’s The Providence Player’s and they’re in Fairfax, Virginia. If you want any additional information it is available on their website which is: www.providenceplayers.org.

I’ve posted some unofficial cast photos in the ShowBizRadio Photo Gallery. I’ll be posting the official ones when I get them later this weekend.

Tickets are still available, providenceplayers@cox.net or leave a voicemail at 703-425-6782. Or you can buy them at the door.

Does anyone know if there are restrictions on on-stage smoking in Virginia, Maryland or DC?

Update: October 30, 2006: Tobacco can’t play into works on stage, Denver Post.

I was also warned to be ready to have to improv around another actor when they stumble or when the unexpected happens. The first time that happened I was surprised and broke a bit out of character. A few nights later, I was surprised when a prop I was told to get wasn’t where it was supposed to be. So I exclaimed “Joe! Someone stole the phone book!” and Joe (the wonderful Patrick David) then had to “remember” the phone number he was about to look up. It worked quite well. And the lesson was learned: always triple check all your props are where they are supposed to be.

Tonight we have our first performance with an audience. Oooh, a preview! I’m a little nervous, I’ve been warned to expect laughter at several spots. But I can’t see out into the audience, the lights are too bright, so I’m not expecting to be too nervous once I get started.

I’ve posted some more photos at the new ShowBizRadio Photo Gallery. The photos I’ve posted are some closeups of the set. I have some cast photos I took, as well as some from backstage. I’ll work on those later this week.