Half
Cocked
During
the final performance of The Full Monty at Proctor’s
Theatre, as the six former steelworkers were being urged by
the rest of the cast to bare all, someone in the audience
shouted, “Do it for Schenectady!”It even got a laugh from
the performers, who ended their tour with an unexpected national
blitz of publicity. Once again, Schenectady embarrassed itself
by being the only stop on a 48-state tour that required the
actors to cover their penises in the final moment of the show—a
fraction of a second, performed in silhouette in front of
a super-candlepower marquee, during which the naked actors
drop their genital-shielding hats.
The story was picked up by the Associated Press and went national,
meriting wisecracks on CNN and Live! with Regis and Kelly.
As reported by Schenectady’s Daily Gazette, the ban
was yet another move by outgoing corporation counsel Michael
Brockbank to save the city from sin.
Upon appeal from a strip-club owner, Schenectady’s public-nudity
law was struck down by a federal judge in 1997. Three years
later it was passed again in a reworded version that removed
the exemption from places like Proctor’s Theatre and Union
College. Action photos of a fedora-hatted Brockbank then blitzed
across area newspapers as the Carrie Nation of nudity invaded
strip clubs and ordered the arrests of dancers and owners.
“I’d
like to think that Brockbank hasn’t been on a personal moral
crusade,” said Schenectady mayor-elect Brian Stratton, “but
that he’s trying to protect the city from litigation. But
I thought that The Full Monty incident was ridiculous,
and I’d like to do whatever I can to ensure it doesn’t happen
again. My corporation counsel and I will look at this to the
extent that we don’t have to go back to square one. People
can judge for themselves what they want to buy tickets for.”
As presented to the cast of The Full Monty, the situation
sounded fairly extreme. “We were told there [would be] be
cops in the house,” said Trey Ellett, one of the six, “and
that if we didn’t wear these things, they’d shut the show
down immediately.”
Ironically, as the run progressed, those modesty devices got
more and more “misplaced.” Audience members couldn’t tell
the difference and still could be heard grumbling about the
censorship on their way out.
But that put-on wasn’t the biggest rip-off associated with
the show—just the sexiest. Schenectady isn’t actually the
last stop on the tour, but it was the last opportunity to
see Equity actors perform. The producers sold the rest of
the tour to Networks, a Clear Channel subsidiary, which will
pay the fledgling actors about one-third of Equity rates.
Even though the quality of the show is thus compromised, ticket
prices are no different from an Equity tour—with the producers
pocketing the difference.
Hundreds of actors and allies rallied in Manhattan in October
to protest these tours. “Across the country, theaters are
misleading their subscribers by describing their seasons as
‘Broadway series’ when those seasons include non-Equity tours,”
Equity first vice-president Mark Zimmerman said at that event.
“It’s time for those theaters to stop cheapening the Broadway
brand by using it to describe shows that do not compensate
the actors, stage managers and all other show personnel as
professionals.”
“So
we really weren’t happy to see all this attention the show
suddenly got in Schenectady,” said Ellett. “We don’t want
to support the non-union part of the tour.”
Sunday night’s show—its audience size diminished by the snowstorm—finished
with an emotional parting for many, with real tears visible
during the curtain call. “You people were great,” actor Robert
Westenberg told fans waiting at the stage door. “Pound for
pound, you were our best audience.”
“I
don’t know who the city of Schenectady is protecting,” said
one audience member who wished to remain anonymous. “I live
here and I don’t want the city making artistic decisions about
what I can and can’t see on a theater stage.”
—B.A.
Nilsson
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art beat |
YOU
ARE HERE: Washington Park Press—the longtime regional
publishing house that served as William Kennedy’s
first publisher—has just released the fourth edition
of In & Around the Capital Region.
(FYI: The previous editions were titled In
& Around Albany, Schenectady and Troy.)
Cowritten by Metroland contributing writer
Ann Morrow and Washington Park Press publisher
Anne Older, this nearly-400-page guidebook
contains a wealth of handy information about places
to go and things to do, from museums, historic
sites, restaurants and retail to nuts-and-bolts
facts about transportation, libraries and school.
“The book is intended,” says Morrow, “for new
residents as well as visitors and tourists.” It’s
available in most local bookstores and museum
gift shops.
 YOU
ARE THERE: Local independent filmmaking, lest
we forget, is not just about narrative fiction.
Filmmakers Mike Camoin and Tom Mercer
recently debuted their documentary 225th Anniversary
of the Battles of Saratoga. For the history-challenged,
these Revolutionary War engagements tipped the
balance away from the redcoats. The documentary
was filmed in October 2002 during the reenactment
organized by Paul Novotny and the 24th
Regiment of Foot, and the directors hope that
it will give viewers a sense of what 19th-century
warfare was like. (Over 3,000 reenactors took
part in the event, so there is certainly an impressive
sense of scale.) If you missed the numerous recent
local screenings—at the Saratoga Visitors Center,
and Borders in Clifton Park and Colonie—don’t
fret. You can buy your own DVD or VHS copy directly
from the filmmakers at: www.mikecamoin.com. There
are nifty extras on both disc and tape.
YOU WERE THERE, BUT WILL BE HERE: It’s now official:
Stan Burdick’s Cartoon Museum, formerly
of Hague, is moving lock, stock and sketch to
Ticonderoga. The reason? The Hague Town Board
ordered that the museum’s residence—the former
town hall building—be torn down. (That’ll do it.)
So, the 700 comic strips and editorial cartoons,
the special exhibits dedicated to Thomas Nast,
Charles Schultz and others, have been packed up
for shipment to the new venue, which will be in
the Ticonderoga Community Center on Montcalm Street.
A grand opening is planned for spring 2004. For
more information, call Burdick at 543-8824.
GET MONEY, MAKE ART: The Arts Center of the
Capital Region has announced that it’s SOS
grant time again. SOS stands for Special Opportunity
Stipend, and is designed to help individual artists
“take advantage of exceptional opportunities to
further their work or careers.” By “artists,”
they mean visual artists, dancers, musicians,
composers, sculptors, performance artists . .
. you get the idea. The grants may seem small—$100
to $600—but a couple of hundred bucks can help
artists exhibit their work, study with a significant
mentor or pay for day care while they stage a
performance. Individual artists living in an 11-county
area of the Capital Region are eligible, and have
until Feb. 2 to apply. For more information (and
an application), call 273-0552 or visit www.artscenteronline.org.
MAKE ART, GET IT EXHIBITED: The Columbia County
Council on the Arts has announced a call for
entries—sculpture, painting, works on paper, mixed
media and photography—for two shows. The first
is Kiss—The Iconography of Love, which
will run at the CCCA Gallery (209 Warren St.,
Hudson) from Feb. 14 through April 3, 2004. The
deadline for entries for this show is Friday,
Jan. 23. The second show is the 2004 Annual Juried
Art Show, which will run from March 6 through
April 3 at the Hudson Opera House (327 Warren
St., Hudson). The entry deadline for this show
is Monday, Jan. 12. For detailed information on
just what you need to provide in entries for each
show, visit www.artscolumbia.org.
—Shawn
Stone
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Columns
& Opinions
