John Cullum: An Accidental Star

The actor and singer John Cullum, hailing from Tennessee, has played King Arthur and Arthur’s son Mordred in “Camelot,” Laertes in “Hamlet,” Edward Rutledge a delegate from South Carolina in “1776,” Charlie Anderson in “Shenandoah,” a maniacal Broadway producer in “On the Twentieth Century” and an evil corporate president in “Urinetown the Musical,” to name drop just a few. Looking back from a perspective of age, a hearty 91, and wisdom, gleaned from life, John Cullum is ready to delight you in story and song about his fascinating theatrical journey. Calling his one-man show “John Cullum An Accidental Star,” conceived by Cullum and Jeff Berger, written by David Thompson and directed by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart, you are invited to stream it, on demand, until April 22, with a live watch party April 17 at 2 p.m. Co-produced with the Irish Repertory Theatre, Vineyard Theatre and Goodspeed Musicals, tickets are $25 and up and can be secured online at vineyardtheatre.org or irishrep@irishrep.org or by calling the Vineyard at 646-931-4711. Modestly Cullum credits coincidence and luck to his becoming a star. When he came to New York City in 1956, it was with two letters of introduction and not much else. Before he knew it, he was carrying a spear in a production of “St. Joan” and had a second paying job in “Hamlet” and he had only been in the Big Apple for six weeks. Living in a room for $6 a week, he credits his most loyal supporter Joe Papp with casting him in three Shakespeare in the Park productions and his career was officially off and running. Over the decades, he has made his mark in television, stage and screen, winning two Emmys along the way. You might remember seeing him in the TV show “Northern Exposure,” “Law and Order,” “Law and Order Special Victims Unit,” “ER,” “The Middle” and “Madam Secretary” among others. With Julie McBride on the piano, he shares stories about his auditions and his relationships with icons like Julie Andrews, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor and Robert Goulet. He sings such favorites as “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever” and “Shenandoah” and tales from his time in “The Scottsboro Boys,” “Urinetown the Musical,” “Waitress” and “110 in the Shade.” For eighty minutes, he fascinates his audience with a hopscotching tour of his life and career that you won’t want to miss. Let actor and singer John Cullum be your entertaining guide!

DAILY MIRACLES

How grateful would you be if you identified everything as a miracle? Waking up and saying a prayer that God has restored your soul to you after your soul left you the night before. Looking forward every morning to what I anticipate to be “the gifts” of the day. Discovering my electric toothbrush is still working. Yeah for the Duracell battery and the Energizer bunny. Listening to the NBC Today Show every morning to hear if the world has survived the night. Our little terrier Zoe waiting patiently outside my bedroom door to greet me…and get her morning meal. Looking out the window to watch the squirrels, chipmunks and birds scamper and play hide-and-seek. Being grateful to my children for replacing my old computer so I don’t have to wait 45 minutes for it to “wake up.” Completing two word puzzles, with and without cheating for the answers, to keep my mind sharp. Receiving dozens of daily emails and sending out humorous and educational missives to friends, especially during these difficult COVID times. Finding spiritual moments to identify my purpose in life. Meditating for calmness. Connecting on a daily basis with family, friends and life insurance clients. Encouraging curiosity by scheduling online seminars to learn about artists like Vincent Van Gogh and public figures from Martha Washington to Hillary Clinton, James Patterson to Mike Nichols. Scheduling little exercise sessions from Dr. Zach Bush, combined with walks in the no longer cold outdoors. Saying Hey Google, to play songs from Neil Diamond or Barbra Streisand. Writing in my gratitude journal, at least three items a day. Having a neighbor call to offer to share with me a chicken dinner or chili with corn bread she had just made. Continuing to watch another episode of the sexy medical Netflix drama “private practice.” Who’s addicted? Adding an ice cream cone, either raspberry or rum raisin, to the show’s pleasures. Putting my head down on my clean, cool pillow after a full and thankful day, only waking once at 4 a.m. to take care of the nightly water works. As Will Rogers stated, “One must wait until evening to see how splendid the day has been.” For me, I am of the same school as Walt Whitman who said, “As for me, I know of nothing else but miracles…To me, every hour of the light and dark is a miracle.” I too look forward to tomorrow, when like Little Orphan Annie so prophetically sang, “The sun'll come out" again.

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Welcoming Netflix into my life, as the pandemic began to take over our lives, I cut my television teeth on such wonderful series as “Grace and Frankie” about two women, not quite friends, who discover their husbands are having an affair with each other and want to marry, “Anne with an E” about a spunky young orphan who desperately wants a family, “Offspring” involving a dysfunctional but lovable clan from Australia, “Blacklist” a cat and mouse game of spies and murder and “The Queen’s Gambit” concerning an orphan who learns how to play a mean game of chess from a caring janitor. Each was enjoyable in its own way and I followed each episode with interest. None of this prepared me for my next venture in TV land when I innocently began watching what I thought was going to be a show about a team of lawyers. “Private Practice” was, instead, about a unique medical group in California where the physicians shared information about their patients as easily as they shared each other’s beds. Quickly captivated by each doctor, I soon found myself addicted to seeing what would happen next and happily seduced into watching one or three episodes every night. Was Violet going to marry either of the two doctors, Pete and Sheldon, who might be the father of her baby? Was Cooper going to win over the cactus toughened Charlotte who kept rebuffing his advances? Would Naomi resume her relationship with Sam, or pick one of the other two doctors pursuing her? Did Addison have a chance to be a mother and find love at long last? Could Amelia break her addiction to drugs and clean up her act? As a medical drama, this show succeeded in capturing my attention and educating me about every possible malady known to woman and man, including organ donation, transplantation, cancer treatments, pedophilia, complications of pregnancy, assisted suicide, mental illness, and the list went on. As I watched, I felt I was personally involved in every intimate issue and had a voice in whether Violet wrote about her revealing traumatic life altering crisis, or whether Sheldon was ever going to find a woman to love who would love him back, or whether Del could raise his daughter Betsy alone since his wife had died of a drug overdose. Now that I know all the answers and the series has ended, I feel like I have been abandoned by a group of close friends who are no longer part of my life. To say I want them back is an understatement. Please suggest what shows I can watch to fill in the hole in the fabric of my TV Guide quilted life. Now that I am vaccinated with both shots, I am almost ready to meet people in person and actually hug again. HELP me please.

SCHOOL BELLS RING, ARE YOU LISTENING?

While during the isolating months of the pandemic, I did not literally sit in a classroom, I did have a wonderful array of learning opportunities to open my mind. Thanks to a plethora of Zoom experiences, I have learned about a multitude of people and places, back in history and currently influential. In the world of art, I have followed the tortuous life of Vincent Van Gogh, walking through his sunflowers and irises as he traveled from Holland to France to pursue his dreams. He only sold one painting, of a doctor, in his lifetime. What might he think of the millions being bid at the world’s leading auction houses today? Pablo Picasso is the next artist on my study list, who became an international icon, traveling from his native Spain to Paris. Starting at the age of 7 or 8, he worked until his death at 92. This lively, colorful painter created Cubism as he used dancers, circus performers, still life and café patrons to illustrate his art. Along the way, I’ve learned how to make crispy rice, challah and cookies like hamantaschen. The new book “The Jew-ish Encyclopedia” was unveiled as well as how the actor Steven Skybell as Tevye became the Yiddish Texan. I’ve heard talks by actresses Natalie Portman and Mayim Bialik and political figures like Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Memorials and tributes to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg were on my agenda as well as lectures on the Holocaust, anti-Semitism and Black Lives Matter. Area theaters have been streaming new plays and revivals in workshops like Playhouse on Park’s “School Girls” and “Becoming Dr. Ruth” at Music Theatre of CT, in addition to talks on the movies of James Bond at the Mark Twain House and the Irish Repertory Theatre’s “Love, Noel” in praise of Noel Coward. The comic genius of Mike Nichols was lauded as well as the Jewish art creations of Jeanette Kuvin Oren. In addition, I’ve taken a tour of Israel and a marvelous tour of Italy with host Alex Polizzi, returned to Anne Frank’s Amsterdam attic hideaway and walked through the White House thanks to Jackie Kennedy. Our country’s first and second First Ladies, Martha Washington and Abigail Adams, shared their insights guiding their husbands in our new country while the American Liver Foundation celebrated its 45th anniversary of its good works and liver research in Connecticut. Author James Patterson previewed his latest book about today’s military in true stories of courage while the ancient story of the Jewish holiday of Purim was reenacted by a bank of masked singers led by Tovah Feldshuh as narrator. In this trying time where compassion, kindness and empathy are so important, I listened to the words of Brandon Farbstein who abandoned his 3'9'' body to become Ten Feet Tall, Pamela Rae Schuller who uses her Tourette’s Syndrome to create humor and Judy Heumann who has made her disability from polio a platform to change minds and make new laws. All in all, I feel like I am a college student earning my master’s degree once again, only this time with my designated homework assignments no longer due on deadline.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

Fifty years ago, Helen Reddy created an anthem for women that still empowers and inspires, especially as we celebrate March 8th as International Women’s Day. “I am woman, hear me roar…I am strong, I am invincible, I can do anything” are fighting words that encourage women to stand up for their rights. Begun in 1911, with two gatherings of over a million people, this movement honors the vibrancy of females, socially, culturally, economically and politically and is a call to action to end injustice and inequality. This year’s motivation is to “choose to challenge,” to call out racism and sexism, to scream instead of whisper, to be stronger, greater and kinder, to choose to create history and write a new page. In the words of Anisa Nandaula, one of the movement’s social commentators, “gender is a pre-written book” and we need to write our own chapter and work for positive change. The glass ceiling is not showing enough cracks, with only 7.4% or 37 Chief Executive Officers of the Fortune 500 corporations as women. Violence against women translates to 137 women being killed by a family member or intimate partner every DAY. COVID-19 threatens to eliminate any advances that have been made. 200 million females, child and adult, across Africa and the Middle East are exposed to violence on a daily basis. Unbelievably 33,000 girls are forced to become child brides every DAY around the world, 132 million girls are denied an education and migrant and refugee women are singled out for mistreatment. As women, we need to paint our own picture and write our own narrative, all the while creating a platform for positive change. Women wear many hats and work to juggle a Superwoman existence. Women are mothers, sisters, daughters, wives, grandmothers, aunts, friends, mentors, teachers, volunteers and advocates, as well as teachers, attorneys, doctors, executives, and especially vice-president. This past year 2020 has shown us how resilient and courageous, innovative and creative, supportive and forgiving, we need to be to not only survive, but thrive. The world has called upon women to stand up and take charge in the home, the classroom, the hospital, in the community, to protect our family and our friends, by whatever means necessary and possible. We have been tested and we have proven our strength. Hopefully 2021 will signal an even higher level of accomplishment from which to grow and soar. Every day, not just March 8th, women need to unite, to stand tall and roar!

IT’S MUSIC TO MY EARS

Shakespeare once stated “If music be the food of love, play on.” But our love affair with music dates far beyond the Bard. Every society, past and present, has embraced music as a cultural constant, even back to isolated tribal groups and their primitive instruments. In 2008, a five-holed bone flute was discovered in a cave in Germany thought to be 35,000 years old. Think how colorless and silent our world would be without magical musical sounds. Whether you sing along, play a musical instrument, dance to the rhythms, compose like a Gershwin or Sondheim, perform like Madonna or Mandy Patinkin or simply listen, music is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy your time. Maybe you turn on the radio in your car. Personly I can’t drive without my favorite radio station to listen to, STAR 99.9, while many tune in to Sirius radio with its 325 channels. New Haven and surrounding areas lay claim to the likes of a Michael Bolton, the Five Satins and the Carpenters. Many of us can still remember American Band Stand, Elvis and the Beatles and the newest iterations like American Idol and the Masked Singer, not to mention the Grammys and American Music Awards. Many couples have a favorite song and I can remember “Always” as the tune that was played at our wedding. A good friend, Fran Apfel, sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” when my mom died at 93 as we use music to mark the most significant memories of our lives. While decades ago we listened to and danced to groups like the Platters, the Drifters and the Temptations, today we are almost afraid to hear the newest headliners: Smashing Pumpkins, Puddle of Mudd, The Just Plain Ridiculous, Limp Bizkit, Def Leppard, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Grateful Dead, Enuff Z’nuff, the Goo Goo Dolls, Porno for Pyros and Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, I kid you not. Imagine a world without “Les Miz,” “Annie,” “The Sound of Music,” “Gypsy," “Into the Woods,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hello, Dolly!” Unimaginable! Soon we will gather at the gazebo for outdoor concerts and cheer on Fourth of July parades. I solemnly promise not to take up the accordion again. I abandoned that part of my life in sixth grade. I will, however, despite the wishes of my children, promise to sing along, loudly and proudly, to our Star Spangled Banner when ball games are open to the public again and appreciate how fortunate we are that music never went away (even when Buddy Holly died), doesn’t require a mask and six feet of social distancing is no problem at all. Music, you are truly and forever the food of love. Play on! IT’S MUSIC TO MY EARS Shakespeare once stated “If music be the food of love, play on.” But our love affair with music dates far beyond the Bard. Every society, past and present, has embraced music as a cultural constant, even back to isolated tribal groups and their primitive instruments. In 2008, a five-holed bone flute was discovered in a cave in Germany thought to be 35,000 years old. Think how colorless and silent our world would be without magical musical sounds. Whether you sing along, play a musical instrument, dance to the rhythms, compose like a Gershwin or Sondheim, perform like Madonna or Mandy Patinkin or simply listen, music is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy your time. Maybe you turn on the radio in your car. Personly I can’t drive without my favorite radio station to listen to, STAR 99.9, while many tune in to Sirius radio with its 325 channels. New Haven and surrounding areas lay claim to the likes of a Michael Bolton, the Five Satins and the Carpenters. Many of us can still remember American Band Stand, Elvis and the Beatles and the newest iterations like American Idol and the Masked Singer, not to mention the Grammys and American Music Awards. Many couples have a favorite song and I can remember “Always” as the tune that was played at our wedding. A good friend, Fran Apfel, sang “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” when my mom died at 93 as we use music to mark the most significant memories of our lives. While decades ago we listened to and danced to groups like the Platters, the Drifters and the Temptations, today we are almost afraid to hear the newest headliners: Smashing Pumpkins, Puddle of Mudd, The Just Plain Ridiculous, Limp Bizkit, Def Leppard, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Grateful Dead, Enuff Z’nuff, the Goo Goo Dolls, Porno for Pyros and Thirty Odd Foot of Grunts, I kid you not. Imagine a world without “Les Miz,” “Annie,” “The Sound of Music,” “Gypsy," “Into the Woods,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Hello, Dolly!” Unimaginable! Soon we will gather at the gazebo for outdoor concerts and cheer on Fourth of July parades. I solemnly promise not to take up the accordion again. I abandoned that part of my life in sixth grade. I will, however, despite the wishes of my children, promise to sing along, loudly and proudly, to our Star Spangled Banner when ball games are open to the public again and appreciate how fortunate we are that music never went away (even when Buddy Holly died), doesn’t require a mask and six feet of social distancing is no problem at all. Music, you are truly and forever the food of love. Play on!

FOR AN EPIC ADVENTURE, COME MEET “PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE” AT UCONN

For a unique theatrical experience, one that combines adventure with an epic graphic novel, look no further than the University of Connecticut’s current offering through the Connecticut Repertory Theatre of “Pericles, Prince of Tyre” until Sunday, March 7 at 2 pm. Using a colorful palette of water color sets, shadow puppets, glorious costuming and live action, this little known tragedy by William Shakespeare and possibly others provides a rousing saga of near death experiences. Damian Jermaine Thompson stars as the Prince who flees one dangerous situation only to land in another even more terrifying. His adventures begin when he is confronted with a riddle. If he answers it correctly, he will win the hand of a beautiful princess. But if his answer to the riddle is wrong, he will pay with his life. The clever prince solves the conundrum, but realizes it will cost him his life either way. Fleeing the land, he sails to a new country and saves that kingdom by providing grain to end a famine. After a storm, he is saved by fishermen, wins the hand of another princess and again takes to the sea. There tragedy seeks him out and his new bride dies in childbirth after giving him a daughter Marina. Pericles, an honorable man, is beset by difficulties as he journeys on. Eventually he is rewarded for his good deeds by being restored to all he had lost. Raphael Massie directs that fine dramatic piece that is stuffed with excitement, like a giant comic book come to life. To stream this production, go online to crt.uconn.edu or call 860-486-2113. Tickets are $10 for students, $14 for seniors and UCONN faculty and staff and $16 for the general public. Evening performances are at 7:30 pm and afternoons at 2 pm. There are many characters and situations so a brief review of the plot may prove helpful, especially if the viewing will be a family affair. Now is the time to plan a family fantasy adventure with adventures galore.