Features

The Ru Report #136

Give My Regards…Comeback Trail
Tony Award winning actress-singer Tonya Pinkins is more than a woman.

She's a force to be reckoned with.

And I'm not only talking about on the New York stage, where she has blazed her trail with marvelous performances in Encores! Presentation of "House Of Flowers," "Play On!," "The Vagina Monologues," "Merrily We Roll Along," "The Wild Party," and her Tony Award-winning turn in "Jelly's Last Jam."

This Chicago-reared divorced mother of four's life story is one of relentless resilience.

"I often say it took twenty-seven years in prison to make Nelson Mandela [the] President. And sometimes those hard things that you go through are actually what are making you strong." This is Tonya Pinkins chatting it up in her lilac and green accentuated, plush dressing room, backstage at Broadway's Neil Simon Theater, where she just finished banging out a Saturday afternoon matinee of the critically-acclaimed musical "Caroline, Or Change."

The room is quiet sans the dripping overhead air-conditioning. She just finished meditating, and is ready to talk about all things Tonya.

In recent weeks, much has been made about "The Trials of Tonya Pinkins"--as The New York Times titled it on a splashy Arts & Leisure section cover story that ran the day of the show's star-studded opening. In the heart-wrenching story, Ms. Pinkins' life was on full-blast.

Here's a summary of facts: She's 42. She is the single mother of three boys (ages 16, 13, 5) and a seven-year old daughter. Grew up a Roman Catholic in the suburbs of Chicago, to hard working civil servant parents. Dropped out of the prestigious artsy-fartsy university Carnegie Mellon and moved to New York City for her first Broadway production at the tender age of 19. She toiled as a restaurant hostess. She fell and love and married Ron Brawer, a soap opera music director and birthed him two sons. (This was her second marriage.) Got on board for the George C. Wolfe directed hit "Jelly's Last Jam" where she was fired then later rehired. During her first Tony Award winning heyday, she was served divorce papers while signing autographs outside of the theater. It gets really muddy soon after. Grueling custody battles ensued. Exorbitant child support payments endured. Her success was being used against her. Lots and lots of legal wrangling. Slow work cycles. Two more children born out of wedlock. No support from their fathers. Public Assistance!

When it rains, it pours.

"It was a little scary because it was big. It was big," she comments about the Times spread. "And then it was just the sense that everybody--because I didn't read it before I went onstage, of course--so there was this sense that all of these people knew something about me and I didn't even know what they knew."

Tonya Pinkins has been to hell and back. How did she survive it all?

"Well, anything can be hurt, harmed or destroyed ultimately so that would be really all that I can say about that," she shares. "Taking responsibility for why I created everything that is in my life and trying to see it as an opportunity to meet and face something and grow" is what she divulges about her survival tactic.

Even Oprah Winfrey is singing her praises. In the May edition of O: The Oprah Magazine the editors heralded Ms. Pinkins as one of the Ten Women in America Who Will Take Your Breath Away in 2004.

"It's really wonderful," she says. "You know, I may have been loved and embraced this much before in my life but if I was I wasn't conscious enough to really appreciate it and that's what it feels like. It feels like God is loving me through the media, and through the people that come and see the show and the other actors. That's what it feels like. It feels like God is playing with me and loving me and I'm so glad that I am awake and aware and able to just be in gratitude about it."

She's quite spiritually centered as you can guess. An anointing warmth is felt by anyone who comes into her presence. She has every reason to be in good spirits. She's a proud member of the Los Angeles-based Agape Church of Religious Science, which she explains "takes from the teachings of every religion." Ms. Pinkins has been a practicing member of the good-mannered denomination for over two years now.

It's not Scientology or any cult like sect where you have to pay to be a member, either.

"The belief is that every religion is seeking the one God," she continues. "And so if you just study all the text, you are just finding the different languages in which people talk about one thing."

She has applied the teaching and the principals from the church--also considered "New Thought, Ancient Wisdom"--into an intensive motivational workshop for fellow thespians, titled "Tonya Pinkins: The Actorpreneur Attitude," which she instructs once or twice a year. "It takes three days of my life that I really don't eat or sleep much and I have to recover from it because it's a high," she gushes. "It's such an incredible high. It's like being on stage. It's that kind of high."

"I'm not into evangelisms or prophesizing. So I want people to come to something because it's something they want to come to, rather than me sort of actively going after them and seeking them."

She reveals that ninety-nine percent of all actors do not make a living in their profession. "We have the highest failure rate of any profession on the planet."

Well, she's not in the failing business anymore.

Tonya Pinkins is on a whirlwind, scoring a 2004 Tony Award nomination for "Best Leading Actress In A Musical" for "Caroline, Or Change." It's an award that she is highly favored to win.

"I think it is definitely the hottest race going," she beams. "The women in it are all extraordinary. Extraordinary. Any one of us can receive this award. I think that just being on the path to it has provided an incredible opportunity for me to see myself and look at what comes up for me. And that's always a good thing. So however the award goes on Tony night, I still get to do this incredible play that is very transformative for me and for every one who sees it."

But playing devil's advocate, I would be remiss if I didn't think out loud that winning a Tony Award couldn't keep her from being nearly destitute. She concurs.

Looking ahead. The true blue Renaissance Woman is putting the finishing touches on a live album, which she recorded at Joe's Pub recently. It's titled My Shining Hour and features music from the famed composer Harold Arlen, whom she will perform an American Songbook Series at his centennial birthday tribute next spring at Jazz at Lincoln Center. "I could've been born in this time and sang this music," she says with much zeal. "It just sat so perfectly in my voice." The self-produced set will soon be available on her website.

She also just wrapped a role as a medic in John Turturro's forthcoming Romance And Cigarettes, where she plays opposite James Gandolfini. In the movie musical, she lip-synchs Bruce Springsteen's "Red Headed Woman," while nursing "The Sopranos" star back to good health.

Ms. Pinkins is also on the small screen, too. Regularly, she takes on the role of Livia Frye Cudahy on the long-running, hit soap opera "All My Children."

"It's really great to be on there because I have watched it since the first page turned. I'm from the number one ‘All My Children' city in the country so I love that show. And it's like a childhood dream to grow up and be on show that you watched for so many years."

She's also signed a book deal with Hyperion/Disney for a success book that she is currently working on.

So is this a case of the old adage of "feast or famine" ringing true?

"No, I don't believe that," she contemplates. "I really do think that as you believe it is done onto you and there is a sense in the universe where there is balance. The universe always seeks to balance things out."

Tonya Pinkins is proof positive of one woman who has done one helluva balancing act.

Showtime

A "Wonderful Town" it is indeed. Billed as a "New York City Musical" with music by Leonard Bernstein, "Wonderful Town" stars two-time Tony Award winner Donna Murphy in this dazzling show based on the play "My Sister Eileen" by Joseph Fields and Jerome Chodorov and the stories by Ruth McKenney. "Wonderful Town" centers on two small-town sisters from Ohio, Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, as they turn up in the big city and find life in the Big Apple is a lot more complex than they thought it would be. And it all takes place on Greenwich Village's Christopher Street--where drama and mayhem still exists. "Wonderful Town" originally opened on Broadway in 1953 and was an instant hit, winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Fifty years later, the musical still hasn't lost its luster. The Kathleen Marshall-directed show has netted five 2004 Tony Award nominations, including Best Revival of A Musical. This is "Wonderful Town"'s first Broadway revival. The musical comes from Encores!, where it was presented in 2000. It is the first musical to move from Encores! since their highly successful "Chicago" in 1996. With dreamy music and dance numbers that will make you want to "kick it up," "Wonderful Town" is a wonderful treat! It's also the first show at the newly-named Al Hirschfeld Theatre (formerly the Martin Beck), named in honor of the late great celebrity caricaturist.

Stages
Tony Award-winning actor Brian Stokes Mitchell ("Man Of La Mancha") is the newly minted President of The Actors' Fund of America. He succeeds Tom Dillon, who was on board in the position for 15 years. Mr. Dillon is now designated President Emeritus. In his new duties, Mr. Stokes Mitchell--a 25-year acting veteran--will represent The Actors' Fund to the entertainment community and will chair the Board of Trustees, which creates and oversees the policies of The Actors' Fund. Founded in 1882, The Actors' Fund of America is the national human service organization helping all entertainment professionals in television, film, music, theatre, opera and dance. The Actors' Fund's broad spectrum of programs includes comprehensive social services, supportive and affordable housing, career counseling, and skilled nursing and assisted living care. Close to 16,000 people a year receive assistance from the organization's offices in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago.

The long-running hit TV sitcom "Frasier" may be over, but the show's special guest star, two-time Tony Award winner Bebe Neuwirth ("Chicago") can still kick up her heels on the New York stage. The diva dynamo is currently starring in "Here Lies Jenny," described as a theatrical event featuring the music of Kurt Weill and playing at Off-Broadway's Zipper Theatre. Conceived and directed by Tony Award winner Roger Rees ("The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby") and featuring choreography by Tony Award winner Ann Reinking ("Fosse"), the show centers on a one-time saloon singer at the end of the line who arrives at a bar that, like her, has seen better days.

On June 2, the singer-dancer-actress will be a special guest performer at a Gala Benefit evening called "Songs of Sass and Seduction" presented by The Collegiate Chorale and its music director Robert Bass. This all goes down at Doubles, in the Sherry Netherland Hotel in New York City. The program will include selections by Gershwin, Sondheim, Weill, Bernstein and Puccini. Lauren Flanigan and Mr. Rees will also be featured. This event for The Collegiate Chorale represents a fundraising event and supports The Chorale's education programs in New York City schools as well as its audience development program. Founded in 1941 by Robert Shaw, The Chorale has established a national reputation through its commitment not only to the traditional choral repertoire but also to American music.

Move over music industry. New York theater is taking initiatives to sell, sell, sell. With bonus incentives! According to a publicist for the hot new Off-Broadway musical, "BARE: A Pop Opera," a free 11-song soundtrack is being distributed with the purchase of each ticket. The EP, featuring the current cast of "BARE," is produced by Sh-K-Boom's Kurt Deutsch and show composer Damon Intrabartolo and contains 11 songs currently featured in the show. Since opening on April 21, the buzz around the show--directed by Kristin Hanggi--has been quickly building and the musical is now playing to sold out crowds nightly at the American Theatre of Actors. The news of the EP comes soon after the announcement that "BARE" will transfer to an off-Broadway location to be announced with performances to resume on September 21, 2004. Featuring a book by Jon Hartmere Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo, music by Mr. Intrabartolo with lyrics by Mr. Hartmere, "BARE" explores the pains and pleasures of five high school seniors at a co-ed Catholic boarding school as they struggle to grow up in these complicated, conflicted, contemporary times. When the show was originally produced in Los Angeles, it was supposed to run for 32 performances at an 87-seat theater on Santa Monica Boulevard. Four months later, it had become a multi-award-winning sensation. Performances will resume on September 21at an Off-Broadway venue to be announced. The soundtrack will be distributed for promotional purposes throughout the summer.

Ousted "American Idol" finalist Jennifer Hudson may be making her way to the big apple stage. According to insiders, the powerhouse vocalists from Chicago may sign on the dotted line to join the cast of the charming Off-Broadway musical "Fame On 42^nd Street, which is currently playing to packed houses at The Little Shubert Theater. That's one of many offers being fielded as prospects after her stint on the contractually bound "American Idol" concert tour, which kicks off on July 14 in Salt Lake City. Ms. Hudson should feel right at home--her fellow "American Idol" finalist Marque Lynch is knocking them dead in the lead role of Tyrone Jackson in the same show.

There's talk that my girl Sarah Jones will transfer her critically-acclaimed one-woman show "bridge & tunnel" to Broadway's Helen Hayes theater in the future. But until then, she's won an Obie Award for her performance(s). "The 49^th Annual Village Voice Obie Awards" were held at New York's Webster Hall, last week. Other Obie winners included Viola Davis ("Intimate Apparel"), Lili Taylor ("Aunt Dan and Lemon"), Jefferson Mays ("I'm My Own Wife") and Tonya Pinkins ("Caroline, Or Change"), among others. The Obie Awards honors the best in off-Broadway theater.

I did it! Thanks for the support.

Nobody wants you when you're down and out!!!

Message Karu F Daniels or email him directly at therureport@aol.com

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