The final bow for the The ROAR Foundation benefit performance of The Birds!

I kept pinching myself. Here I was with Chris, Ed Jones, and Brian Kalz, talking to a very funny Veronica Cartwright about her first interview with Alfred Hitchock. The Alfred Hitchcock. You see, Veronica was in the film, The Birds. The classic, ‘one of my favorite films of all time’ The Birds. My hand was shaking so much I had to to discreetly put down my diet coke so not to shower everyone around me. We had all trekked to Hollywood for the ROAR Foundation benefit performance of the LA Weekly nominated production of The Birds that myself and Pauline Pang had written. Tippi Hedren and Veronica Cartwright made cameo appearances as strangers that had wandered into the world of Bodega Bay. How was it? As Carrie White said about the prom, “It was like being on Mars”. Tippi to my left, and Veronica on my right, surrounded by the perfect audience. People who loved Tippi, loved The Birds, and knew the film inside and out. They understood every reference and joke and TheSpyAnts were on fire. Fire Ants they were! You would have never have known they hadn’t performed the play since the fall of 2005. They were dead on, brilliant and even better then when I saw them last. They’ve taken our piece and made it their own and the crowd loved them for it as did I. The entire cast was wonderful and I hate to single people out but knowing how difficult the role of Tippi Hedren/Melanie Daniels is I have to give props to Miss Lori Evans Taylor. Her comedic timing and Tippi-ish 1963 mannerisms were a joy to watch, adding much more to the show with her presence, much like our Chicago Tippi/Melanie, Tracy Repep. Marias Tomas who played Suzanne Pleshette/Annie Hayworth was so good I wanted to push her off the stage. Instead I will steal her best bits when we remount the show in Chicago. Eric Bunton and Brett Hren had wonderful chemstry as the very close Lydia and Mitch Brenner and Hal Perry as the big orange monster from the Bugs Bunny cartoons as Cathy Brenner was almost as charming as Ms. Cartwright herself. We have loads of pictures and as I get them I will post them periodically and let anyone interested know where the can find the entire lot.

Filed under: My Way Of Life