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WHILE WAITING FOR THE TELEGRAM, FRANCES STERNHAGEN HAS FOOD FOR THOUGHT
by ELLIS NASSOUR
Newsday drama critic Linda Winer�s wish has come true. When she reviewed Talking Heads, Alan Bennett�s �six� solo plays, which are being presented in Programs A and B Off Broadway at the Minetta Lane Theatre], she raved that Lynn Redgrave was �irrestible�; Kathleen Chalfant, �ever-remarkable�; Christine Ebersole, �heartbreaking,� Brenda Wehle, �lovely�; Daniel Davis, �wonderful�; and that Valerie Mahaffey, had �a sweet generosity.� But, she concluded, �I kept wanting more!�
Now she has it; and, thanks to Frances Sternhagen, this is one time you don�t have to worry about wishes coming true.
A seventh play, Waiting for the Telegram in its U.S. premiere, has been added and Miss Sternhagen is, as always, irresistible, ever-remarkable, heartbreaking, lovely, wonderful and even has a sweet generosity.
But, only a couple of weeks ago, the award-winning [Tonys, Drama Desks and Obies] Miss Sternhagen, who�s proven equally at home onstage, in film and on TV, was nowhere to be found. Except for having her photo in the elaborate lobby displays.
�I was in on opening night,� explains Miss Sternhagen, �but critics don�t come to opening nights anymore. They review previews and I wasn�t here. It wasn�t the producers� fault. I was on a family trip in South America. Tom Hulce [actor turned producer] said, �That�s alright. We�re going to be moving things around, so we�ll just put you in when you�re back. What we didn�t know was that I wouldn�t get reviewed� [or seen by the Drama Desk Awards nominating committee and voters before the season cut-off].
As quickly as she was back, Miss Sternhagen was gone. For a couple of weeks. Now she�s back in Program B, at least through August, on a schedule that only the box office personnel know for certain. [See Details Below].
This week, she�s gone from the Minetta Lane, but available for lunch on Thursday [May 29th]. While she's Waiting for the Telegram, Miss Sternhagen will be a few blocks north in Food for Thought�s Lunch Hour Theatre �childhood and abandonment� double-bill with her Equus co-star, two-time Tony-winner and a 2003 Tony nominee Marian Seldes.
In Folded Hands, by FFT artistic director Susan Charlotte, Miss Sternhagen will portray a six year old. Miss Seldes, as a woman looking back on her past, will read When I Was A Little Girl and My Mother Didn�t Want Me by Joyce Carol Oates. Austin Pendleton is the director.
Single tickets for the 12:30 P.M. event at the National Arts Club [the historic Tilden mansion], 15 Gramercy Park South (East 20th Street), between Park Avenue and Irving Place, are $40, which includes a light buffet lunch. A Q & A with Miss Oates will follow. For reservations, call 212-362-2560. For more information on FFT, visit their website: www.foodforthoughtproductions.com.
Theatre Hall of Famer Miss Sternhagen was bitten by the acting bug at age 13 when she tired of piano lessons while growing up in Washington, D.C. �I became much more interested in drama,� she says, �but I never expected to do anything professional.�
In fact, expectations were quite low. �Father had to retire,� recalled Miss Sternhagen. �He couldn't work because he had what came to be known as Parkinson's Disease. He went through thirteen years of treatments and hospitals and nothing worked. My mother had to take little jobs. For a while, she taught remedial reading. There was no money for college.� Thanks to family friends who had no children of their own, she was able to go to boarding school at [Virginia�s prestigious] Madeira, where she not only acted but also directed.
When she qualified for and was accepted at Vassar, the family friends once again came to the rescue. �At Vassar, I had wonderful teachers,� says Miss Sternhagen, �and it was there that I first sensed what acting really was.�
She knew how to command a stage � even if it was in the dining hall. To interest more students in drama, she was asked to do a scene from Richard II. As she played Richard, there was a chorus of giggles. �I took control by grabbing my mirror and hurling it to the floor. It broke into a million pieces and you could hear a pin drop. That alone, got me elected head of the Drama Club!�
Vassar helped Miss Sternhagen hone the unique voice that has made her an attention-getter. She told an interviewer: �Some of the [Madeira] students were people I really wouldn't have much to do with in my life because they were very wealthy. Some were very sophisticated, at least to my way of thinking. A few of them had what I call that Groton/Harvard accent. I saw at Vassar, too.� She developed a theater voice that was nicknamed �the lockjaw.�
Early on she used it in a television show with Ann Jackson and Eli Wallach. �I was playing a babysitter and I said with that accent, �I gave the bady a pacifier,� and Annie and Eli just found that hilarious. I did the same sort of thing in The Importance of Being Earnest in Princeton at the McCarter with Ellis Rabb and Rosemary Harris. I developed a Mayfair accent because of one word. Jack says, �Do you love me, Gwendolyn?� And I said, �Passionately.� The word �passionately� just gave me the clue to the character. Just perfectly.�
In her late teens, Miss Sternhagen made her professional stage debut as the 30ish Laura in a 1948 stock production of The Glass Menagerie. After graduation, she attended the Perry-Mansfield Theater School and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Back in Washington, she taught acting, singing and dancing. With theater still as her goal, she attempted to get work in Boston but was rejected. She returned home, only to find more rejection. However, she found acceptance at Catholic University in their theater programs and was eventually asked to join Arena Stage. In 1954, making her Off-Broadway debut as Juliette in Girardoux' Thieves' Carnival, which was later televised.
�That was one of the last times I�d play an ing�nue!� smiles Miss Sternhagen. �I don�t know why, but I was often cast in older roles. It was probably partly due to my voice, but I also had an understanding of older people, which stemmed from being around mostly older people in my childhood. They were funny and eccentric and I must have absorbed some of that.�
She says that live TV, �when it was really live, was a great training ground. I miss those times. They were exciting. It was intense and crazy. It was live and you couldn't correct a mistake.�
Miss Sternhagen said that she had wonderful parts in her 20s and 30s, but that it wasn�t until she was in her 40s that she realized she�d made it to that plateau where she could make a living as an actress and do what she wanted to do. She says she never felt the urge to hone her skills as a director. �I�ve worked with wonderful directors and I don�t have that kind of mind that has a concept of how a performance should be developed.�
She received the 1973 Tony Award for her multiple characterizations in Neil Simon's Good Doctor. She followed with two of her favorite stage roles: Dora Strang in Equus (1974) and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond (1979). In 1995, opposite Cherry Jones in The Heiress, Miss Sternhagen received her second Tony.
After acting almost non-stop through the years onstage and in film, it was TV that made Miss Sternhagen �a household face, if not exactly a household name� in recurring roles on three hit series that are indelibly printed in the minds of TV fans: steely, domineering Ester Clavin of Cheers; Millicent "Gamma" Carter on E.R.; and steely, domineering Bunny McDougal of Sex and the City.
Miss Sternhagen has been blessed to be in that one percentile of actors who�ve been able to effortlessly go from stage to film to TV. �All that work came about as a result of someone seeing me onstage in something or the other.� So it wasn�t just having a great agent? �Agents can be very helpful after you�re established in negotiating better deals for you and also at the beginning of your career by helping to put you in places where you can be seen. I�ve had good agents, but, too often, I�ve seen where an agent can push you too high and then, if you don�t get a certain role, your career flattens out.�
She�s appeared in 25 plays on Broadway alone, and numerous Off Broadway productions. It wasn�t always easy. Married to Broadway actor Thomas Carlin, the couple had six children [among them Tony Carlin, now in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg]. "Juggling career and family was very difficult." Adding to that, her late husband had problems that led to alcoholism. �Thomas was quite handsome and started as a very promising juvenile," says Miss Sternhagen, "but as he got older, directors didn�t know how to cast him. That added to his unhappiness and he drank more. They preyed on each other. It was sad and affected the family. Not becoming a star shouldn�t bother people in our business so much. Just so you�re working!
�Though I loved my husband very much and we were very close, there were times when I was so grateful to go off to work even though I had to leave the kids with a sitter and wonder what was going to happen when I left. I felt so guilty going off when I knew things were not exactly fun at home. But going off to a world of creativity and imagination, helped insulate me from a lot of turmoil.�
Among her regrets as an actress is the fact she never got to do more Chekhov. �But I can�t complain,� Miss Sternhagen says. �I�m doing what I love. I simply love acting! It�s you who�s out there, but you are creating another world and other people. As long as even one person in your audience is reached by your gift, you�ve accomplished your purpose."
Asked to name her favorite role, Miss Sternhagen says, �There are so many. It�s a long list. I always say, �My next role is my favorite!�"
[Frances Sternhagen is scheduled to perform Waiting for the Telegram in Talking Heads on June 2, 3, 4 (matinee), 7 (matinee), 25 (matinee), 26 and 27; and into July and August. For tickets and information, call 212-307-4100.]
Published on BroadwayStars.com on Tuesday, May 27, 2003
[Link to this Feature]
Ellis Nassour is an international media journalist, and author of Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline, which he has adapted into a musical for the stage. Visit www.patsyclinehta.com.
For a listing of all features written by Ellis, click here.
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2007-08
Broadway Season
June 28 - Old Acquaintance (AA)
July 10 - Xanadu (Hayes) [Robert Ahrens, Dan Vickery, Tara Smith/B. Swibel and Sarah Murchison/Dale Smith]
Aug 19 - Grease (Atkinson)
Oct 4 - Mauritius (Biltmore) [MTC]
Oct 11 - The Ritz (54)
Oct 18 - Pygmalion (AA)
Oct 25 - A Bronx Tale (Kerr)
Nov 1 - Cyrano de Bergerac (Rodgers)
Nov 4 - Rock 'N' Roll (Jacobs)
Nov 8 - Young Frankenstein (Hilton)
Nov 9 - Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (St. James)
Nov 10: Local One Strike Begins
Nov 28: Local One Strike Ends
Dec 2 - Cymbeline (Beaumont)
Dec 3 - The Farnsworth Invention (Music Box) [Dodger Properties with Steven Spielberg, Dan Cap Productions, Fred Zollo, Latitude Link and the Pelican Group]
Dec 4 - August: Osage County (Imperial) [Jeffrey Richards, Jean Doumanian, Steve Traxler, Jerry Frankel, Steppenwolf]
Dec 6 - The Seafarer (Booth)
Dec 9 - Is He Dead? (Lyceum)
Dec 16 - The Homecoming (Cort) [Richards, Frankel]
Jan 10 - The Little Mermaid (Lunt)
Jan 15 - The 39 Steps (AA)
Jan 17 - November (Barrymore)
Jan 24 - Come Back, Little Sheba (Biltmore)
Feb 21 - Sunday In The Park With George (54)
Feb 28 - Passing Strange (Belasco)
Mar 6 - Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (Broadhurst) [Stephen C. Byrd]
Mar 9 - In The Heights (Rodgers)
Mar 27 - Gypsy (St. James)
Mar 29 - Macbeth (Lyceum)
Apr 3 - South Pacific (Beaumont)
Apr 17 - A Catered Affair (Kerr) [Jujamcyn Theaters, Jordan Roth, Harvey Entertainment / Ron Fierstein, Richie Jackson and Daryl Roth]
Apr 24 - Cry Baby (Marquis)
Apr 27 - The Country Girl (Jacobs)
Apr 30 - Thurgood (Booth)
May 1 - Les Liaisons Dangereuses (AA)
May 4 - Boeing-Boeing (Longacre)
May 7 - Top Girls (Biltmore)
TBA - Godspell
2008-09
Broadway Season
Oct 16 - Billy Elliot (Imperial)
Nov 08 - Dividing the Estate (a Shubert theater)
Dec 14 - Shrek: The Musical (Broadway) [DreamWorks]
Talked About
Not Scheduled Yet
TBA - 50 Words
TBA - Addams Family (Elephant Eye)
TBA - American Buffalo
TBA - An American Vaudeville [Farrell, Perloff]
TBA - The Beard of Avon [NYTW]
TBA - Being There [Permut]
TBA - Benny & Joon [MGM]
TBA - Billy Elliot
TBA - Brave New World [Rachunow]
TBA - Breath of Life [Fox]
TBA - Busker Alley [Margot Astrachan, Robert Blume, Kristine Lewis, Jamie Fox, Joanna Kerry & Heather Duke]
TBA - Broomhilda
TBA - Bye Bye Birdie [Niko]
TBA - Camille Claudel [Wildhorn]
TBA - Camelot
TBA - Carmen [Robin DeLevita and The Firm]
TBA - Catch Me If You Can
TBA - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon [Bob and Harvey Weinstein]
TBA - Cry Baby [Grazer, Gordon, McAllister, Epstein]
TBA - Designing Women [Alexis]
TBA - Don Juan DeMarco [New Line]
TBA - Dreamgirls [Creative Battery]
TBA - Duet
TBA - Equus
TBA - Ever After [Adam Epstein]
TBA - Fallen Angels (Shubert) [Kenwright]
TBA - Farragut North [Richards]
TBA - Father of the Bride
TBA - The Female Of The Species (TBA)
TBA - Fool For Love (AA) [Roundabout]
TBA - Girl Group Time Travelers
TBA - Golden Boy
TBA - Harmony [Guiles, Karslake, Smith, Fishman]
TBA - Hitchcock Blonde
TBA - The Importance Of Being Earnest
TBA - Jerry Springer: The Opera! [Thoday, McKeown]
TBA - Jesus Hopped The 'A' Train (Circle)
TBA - Josephine [Waissman]
TBA - Leap of Faith
TBA - A Little Princess [Ettinger, Dodger]
TBA - Midnight Cowboy [MGM]
TBA - The Minstrel Show - Kander and Ebb and Stroman
TBA - Moonstruck [Pittelman, Azenberg]
TBA - Mourning Becomes Electra [Haber, Boyett]
TBA - Monsoon Wedding
TBA - The Night of the Hunter
TBA - The Opposite of Sex [Namco]
TBA - Orphans
TBA - Pal Joey [Platt]
TBA - Paper Doll
TBA - The Paris Letter
TBA - The Philadelphia Story
TBA - Peter Pan
TBA - Porgy and Bess [Frankel, Viertel, Baruch, Routh, Panter, Tulchin/Bartner]
TBA - The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
TBA - The Princess Bride
TBA - Princesses [Lane, Comley]
TBA - Poe the Musical
TBA - Rain Man [MGM]
TBA - Robin Hood
TBA - Secondhand Lions
TBA - South Pacific
TBA - Speed-the-Plow
TBA - Stalag 17
TBA - Starry Messenger
TBA - Syncopation
TBA - A Tale Of Two Cities
TBA - Torch Song Trilogy
TBA - Turn of the Century
TBA - West Side Story
TBA - The Wall [Weinstein, Mottola, Waters]
TBA - Will Rogers Follies [Cossette]
TBA - The Wiz [Dodger]
TBA - Zanna [Dalgleish]
This list is compiled from various sources. If you have corrections to the Broadway Season, please contact us.
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