Word: abbotts
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...name George Abbott is, in short, almost synonymous with American theater, and it is altogether fitting that when he turns 100 later this month, the biggest names on Broadway will jam the Palace Theater to help him celebrate with songs and sketches from some of those landmark productions. How does it feel to turn 100? "Well," says that man of few but well-chosen words, "I'm getting a lot of mileage...
...parts followed, but, itching to control the entire stage, he began writing and directing. For half a century after Broadway, his first big hit, he was the theater's leading show doctor, whose infallible diagnosis could make a bad play better and a good play terrific. Some equate the Abbott touch with speed, a notion that horrifies Abbott, who deplores farces that look as if they had been directed with a stopwatch. What is important to him is keeping the action alive and eliminating anything that breaks the rhythm of the show. "Pace is a matter of taste," he says...
Nothing is wasted on an Abbott show. Rehearsals start on time, and there are no temper tantrums or displays of nerves from either the director or the actors. Legend has it that a Method-trained actor once yelled from the stage, "What's my motivation?", to which Abbott responded, "Your job." He despises what he considers exaggerated interpretations. "If an actor puts his personality ahead of creating the character, then he's not an actor," he says. "He's just a performer...
...Abbott is a little embarrassed by the awe he inspires; even old friends are reluctant to call him by his first name. "It's like being knighted when you reach the stage where you can call him George," says Choreographer Donald Saddler, who has worked with him on many shows and now enjoys that privilege. A few weeks ago, Abbott extended the invitation to Gerald Freedman, artistic director of the Cleveland troupe. The dumbstruck Freedman -- Sir Gerry now -- could only respond, "I'll try, Mr. Abbott...
...autobiography, "Mister Abbott," he wrote lovingly about his first wife, who died in 1930 and with whom he had one daughter, and somewhat less lovingly about his second, from whom he was divorced in the '50s. Right now he is concentrating on No. 3, the bubbly Joy Valderrama, 55, whom he married when he was a mere 96. In Florida, they are usually on the golf course or by a pool during the day and watch television at night. One of his favorite programs is The Newlywed Game, which, he says, gives him an insight into the lives of working...