L'Order

This may be a bit of a blurry-eyed blog. I just got home from my day, which culminated in seeing the rock band MUSE at Madison Square Garden. Can anything in the world compare with the energy of a rock concert? I don't think so. It was an outrageous show, and those of you not familiar with this band may want to just go directly to iTunes and download all three albums. But I digress.

Earlier today I had an audition for Law & Order. I realized today as I crossed the West Side Highway to their casting office at Chelsea Piers that I've been showing up at these auditions for over fifteen years! I've done three episodes of the show so far, including Episode #3, in the very first season. Suzanne Ryan, the Casting Director, has almost single-handedly kept the pool of New York actors working in television. No other show has added so much to the economy of New York City. Law & Order is on every single New York actor's resume unless they've been living in a cave for the last ten years. I'm always sort of happy to get the audition, but the whole thing also makes me queasy. Their casting sessions almost always run behind, but as soon as you're in the room they're over in a split second. Quick, hard, brutal. Just like the show itself. This season, actor Jeremy Sisto joins the cast, playing a new detective on the force. The role I went up for is that of his brother, Joe Lupo, who decides to take his own life after being diagnosed with cancer for the second time. It's a short scene in the teaser, and then another scene on camera where the character says his "last words". Director Allan Coulter was good enough to give me a second shot, after telling me that the stakes were much higher than what I was playing. How do you wrap your head around the final moments of life without sinking into maudlin self-pity? I don't really know how it went, but I left feeling kind of awful, so maybe that's a good thing.

Tomorrow I begin rehearsals for Alfred Kinsey: A Love Story. I won't divulge anything until after the first rehearsal. The only thing I will say is that the script sure makes me horny.

Wednesday begins shooting on the short film Wake by Andrew Lawton. Here's another cheery little role, a father who loses his son in Iraq. Boy, I sure know how tip pick them. Next time, I want to do something more on along the lines of Nacho Libre, which is currently my favorite movie.

Congratulations to my friend Rob Sedgewick. He just landed a role in the Off-Broadway show The Perfect Crime. He's bracing himself for the "bridge and tunnel crowd", but I think any work at all is a good thing. See you on the boards Rob!

So long for now.
Wayne