Waltzing

As many know Ed Khil has gone viral on YouTube. 

I recently saw the Trololo clip when an Eastman School alumni friend on FB posted it. I'm very tempted to make it the ringtone or and alarm sound on my phone, it just makes me smile. 


Then I was sent this (risqué by Mom standards) clip:



Some backstory:
I'm a big Christopher Waltz fan. Even more so reading his quotes on imdb. My fav is: 

It's frustrating. Even though I agree with all of you [other actors being interviewed], I have a less romantic and idealistic approach to acting. Over there (in Germany), the business is based on mediocrity. On a high level, admittedly, but mediocrity. You reach a certain level, beyond which you will not go. Not just in career but in challenges and opportunity. It's interesting for the specific issue of how to cope with an actor's life. To lead an actor's life. What do you do if you have a stretch of five years where you only get mediocre offers and nothing to sink your teeth into? That's where it is difficult. Becoming an actor is one thing. Being an actor is entirely different.

I don't presume to know what Waltz is addressing when he calls acting in Germany elevated mediocrity, but I can imagine. Its also easy to assume the idea for the above skit is his own idea, given what I've been asked to do onstage. To most in Jimmy Kimball's audience it will just look like silliness, but for me, "stranded" in the land of hoch conzept and lots of humpink onstage, quite familier. Aber ... Ich grolle nicht!


What makes me smile so much is to see Waltz make fun of the inherent desire of this public to  deconstruct. A couple months ago I would have agreed with my friends. Euro-trash is the end. But now, I'm not so sure. This predilection to deconstruct is actually a very admirable quality in this public. Imagine sitting around a café table or in an online chat group talking about geopolitical issues or religious meaning after watching the normal "safe" production seen elsewhere. Sure, we might talk about the performers more, but the ideas behind the production? Not so much. Here, easily seen. Young and old sitting down afterward in a pub and mixing it up over the "meaning." I'm starting to think Euro-trash has its place. It's seeking to stir the pot and get people reacting with art, to not be passive. Perhaps it has its place if it encourages interaction on both sides. (Just don't quote me on that. I'd prefer the listener to be talking about my singing of the role rather than what the Toy Truck means.) :-b


As long as I acknowledge how silly I am for doing so, I'm ok with it. Laughing at oneself is good medicine.


And so with eyes wide open, I gave myself over to confrontational theater (for a time). Serving an idea more than the worry of how I will be perceived or thought of. A hard step to take but one in the end I felt I needed to take to dispel the demons of doubt that can plague a performer concerned more with being right than being effective. It's a bit of a trade off, because accuracy is sometimes sacrificed. This music is so demanding under normal circumstances. I envy those who get to sing Wagner just "standing around." :-)  


So we are servants, serving a concept. I can see Maestro Honeck is challenged by that as this type of theater is not to his liking. I see he'd choose to do something completely different if he were the director. And perhaps Bieito would choose the singers to be less cautious with their voices and more intense. In this setting compromises must be made and I admire both gentlemen for having done so. (Though, I wish there was a bit more drama between the two of them. I want some screaming matches, some tag team wrestling! But nooooo. They have to be all grown up. Darn. Nothing to report there. There is a video team following our every move and I told Calixto we needed to reenact out first yelling match and get it caught on film. Everyone here is simply being WAY to well mannered for a good documentary.)


So, the dance is to be a "Waltz." I'm serious about the concept (Out of the ashes, comes newness) and silly enough to laugh at myself while doing it. We got laughing so hard during the Act 3 baptism scene last nite... It coulda been the 6ft chicken wings I was wearing though.


Good luck getting in. Every show is sold out.