Chili ... in da face ...

It's been so long ... a blog abandoned, like a dilapidated car on the side of the road slowly becoming a big pile of rust ...

... But then someone asked me about it, yesterday.  So I came back.  I found out there's stats, like someone viewed this from Malaysia.  And 11 people viewed it in Germany ... or one person in Germany viewed it 11 times ... it doesn't specify ....

Well, here's a little something, a web commercial I did.  It's fun.  And funny.  You can throw food at me.  And at a few other good folks.  My wife threw food at me repeatedly.

http://www.geappliances.com/social-food-fight/

1776 in Toons

1776 at Ford's Theatre closed on Saturday, May 19th.

During the run, I occasionally had time to ... re-imagine some moments from the play.  Like so:

Why theatres aren't beating down my door to beg me to direct their shows, I don't know.

1776 Cast Sings Anthem at Nats Park

1776 at Ford's Theatre just closed on Saturday, May 19th.  Here's a video of me and several other members of the cast singing the national anthem at Washington Nationals Ballpark.  Give it a look.  We sound goooood. --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGvMH2cpDvc

Images from Groucho

Groucho: A Live in Revue closed on Saturday, March 23. It was a pleasure to be there.

Groucho

It's been a wild ride in my theatrical life over the last month-and-a-half. In the last two weeks of Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre in Annapolis, MD, I was also rehearsing Groucho at Wayside Theatre in Middletown, VA, over a hundred miles away -- so I had a few days of rehearsal, performance, and nearly 300 miles total of driving. Beyond Therapy closed on March 20th, and Groucho opened on the 27th, only a week later.

Then Groucho really got positive reviews in the Northern Virginia Daily, and particularly in the Winchester Star -- the Star gave me the greatest kudos I may have ever gotten in my life, when FC Lowe said quite simply, "Peter Boyer is the perfect Groucho Marx."

And then another great review came along on p. 8 of the Warren County Report, in which Malcolm Barr wrote, "Peter Boyer . . . IS Groucho."

And then there was an interview on "Talk of the Town with Barry Lee" on Winchester's ABC station. A very fun interview, with host Barry Lee, director Warner Crocker, and me in character as Groucho -- I get to throw out the occasional Groucho-esque one-liners. I'm quite pleased with how that turned out. The interview is the first 7 minutes of the program, and I hope you'll give it a look, HERE.

And I've received so many compliments from folks involved with the show and folks who've seen the show that I'm quite simply stunned by it all. And I have the great fortune to be working with a bunch of generous and talented folks.

So, it's been a heckuva ride. The ride ain't over yet, though, not quite. We close on Saturday, April 23rd, and if I hope you'll see it if you have the chance. For more info and tix, go to Wayside Theatre's website. And if you'd like to see some of John Westervelt's excellent pictures from the show, go HERE.

Work, Work, Work

I'm preparing to start rehearsals for GROUCHO at Wayside Theatre. This preparation is difficult, painful, stressful, tedious, involving such things as placing Marx Bros. DVD's into the DVD player and . . . watching them. Shortly after this post, I shall grit my teeth and watch The Cocoanuts. Wish me luck.

I also have to learn a few songs, like "Titwillow" and "Lydia the Tattooed Lady." Fortunately, in my youth I saw these two songs performed by the Muppets (I assure you I watched The Muppet Show merely to prepare myself for days like this).

I'm looking forward to the more enjoyable parts of preparation, including highlighting my lines and memorizing them.

Here's a couple of "Lydia" videos, from Groucho, then the Muppets, so you can get an idea of the hellish tedium I currently find myself in. If you're lucky, in a couple of days I'll post a more exciting video of lines being highlighted and memorized.

Attack of the Killer Leaping Groucho Bartlett

About the Killer Whale . . .
Last night I dreamed that a killer whale escaped an aquarium. A dramatic leap (over my head), a slide down a grassy slope and into the sea. A visually spectacular dream, sorry you missed it.

About Groucho . . .
I'll be playing Groucho in Groucho @ Wayside Theatre from March 26 - April 23. Rehearsals overlap the current show I'm performing in (Beyond Therapy @ Bay Theatre) by two weeks, and the theatres are over 100 miles apart, so I'll be in for a few interesting commutes.

About That Guy On The Right . . .
Way in the future, I'll be playing Josiah Bartlett in the musical 1776 @ Ford's Theatre. That'll run March 14 - May 19 -- in 2012.

Another Review

Another review has come out for Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre. The writing is interesting . . . . reviewer Gerald Fischman of The Capital looks not only at how the play comes across today but also how it'll come across (or not) in a generation or two:

"It's Durang's bounciest and most accessible play, but it has also started to date . . . . Today's theater audience - mostly an older crowd - can cope with this. But in a few more decades, the play will not just be unperformable but will have to be footnoted as heavily as one of Shakespeare's comic scenes."

But he's generally favorable, saying some rather nice things about the cast. Here's my bit:

"Boyer injects enough intelligence and poise into Bob to compensate for the fact that the man usually acts like a baby."

Chewing the Scenery Again

I'm currently performing in Beyond Therapy at Bay Theatre. I play Bob, Bruce's gay lover. Some reviews just came out for the show, and here's a few tasty bits --

"Adding to the hilarity [is] Bruce’s jealous live-in lover Bob (Peter Boyer)" . . . . " Boyer is a master of facial expressions and mannerisms: petulant, bitchy, insecure, manipulative. He is brilliant in the Act I finale." -- Bay Weekly (writer not listed)

"Beyond Therapy is Christopher Durang’s best play, and in Annapolis, the Bay Theatre Company is showing us why" . . . . "These actors . . . play these characters beautifully." -- Tim Treanor, DC Theatre Scene
　
"Bay Theatre's current production of Christopher Durang's 1981 comedy Beyond Therapy is consistently beyond funny, often bordering on hysterical" . . . . "Peter Boyer, another Bay favorite, returns as Bob, investing his character with frustration, hurt and a strong will to survive, all with delightful comic undertones." -- Mary Johnson,The Baltimore Sun

This little show runs through March 20.

Tra-la-la-la-Bah, Tra-la, Humbug

Yes, yes, long time no see.

So -- you have 2 weeks left to see A Broadway Christmas Carol at Metro Stage in Alexandria, VA. I play Ebeneezer Scrooge. Yeah! That guy! A Broadway Christmas Carol is "a delightful and unexpected mix of show tune song parodies and Charles Dickens’ classic tale."


We officially opened two weeks ago to rave reviews, like so --

"A Broadway Christmas Carol retells the Dickens story with the help of only three actors and one pianist, all of them extremely talented performers. Peter Boyer plays Ebenezer Scrooge, the perfect embodiment of the stingy old crank at the beginning of the show. Boyer is a talented, agile dancer as well as a powerful singer and his crisp performance is essential to the success of Christmas Carol." -- Barbara Mackay, Washington Examiner

"There's very little "bah humbug" as this high-wattage, all-star cast tackles a timeless tale and gives it new life in the perfect medium for a musical message of ultimate uplift. Three talented area performers bring their Broadway-big voices and broad comedic talent to the completely audience-friendly intimacy of MetroStage and pull it off with infectious hilarity and brio." -- David Hoffman, Fairfax Times

"It’s a Vaudevillian Christmas tale from Merry Olde England, mined gleefully from Charles Dickens." . . . "Peter Boyer gives us Ebenezer Scrooge . . . played with delicious aplomb" . . . "A tip-top cast . . . ." -- Jordan Wright, Alexandria Times

"Charles Dickens, Broadway, vaudeville and slapstick collide merrily in “A Broadway Christmas Carol”, an early gift from Alexandria’s Metro Stage." . . . "The sets are simple but effective, and the four-member cast is versatile and talented." . . . "[Peter Boyer's] musical range and comedic timing are superb." -- Carla Branch, Alexandria News

"The show’s strong suit is its zany quartet of a cast who milk the laughs out of the material in a manner reminiscent of the parodies which were a staple of 1950s and ‘60s comedy and variety television shows." . . . "Peter Boyer [has] a fine voice and an appealingly sly sense of humor." -- Gary McMillan, DC Theatre Scene