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| Topic Started: Mar 3 2010, 06:45 AM (698 Views) | |
| mouser | Mar 3 2010, 06:45 AM Post #1 |
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Contest for Grease Tickets: http://www.fcpfirst.com/Contests.aspx?c_src=email&date=100301   APRIL 14, 2010 is the scheduled Charity Event for Actor's Equity that the cast of Grease has given in various cities across American. Taylor never participates, but it is a nice gesture on the part of Broadway Actor's Equity. Other shows do the same thing , so this type of event is commonplace wherever National Companies of Broadway Shows perform. http://actorsfund.ca/greasecabaret/  Photos by Daniel Swelec
Edited by mouser, Apr 9 2010, 08:42 AM.
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| mouser | Apr 2 2010, 06:13 AM Post #2 |
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Taylor Hicks taking it one step at a timeFour years after winning American Idol, Taylor Hicks is still searching for his voice, testing the waters with a role in Grease, coming to Toronto April 7Published On Fri Apr 2 2010 http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/music/article/788319--taylor-hicks-taking-it-one-step-at-a-time Taylor Hicks now stars in the musical Grease as Teen Angel. He’s come a long way since his days as a boy in Birmingham, Ala. “My youth was a tempestuous time,” he allows, “and the pain of it still lingers in my memory. The key is finding an outlet for that emotion.” By Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic To Taylor Hicks, winning American Idol and stepping out onto the stage every night as Teen Angel in Grease (starting April 7 at the Canon Theatre) share several distinct similarities. “There’s a rush of excitement, the cheers of the fans and the feeling that you’re making people happy with your singing, which is all I ever wanted to do.” Hicks is on the phone from Buffalo, where he’s in the middle of a lengthy tour with the ’50s rock musical. Last July, in fact, he played Ottawa, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper brought his family backstage to meet the 33 year-old Alabama boy, which Hicks calls “one of the coolest experiences I’ve ever had.” That’s a pretty fair tribute to the PM, considering Hicks has had a varied life up to this point, with Hurricane Katrina, a free airline ticket to Las Vegas and a last-minute decision to audition making him the fifth (and at 29, the oldest) winner of American Idol back in 2006. But the story starts a lot earlier, when Hicks was 5 in Birmingham. “I was at a friend’s house and they were playing a Ray Charles record. It stopped me right in my tracks. I connected with his sound right away. His soul got to me. I was starting to connect with some real emotional stuff around then.” That’s how Hicks introduces the defining event of his childhood, the emotionally charged break-up of his parents when he was 8. That kind of split is difficult enough for a boy that young, but as Hicks put it, “I bounced around all over the state for the rest of my childhood,” being passed from one relative to another. “Yeah, my youth was a tempestuous time,” he allows, “and the pain of it still lingers in my memory. The key is finding an outlet for that emotion.” For Hicks, that outlet was always music. “I spent so many years envisioning breaking into the music industry, ever since I was 6 or 7,” he recalls. “That’s a long time. It was the culmination of sweat and grit and drives in a minivan in the middle of the night on a Southern highway.” Nothing came easy to Hicks in those early years. He admits he had trouble in school because “music was my calling, not books. I was a weird little kid off in my own world." He reveals the extent of his obsession by confessing that the ’60s R&B duo Sam and Dave "came before Algebra for me.” So with no money and no other creative outlets, he taught himself how to play music. “The harmonica was first. I didn’t have any music books or stuff like that so I started matching the sound of the harmonica to everyday noises: air conditioners, airplanes, car horns. That’s how I found out about pitch. It was sure an interesting way of learning.” Later on he moved onto the guitar and then, when he was 18 he wrote his first song, a piece called “In Your Time.” “That was the whole nine yards,” he recalls with satisfaction. “Putting all those pieces together, making it happen. I could see the light shining out there somewhere.” The surprising side of Hicks, however, is the hard core of practical realism that’s balanced his artistic idealism all along. “I always knew show business was one of the hardest businesses in the world, so I tried to have a back-up plan.” He studied business at Auburn University, but admits he had a hard time “trying to finish school and be a musician at the same time. It’s not easy trying to balance things together. I knew I had a calling and I knew it was going to be entertainment in the end.” After three years of the struggle, he quit, but he doesn’t regret a single moment of his schooling. “There is no question I picked up a lot from my business studies that I use in my career today. I learned success doesn’t last forever, so you have to try and have as much clout and control over your career as possible. As long as you’re holding the knife, slice yourself as big a piece of the pie as possible.” Those days were still a ways off for Hicks. He “bounced all over the Southeast” for about eight years, sometimes as a solo, sometimes with a band, never quite finding the magic sound he was looking for. “I’m still trying to find that voice,” he concedes. “I’ve gone through many hoops in this career of mine and I’ll keep going until I find the right one.” Then came Hurricane Katrina. Hicks was in New Orleans for a friend’s wedding in August 2005 when the deadly storm hit. The airports were closed and he grabbed “one of the last taxis leaving town” to get out in time. When he finally arrived at an airport, he was told he could use the ticket he had to fly “anywhere in the U.S.” so on a whim he picked Las Vegas. Once there, he heard American Idol auditions were going on. “I knew that winning on that show could bring you success in the music business. I knew it was big. I never actually thought I was going to get on it. I was trying to test the waters a bit.” He didn’t just test the waters, he rode the waves — big time. Although he may have come on the air as a simple “good ol’ boy,” he had a strategy all worked out. “You have to be smart in the way you imprint yourself on the viewers every week so that they like you and keep coming back to watch you. You have to be premeditated to use your talents in a different way each week.” And on May 24, 2006, this quirky 29 year-old with a full head of grey hair was named winner in front of a worldwide audience estimated at 200 million people. “What did I feel that night? I felt relief. I had worked so hard and so long to get there, I felt I could finally take a breath.” But he couldn’t. The celebrity machine he’d longed for all his life had arrived and he didn’t like some parts of it. “I didn’t like being followed by a helicopter full of paparazzi. That’s a very surreal moment. You know you’ve gone from obscurity to fame when there’s a helicopter following you.” Although the rabid Hicks followers (“The Soul Patrol”) stayed faithful to him, Arista Records dropped him after a single release and his next album was self-produced on his own label. He saw playing the cameo role of Teen Angel in Grease in 2008 (first on Broadway, then on tour) as a wise career move because “I know my limitations and I wanted to start out with something small, but flashy that didn’t require a lot of acting, but would keep the fans happy.” As for what lies ahead, Hicks says he feels “this is just the beginning of my career. There’s going to be a lot of things I’m going to do because I’ve worked very hard to get to this point. “I know this is my calling. And I’m excited for the future. The defining moment hasn’t come for me yet. FROM THE REGIS AND KELLY SHOW: Edited by mouser, Apr 3 2010, 05:58 AM.
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| san | Apr 2 2010, 06:45 PM Post #3 |
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This is one of the best articles I have read in a long time. Taylor gives some some new insight into his life and rise to fame. In a rather rare moment, Taylor seems to open up to this interviewer. It was nice to read. He is always looking to the future...and still awaiting his defining moment. "As for what lies ahead, Hicks says he feels “this is just the beginning of my career. There’s going to be a lot of things I’m going to do because I’ve worked very hard to get to this point. “I know this is my calling. And I’m excited for the future. The defining moment hasn’t come for me yet." |
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| Gr8fulheart | Apr 3 2010, 06:51 PM Post #4 |
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I agree, San. Great article. I can nearly feel Taylor's pain of the past, as he mentions how it lingers & how he needed to find that 'outlet' to work through it. Pain isn't always a bad thing, if a person accepts it as part of life's lessons in learning. Taylor, obviously, has learned a lot! |
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| KarinP | Apr 5 2010, 10:14 PM Post #5 |
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I agree, San. This is a fabulous interview with some new insights to Taylor's past and future. I was recently "on the road" and I was listening to a CD with some of Taylor's AI performances. I had not listened to it for a while but I must tell you, although I probably don't have to, Taylor's performances from Season 5 have not been surpassed since then. As I listened to the songs, I could "hear" the intensity of his desire to win. Too bad the current group has not yet shown us what Taylor was able to show us during that season. If Taylor pursues the future like he pursued Season 5, I have no doubt that he will reach his goals. |
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| mouser | Apr 7 2010, 05:49 AM Post #6 |
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An Interview with Mr. Jacobs. 'A little bit of copping a feel' Melissa Leong, National Post Published: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 Jim Jacobs Seven years before Grease became the highest-grossing movie musical ever, it opened at the Kingston Mines Theater, a former trolley barn in Chicago, as an explicit, satirical look at teenage gangs and the music they loved. It was not "all pastel colours and lollipops," co-creator Jim Jacobs says of his musical, which opens in Toronto tonight. The 67-year-old talked to Melissa Leong about being a "guitar-playing greaser" and the meaning behind "shoo bop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom." Q How did you get the idea to write this musical? A It began one night in my apartment at a cast party with my late partner, Warren Casey. We were having drinks and people were starting to fall asleep on the floor. I dragged out an old shopping bag of my old 45s from the '50s: Little Richard, Dion and the Belmonts, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis. Of course, the hippies started groaning. I said to Warren, "Wouldn't it be great to do a Broadway show using this kind of music instead of Rodgers and Hammerstein and Lerner and Loewe stuff?" Q I hear that the characters are based on people in your neighbourhood. A The Burger Palace Boys were a fictitious group of guys that I hung out with. They were tough guys, stealing cars and getting into gang fights. In the movie, they put jackets with "T-Birds" on the guys. The deal in Chicago where I grew up was if the guys wore leather jackets, the Chicago police would take them and burn them. I remember getting caught with a couple of guys stealing hub caps and we witnessed the burning of 200 jackets in the alley behind the station. Q Did these tough guys come to see your show? A Of course, they think they're stars. But they had a million criticisms. "Well, we had you break out into a dance because it's entertaining," I said. "Yeah well, I look like a sissy." Two different worlds. Q What happened to them? A What do you suppose happens to the working class? Some went off to Vietnam and were killed. Some died young. There aren't many happy stories. When my ex-wife met [the real Rizzo] at a high-school reunion, she looked like Cher as Laverne with the leopard-skin pants. My ex-wife asked if she still lived in Chicago. She said, "No, I live in Florida. I just came up here to see my husband. He's on death row." Q How does the musical that we are seeing in Toronto compare to the 1971 version? A The original show has a bunch of tougher, grittier, rougher, foulmouthed louts and less music and less exploitation of the dances of the period. It was almost documentary-like with rock 'n' roll music and the teenage gangs of the 1950s. It lead to a great misunderstanding by many critics and people about the show and the ending of the show where they think suddenly good-girl Sandy becomes a wanton slut. Q By the way, what the heck is We Go Together about? A The idea of it was to incorporate all of the nonsense lyrics that I could think of from songs in the '50s. We go together like rama-lama-lama kading-it-y ding dong. It's like sterling on silver. White on rice. That was the point of the teenage gang. You really feel like this is your first family away from your real family that you'll always be together. Q If you could change anything about the modern edition, what would it be? A I'd bring it back to the language that it initially had when it opened on Broadway in 1972. Rough. A lot of effin this and up yours and a little bit of copping a feel. It added authenticity to who these people are. "Aw shucks" doesn't quite make it. http://www.nationalpost.com/news/canada/toronto/story.html?id=2771422 |
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| mouser | Apr 8 2010, 05:36 AM Post #7 |
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Well, I can't say that this Toronto critic enjoyed the show very much, but Taylor seemed to fare very very well. I have never thought of a Hamburger as a metaphor for Grease , but it is a good one. I have thought of Taylor as a SPECIAL SAUCE ; however. http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/theatre/article/792077--grease-served-on-a-sorry-show-plate Published On Thu Apr 8 2010 By Richard Ouzounian Theatre Critic Grease By Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall. Until April 18 at the Canon Theatre, 244 Victoria St. 416-872-1212 At this point in time, nearly 40 years after its creation, trying to review Grease, which opened Wednesday night at the Canon Theatre, is like trying to give a notice to a Big Mac. What do you ask? Were the all-beef patties juicy? Was the bun nice and toasty? How about the special sauce? You see what I mean. It’s not a musical, any more, it’s a commodity, which people gulp down in search of mindless entertainment, with memories of the iconic film version and dozens of amateur, summer stock and school productions behind them. Well, this time around, the patties are kinda dry, the bun is sorta soggy. But the special sauce has some zing. The leading roles of Danny and Sandy in this 1950s spoof need a lot of personality to make them stand out. Josh Franklin, as Danny, has a certain sweetness that’s appealing and he sings “Sandy” with grace and ease. But that’s supposed to be his hidden side and Franklin is less successful in showing his sexy, macho image. And as for Sandy, Lauren Ashley Zakrin has only one thing in common with the lady who owns the role, Olivia Newton-John: three names. What about the bun holding the whole thing together? Well it seems like Kathleen Marshall’s major direction must have been “Overact like hell!” and her cast have obeyed her. Some of them are turning in misguided tributes to their favourite stars, with Kelly Felthous playing Marty like Kristin Chenoweth on acid and Laura D’Andre giving us a Rizzo who resembles Patti LuPone as a marine. Choreography? Marshall has neither taxed her imagination or her dancer’s stamina. It’s pretty tame stuff. Derek McLane’s set is the usual touring collection of wobbly drops and only Martin Pakledinaz’s costumes have some zip. But there is some excitement in the special sauce. Taylor Hicks is the real attraction here for most people, playing Teen Angel, who only sings one number. Fortunately, Hicks does it with wit, style, just the right amount of camp and an amusing sense of self-mockery. By the time he whips his trademark harmonica out for a few licks, everyone is happy. But you can’t say the same for the rest of the production. The script is now so tired that the only lines which drew big laughs were the local ad libs about Penetang and Honest Ed’s. Hopelessly devoted to you? Not any more, kids. Sorry. |
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| tishlp | Apr 8 2010, 10:48 AM Post #8 |
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I missed the radio interviews this morning. I'm so happy to see there are downloads available!
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| mouser | Apr 8 2010, 02:28 PM Post #9 |
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FULL TEXT INTERVIEW FROM CANADIAN PRESS Thursday, April 8, 2010  courtesy of Frank Gunn Victoria Ahearn, THE CANADIAN PRESS The Canadian Press, 2010 TORONTO - "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks wants to steer the Soul Patrol toward the big screen. The grey-haired crooner, who inspired a fervent fanbase that called itself Soul Patrol on Season 5 of the series, says he wants to act in TV and film once he's done playing Teen Angel in the touring 1950s rock 'n' roll musical "Grease." "I've definitely caught the acting bug and I am looking now at some TV and film opportunities," the raspy-voiced Alabama native said Thursday in an interview at the Canon Theatre, where the show is running through April 18. Hicks couldn't say what those opportunities are - "Not yet. I wish, I wish," he said with big grin - but he noted he hasn't abandoned his music career. In fact, he plans to record a country-influenced album after the "Grease" tour this summer. "I'm not going to release it yet but I'm going to be working on it along with the film and TV opportunities," said Hicks, 33, a harmonica and guitar player with a down-home soul/blues/R&B vibe. "It would be a great kind of multimedia idea that would allow me probably another tour, too." Touring is something the Birmingham-born musician has been doing for much of the past 4 1/2 years, initially for his post-"Idol" duties, then for his first two albums, and now the "Grease" tour. Though his success on the music charts hasn't matched that of many other "Idol" winners, including Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson, he has impressed critics in playing Teen Angel, Frenchy's mentor who drops down from heaven to sing "Beauty School Dropout." Hicks first took on the role on Broadway in 2008, following in the footsteps of such superstar performers as Chubby Checker and Frankie Avalon, who played the role in the 1978 "Grease" film. He was shocked to learn that his character makes his grand entrance on stage in a giant ice cream cone that drops from the ceiling. "It never really occurred to me that I would be starring in a Broadway show in the first place, but actually starring in one in a dairy-dip cone 40 feet above a stage ... I was completely shocked." Teen Angel is now "Taylor-ized it," as Hicks puts it, with new R&B arrangements and his self-designed costume, which he describes as an "Elvis-meets-Liberace" suit with about 13,000 rhinestones. He also sings his own original songs during encores in the touring show, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper saw when it ran at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa last July. "The Teen Angel role, for me, is my first true step into acting, which is something that I will probably explore a lot more now that the role ... has been so successful," he said, noting he's always idolized performers who "touch on every aspect of entertainment." "For me, the career is a marathon, not a sprint, so to speak." As for "Idol," he believes it still has staying power even with the recent announcement that judge Simon Cowell will leave after this season. "The idea is the American dream and the dream of being a great singer, a great entertainer. I don't think that idea has faltered any since the show's conception," he said. "I do believe that there is going to be a revolving door of judges ... but I think ultimately the idea with 'American Idol' is that people at home can get behind an artist and watch them develop in front of their own eyes and realize their dreams and talents, and I think that idea won't change." http://news.therecord.com/article/695400 |
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| mouser | Apr 8 2010, 02:47 PM Post #10 |
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That life size cut out of Taylor that we have all seen in the lobby of multiple theatres is INDEED, practically LIFE SIZE. This is Taylor standing in front of his cut out !!!!!! How nifty is this picture. Mr. Cullman is a photographer whose webpage we should patronize. http://rogercullman.com/portraits/h1bfe1947#h1bfe1947 
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