Tuesday, July 1: 7 pm
And thus, the final countdown begins. This show marked the beginning
of the final week of The Drowned Man, a week that promised to be a
bit different from what had come before. Gone were the varying
audience levels of my March and May trips – every show was sold
out. No longer could I follow whatever whim took my fancy, secure in
the knowledge that if I missed something, I could catch it another
time. Everything had a deadline, and everyone around me knew it as
well.
Which is not to say that I couldn't wander at the beck and call of
random whimsy, it just meant that doing so would come at a price.
Without anything close to enough time, every choice had become a
trade-off. I went in this time with a large list of new loops to
catch, five of which were absolute top priorities – Marla Phelan's
Wendy, Sam Booth's Doctor, Ira Siobhan's Claude, Lily Ockwell's
Romola, and Miranda Mac Letten's Faye. In addition, I had a whole
mess of old favorites that I wanted to revisit – too many to list
here. Knowing that I would be hitting the old favorites hard toward
the end of the week, I prioritized the new loops on arrival – and
to my surprise and joy, one of the top priorities was on the board:
Miranda's Faye. Finally. You know what they say, 20th
time's the charm.
But of course, I wasn't going to start out with her. It's Faye. I
do Faye on the third loop. That's just how it is.
Instead, I decided to start with the Drugstore Girl, played by Lily
Ockwell. If her Romola wasn't available, this would have to do as
the next best thing. Incidentally, I wound up in (I think) the
fourth lift going in. This was unusual for me – I'm not sure I'd
ever been in anything but the first lift prior to this. But the
queue situation had been growing more and more dire over the past
week, with people lining up as much as two and a half hours early. I
like to be the first one in, but I don't like it that much.
It turned out not to be much of an issue anyway – weekday shows
actually start slightly earlier in the loop than weekend shows (which
almost all of mine have been), so even coming off the fourth lift, I
made it into the drugstore early in the scene with Harry (James
Traherne). Weekend first lifts typically got me there right at the
end of the scene.
Right away, I felt that Lily's Drugstore Girl was, for lack of a
better term, a bit inscrutable. There's a scene – actually, the
very next full scene, where the Grocer (Jesse Kovarsky) comes by to
borrow a napkin. Every Drugstore Girl I've seen plays that moment in
sort of an aloof manner – she's completely blanking him, trying to
come off as mysterious. I got that same vibe from Lily's DSG,
throughout the majority of the loop. Part of that may have been how
little she interacted with the white masks – although I admittedly
didn't stick around for the entire loop, I only saw her give out a
single lemonade, and no jelly babies or lipstick blots or anything
else. When the Grocer returned and delivered the script page to her,
it seemed we had reverted to the older style, where she wasn't
especially bothered or intrigued by it (as opposed to my last DSG,
Sonya Cullingford). Then again, she did make a point to write “Come
with Answers” on the hoedown invitation that she gave to him, so
maybe I was misreading her.
Moving on to the hoedown, I caught my first glimpse of that most
elusive of Fayes, the Miranda Faye. That comment I made earlier
about “20th time's the charm” was not a joke. This
was the 20th show I'd attended since she started playing
the role, and the very first time I'd seen her. I found myself
paying more attention to her during the dance than to my actual
character, unfortunately – but I managed to tear myself away,
knowing that I would be back soon enough.
On the way out of the hoedown, Drugstore Girl was very clearly
unhappy about Miguel and Faye. Angry, even. That was probably the
clearest emotion I got out of her during the loop. Back in the
drugstore, that single lemonade I mentioned before was given out, and
then Andy came by to knock over the postcards (okay, that's not WHY
he came by, but you know what I mean). This is always an awkward
moment for me – help her pick them up? Don't help? Wait for her
to ask for help? It was an entirely moot point this time, though –
with the crowds as thick as they were (sold out, remember) and as
full of pros as they were, the postcard situation was well in hand.
A half-dozen white masks descended on the postcards the second they
hit the floor, and had them nearly all taken care of before Drugstore
Girl even got out from behind the counter. I couldn't have helped
even if I had decided I really wanted to.
Not long after that, the Grocer returned to act out the final scene
with her. One thing I picked up about Jesse's Grocer – he's much
more concerned with the performance aspect than Monsur's Grocer
seemed to be. He kept talking about how perfect it needed to be, and
even applauded her death (I remember him applauding months ago, but
the context felt so different then). Speaking of which, one of the
nearby white masks attempted to catch her when she fell out of the
phone booth. And by “attempted,” I mean “half-heartedly put
his hands out and basically provided more obstacles for her to batter
herself against on the way down.” White Mask Fail.
Then came the reset and the 1:1 selection, and I found myself without
a character in a shockingly still crowed drugstore. I decided it was
time to move on – the clock was ticking and I didn't want to wait
around for her to return. Besides, I wasn't especially feeling the
loop. It was fine, but I think the last Drugstore Girl experience I
had prior to this (show #24) might have ruined me for all other Drugstore Girls.
No one else can compare.
I wandered over to the studios, then down to the ground floor, where
I found Wendy (Katherine Cowie) and Andrea (Fania Grigoriou) about to
start the scene in Studio 4. I took up my usual spot by the boat,
shocked that no one else did the same. So much for the crowd being
full of pros. The scene played out as usual, but there was one new
detail I picked up on this time – as often seems to be the case.
It was Wendy's reaction at the end, when Stanford praised the scene.
She was so, so pleased by his reaction. It completely made her day. It
drove home her insecurity and her desperation for approval, and my
heart went out to her – but for some reason I can't really articulate, I didn't move on to her loop. Instead I followed the
Seamstress (Chihiro Kawasaki). I like Seamstresses, and she was new
to me. This new loop didn't last long, though. After watching her
write on Wendy's mirror and give me a reflected look that I couldn't
fully parse (gleefully conspiratorial, maybe?), she returned to her
domain near Studio 5 and headed off to the 1:1 room, where she kicked
out the white mask who was lingering in the doorway and. . . .locked
herself in, alone. Huh. I immediately decided to go try something
else and turned away, especially after I saw that nearly a dozen
other white masks were still standing outside the door, refusing to
disperse. As soon as I turned and took my first step, though, I
heard her key rattling in the lock. Was she coming back out? Or was
she about to grab someone for the 1:1 after all?
As it turned out, she was just evicting another white mask who had
apparently been farther inside. Another quick turn of the key and we
were all left as we had been moments before – standing in the hall,
sans Seamstress. Right, off to Studio 3, then. We had double female
execs (Lexie and Pinky), and I was curious how that would work.
Plus, I wanted to hear Pinky sing again.
I arrived just as Conrad (Adam Burton) and Andrea's magic trick was
starting. It looked like Pinky (Sonya Cullingford) was the official
female exec and Lexie (Jo Bowis) was filling the male role, based on
their positioning. This was confirmed after the end of the trick when
Pinky took the stage and asked Lexie for her telephone, leading into
the first song, “Telephone Man.” It's not my favorite of her
songs – not the best fit with her vocal range – but it's still fun
and she's absolutely adorable singing it. Next up was the song I had
really come down to hear, “Delilah Jones.” It was just as
fantastic as I remembered. Then, a surprise – Pinky stuck around
onstage for a third song! It was an awesomely sultry rendition of
“Black Coffee.” That three song set was exactly the pick-me-up I
needed, so when she stepped down from the stage, I put my mask back
on and returned to the world outside the bar, my disappointing first
half of the show forgotten.
I headed back into town, thinking I'd check out the new Tuttle, Carl
Harrison – but he was nowhere to be seen. A quick check of the
Horse and Stars revealed why – William (Ygal Jerome Tsur) was just
discovering Mary's infidelity, during the Hoedown. It was much later
in the loop than I expected, which meant that Tuttle must be off
smearing blood on the motel wall. Sure enough, was I walked back out
to the Arcade, he came rushing back, can of paint (blood) in hand. I
watched him for a minute or two, but then he disappeared into a 1:1,
so I wandered off in search of someone else to latch on to for just a
scene or two, until it was time to meet up with Faye.
What I found was slightly more than I bargained for. It was Mary
(Laure Bachelot), dancing outside of the chapel. She seemed like a
good choice – ever since show 9 she's been “my” Mary, and while
I'd been hesitant to revisit her loop out of fear that it wouldn't
feel the same as it did at that show, just a couple of scenes would
probably be okay. Plus, I knew she would bring me back to the Horse
& Stars for the end of “Walking in the Sand,” which is where
and when I wanted to pick up Faye.
It didn't work out quite as planned. Inside the Buchanan house,
following her brief encounter with Miguel, she caught my gaze and
began to move toward me. I knew what was about to happen. “Don't
do it,” I thought. “I need to go to Faye. And if you do this, I
won't be able to leave you.”
But she wasn't listening. She walked over to me and, seventeen shows
later, I got my second heartbreaking Mary hug. This one was
different from the last, more mannered and in control. It didn't
have quite the same impact, but I can't complain about how it made me
feel. Yes, the physical sensation of her shaking and trembling in my
arms was lost, but staring into her eyes as she told me just how
sorry she was made up a lot of that ground. I was stuck. There was
no way I'd be able to leave at “Walking in the Sand.”
I followed her out to reunite with William, then we were off to the
Horse & Stars for said fateful scene. Their dance was really
impressive – it didn't feel all that choreographed (though
obviously it was), and it was just dripping with emotion. The way
she literally threw herself on him, trying to reconnect, to make
things right, was just devastating. For a few moments, it looked
like it just might work. . . but then he grabbed her arm and led her
up to the desert.
When we reached the sand, they both seemed momentarily overwhelmed by
it. William stepped forward, forgetting Mary for a
moment. She turned and looked back at me, and I could see the terror in her eyes. She knew what was coming, on some level. She reached
out to me, with both hands. I wanted nothing more than to take them,
but hesitated - I knew how this had to go. But she just kept
staring, and finally, I started to reach out to her – just as
William returned and roughly pulled her away.
Maybe I could have saved her. If I'd just taken her hand. . . maybe.
Of course not. But maybe.
Soon we were at the dune, and after a brief moment of something
resembling peace and happiness, she was gone and I was able to move
on, just a little bit late for Faye. When Mary eventually
re-emerged, she wouldn't really be the same person I had felt unable
to abandon. I waited with William for a moment, just long enough to
make sure I wasn't going to run through the middle of his scene, then
headed back down into town.
I found Faye already awake and getting ready for her day. She felt
quite different from the Fayes I was used to right away – older,
wearier. She was in a definite funk – usually, Faye needs a bit of
prodding from Harry about the audition, but it's clear that she's
excited about it anyway. Miranda's Faye, though, really seemed to
think it was a waste of time, and was a bit nasty and sarcastic in
general. She wasn't just playing up the reluctance in order to get
some encouragement from her father. Overall, their relationship
played much more as one between equals, partners – rather than
father and daughter.
Once she got out into the world, she continued to impress me as the
most confident and grown-up Faye of all, but also possibly the least
likeable. A while back I came up with my 4-quadrant theory of Faye
portrayals (sweet vs. snotty and girl vs. young woman), and assumed,
sight unseen, that Miranda's Faye would be the “snotty young
woman.” Shockingly, she seemed to be fitting perfectly into my prediction.
When we got to the Codfish Ball number, she was totally prepared for
Claude to start interfering with her dance, and was even playing up
as sexily as she could before that. She knew what he wanted, and she
was ready to give it to him – it was only when he started to take
control, to physically grab her arms and flap her about, that she got
angry and fought back. She really felt like the dominant force in the scene.
She's also clearly no stranger to the booze – when Harry gave her a
dollar for a milkshake, she didn't even pause for a moment to
consider going into the drugstore before she took off for the Horse
and Stars. Not to mention clearly no stranger to the men – when Dwayne (Luke
Murphy) approached her after “Bulldog,” there wasn't much back
and forth between them before she just latched herself on to his
face. Back to the booze again – when she rushed into the motel
after seeing Dwayne and Mary dancing on the car, she dove straight
for the vodka bottle, whereas other Fayes would sit, distraught, and
then think about maybe having a drink. Basically, I would sum up
Miranda's version in a single sentence. Faye Greener: She's been to this rodeo
before.
Miranda's trailer dance fell somewhere in the middle of the spectrum
between Sonya's fluid grace and Katie's twitchy nerves, but she
definitely had the most aggressive wood-chip-fling. After that came
a bit of a new scene. I'm not sure if this is just how Miranda does
the loop or if it was a miscue that she ran with, but we got into the
Horse and Stars while Harry and the Barman (Georges Hann) were still
shouting at each other. Suddenly Faye was very concerned about him,
and even tried to pay off his tab, which the Barman refused. As I
mentioned before, I didn't find her all that likeable, especially
compared to Sonya and Katie's versions, mostly because it seems like
she should know better at every turn. But this moment went a long
way toward rectifying that, as well as cementing that she and Harry
are largely operating as equals.
Not to keep hitting the same point, but up in the desert, it was once
again clear that this Faye knows exactly what she's doing. The way
she swung around Dwayne to sit next to Miguel (Ed Warner), the way
she played with the bottle before dropping it into Miguel's hands. .
. she wasn't feeling her way through things at all. At the end,
having finally gotten Dwayne's goat, she just laughed. Every Faye
reacts to this moment differently, with varying combinations of glee
and anger, excitement and schadenfreude. In this case, she had
gotten what she wanted, and wasn't too concerned about the rest.
After the hoedown came the steamiest romp through the arcade that I
have yet seen. Some of my friends had told me of the epic chemistry
between Miranda and Ed in this scene, and they weren't kidding. My
favorite bit was when he lifted her up and slammed her against the
wall, then let go, supporting her weight with his chest. I also
noticed right about then the first sign that we were coming to the
end of the run – half of the wall was beginning to pull apart,
tearing the “Tunnel of Love” poster down the middle with every
fleshy slam. I suppose it wasn't worth fixing anymore. The
steaminess continued into the motel, as Miguel shoved her up on the
dresser and began aggressively thrusting. Basically, he just went ahead and
fucked her right then and there, which made the subsequent undressing
a bit of an anticlimax (no pun int- okay, pun very much intended).
Speaking of the undressing, there was another bit of a surprise. I
watched her face as she turned to find Miguel already gone, and I
swear, it looked like she expected him to be gone before she turned.
Because that's just how things go for Faye. That's what she expects.
Another crack in the armor – I was starting to feel for her after
all.
After another rush to the vodka bottle, she led us back to Dwayne's
trailer for a teary breakdown. Toward the end, she took notice of me
and stumbled over, briefly embracing me and kissing my mask. It was
a striking moment, not so much for the interaction but because when I
saw her from that close up, I could really see how much of a mess she was.
Teary, snotty, smeared makeup – horrifying and heartbreaking in
equal measures.
Soon we were off to the Horse & Stars again for Walking in the
Sand. Midway through I realized something didn't feel quite right –
she was looking too good. Too composed, too put together. . . but no
sooner had I thought that then she rather dramatically fell apart in
the second verse. Turns out she was just saving it – holding it
together as long as possible until she had no choice but to let go.
Eventually Harry arrived to escort her down to the finale and give
her some grief about her drinking. I've never actually heard him do
that before – but then, I've never had the pleasure of following
Miranda's alcoholic Faye before. I was pleased to see that they
stuck together through the murder – each grabbing a white mask but
remaining side by side, and sharing one last moment of excitement
when Stanford called “wrap.” I didn't quite feel the same sense
of catharsis that I usually do with Faye's third loop alternate
ending, though. Something about it felt off – and then I realized
what it was. Miranda's Faye is so different from the others that the
regular loop ending, with the reset, actually feels more appropriate.
I didn't crave the happy ending the way I usually do. This was a
completely unexpected development – but of course, who among us would have
it any other way?
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