All About Eve

Have any of you seen this movie? I'd never seen it until we were working on a benefit reading of it at work. Its pretty great. Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Thelma Ritter, Celeste Holm and Marilyn Monroe in a tiny two scene part. Its about a young ingenue who insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends. And the drama that ensues. Some pretty great one liners too.

Well, this past Monday The Actors Fund put on a one-night only benefit reading of the screenplay, and my boss and I cast it. And even though it was a long, drawn out. stressful process, actually sitting in the theatre and watching it on Monday night was pretty awesome, I have to say. We cast Annette Bening in the Bette Davis part and Keri Russell as the young ingenue who appears sweet and wonderful at first but eventually causes all kinds of trouble. Angela Lansbury, Cynthia Nixon, John Slattery (Mad Men), Peter Gallagher, Joel Grey and Brian Bedford rounded out the rest of the cast. And Jennifer Tilly played the Marilyn Monroe part. Quite geniusly, I must say. Even though "geniusly" isn't a word.

And sitting there, as they took their places on stage, was one of those moments where I thought…ok…I do actually love my job. It drives me nuts most of the time, but to be in that theatre on this one night when these incredibly talented stage actors (because even though half of them are famous from TV or film, they all got their start on the stage) come together just this once to create this story…at the risk of sounding cheesy, it felt pretty magical to me. And maybe it's because the movie is ABOUT the world I live in…Broadway…producers, directors, playwrights, actors…all the dramatic (and at least slightly, if not entirely crazy) people that I work with on a daily basis. There is something incredibly romantic and historic and…just magical about working in the theatre. There would have to be considering the crazy hours and horrible pay. But on Monday night, all the bad parts were forgotten and I just enjoyed the amazing experience of having been a part of something so special.

Sorry it's a bit of a blurry picture, but here are Annette Bening and Keri Russell at the curtain call.