I'm Gonna Audition

I finished Cat on A Hot Tin Roof last night. In case you haven't seen it, here's a quick synopsis: Margaret and Brick are childless because Brick is depressed over the death of his football-buddy Skipper who professed his love for Brick before dying of heartbreak. Brick's father is dying and will surely leave his huge estate to the first son, Gooper, and his horde of ill-bred kids. But the family isn't telling Big Daddy that he's dying of cancer and have in fact told him he only has a spastic colon. Daddy confronts Brick over his alcoholism and relationship with Skipper, and Brick retaliates by telling him of the cancer. Hilarity ensues.

Now I don't think I can play Brick. He's got to be athletic, and I'm slightly too slight for that. But Gooper is a snake in the grass trying to manipulate his mother into securing the estate to him. He's smart, but desperately unsubtle about his aims. It's a good role. It's the kind of role you can steal the show with, and that's what I can do with him. But it would be a small miracle for me to get that role. It would be too similar to what happened with Greenville Little Theatre. I auditioned for the first time and get a good supporting part in a Williams play. Gooper's a fine part, though. Too good to not try. I told Your Sis about it, and she OKed it. Auditions are in three weeks. I could memorize the part in that much time.

I discovered that, as with Glass Menagerie, Williams rewrote Cat. His first version is just about perfect, but he wrote another third act to accomodate director Elia Kazan, and I don't know which the Asheville company will present. Gooper doesn't change too much in the second version, but everyone does lose some power. The writing's clipped and rushed. The first ending is stronger, and I hope that's what they use.

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In The News
I attribute North Korea's sabre-rattling to Condi Rice's Asia visit. No, I'm not blaming her, but she's to whom the recent comments are targeted. Her reactions and ability to weave together the support of Korea's neighbors are key.

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The NYTimes reports Bush met with several talk-show hosts (registration may be needed) to organize talking points. A picture shows Mike Gallagher, Neal Boortz, Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Michael Medved listening to Bush make his policy detials clear. The administration is concerned that conservative radio and TV shows are drifting away from their once solid policy support. The above-mentioned hosts go to great lengths, as does Limbaugh, to say they are conservative before they are Republican. Others say they are neither and are independent, yet they often side with the administration. They hope to play the role of an unaffiliated voter who happens to agree with the administration to make those policies appeal to moderates and undecideds. I don't begrudge them for jumping on the conservative talk bandwagon. It's the easiest show to syndicate to small-town AM radio, and small-town radio needs syndicated shows to get local advertising money. If you want to see someone who clearly jumped aboard, look at Dennis Miller. His schtick switched from cynical to conservative about three years ago. But the hosts' loyalty wavers when the poll numbers drop as evidenced by this come-to-Jesus meeting. The administration needs those shows; they are the unofficial conservative-government media and crucial for the upcoming elections. The hosts may want to appeal to the administration (and score interviews with the big guys), but they must listen to their callers and sponsors. And those two are swaying away from blind support as the administration sloughs its conserative ideals of minimal government and fiscal responsibility.