#BrentCarver

[anthonyvcrivello]

Saddened by the passing of my pal #ChitaRivera. She was a pro’s pro & a lovely, gracious lady. May #Chita ride on Wings of Angels... But I doubt she's resting. More likely dancing & singing with the Angles, entertaining the Saints!! A hole in my heart. Love you, always Chita. xo

[godlessondheimite]

LUNCH WITH JAN WONG To speak or not to speak, that is the question for Stratford's BrentCarver.

JAN WONG Saturday, July 1, 2000

Brent Carver is shy, so shy that when you start asking questions, he stops eating lunch. Sometimes he stops talking altogether. "Some people think silence is golden," says Carver, 48, after one particularly excruciating pause.

On stage, the actor is a fountain of eloquence. He's worked in every major Canadian theatre. He won a Tony in 1993 for his work on Broadway. At Stratford this summer, he's starring in two productions, Fiddler on the Roof and Elizabeth Rex,a Timothy Findley play that premiered Thursday.

But take away his script and ask him about himself or, say, Garth Drabinsky. Then there are only half-sentences, long stares and silence, lots of silence.

Carver is a vegetarian. He normally has a bowl of oatmeal or Red River cereal for breakfast. But at this brunch at Stratford's elegant Church Restaurant, he fortifies himself with salmon cakes and apple slaw to make it through the day's rehearsal -- and this interview.

In Elizabeth Rex, about a meeting between Shakespeare and Elizabeth I, he plays an actor specializing in female roles. Carver often takes on gender-bending parts. He won the Tony for his portrayal of Molina, the flamboyant gay window dresser in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Time magazine said that his performance "far surpasses" William Hurt's 1985 Oscar-winning version.

But ask Carver about the influence his own life has had on these roles, and an awkward silence ensues. For someone whose day (and night) job is performing before a live paying audience, he's paralyzed one on one. In 40 articles about him, including two promisingly headlined "A Personal Profile" and "A Frank Conversation," there's scant information. Not one mentions whether he's married, single, divorced or living with anyone. Only one says he has a cat named Licorice.

At lunch, Carver admits to having a cat named Licorice. He also acknowledges having a tiny home in nearby Niagara-on-the-Lake. He won't say more. As for his temporary digs in Stratford, he says, "I'm living alone here." He imbues "here" with all the significance a great actor can muster. Does that mean he doesn't live alone over there in Niagara-on-the-Lake?

"I won't talk about my personal life, particularly when we witness across America the intrusion . . . ." His voice trails off. He looks down. "I have nothing to sell. What I do is I'm an actor. My home is found in the theatre."

Jeez. You'd think I was asking if he was gay. Actually, I am. And he is. But he's uncomfortable talking about it, even in this age of record-setting gay pride parades. You feel as though you're dragging him out of the closet. Yet he's not in the closet. Carver has talked, sort of, about his homosexuality in Xtra! He told the gay bi-weekly he feels "a part of the gay community." But even Xtra! elicited nothing more than the fact that in 1995 he was single and sharing his house with an ex-lover.

"I have no children," he says at lunch, daring you to read more into it. Then he looks down again at his lap. He pushes away his plate. He sips some Red Rose tea.

"Not many people ask me who I actually am," he says slowly. "As Shakespeare says in Hamlet, 'What ultimately is plucking out the heart of one's life?' Do we actually think that's going to illuminate who we are? Say what is our existence on earth?"

He played Hamlet 16 years ago. The exact quote is: You would pluck out the heart of my mystery; You would sound me from my lowest note to the top of my compass: And there is much music, excellent voice, in this little organ; yet cannot you make it speak.

Shakespeare was right. In Carver, there is much music, excellent voice. Yet you cannot make him speak. In the long edgy silence that follows, the actor stares at the oak table. He carefully delineates segments of it with the edges of his hands. He does not look up.

His fingers are long and white, like the rest of his body. At 5 foot 11 and 158 pounds, he looks like a graduate student in his tan plaid shirt, red backpack and 32-inch waist jeans. His lean look suits both his current roles. In Fiddler, he plays Tevye, a gaunt Russian peasant in the midst of a czarist pogrom. In Elizabeth Rex, he's a Shakespearean actor dying of the pox.

Carver was born in Cranbrook, B.C., the fourth of eight children. His mother was a clerk at Woolworth's. His father, who loved music, drove a logging truck. Carver loved music, too. "My uncle remembers me singing things from the radio before I could talk," he says.

At seven, he earned money singing at weddings. He also sang for the Lions Club and the school choir. The choir stuff, and his blond ringlets, made him a prime target. Neighbourhood bullies beat him in Grade 1. They threw snowballs in his eyes. "I used to make sure my older brother would walk me home from school," Carver recalls.

As Tevye, the beleaguered father of five headstrong daughters, he spends virtually the entire two hours and 45 minutes on stage. He also sings and dances to 14 songs. After one matinee, Carver leaned in exhaustion against the backstage wall, before emerging to acknowledge a standing ovation.

With Elizabeth Rex up and running too, he'll have up to seven shows a week. On 13 gruelling days, he'll perform both Fiddler and Elizabeth Rex. On those days, he says, he'll steal a nap between removing his matinee makeup and applying new makeup for the evening. "It's essential to lie down, put on music -- Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Mozart."

Since he won't talk about himself, perhaps he'll talk about why he won't talk. Asked if questions make him nervous, Carver segments out more sections of the oak table with his long fingers. He says he's always talked in fits and starts. "I start talking." He pauses. "That's not quite what I think, so I edit."

After high school, where he was valedictorian, he enrolled in theatre studies at the University of British Columbia. Three years later, he dropped out to act in movies, television and the theatre. In 1984, after working in four movies in a row, he abruptly withdrew from acting for eight months. "I just needed to not work," he says.

His most famous withdrawal came after winning the Tony. He was the toast of Broadway. Barbra Streisand came backstage to visit. But he quit three months later. His contract for Kiss of the Spider Woman gave him an escape clause, and he grabbed it. "Some people can go for three or four years. I'm just not made that way."

Livent asked him to reconsider. He did, and still said no. As for Drabinsky, Carver hasn't seen or spoken to him since Livent went kaput. He says he isn't owed any money and had a "terrific working relationship" with Drabinsky. He won't say more.

Most actors would have tried to parlay the Tony into a career in Hollywood. Instead, Carver went to Edmonton, where he played Cyrano de Bergerac at the Citadel Theatre. "I didn't leave Broadway specifically to go to Edmonton," he says defensively.

His withdrawal is more understandable if you know that one of his best friends died a year and a half earlier -- in a fire at Carver's Stratford house. (He was out of town at the time.) Susan Wright, the Canadian actress, died on Dec. 29, 1991, along with her parents. It was Wright who had urged him to take on the role in Kiss of the Spider Woman. When he won the Tony, he dedicated it to her.

At lunch, the salmon cakes are still uneaten, but Carver has to rush off to a rehearsal. He looks relieved. Soon he'll be able to speak lines somebody else wrote. He gets up, shakes hands and slings his backpack over his shoulder. He says he's really enjoyed lunch. Carver is a great actor, but not that great.

[holle-1983]

#crossbar #rimakauhu #gerit #1979vhs #johntrent #brentcarver #kimcattrall #hardtofind #videocassette #tapes #vhs #vhscu #vhsgram #instavhs #vcr #horror #gore #feedyourvcr #rewindordie #vhsishappiness #finnishtapehead #finnishhorrorjunkie #finnishvhscollector (paikassa Ahlainen, Länsi-Suomen Lääni, Finland) https://www.instagram.com/p/CTULuUyMK03/?utm_medium=tumblr

[helloshakespeare-blog-blog]

Shakespeare In The Present - Patsy Rodenburg

[edisonmedison]

Defacing national treasure Brent Carver. #savemeseries #brentcarver @brentcarver #actorslife #setlife #filmmaking #makeupartist

[anthonyvcrivello]

[anthonyvcrivello]

What a joy #kissofthespiderwoman was. Special time, special talent with #FredEbb #JohnKander #TerrenceMcNally #halprince #JeromeSirlin #HowellBinkley #FlorenceKlotz ... and now about to become a Feature Film. Wonderful news. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_of_the_Spider_Woman_(musical)

[anthonyvcrivello]

"Tony Awards, including for best musical and for all three performers: Chita Rivera, Brent Carver and Anthony Crivello.” / Jennifer Lopez Says ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman' Filming Was a ‘Dream' 

[anthonyvcrivello]

Saddened by the passing of my pal #ChitaRivera. She was a pro’s pro & a lovely, gracious lady. May #Chita ride on Wings of Angels... But I doubt she's resting. More likely dancing & singing with the Angles, entertaining the Saints!! A hole in my heart. Love you, always Chita. xo

[anthonyvcrivello]

KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN coming to the Big Screen.

[anthonyvcrivello]

KISS OF THE SPIDERWOMAN - Brent Carver RIP. with Chita Rivera and Anthony Crivello 

[anthonyvcrivello]

The Theatre Community Remembers the Life and Work of Brent Carver

https://www.playbill.com/article/the-theatre-community-remembers-the-life-and-work-of-brent-carver