Being Walter Denton
Oct. 31st, 2007 12:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mmcirvinTomorrow night is our final performance of Tomes of Terror II, a trilogy of radio plays acted live on stage at the First Congregational Church of Somerville. We may well sell out, so reserve your ticket now! I mentioned this a long time ago, but have been remiss in beating the drum more recently; consider this a belated attempt at making amends.
Helping to put this together, and acting in it, has been tremendous fun. I thought we had a big and appreciative crowd on Monday, until I saw what we got on Tuesday--the house was so packed that some of the effects people lost their chairs! The energy in the house was incredible tonight. The chance that we'd be competing with the Sox in the World Series can't have helped advance ticket sales for Monday and Wednesday, even though, as it happened, their sweep of the Series rendered the issue moot. We may be getting a lot of last-minute reservations for tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm in the first, not-very-terrifying segment, a late-1940s episode of "Our Miss Brooks" called "Halloween Party" directed by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
derspatchel, who played Dr. Alberts in our production of "Chicken Heart" two years ago. People my parents' age seem to mostly remember "Our Miss Brooks" as a TV show, though it was on the radio earlier. These people can also guess with 100% accuracy what role I am playing*: Walter Denton, the direct ancestor of such universally beloved figures as Screech and Urkel. Walter Denton's crowning moment in this episode is an act of surpassing ridiculousness that I forbear to spoil herein.
Were I doing this twenty or even ten years ago, it probably would have been upsetting for me; too on the nose, too close to my own true Screechhood.† Fortunately I am the oldest human being ever to play Walter Denton, the John-Glenn-on-the-Shuttle of Walter Dentonism, surpassing even Richard Crenna in the original role, who after a few years was getting kind of long in the tooth for a dorky teenager and had to retire to playing such roles as presidents and colonels. I may also be the first fully bearded Walter Denton. I think that this is ground that deserves to be broken, if not excavated outright.
Over the course of rehearsals and now performances, the level of ham in my performance has had nowhere to go but up, and is still rising. I am given to understand, however, that compared to Crenna my whacked-out scenery-chewing is still subtle to the point of obscurantism. I've been pointed to the MP3s of his work but I don't think I dare listen until I'm done.
*Mike Simon, who plays dreamy science teacher Mr. Boynton, reports the same phenomenon. I guess Spatch can cast 'em.
†Note, though, that unlike me in high school, Walter Denton has a girlfriend; leading scientists are still trying to figure out what the deal is there.
Helping to put this together, and acting in it, has been tremendous fun. I thought we had a big and appreciative crowd on Monday, until I saw what we got on Tuesday--the house was so packed that some of the effects people lost their chairs! The energy in the house was incredible tonight. The chance that we'd be competing with the Sox in the World Series can't have helped advance ticket sales for Monday and Wednesday, even though, as it happened, their sweep of the Series rendered the issue moot. We may be getting a lot of last-minute reservations for tomorrow.
Anyway, I'm in the first, not-very-terrifying segment, a late-1940s episode of "Our Miss Brooks" called "Halloween Party" directed by
derspatchel, who played Dr. Alberts in our production of "Chicken Heart" two years ago. People my parents' age seem to mostly remember "Our Miss Brooks" as a TV show, though it was on the radio earlier. These people can also guess with 100% accuracy what role I am playing*: Walter Denton, the direct ancestor of such universally beloved figures as Screech and Urkel. Walter Denton's crowning moment in this episode is an act of surpassing ridiculousness that I forbear to spoil herein.Were I doing this twenty or even ten years ago, it probably would have been upsetting for me; too on the nose, too close to my own true Screechhood.† Fortunately I am the oldest human being ever to play Walter Denton, the John-Glenn-on-the-Shuttle of Walter Dentonism, surpassing even Richard Crenna in the original role, who after a few years was getting kind of long in the tooth for a dorky teenager and had to retire to playing such roles as presidents and colonels. I may also be the first fully bearded Walter Denton. I think that this is ground that deserves to be broken, if not excavated outright.
Over the course of rehearsals and now performances, the level of ham in my performance has had nowhere to go but up, and is still rising. I am given to understand, however, that compared to Crenna my whacked-out scenery-chewing is still subtle to the point of obscurantism. I've been pointed to the MP3s of his work but I don't think I dare listen until I'm done.
*Mike Simon, who plays dreamy science teacher Mr. Boynton, reports the same phenomenon. I guess Spatch can cast 'em.
†Note, though, that unlike me in high school, Walter Denton has a girlfriend; leading scientists are still trying to figure out what the deal is there.