Friday, October 06, 2006

The True Story of Pocahontas

I expected to sit down and ramble on about Pocahontas but then got distracted by this item on the Entertainment Weekly website. The intersection of two of my guilty pleasures – Broadway and American Idol – in one article! How could I resist. If you have the time, you should check out the profile on Constantine Maroulis that is linked to in the Village Voice . It’s a pretty revealing look at the lifestyle of the semi-famous.

I’m always a little bit wary about anything calling itself “The True Story…” of anything. History is a notoriously slippery subject. Pocahontas seems like a historical figure who by default is romanticized. I’ll be intrigued to see how Pete and Julie dealt with this impulse.

This show also makes me think about how the majority of actors I’ve known have at one time or another had a “street theater” type job, like a character at a theme park or dancing/playing in a theme park show or working as an interpreter at a historical park, etc., or even a dancing/singing waiter/waitress. My lovely wife spent some time portraying a Native American – evocative of Pocahontas though it may not have been her explicitly – while working at Busch Gardens many moons ago. While I’ve heard these jobs can be a huge pain, people have also told me they represented some of the best training they’ve ever had. Care to share YOUR experience?

No comments: