A little more from last night’s elegant and funny one night only performance for Lincoln Center Theater (1000 times better than that low class Met Gala).
Sigourney Weaver was deftly funnier than ever as self-centered Masha in the staged reading of “Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.”
I asked her what was she working on and she replied, “Besides making three more Avatar movies???” Sigourney said she still had a little work to do on “Avatar 3,” and then James Cameron will be shooting episodes 4 and 5. “I’ll be making Avatar into my 80s.” She’s 74 and looks about 54, so I think she’ll get away with it.
Sigourney is not only working on “Avatar,” by the way. She has two other films in post production including “The Gorge” with Anya Taylor Joy and Miles Teller. PS to the Motion Picture Academy: Sigourney should be a Lifetime Achievement honoree this year.
In the first “Avatar,” Weaver was the live action character Dr. Grace Augustine. But in the sequels she plays Kiri, the 14 year old daughter of Grace’s Avatar character. It still requires acting, and being in the water all the time. “Hours,” Sigourney said, but she doesn’t mind it.
David Hyde Pierce plays Vanya, Masha’s put upon gay brother. He hadn’t taken on the role in a decade, but DHP is such an adept actor he did much of last night’s show without a script! He knew it from re-reading it and from memory. Will he ever go back to “Frasier,” I asked. The answer is no although he did say, “It was just renewed, so it has an audience.”
Candice Bergen was a guest of Lincoln Center, but she kept a very low profile with board member Linda LeRoy Janklow and CAA founder Bill Haber.
One of my favorite people in New York is famed author Steven M.L .Aronson, whose 40 year old book, “Hype,” is the template for all writing about fame and celebrity. Why is it out of print? It’s not even an ebook. Attention: publishers, get with it.
Steven who has always sported the most fashionable eyewear, told me his glasses are part of a twin set. The other copy is worn by Spike Lee! The glasses are made in different colors, but only he and Spike got these. Spike may not be aware that he has a doppelganger out there! He commissioned the glasses for the Oscars a few years ago but the designer made two pairs in case something happened to the originals. They are very cool!
The biggest takeaway of the night: the brilliance of the Christopher Durang play. It won the Tony for Best Play but has not been revived. It’s time. Durang was prescient and biting about Hollywood, celebrity, even science and climate change. A movie has to be made ASAP. “Vanya and Sonia” is the most satisfying comedy of the last decade.
