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From New Jersey
Garden State Parkway to
NJ Turnpike
Take Exit 14 C - Holland Tunnel
Theater is about a mile from the tunnel
Exiting the tunnel stay right on Laight St.
1st right on Canal St.
1/2 mile make left on Broadway
1/2 mile make right on W. Houston
1/2 mile make left on Lafayette St to #425
There is no specific theater parking - you are on your own.
Joseph Papp Public Theater/Newman Theater
425 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003-7021
(between Astor Place & East 4th Street) South of Astor
Park
They do not take credit cards over the phone. For tickets send
a check to:
The Play Co.
Attn: Tomo
19 W 44th Suite 1216
New York City, NY 10036
Everyone who buys a ticket is guaranteed a seat.
The Venue has changed including much cheaper ticket prices.
Monday, November 5th at 7:30 p.m. at The Public Theater/NY Shakespeare Festival Malcolm will read from "The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan", edited and with an introduction by New Yorker theatre critic John Lahr, published in the U.S. on Oct 22.
Tickets are $150 and $25. The $150 ticket price includes a cocktail reception with Mr. McDowell following the reading, at Serafina, 393 Lafayette Street. Ticket information by calling The Play Company (212) 398-2977.
Old information.
On Nov. 5 at the McGinn/Cazalle Theatre (Broadway and 76th St.), The Play Company 2001 will host a benefit reading of the new book "The Diaries of Kenneth Tynan" performed by Malcolm! For information, call (212) 206-1515 between 12:00 noon and 8:00pm Eastern time. For tickets go to www.smarttix.com. Right now with the attack on NY, everything is not yet set in stone and tickets aren't available online yet.
As of 9/21/01 the benefit reading is SOLD OUT!
Tickets for the lower tier are $300 and upper tier $150.
Malcolm
after the reading
Edward Hibbert at the reception
Ticket for show and reception
My
autographed program
Program
Stage
Flyer
for the Event
Cover
of the Diaries
Seating chart for the theater
Street map for the theater
The
part where Kate mentions Malcolm during the intro.
Malcolm - "How do you expect to do that? I could tell you, but it would
scare the shit out of you."
The reading was held at the NY Public Theater at 7:45 PM.
The theater is very intimate with 299 seats and was around 75% full. Kate
Loewald from the theater came out and told a little bit about the Play Company and
then introduced John Lahr, who wrote the introduction for "The Diaries of
Kenneth Tynan". He explained his role was to provide a little background on
Tynan. Then he explained how is in his prime in the 1950s and 60s Ken was the Michael
Jordan of theater critics, in other words the best in his field. He was feared
and respected as a review could make or break you and he knew many stars of the
day and never held back in his discussion of them. In the seventies he didn't
write much of critical importance except for the diaries. The diaries encompass
the last 8 years of his life from 1971-80.
The stage was very bare. The only things were a tall silver
chair, a podium to hold papers with an attached light and a table with a pitcher
of water and glass. Malcolm walked out to good applause, sat down and began
reading without any preamble. He was dressed completely in black and used
glasses black rimmed glasses when reading. He didn't read from an actual book,
but from pre-selected highlights from a stack of papers on the podium. First he
read a small intro and then the date and the story of each entry and
occasionally inject little comments or thoughts about what he read starting at
the beginning of the book on February 5, 1971. The first laugh was about
replacing the word "fuck" for "sexual intercourse "from a
play, but keeping in words like cunt. One time early on he stopped and took a
drink and said, "That reminds me of a story Lindsay Anderson told me about
Ken Tynan." It was
about the director Lawrence "Larry" Olivier, whom he had just read about, and his wife Vivian
Lee. Larry absolutely loathed Kenneth because he wrote a few scathing reviews
about his wife. He was sitting at a table when a note came to him that Ken wanted a
job and he screamed how dare he and his wife said, "wait a minute" and hired him.
After this Malcolm interjected, "Well, he was always nice to me." in
referring to Olivier. Malcolm also said how when he was a young actor in the Royal
Shakespeare Company there was competition between local theater groups and how
they were all scared of Kenneth. This was the only story he told. After one
entry about Vivian dressing up Ken in a suit of chain mail armor a party Malcolm
responded, "I would've liked to have been a fly on the wall at that
one." One of the biggest laughs of the night was a simple entry. "what
would the variety headline read if Rex Harrison punched an autograph seeker? Shit hits
fan." Malcolm broke for a drink and said, "That was a good one."
After one story where Ken mentioned a bunch of celebrity names Malcolm added,
"He was a bit of a star fucker wasn't he?"
There were a couple stories about Brando. One was Brando
wanted Ken to interview him for Playboy and Ken wasn't into it so he told Brando
that he never has had anything to do with Playboy - he never read one, wrote for
one or went to one of the clubs. Brando responded, "That's funny you would
say that as I am looking at a picture of you and your wife at a Playboy club
right now." Brando caught him in a lie an never forgave him and their
friendship deteriorated. Another story was about Brando sending two engraved
gifts to Larry and Vivian. The one to Larry said there was piss inside and the
one to he wife said not to worry it wasn't piss it was cum.
Ken was also mildly into S&M, spanking mainly and there was a bunch of
spanking adventures in the diaries. He read how he would reply to weird personal
ads about domination. Though he was married at the time he didn't feel it was
cheating because he didn't do that with his wife. He had sex with her and
spanking with his mistress. After one particular juicy spanking story about Ken
and his girlfriend responding to an ad to have a spanking threesome Malcolm
responded with a sly smile, "I'll have to try that some time."
The only intro Malcolm gave was before a lengthy review that
wasn't totally flattering about an older much beloved English comic. Malcolm
explained that he wasn't known to the US, but was the UK equivalent of George
Burns and how he felt this was one of Ken's best reviews. Another big laugh was
after a trip to Spain. "After having diarrhea how pleasant it is to safely
fart again." There were many more entries he read, but he didn't comment on
them. Would recommend reading the book and imagine Malcolm reading it aloud to
get the feeling of the night. After around 75 minutes, Malcolm stood up and
bowed to applause and walked off stage.
The theater was right above the subway so every 15 minutes
one would go by and the whole place would lightly shake during the reading. In a
way it was like a one man play. He didn't just come out and read the stories. He
acted them. He did the voices, even doing a pretty good Marlon Brando during one
entry. I would've liked to hear more about what Ken said about Malcolm or more
of what Malcolm thought of him, but maybe he didn't have that much to say about
him. At the after party he commented how Brando was one of the all-time greats,
but he was shocked at the entry about the piss and the cum. He really was into
it and I noticed a bit of hand wringing between his legs like he was a bit
nervous. It is hard to read live in front of an audience and he did it really
well. He slipped on a few words, but continued on like a trooper. (Like fileted
instead of filet) Since he
really put a lot of inflection and heart behind the performance it made it that
much more enjoyable. Like in his films he would laugh and give that wicked grin
at some of the naughtier parts as we laughed along with him. He would slip into
characters for all the people who were quoted, even the women and that made it
even more fun. I really, really enjoyed it and I from that reading I am
convinced Malcolm could read the phone book and make it interesting. I would be
very interested to hear him do live readings of great books of any genre,
obviously Clockwork would be on top of the list, but anything would be cool. It
went so fast that another 30 minutes would've been great. Hell - he could've
read the whole book!
Afterwards we went out to the back of the theater by the
bathrooms and Malcolm just popped out of the dressing room! I had my "light
Alex" costume on - just the bowler hat and the shirt with the bloody
eyeballs. Someone came over to talk to him and I noticed it was Edward Hibbert
from Fantasy Island! Then Malcolm turned and saw me and said, "Wow, look at
this guy." And Edward said he had seen me too an that was all I needed to
go over and shake his hand and get a photograph taken. There were some rude
people who came over and interrupted in the middle of us taking the picture to
talk to him and he told them, "let's get the picture out of the way
first." He then asked my wife if she wanted a picture as well and she said
OK. I thanked him and went out to look for Edward when a woman came over and
said she saw me talking to Malcolm and asked if I knew him. I told her not
personally, but a run a website for him. She was surprised (and maybe a little
impressed) and told me that she worked with him on a little film in the 60s. I
couldn't believe she was old enough to work on if.… But she said she was the
one produced Hugo Pool and how she was in love with Malcolm and came out to see
him. (I guess she was making a joke that it seemed like a long time ago.) I
showed her a program I brought to show Malcolm from the Aldwych theater for a
play he was in during 1965 and she was amazed that I had something like that AND
that I came all the way up from Texas to see him. She was talking about his role
as a heroin addict and I said how the puppet was a metaphor for him and she said
for sure that it was obvious I knew about the film. I told her I would see her
at the party and went over to Edward. I mentioned I was a big fan of Fantasy
Island and asked him if he remembered Ric Groendahl and his face lit up. I told
him how I interviewed him for my site and how he said that you all really
struggled with the show and he said he loved working there with Malcolm, but it
got really bad near the end. I walked outside and saw three dirtbag autograph
vultures standing there waiting for Malcolm to come out. They had stacks of ACO
and Caligula 8 x 10s. I recognized the Caligula picture as one that is always up
for auction on eBay.
We went back in and waited for Malcolm and the theater people
to head over and we followed. I was surprised that Malcolm didn't blow off the
vultures as he must know they aren't fans. The reception was only a half a block
away on the same side of the street and Malcolm and Edward walked together.
Malcolm was telling him about a place he used to go when he was doing Look Back
in Anger.
It was a darkly lit restaurant and was packed. They gave out
autographed copies at the door of the diaries to the people who bought the $150
tickets. The food and the wine were free and it flowed freely (until they ran
out of wine anyway). They served tiny handmade wood burning oven baked pizzas
which didn't have much flavor and bruchetta - tomato cubes on hard bread. There was a
photographer there taking pictures of Malcolm and all the people from the
theater. I know I was in a few pictures, but don't know if I'll ever see them. I
went over to Edward and got my picture taken with him. When I told him I had a
Fantasy Island website and that I would like to interview him later on about it
he was thrilled. When I suggested I could email him the questions he said,
"Why don't you just call my office?" I was like OK! And he gave me the
number and who to ask for. He was super nice and really had the look and style
of Harry from the show - it was wild. I was waiting for an opening to talk to
Malcolm and saw him put down the bottle he was drinking and I quickly snatched
it as a souvenir. I also heard someone mention to him something about a voice he
did and he said, "You should've heard the rehearsal." Since he was busy I decided to hunt down Barbara the producer.
She told me how she got the script for the film and decided
to shop it around and found the only way to do it was to go Canada where they
were excited about Bob Downey Sr. Her all-time favorite film was ACO and she
really wanted to work with Malcolm. She sent him the script and he said,
"Robert Downey Sr. was one of his all-time favorites and he would love to
do it." I told her I had seen the film on Showtime before it was released
and when I started talking about it people were asking me how the hell did I see
it. She said because I was in the know and aware of things. She stopped a waiter
for a drink and didn't finish the thoughts about that. I told her the most
important question of all is 'Where is the Malcolm puppet?" She said that
they gave it to Malcolm and he kept it. Of all the props and films she worked on
this was the one she wanted to keep most, but felt it wouldn't be right to not
offer him the chance to have it. She said she had gotten some wardrobe items for
working with people like Madonna, but that it was nothing exciting in
comparison. I said I would love to have that and she said maybe he would sell it
for charity someday. I mentioned to her I'm always looking for Malcolm stuff on
eBay and every time I come across Hugo Pool it always reads "Alyssa Milano
Nude" and was she like "ughh, they just don't get it." I told
here there were certainly better ways to see her nude. She also said she had
behind the scenes stills from the set I was welcome to have and I asked if she
had shots of the puppet and she said that she did. Just then we were interrupted
by none other than Malcolm himself!! He told her, "Do you now where he came
from?" and she said yes, from Texas. I was surprised at how fast word had
traveled, but found out after that my wife told him. He shook my hand and she
told him about the playbill I had. He asked me, "Under what name?" I
told him McDowell and he asked, "What part?" I told him worker and he
said, "Was it Squire Puntila?" and I was impressed. He said he knew it
was that when I said worker which just meant he stood there holding a pole,
which he demonstrated. Then he asked if he could see it. I asked if he would
mind signing it and he said not at all. He was very nostalgic looking at it and
after looking at the names said, "Wow, this is the one with Patrick McGee,
but where are the others now?" I said that he showed him all. He signed it
"How sweet it is!" I thanked him and told him about my website, but he
hadn't seen it. I asked if I could interview him by email sometime and he said
that he didn't have email, but his wife did and he would have her look into my
site. I also brought the Orange Times ACO newspaper to have Malcolm sign, but
didn't bother him since he was leaving. I showed it to him in case he hadn't
seen it and at first he didn't remember, but then it hit him, "Mike Kaplan
- yeah an old friend of mine." He was admiring the artwork and came to the
part with the psychiatrist picture and said, "That was all
improvised." Then he looked at me like "I'm sure you know that,
sorry." Then I pointed to the picture of the Dancing Christs sculpture and
asked him if he knew what happened to it and he replied, "No! I wish I had
it!" I said I did too and have been thinking about making my own. Barbara
told him that I wanted the puppet and he said, "Well, I would give it to
you, but I think my wife would kill me." and he thanked me for coming and
shook my hand again and said he was sorry, but he had to run out. I overheard
him tell his assistant Katherine that he had left his coat in the hotel and it
had his key, wallet - everything inside and he really wanted to get it. He
talked to a couple people on the way out and then came back to me right before
he left, shook my had AGAIN and said he really, really wanted to thank me. I was
so impressed. He was nicer than I could've imagined and I know that all the time
I spent on the site really meant something to him and that it was appreciated.
Nothing could've been worse than if he blew me off or hated the site. Liz from the
theater emailed me that she mentioned my site to him and he said he hadn't seen
it, but seemed genuinely flattered.
Soon after he left another fan came over an introduced
himself and his wife. He said he thought we were the only "fans" there
and that everyone else was really local theater people. Like us he had come a
long way to get there to see him, from Milwaukee. We talked about Malcolm movies
and such and I told him we had gone to the Korova, but it was closed. He had
said he was trying to find a number for the place, but couldn't. I said the best
chance we had was to just head over and maybe it would be open since it was
late. He asked what it was like and I told him it was supposed to have an
interior like in the movie. A waitress said she was there three years ago and it
was like the film. We didn't have the room in our car and he offered to pay for
a cab, but we figured it would be easier just to meet there and I gave him the
exact address. It was only a few blocks away so it was no big deal. I figured it
was a 50/50 chance it was open, but it was worth the chance. Before it was just
a sign and a metal gate in front. I actually didn't recognize the place the
second time because it was open! What a difference it made. There is a mannequin
in the window wearing a Korova shirt and when I saw it I knew would have to have
one.
The club does attempt to copy the movie a bit, but f you are looking for a
carbon copy of the film you will be disappointed. It does copy the basics, but
also tries to be it's own thing. It has naked women mannequins painted white up
on the walls and ones sticking through holes in the table. There is also a couch
section in the middle that has the words on the wall from the movie like Moloko
Vellocet, Drencom and such. There are also banks of TV monitors showing random
clips and a pumping dance beat coming through a huge music station in the back
which I believe is all created by the DJ/owner. It is very dark and very loud -
but also very cool. There are a bunch of souvenirs to purchase - shirts, bumper
stickers, keychains, martini glasses, postcards, letter openers, lighters,
magnets and even cows! I cover it here on its' own page
with pictures.
We left and drove back to the hotel, not getting in until 2
AM! What a night.
An employee from the theater sent additional information.
Jack Temchin, one of the founders of the play company, is an old friend of Malcolm's. The diaries were supposed to come out a while ago and when jack first heard about it he thought it would make good material for a reading and Malcolm agreed. Irreverent, indiscreet, wildly funny, sad,
shocking yet inspiring, the legendary diaries of Kenneth Tynan are above all
compelling literature of a very high order.
For over three decades, on both sides of the Atlantic, Tynan
was at the hot center of the theatre and film worlds. He knew everybody; and
everybody wanted to know him. His diaries - so resplendent with grief and
gossip - bear superb witness to the fame he courted and the price he paid for
it.
A brilliant and feared critic, Kenneth Tynan was a nabob of
the National Theatre alongside Laurence Olivier, and he was also the daring
impresario who created 'Oh Calcuta'. He was a notorious eccentric, a louche
sophisticate: connoisseur of cuisine, wine, literature and women. Where else
could you find such a judicious blend of aesthetics, theatre lore, love,
marriage, sex and politics? These sizzling diaries will remind older readers of
a man whose reputation as the greatest critic of the twentieth century is still
unchallenged and introduce younger readers to an electrifying writer who simply
could not be boring. - from the jacket
This page © 2001-08 Alex D Thrawn for www.MalcolmMcDowell.net
