Hal Holbrook brought his Tony, Emmy, and Drama Desk Award-winning "Mark Twain Tonight" to the BCPA on Friday, wrapping the capacity crowd around his finger with the yarns he's been spinning from Mark Twain's own writings for over 54 years.One of the things that is most amazing about this show, other than Holbrook's spot-on characterization of the writer, is how Twain's century-old stories still address the current social and political issues of our day. Holbrook is a master storyteller, a devoted student of Twain who revises his presentation of the show regularly to highlight certain areas of Twain's work to fit the mood and atmosphere of the day.
Holbrook is also a true gentleman, and was a joy for the many people who got to work with him and meet him during his stay in Bloomington. He arrived on Thursday and, I've heard, sat and chatted with the guests and staff of his hotel while he was sitting in the lobby. He also met a group of fans after the show for autographs and photos. He was exhausted but spent 25 minutes with the crowd making sure everyone had their chance to say hello.
He even signed our office microwave, which we'd lent him for his dressing room ...
Another interesting story leading up to his performance:Holbrook came to Bloomington from a mid-week performance in Memphis. When he arrived in Illinois it was discovered that a crew member in Memphis accidentally removed the shipping labels from one of his costume boxes, and the box was mistakenly stored away backstage instead of being sent on to the next stop on his tour as expected. When the mistake was discovered, Holbrook's road manager arranged for the box to be expressed to us, but it didn't arrive in the morning shipment, as expected, keeping everyone a little on edge until it finally arrived later in the afternoon, just in time for the show.
Were you at the show? We'd love to hear more about your experience ...
Email me at jaalberts@artsblooming.org and I'll get it posted.
Patron Comments
Hal Holbrook/ Mark Twain brought out the passion in me. He made me laugh and yes he made me cry. He made me think have we advanced in our strife to better ourselves or shall we always be chained to the same emotions year after year century after century? In retrospect his dialog fit much of 2008 as it did in 1905... amazing! So now I dont know what to say... so I shall just smile.
- Paula Ward
We LOVED it! We were expecting a lot and were not disappointed. It was also great to see the house so full. Don't know who else you could get to come here that would be comparable to Hal Holbrook, but we'd sure go to anything else like this. Thanks!
- Jerry and Phylis Versteegh
We attended Friday night’s performance and found the program most enjoyable. We love the facility.
- Karen McKinney
Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain is amazing! His stage presence and delivery is superb. The content makes you think ...and laugh...and it's very relevant to today's world. The BPCA is a beautiful facility to be able to see the performers well from almost any seat and the acoustics are wonderful. It's definitely a treasure for our community.
-Deanna Frautschi
My wife and I found out about the show just last week and were lucky to find tickets still available. Looked like it was completely full. What a show! I expected the laughter, but the tears were coming quite often, also. Yes we are still a ridiculous people, and that's fortunate for the humorists of our day, but isn't that kind of sad, too.But the real tearjerking moment was the reading from Huck Finn. When Jim was telling of his dreams of getting work when they got to Cairo, and saving all his pay, so he could buy his wife; not buy his wife a dress, or a ring, but actually buy his wife out of slavery, I was floored. It seemed Mr. Holbrook was himself shaken at times while reading the part.
I do have to recommend, though that anyone attending your fine theater who approaches a mere six feet in height, as I do, should avoid the balcony seats. I assume there is more legroom on the main floor.
-James Bacigalupo
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