By Bridget LeRoy
Dee speaks quickly and punctuates much of her conversations with laughs, mostly at herself, while Bebe considers her answers with more care and responds slowly and thoughtfully while stretching and twisting on the sofa. They are the personification of a cat and bird. It was with no surprise at all that I regarded Neuwirth in Sunday's screening of The Adventures of Pinocchio, as playing the role of the cunning kitty. Purr-fect casting (and, incidentally, a terrific film).
Play v. Musical
It is a first for both of them to perform on stage in something other than a musical. How does it compare? "Well, I don't need as many hot baths," offered Bebe with a grin. "I was just talking to some friends of mine," Dee added, "and told them, 'Hey! I'm going to be in a play! That's a show without an overture!'" Bebe turns serious a moment: "In TV shows or movies, where I'm not singing or dancing, you work in short spurts. You don't do it all in one go, except, if you're lucky, during a rehearsal. This is way, way more intense, and I really like it."
"It's basically a three-character play, so it's very involved work," said Dee, who then amended herself. "Well, four characters, if you include the waiter."
Bebe leaned toward my microcassette recorder and pronunciated carefully, "Oh, he's got a very big part and he's wonderful in it."
"We adore him," Dee quickly jumped in. "Without Bobby, there would be no Noel Coward in Two Keys." Then she turns back to the subject at hand, the difference between straight plays and musicals. "In this, you get to express everything you need to say in words. I know that sounds silly, but there's no number. There's no dream ballet."
"In a really well-written musical," said Bebe, "you talk until you just can't talk anymore, you're going to have to sing. And when you're just so full you can't sing anymore, then you have to dance. It's a natural progression. With this we get just as full, but it's not a lyrical story, so the music is unnecessary."
Life in the Theater
"Coward is lyrical. His words are poetry," mused Dee, who worked on Coward (sort of) in the musical Oh Coward!, a derivation of Coward (also called Cowardly Custard). Even though the revue was mostly musical, "there were a couple of skits thrown in there, vignettes, lines from his famous plays like Tonight at 8:30 and Private Lives. I had seen Maggie Smilth in Private Lives in London, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into, and I was really excited about it. I've been trying to get into a play with no music," she laughed, "and here I am." Purred Bebe, vis-a-vis Noel Coward, "Ignorance is bliss." The fact that the actors will be portraying different people in the two Coward pieces -- Come Into The Garden, Maud and A Song At Twilight -- complete with different accents and different mannerisms doesn't seem to daunt the duo. "Change your costume, slap on a wig, and off you go," cracked Bebe, to Dee's delight. The two are enjoying the rehearsal process with gusto. "It's really fun," said Dee simply.
Dee has worked with Tommy Tune several times in the past, on Will Rogers, both the Broadway and touring versions, and The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public. "He paints the most beautiful pictures," she said. "I've never seen someone be able to take an opening number and just make magic like he can. He uses patterns of people moving on stage, flowing in waves. He has his view of the world, and of the theater, which is akin to no one but himself."
Remembering Bobby
Bebe appeared in several Bob Fosse shows, like the aforementioned Sweet Charity and the revival of Little Me, which was choreographed by Peter Genaro except for one number, "Deep Down Inside." "I loved Genaro before this, but it was just so classy the way he stepped aside for Bobby. Peter had been one of Bob's dancers." Even though her working relationship with Fosse was not an exhaustive one, Bebe still credits him with "making the most impact on me. And I try to keep him with me all the time." Bebe was trained to be a professional ballet dancer. She still avidly trains at the barre, and I don't mean "Cheers." Her life changed, however, when her parents brought her from Princeton, N.J., at the age of 13, to see Bob Fosse's Pippin. "Suddenly I knew. I wanted to do that," said Bebe, pointing to a nonexistent scene in mid-air.
" . . . and Ben Vereen," said Dee.
" . . . and Ben Vereen, oh my God! I had never seen anyone do anything like that before." She added that receiving her Tony for Sweet Charity from Vereen's hands was a special thrill and brought her full circle. Bebe will be playing the role of Velma Kelly in Bob Fosse's Chicago, coming to Broadway in the Fall. The cast also includes Joel Grey, Anne Reinking, and James Naughton in a recreation of their highly-successful performance at the Encore series at City Center in the early Spring.
Dee also has upcoming plans, but is "not at liberty to discuss them at the present time," she said, feigning haughtiness.
On "Cheers" and Jumanji
Does Bebe miss her days "where everybody knows your name"? "I don't miss it, but I enjoyed doing it," she responded. "I really enjoy working in an ensemble. I much prefer to dance with someone than to dance alone, and I really liked being part of an acting ensemble. I must admit," she continued warily, "that I don't really care for the process of doing a TV show. It's five days of rehearsal and one performance. I like to perform more than I like to rehearse, I find more freedom in performing." She pauses, then breaks into a belly laugh. "And I hate Los Angeles!"
Bebe regained her composure. "I loved 'Cheers,'" she said. "It was a great show. I loved my character, Lilith. She broke my heart. I loved my acting partner on the show, Kelsey Grammar, and I always enjoy going on his show, 'Frasier.' It's smart TV."
A strong reason that Bebe felt so close to her character was the openness of the writers to listen to the actors. "Like the two-parter when Lilith leaves the show," she continued. "There was a lot of discussion about how we would address Lilith's relationship to her child. It was a constant process of adding things, throwing things out, what would work, what wouldn't work. I learned about making comedy, how to make something funny, which was valuable."
The filming of Jumanji was also a lot of fun for Neuwirth, especially the special effects. In one scene, the flood scene, she and David Allan Grier were pushed around in an enormous tank, complete with wave machine, up at the Wave Research Center in British Columbia. "There were quite a few scenes where I would have react to some special effect which was not in place yet, except for the lion, which was animatronic," she recalled. "Even that was very disconcerting, to walk into a room where there was this lion in front of you, and four guys working controls next to you. It took a great deal of concentration."
But for now, the lithsome twosome will concentrate on the task at hand, their roles in Noel Coward in Two Keys.