Monday, January 21, 2013

Minnie the Mermaid.

Last night, I had a dream about a guy named Shane Henry.  He was my friend.

I met him in the summer of 1999, at the first read through of a play that I was going to be carrying at a theatre in Central California.

Three of us had come on to join an already established company of actors for a couple of summer plays.  The established members of the company included one I would eventually marry, one that would eventually win a Tony, and three that would go on to have continuing careers in LA and NYC.

But at that time, we were all younger.

We did the read through (I was still exhausted, but game) and there was some cursory blocking done, and by the mid afternoon, three of us were excused while the others prepared for their evening performances.  The show was formulaic in structure; a two act play, followed by a thirty minute vaudeville review.

The show was, I believe, THE RIVALS set on the Atlantic City Boardwalk near the turn of the last century.  It was good, for the most part, but alas, it flew over the heads of most of the audience.  But the vaudeville review.....well, that was the stuff of legends.

Enter Shane.  From below the stage.  Dressed in a 1920's swimsuit (shoulders to knees), a mask, a snorkel and swim fins.  All 6' 6" of him.

And he took the stage.  He took the stage better, and easier than anybody I had ever seen.  It was like he took it, picked it up, shook it out, laid it back down, and danced the crap out of it.

The song was MINNIE THE MERMAID.  He sang it in a kind of howl, but it was a howl of pure joy.  And then, he began the dance. 

Tap dancing.  In shoes that look like flippers.

It brought the house DOWN.

Anything that came before was forgotten; everything that came after was superfluous.  He grabbed that audience and made them love him.  Up to that time, in my career, I had rarely seen anybody do that....so freakin' easily.

And I would dream for decades about doing it myself.  And never...quite....getting it.

He became my friend that night.  And I watched every single performance of that number for the next two weeks.

That summer we got ample opportunity to play off of each other; he as the straight man to my comic in one of the shows that summer, and he was the hero to my villain in the other.  We crossed swords figuratively in one of the shows, and literally in the other.  And they both wound up the same; he allowed me to leave in one, and forced me to leave in the other.  One of those times in your career when no matter where you are in the long run, you can't wait to get back to work.

He directed the second vaudeville review, and gave me a solo; I was singing a love song, comparing my girl to a Limburger sandwich....he had me sitting at a table with a sandwich.  I asked for a photo of a girl, and he saw the merit in it.  What he didn't expect was that at the end of the number, I would sigh and the photo would fall off the table.

He got me to sing, and I got my laugh.

The summer wrapped quickly.  And after we'd packed out the summer shows, and placed the autumn how onto the stage, we shook hands, did a manly embrace, and off he went.

And I have not seem him from that day to this.

I hope he is well.

And if, perchance he should come upon these words......

Thanks for everything, Shane.

1 comment:

Kizz said...

So, it's not this guy: http://www.shanehenry.com/index.php5 ?

Or this one? http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3266389/