Dance While You Can by Shirley Maclaine

Author:Shirley Maclaine
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Non-fiction
ISBN: 9780553076073
Publisher: Bantam
Published: 1991-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 8

The Tour

San Antonio is a quaint, cozy city, which has been attractively refurbished under the aegis of Mayor Henry Cisneros. Its relaxed environment was soothing for me. I walked the river (more like a canal); and with our composer, Larry Grossman, and some of the musicians, we ate huevos rancheros and drank Long Island iced tea in the sun like regular civilians.

Each person was dealing with his or her own problems relating to the opening of our show. With a kind of delicate tension under the conversations, people gossiped and chatted with each other, with me, and with the creative team that was responsible for putting it all together. A show on tour is like a traveling family. The members eye each other, have their likes and dislikes, their favorites, and an almost visceral understanding of the pecking order.

There’s an old adage in show business. In any given company it’s good to have somebody to hate. It releases pent-up tension. Usually the focus of anger is either the “star” or the director or some other person in a position of authority. The star often has a drinking or drug or temperamental insecurity problem, making him or her a natural candidate for unexpressed hidden frustrations. Stars either work the company too hard or not enough, are either too in need of attendance or totally aloof. Whatever. If the company’s gossip can revolve around the star, the problem is solved. If not, they go elsewhere.

In my case I had none of the above idiosyncrasies, at least I didn’t evidence any, so the process of focusing frustrations began its natural selection.

Alan, the director, was too nice to be a candidate; and anyway he hung out with people and alternately scolded and cuddled his dog in such an endearing way that the gossip about him centered around his “dog-man” relationship, automatically making the pickin’s slim.

Mike Flowers, company manager, responsible for the stage crew, hotel accommodations, paychecks, and traveling, was—in everyone’s judgment—fair, courteous, kind, and commendably easy to deal with. Except that he was movie-star gorgeous and no one could figure out his personal life, there was nothing to complain about where he was concerned.

I could see the problem in rehearsals. Which one could people focus on? In the absence of a definitive candidate, they turned their feelings on each other.

Camps began to emerge. There were camps within the ranks of the musicians. There were camps among the gypsies, involving a few role players from the wardrobe department.

Pete Menefee, the costume designer, had been with me for fifteen years. He was a retired gypsy and knew the gypsy mentality backwards. “You have the best dancers in the business,” he said correctly. “That means you also have four divas.”

And why not? However, divas can be biting and sometimes cruel with each other. Since they practically live in one another’s laps in their dressing rooms, emotions build from lack of privacy and a wealth of combustible talent. Those with the penetrating wit and self-centered authority prevail. The others fall by the wayside.

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