In the summer of 2014, Brian Rivera, a member of THE KING AND I cast, was appearing in a production of the centuries-old Chinese epic THE ORPHAN OF ZHAO at the American Conservatory Theater, in San Francisco.
Timing plays a big role in every live performance – the exact moment when the actor delivers that crucial line, the precise beat when that blinding spotlight hits the stage.
“When I first read THE ROYALE,” Rachel Chavkin told me the other day, “I had an experience I rarely have: I didn’t move during the entire time it took me to read it. I immediately wanted to direct it.”
Every year, around this time, the casts of Lincoln Center Theater shows conduct Oscar-betting pools backstage, and so it is with THE KING AND I and THE ROYALE.
The late Jessica Tandy – the original Blanche in A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE and an Oscar winner for DRIVING MISS DAISY – explained to me years ago in an interview the difference between acting in rehearsal and acting for a paying audience.
