Am I in The Big Chill?!?
The play THIS has some real similarities.
They are both about a group of college friends, who are now in their 30's (40's).
For them, like me, college was a time when anything and everything happened. Now years later when they get together there is an immediate chemical thing that transports them back to that time. No matter how many children or grown up jobs or crows’ feet or love handles they have. They look at each other and Boom they are back and the same great adventure opens up. I had my 20th reunion recently on a Lake upstate and everyone was doing crazy stunts on water skis. It was the same alchemy that I am talking about and was fun until someone dislocated a hip.
A big important dynamic in THIS is that these people seem connected in this “known each other since college” way.
It is the night before the 1st rehearsal and I am nervous and excited to meet everyone so we can – in the next three weeks – develop this chemistry. Work on our relationships. The Big Chill cast supposedly spent a few weeks together as a group before shooting to develop this rapport. What can we do in THIS? Maybe I should invite everyone over to the Actor Housing to watch The Big Chill? Or maybe the more artsy prequel Return of the Secaucus Seven. No, I think the entertainment value and hysterical quippyness in THIS is more similar to The Big Chill. I’ve already decided who I am in the movie – a cross between Jeff Goldblum’s reporter who can’t get laid and Bill Hurt’s boozy/druggy soothsayer. Would we all enjoy playing this game? Will we start to bond over popcorn and the movie? Or...
Will the experience of spending 8 hours a day in the rehearsal room exploring the play with Ron (May) and April (Smith) be enough? Will repeating the inventive and witty things we say, the issues we argue about, the jokes we make, the mid life crises we grapple with, the extraordinary loving and hurtful and funny things we do to one another be all we need to experience our Big Chill moment???????????
Keep you posted.
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