Four-time Tony-winning actress Zoe Caldwell presented Denver Center founder Donald R. Seawell with the Theatre Hall of Fame Founder’s Award on Monday at the Gershwin Theatre in New York. The presentee then became the presenter.
Seawell inducted and then accepted on behalf of Sir Peter Hall, with whom he collaborated on “Tantalus” at the Denver Center in 2000. Hall was in England and unable to attend.
“Here’s this guy who’s probably 20 years older than everyone else in the room, not only graciously accepting his own award but then also (extemporaneously) presenting and accepting for Peter Hall,” said DCPA president Randy Weeks. “It was a lovely moment.”
About 35 family and friends attended on Seawell’s behalf, including former DCPA president Lester Ward and DCPA trustees James Steinberg, Judi Newman, William Dean Singleton and Judi Wolf. Earlier in the day, Seawell was greeted by British star Simon Russell Beale, who took over the leading role in Broadway’s “Spamalot” on Dec. 20. Seawell is a governor of the Royal Shakespeare Festival; among his Brit friends was John Gummer, a member of Parliament.
“I am flattered and thrilled to have my name enshrined with the truly greats of the theater,” Seawell said. “I have been privileged to work with many of them.”
The new Hall class, voted on by the American Theater Critics Association and current Hall members, also includes actors John Lithgow and Sada
Thompson, designer William Ivey Long, choreographer Graciela Daniele and playwright William Gibson. Actress Dorothy Loudon and designer Ben Edwards were inducted posthumously.
The emcee was syndicated columnist Liz Smith. Presenters included “The Producers” director Susan Stroman.
Hot flash finally cools
Say what you will about “Menopause the Musical.” Mercedes Perez says it bought her a new furnace. “And it paid for the trees being trimmed at my house right now,” she said.
The musical, which opened June 30, 2004, and finally closes next Sunday, will have played for approximately 566 performances, drawing about 145,000 spectators and generating $4.9 million in ticket revenue.
The final cast includes Melody Prentice, Dee Etta Rowe and Stephanie Pascaris, but Perez is the only one who made it from start to finish. Twenty months of “Menopause” was a piece of cake for Perez – she spent four years in Broadway’s “Cats.”
“The other night a woman came up and said, ‘Thank you so much for making me laugh. You made me feel better about what I am going through”‘ Perez said. “Even if only for the day, that’s what matters. We heard that over and over again.”
Perez, who next stars in the Arvada Center’s “Pippen,” said “Menopause” is a lesson for producers. “I think it was breakthrough for the theater, considering the subject matter,” she said. “It was just pure entertainment. A good time had by all.”
Wasserstein remembered
“Feminism has never exactly been thought of as a laugh riot,” the Washington Post opined this week, “but somehow Wendy Wasserstein managed to locate its funny bone.”
“Far too young,” Denver actress Deborah Persoff said of Wasserstein, who died Monday at 55. “When you see 55, you say, ‘Well, she hasn’t even reached her stride yet.”‘
Persoff always will link the Pulitzer-winning playwright with her “The Sisters Rosen-
sweig,” which opened at the Mizel Center two days after 9/11.
“It always will be indelibly linked to me,” said Persoff, now starring in Germinal’s “A Delicate Balance.” “She talked about trust, family, bonding, believing and going on. She talked about being ever watchful, and that will always resonate.
“She provided us the strength with her words to go on, and not just as a theatrical event, but as human beings two days after a national tragedy from which we never will fully recover.”
Briefly …
Germinal Stage Denver’s modest memorial for Changing Scene founder Al Brooks is 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at 2450 W. 44th Ave. (303-455-7108) …
The Denver Center Theatre Company’s New Play Summit includes a free public discussion, “New Voices for Women in Theater,” at 10 a.m. Saturday (Stage Theatre). The panel is Wendy Goldberg, O’Neill Theatre Center new-play director; Seattle Times critic Misha Berson; and playwrights Regina Taylor (“Crowns”), Michele Lowe (“Good on Paper”) and Theresa Rebeck (“Bad Dates”). The moderator is Rocky Mountain News critic Lisa Bornstein. No reservations necessary. Doors open at 9:30 a.m.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
