A PERSONAL VIEW
And so, finally, my thoughts, feelings and views on BD Wong ... as George Herringbone and company...
New York, 17 June 2007
I left home literally at the crack of dawn. I had booked the first flight of the morning with the cunning plan that I would avoid the huge crowds caused by the current security regime in British airports, and arrive in NYC in the early afternoon. My 'cunning plan' worked beautifully. Just ten hours after locking my front door, I was checking in at the Hotel Edison, my hotel of choice whenever I’m in the Big Apple.
My trip to see the show was divided into three chunks: 3 days in NYC to orientate myself, 5 days in Williamstown (another five hours travel time away, by Greyhound) to take in the show, then back to NYC to do all the gift and bargain hunting for friends and family.
I cannot begin to describe how I felt to learn that BD Wong had been injured during a show, the news overheard in an elevator of all places . . .
Williamstown, 19 June 2007
Thirty stitches in his leg, but Wong was back on the stage for both the matinee and evening performances the following day ... what a trouper.
Five hours by Greyhound sounds a lot, but staring out the window at a foreign country, the time flashes by. Williamstown is a quiet looking town. It has one main street with two pretty good restaurants and one good coffee shop. I would spend much time here during the next few days simply unwinding. The town also has several small galleries and museums which I devoured on the first day.
"Culture during hard times does real well."
The theatre building is amazing and beautiful and would be considered a must-see venue were it in the theatre district of London or New York … but then, maybe it would lose some of its charm. It is a place of calm and reflection.
I gravitated towards it within an hour of arriving in town, some four hours before curtain up. In the sweltering heat of Massachusetts, it was more than just the aircon which made me want to linger. When I returned later in the evening, it was filled with the gentle buzz of conversation. Alas, everyone seemed to know everyone, except me. But it was the beginning of a night filled with wow factors ...
Herringbone and the Wow Factor
There are no recordings of Herringbone, and the script was not in print. All I knew of it was its reputation, and the fact that it would test even the best of actors.
I suspected that I would enjoy the show, if only because I was a 'BD Wong fan' - but I was not ready to be blown away completely!
The first surprise of the evening was that the audience would enter via a Gothic-proportioned industrial stage door. It opened silently, ominously, revealing a Spartan set and a modest number of seats.
As the audience started to take their seats, their powers of observation was being tested: BD Wong, Dan Lipton and the orchestra was already there, on the stage floor, getting ready for the performance. Maybe one in ten people would whisper 'Oh, isn't that ...?' I swear I didn't stare. I looked at the balcony, the set, the audience, anywhere but HIM, but he was having none of it. Each performance, Wong made a point of welcoming anyone he recognised.
And so, at long last ... HERRINGBONE
"Did you ever have one of those years?" Herringbone sang to the audience, before introducing the cast of characters. And what a cast. Nathan Mosely, a retired ham, Arthur Nookin, a money-grabbing father, Louise Nookin, a pushy mother, George Nookin, their eight year old son ... an elderly God-fearing grandmother ... a delightful nightclub lush ... a lawyer ... a sales clerk ... and a dead dwarf named Lou.
Wong proceeded to tell the story, but like a Russian doll, there are characters nesting in characters here. We see and hear Louise and co via Arthur Herringbone, but there are several humorous lapses in the narrative, during which BD Wong plays BD Wong playing Herringbone playing the cast ... Fake corpsing where Wong forgets his lines, laughs at his performance or asks the audience how he’s doing – these endearing ‘lapses’ are revealed to be firmly scripted to anyone who sees the show more than once.
It’s actually scary when you see Wong convincingly ad-lib or uncontrollably crack up, when you know he isn’t really …
Inevitably, no two performances were the same (confession: I saw it six times) but the variations only added entertainment value. Amazingly, for a two hour one-man show, Wong not once missed a line for real. Instead, he wowed the audience with great dance numbers and let his voice soar. The songs have a horrible addictive element to them which ensured they just go around and around in your head for days. Such a shame no recording is available.
There really is no way to describe Wong playing these characters - he switches between them so quickly as they talk amongst themselves. There is one scene, when Arthur (the father) and Lou (the vauderville dwarf) are talking. Lou is seducing Arthur with the promise of riches - the interchange (and change) between them is so swift, Lou looking up at Arthur, Arthur looking down on Lou - and Wong switching from the very different body language of both characters instantly: facial expression, body language, even the position of their feet ... stunning.
Of course, these characters don't just represent Wong's work - the sure hand of director Roger Rees ensures that Wong's performance is tight and controlled in what is a flawless production. Doubtless they and all the other creatives involved (including the choreographer, the truly amazing Darren Lee) are still crafting and refining the show, in the hope that it will go on, but for me ... it was perfect.
And so my night with George Herringbone came to an end.
Etiquette of Strangers
So what am I - stalker or biographer? Only BD Wong can answer that one really, but the hardest part of all this was trying to figure out the sheer etiquette of it all. The actor himself, who now knows me by sight, I only spoke to for less than a minute or so after each performance. But Wong on stage is a family affair, and his friends and family were all there to support him. Some I recognised the faces of, simply through putting together this site - and I think perhaps some of them detected a flicker of recognition in my face. I'm sorry about that, I really don't want to intrude. I didn't speak to them, but really, if I did, all I would say, all I could say, is "Hi, I'm the audience!"
Martin Owers, July 2007