Word: ad-lib
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...moment in the play's second act, Heidi (played by Joan Allen) stands behind a lectern on a bare stage, giving a luncheon speech to the alumnae of the prep school she once attended. Slowly the successful veneer of Heidi's life is stripped away as she tries to ad-lib a free-form answer to the assigned topic, "Women, Where Are We Going?" Heidi's soliloquy ends with these words: "I don't blame any of us. We're all concerned, intelligent, good women." Pause. "It's just that I feel stranded. And I thought that the whole point...
...character. During the performance I saw, when technical problems caused the sound effects to stop working during the show, Marston led the cast in a total loss of character and presence. In a vain attempt at comedy, Marston, who was speaking at the time, started a five minute ad-lib, which the other actors failed to pick up on. The actors all began laughing and jabbing each other in the ribs...
...them try to kill each other. The format of their show is simple. For each film (four are reviewed in a typical half-hour, plus an extra segment on videocassette releases), one of the pair will introduce clips, describe the plot and give a capsule review. Then comes an ad-lib passage in which the other offers his comments or rebuttal. The cross talk often gets testy. After the two disagreed about Susan Seidelman's comedy Making Mr. Right, Ebert concluded defiantly, "I enjoyed myself from beginning to end." Replied Siskel: "You usually do enjoy yourself; it's the film...
...receivers have been similarly distinguished. The Raiders' tight end Todd Christensen was a fullback at B.Y.U. Bosco says, "We don't get the top recruits, the fastest receivers, but the ones we get are smart. They do what they're told. They don't ad-lib." This season they have managed to catch his passes for 35 touchdowns and more than 4,000 yds., including 343 yds. against Michigan...
Repeatedly she refused to accept last-minute changes in scripts. To one importunate composer she snapped: "Call me Miss Birds Eye. It's frozen." Yet she could ad-lib with the best. During a performance of Annie Get Your Gun, a prop rifle misfired but, on cue, a bird fell from the rafters. Without missing a beat, Merman held up the dead bird and remarked, "What do you know? Apoplexy...