Dame Judi Dench

Mary Lynn's TRF Experiences

I saw TRF last evening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. My friend Helen and I were in 5th row, seats 11 and 12, almost center. The theatre is just beautiful - - rich warm jewel tones with golf leaf and gilt, and a very tasteful crystal chandelier in the middle of the ornate ceiling. It was wonderful to be transported from the vulnerability of today's world into the roaring twenties of New York. They use one art deco set through all three acts. In the middle of the set is a long twisting stair case, definitely the focal point of each scene. It is made of black wood with scrolled gold lattice. The foyer in the back of the set looks similar to Rocky's original hallway in ATGB. It is a filled with dark wood bookcases and a burgundy wall. There is a black piano behind a black leather sofa. It has old b&w photos in silver frames on it. There are oriental vases filled with ornate flower arrangements all over the room. The walls are horizontal stripes. They are beige and gold. There are three large windows above the staircase stage right. They lights between them are covered with Japanese fans. On the stage right wall, is a portrait of a young Fanny Cavendish (Judi) as Lady MacBeth in flowing gowns and holding a gold crown over her head. It is nothing like the MacBeth portraits of her with Ian MacKellan. The set was ostentatious - - it really represented the over the top life of the Barrymore family. Harriet Walter played Julie Cavendish, daughter of Fanny. She looks like a younger Janet Henfrey. There is a portrait of her on the stage left wall, and all I thought about when I saw it was "Wow...Mrs. Bale is quite a dish!!" I have to say that I thought Harriet's American accent was the best of all the performers. More about accents later. Harriet Walter carried a lot of the second act. She is incredible and for anyone that knows me, I don't hand out compliments often. The most flamboyant costumes and sarcastic lines belonged to Dame Judi's Fanny. She wore black turbans encrusted with rhinestones, long flowing crushed velvet gowns in contrasting dark black and light black. Her first entrance set the tone. She wore a black turban, with silver crystals embedded in it. She walked down the grand staircase with the aid of a cane, but in high heels. Even Fanny's black cane was ornate. The most wonderful of her gowns was an empire waisted burgundy velvet gown with a gold silk embroided jacket. She wore long strands of pearls, black crystal beads, diamond and sapphire brooches. Picture Gloria Swanson in Sunset Blvd, and you have Judi's Fanny down pat. But Fanny is much livelier and funnier than Norma Desmond. Judi's timing when delivering the plays funniest lines just made the show for me. And the facial expressions?! One of the lines was when Fanny's brother, Herbert, played by Peter Bowles (To the Manor Born, The Irish RM) says "I'm not that pathetic". Instead of hearing Fanny say "Yes, you are", she instead thinks for a moment, is about to say something, but stops and rushes out of the room." Julia Mackenzie's Kitty, sister in law to Fanny, looked just like Betty Boop! She plays a woman of "mature years" who keeps trying to pass for an 20 something ingenue. Some of Fanny's best lines are at Kitty's expense.

Julia MacKenzie looks like Betty Boop but acts like Judy Holiday. I have to admit, tht some of the play dragged on a bit. At one point, Fanny (Dame Judi) was reading a newspaper while her brother Herbert, daughter Julie, granddaughter Gwen (Emily Blunt) and sister in law Kitty chattered away. I think Judi also thought the scene was going slow, but she had to wait for her cue to say her next line. I think she sighed and rolled her eyes out of frustration, but she rustled the paper at the same time, so it could have been that Fanny didn't like a story in the paper, not that Judi was wishing the others around her would hurry up. But I'll never really know. If others see her do it in the upcoming performances, then it will be scripted. If she doesn't do it, well, that will be a treat for me. I did not care for the part of the granddaughter, Gwen. Very whiny and pretentious. It reminded me of the prima donna actors in the US today. Part of the play at times reminded me of Ken Ludwig's farce "Lend me a Tenor". Harriet Walters made two mistakes. She kept calling her love interest Gil Marshall "Gwen", which was her daughters name. And Judi made one tiny mistake. She meant to say "on the stage"...but it came out "out on a...out on the stage.." All in all, I'd give the play a B. I'd give Harriet Walters and Dame Judi's performances an A. Special kudos to Toby Stephens as Tony Cavendish, Fanny's son. He was like a tasmanian devil whirling around that set. He looked and acted exactly like Errol Flynn. And at one point, while fencing on the set with a friend, he turns to Fanny, and she fences with her cane versus his sword. Very funny. The play is about this flamboyant theatrical family who live, eat and breathe the Theatre. They are happiest when they are on stage. They have egos the size of the grand canyon, they are all spoiled rotten, and are at their best when they are trading sarcastic quips. Fanny is the expert at the verbal sparring match. As I said before, Harriet Walter and Judi were the best performers in the play. I wasn't happy with Peter Bowles as Herbert. He was rather wimpy. He let this household of women walk all over him, and I doubht Lionel or John Barrymore would let Ethel get away with this behavior. (But when Herbert dyes his hair brown to try and pass for a man of 35, Judi's doubletake is a riot. She looks out into the audience and smiles like a cheshire cat so Herbert can't see her expression.) Unfortunately, the theatre is not selling any TRF merchandise. And there are no plans to.

40 Minutes of Champagne with the Dame

After TRF performance last evening, I went to the stage door to meet Dame Judi. I was in a line of about a dozen people, which I didn't think was too bad. The play ended at 10:10pm and Helen and I got in line pretty quickly. At 10:20pm, one of the stage managers, a nice man named Andrew, appeared in the doorway and asked the line "Is there a Mary Lynn here?" I looked at Helen and then raised my hand. The man asked me to come with him. I thought I was going to have a coronary! Was I in trouble? As I walked past these other people in the line, I could feel them loathing me immediately! The man jumps into this little booth, and talks into a phone. "Yes, she's here. Okay. You're welcome" He hangs the phone up and tells me "Ok - you're all set. Dame Judi's dressing room is on the second level, the first room on the left after the small mirror." As Helen and I headed that way, I said "What the hell is going on?" She told me to just shut up and move. We got to the white door with the brass name plate engraved with Judi Dench. The door was partially open, so I knocked and yelled out "Hello". Dame Judi's voice said "Come in". I walked into the outer part of her dressing room, and the four turbans she wears in the show are in a row on a table. I keep walking to the next door, and standing there, is Judi, in her bare feet, wearing Khaki pants and a short sleeve linen buttoned up linen shirt tucked into her pants. She looked wonderful!! I'd say she lost 10-15lbs since last February's ATGB taping. Up close, she is so petite and pretty. I introduced myself to her, she hugged me and said "it's lovely to meet you and thank you for coming over to see me. How did we do with the American accents?" I was floored!! I told her fine, but she said she kept fading in and out of hers, and that Peter Hall wants her to work harder on it. She said "Peter isn't here this evening, he's in Cambridge watching his daughter in Virgina Woolf, so at least I won't have those notes for Monday. But..who am I kidding, his spys are everywhere, so I'm sure I'll hear about it." When I asked her a question about the costumes and said "Dame Judi"...she said "Please...call me Judi". Judi's dresser for the show, Kristy, came in and asked Judi if she needed anything. Judi asked her to get five champagne glasses. Two of Judi's close friends, a lovey couple, Penny and Gerald, were sitting on her bed. They were going to have dinner at 11:30pm. Judi told me that Kristy had been slow in getting her changed for two of tonights scenes and that she almost missed an entrance in the third act. She said Kristy works in tv, and of course, when you dress for tv, it's totally different, there is a lot of time to get ready. Judi said she's a sweet girl, but her timing has got to improve. I told Judi the costumes were just spectacular, she said "Thank you ...but I didn't make them you know." I didn't say anything for a moment, I must have looked like a deer in the headlights. She howled one of those big throaty laughs of hers and said "I'm just kidding" Her friend Penny told Judi - "You look good in a turban." Judi said she doesn't like the way she looks in hats. Penny said she could carry it off. Judi said that's because "it gives me an instant facelift!" Judi said I was lucky to get in the stage door line early, because the Theatre Management has told all the cast that they are closing the stage door from now on at 10:30pm to save money. Judi rolled her eyes and said "Unbelievable, isn't it?" Afer years of admiring Judi's talent, I told Judi how much I have enjoyed her work. She thanked me, and then proceeded to ask me about my family and my trips! Now, I want you all to know that I truly believe Judi reads each and every letter personally. She asked me about my Dad, her twin. (Same birthday and year) and she wanted to know if my work has suffered a lot because of Sept 11. (She remembered I worked in travel.) I did not ask Judi about a new season of ATGB, like Joan Street before me, I thought I would leave that to Cindy Lou. But she did tell me that she's completed her scenes for Earnest and next week she is doing a recording of Angelina Ballerina with "Finty". She did tell me she's supposed to start filming the new Bond film in late February, but is hasn't got a title and she hasn't seen the script yet. Her friend Gerald said "Jude, you could have the script for 6 months, and you still wouldn't know what it's about!" She picked up a makeup sponge from her dressing table, threw it at him and said "shut up!" Helen and Judi talked about mutual friends that Helen has been recording with. While they chatted, I looked around Judi's dressing room. It's very open, white with a light yellow paint. It's decorated with floral patterns and jacquards. Very ornate white cornices and crown molding. Judi told me that Sir John had this dressing room when he was performing here during WWII. She said they recently refurbished it. Judi's dressing room is filled with fresh flowers, family photos and yes - - she was wearing the rings! She had a little personal cd player with a stack of cd's. After we drank champagne and Gerald gave a toast to Judi for a successful run, I said thank you for letting me come up here. She said..."Please stay for a bit longer. Our reservations aren't for another hour." Yeah..like I was going to pass that up! Judi, Helen, Penny, Gerald and I talked about a wide variety of things for about half an hour I had brought a gift for Sam Williams, Make Way for Ducklings..by Robert McCloskey .Judi thanked me and said "Fins will love it." She pointed to a 5 by 7 photo in the lower left of her dressing mirror and said "That's our Sam, there." He is precious! There were some new professional headshots of Finty, and I have to say, she looked great. Judi said she just had them done. Judi said she has some other projects in the works, but she seemed to be more interested in me than talking about herself. She has this way of looking right at you and making you feel special. She is the most gracious and humble women, save for my mother, that I have ever met.