The 'Burbs

Week 67: Atlanta, GA

When you travel as much as I have been, certain absurdities about the travel industry become just part of the drill. Airport security, with its usual series of indignities, has led me to become what they call an "expert traveler." No belt on travel day, slip on shoes for easy removal, my lip balm and toothpaste in regulation ziploc bag. But certain aspects of airline travel nowadays just get up my nose. The most glaring example of gouging imaginable is the new baggage fees.
Airlines now charge you an "excess baggage fee" just for having checked baggage. Used to be no charge for the first bag, a nominal fee for the second bag checked. Not so anymore. You have to pay just to have luggage. And not only that, if your bag is even one pound over the limit of 50 pounds, you pay an exorbitant fee. On Delta, flying from Austin to Atlanta, I paid $15 for my first bag, $25 for my second bag, and because my suitcase was three pounds overweight, I was charged $90. That's $30 per pound. In all, the fees came to $130, enough to have bought an extra plane ticket. Now, our company covers these charges, as our union requires them to transport a certain amount of baggage for us, but nevertheless these fees are pure GREED on the part of the airlines and are an outrage. End of diatribe.

Atlanta, as you may know, is not merely a city. It is a region. Downtown Atlanta is a small fraction of what makes up the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is made up of a plethora of counties and communities that sprawl in every direction. We are playing Atlanta this week, but technically we are in Cobb County--northwest of Atlanta--in an area called Cumberland, which is kinda-sorta part of Smyrna. In short, we are in the suburbs of Atlanta. The reason for our being out here in the land of malls, shopping centers, and office parks is our snazzy venue, The Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
This state of the art facility opened less than two years ago and is an impressive structure of enormous glass tiers rising in stylized "waves", with a multi-story grand facade that offers a view at night of the alabaster grand staircase and massive gold and Murano glass chandeliers in the style of Dale Chihuly. It's a very beautiful venue which just happens to be a half hour outside of Atlanta in an affluent suburb. Because our hotel is within walking distance of the theatre, we have no company vehicles this week, so there's not a whole lot to do out here except eat at chain restaurants and shop.

Our opening night was made a bit more special than usual by a visit from none other than Clay Aiken. Clay drove six hours in order to see his good friend Merle Dandridge, with whom he performed in "Spamalot" on Broadway. I admit that when I heard he was out front, I got a couple butterflies; one always feels that extra scrutiny from another performer who has played the same part. But turnabout is fair play--I got to see Clay perform when I was in New York last fall-- and I was actually delighted to show him my take on Sir Robin. He stopped back stage after the performance and was very complimentary to me. It was nice to see him again, and what a good friend he is to come and see his buddy Merle strut her stuff.

On the glorious first day of spring this Friday, I took the public bus downtown to visit the High Museum of Art. The museum was hosting two special exhibitions, one about the Louvre and the other an army of terra cotta soldiers from China. Both had long lines for tickets and to see the exhibits and I am not one to be pushed through an art show with a crowd of people. I opted to visit the permanent collection, which I found rather meagre. The museum itself is very modern looking; vast stark white atria with a series of ascending ramps connecting floors, similar to the Guggenheim in New York. What alarmed me was that the gallery spaces were all fairly wide open with no real climate control within each space, and with the natural light flooding in from the large windows on every floor, I worried about the preservation of the artworks, being exposed to these factors. I was also really concerned that the paintings seemed poorly supervised. The vinyl transfer captions on the walls next to each piece were peeling and rubbed away in places, and the walls themselves marked with grimy fingerprints. I shudder to think that priceless artworks are being handled by thoughtless fingers. Anyway, there were some nice pieces in the collection, including some representatives of French impressionism, including Monet, Renoir, Camille-Corot; some nice decorative art pieces from Louis Comfort Tiffany and Frank Lloyd Wright, and a few nice Renaissance pieces including a fine Madonna and Child by Bellini. The one representative of the Carravagist school was Nicolas Tournier, and his Denial of St. Peter. A French painter who lived and worked in Rome, he was clearly influenced by Caravaggio; all the hallmarks of the school are present in this work: the anachronistic costumes and dramatic gestures of the figures, and the sculpting of light and shadow. My favorite piece in the High collection is a small, wonderfully spontaneous portrait by John Singer Sargent of his friend Ralph Curtis, on the beach at Scheveningen. The piece was clearly created on the spot on the beach, as evidenced by the grains of sand embedded in the paint. It's a free and happy small masterwork, by a portraitist who usually worked in a larger scale, more formal style.



Check it out! Two lovely fans from Huntsville, Brooke and Jenni, who took our show to their hearts when we played there (and me and Ben Davis in particular), drove all the way to Atlanta to see us again.
It's amazing that they are so enthusiastic that they would come all that way. What's more, they made, with their own hands, this fantastic "action figure" of me as Sir Robin, complete with chicken tabard, studded gloves and floppy red wig. It is one of the dearest and loveliest things ever, and even sweeter because they made it themselves to thank me for my work in the show. My new "mini me" will travel with my makeup kit and sit on every dressing table from now on. And when I am back home in New York, he will become a new addition to my Christmas tree. Many thanks to you, Brooke and Jenni, for your kindness and support!! You rock.

My dresser at the Cobb Energy Centre is Kelley.
Kelley dressed Robin and Patsy when the tour played the Fox Theatre in Atlanta a couple years ago, so she knows the tracks well, but her finesse and expertise are in the blood. Kelley is a third generation wardrobe worker, following in the family business of stage hand work which started with her grandparents. In short, she was born to do this, and she is the epitome of calm and skill. Kelley works mainly with the Atlanta Opera, which is in residence at the theatre, and she says we are the first big musical road company to play the venue. The 2,700 seat theatre has been quite full this week and the audiences have been great. Our next stop is Wilmington, Delaware, where we will meet the man who will be our next King Arthur, John O'Hurley. We have two more weeks with our beloved Richard Chamberlain, and then a one week layoff before we head to the west coast.