With a few first run gliches, Shiloh's Gate went off like a dream Saturday night; we had great weather, players, music, food, and audience. August is NOT the best time of year to try a new program around here, and yet we still had a line at the barbecue and a respectable live audience for the taping of the show. Heartfelt thanks all around.
We'll let you know where and when we broadcast the first hour of life in that allegorical, mythological, unapologetically didactic hamlet -- Shiloh's Gate.
It was a giggle watching Victoria Jackson waltzing and ball-of-yarning around the packing shed at the end of the evening. We've had our share of celebrities up here, but very few with her joy of life. She has that cheery glow of a neon sign beaming out across the desert night. With many performers, you're left wondering how in the world they achieved their audience, but with Victoria, you feel her presence immediately, and you get the sense that her success as a performer flows from her very giddiness about small things, and people-watching. I've met very people in my life quite so alive. It's also a little intimidating, as a writer, when the guy who wrote the book on acting, literally, plays one of your parts. Basil Hoffman, when he prepares, finds a quiet place and puts his head in his hands. I said "Basil, is the script that bad?" He gave me his wry, deadpan smile, and he told me he did the same thing on all his feature films too. He takes every word of a script seriously, and it shows, when the audience starts laughing. You wouldn't think someone who has run for congress could be as funny as he is, but Ari David deserves his own show somewhere. He's effortlessly hilarious. Sonja Schmidt, who claims she is "just a writer," and not an actress, had the audience howling.
When you are not only building a fictional character, but a fictional landscape, a whole town right out of the ether, it feels a little presumptuous. Who are you, Mr. Jim, to create a whole town like that? What gives you the right to pretend it's a real place, even if it's just for an hour?
