Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Entertainer who studied music and sociology and began his theatre career after student productions.
On the island
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:08Would you say that your ability to entertain manifested itself very early in your life?
It did, about the age of five, I think, I remember, then … dressing up in hats and things and, um … imitating people all the time.
Presenter asks
1:20How did the theatre come into it [after you did research at LSE]?
I think I was sidetracked into it by, um, student concerts and shows which I did and I started writing them, directing them. Became a very big fish in that small sea as a performer and I began to want to test it out in the big world, see if I really was as good as I appeared to be as a student.
Presenter asks
1:53Who gave you your opportunity [in the theatre]?
Well it was Peter Myers and Ronnie Kesk, the writers, came in to see one of our reviews and offered me part in the first review at the New Lindsay, Intimacy at Eight.
Presenter asks
As a Jew, did it worry you to play Fagin, who is regarded as a classic anti-Semitic character?
It did worry me at first. I accepted it because I'd always wanted to do Fagin. I just had a feeling that there was something really good in it. But I saw the old film of Oliver Twist with Alec Guinness, which worried me a lot because I thought that was a pretty fierce stereotype with a six-inch built-on plastic nose. And then I read the book, which I realized I hadn't read. Fagin in the book is a monster. He's a corruptor of children. There's no saving grace at all. He describes him as a merry old Jew, but there's nothing merry about Fagin in the book, and I just began to wonder if I'd done the wrong thing. I didn't relax on it until I got a good notice in the Jewish Chronicle when they said this is something you should take your grandchildren to see, which is the highest praise you can get from the Jewish Chronicle.
Presenter asks
4:26You didn't stay in Oliver for the whole of that long London run, nor did you accept the offer to play it in New York. Why?
It seemed I'd reached a point as a performer which was pretty good, satisfactory, and I wanted then to diversify, switch off back to the main theme which is writing. And writing musicals is … the main thing.
Presenter asks
6:23You said you've never really worked with money as the object. You have in fact given up a lot of big opportunities in the United States in the theatre. Was that a conscious choice?
Yes, I have. I don't necessarily think that was the right thing to do. I just did it with no thought. There was no real conflict there.
“I was so astounded by this man's incredible power of paradox, how he could stand so high above society and see so many things that so many relationships … that shocked people.”
“Most actors or singers are terrified of cabaret. They like the fourth wall. They like to be cut off from the audience … Whereas I naturally went straight to the audience and I still do. I have this feeling of contact with people. I don't like to pretend they're not there.”
“I realize that the second version [of 'Joey Joey'] which I did before I was educated was better than any of the others and if we'd done that one we might have been more successful but then that's what it's all about, isn't it?”
“I thought it was for this moment that I was born. I was directing something which I'd written, doing it the way I almost the way I wanted it. Very happy time.”
“I've never worked for money actually. I mean I do like to get a fair fee for what I'm doing, but I've always put the job first and let the money take care of itself.”
“Always wanted to be Fred Astaire. And there suddenly I was doing three tap routines with Jack Bego, who's a great friend of Gene Kelly … and he managed to sort of iron out some of the quirks and it's not bad. Very satisfied with that.”