Adrienne Barbeau: The Naked Truth
[Article written in 2006 by actress Adrienne Barbeau, discussing the 1971 'nudie musical' Stag Movie, which required her to be fully nude throughout. The still below is taken from the show.]
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I'm sitting in my dressing room at the Actors' Playhouse in Sheridan Square. They've just finished painting it for me, a deep, dark green with cream-colored accents. I have a Berber rug and antique wooden chairs and ornate iron hooks to hang my costumes on. My Judy Garland costumes: a bejeweled gold brocade pantsuit from The Valley of the Dolls, the red chiffon shirred jumpsuit with matching feather trimmed skirt Judy wore in her last concert, a blue silk robe and a full length mink.
And I'm thinking about the first off-Broadway play I did and the dressing room I had and the costumes I wore.
None.
It was a musical entitled Stag Movie, and I starred as an innocent young actress who gets cast in an X-rated film. I sang and danced my way through 13 numbers. In the nude. There was barely a costume in sight, which was just as well because I didn't have an antique chair or ornate iron hook to hang one on. I was grateful we had a bathroom.
It wasn't the job I'd dreamed about but it was a job I needed to do. It was a challenge I'd never been offered before--the opportunity to carry a show. The only other work I'd done in New York was in Fiddler on the Roof, where I'd played Tevye's daughter, Hodel. I'd joined the show in 1968--long after agents and producers and critics had stopped coming--and I'd stayed in it for two years. It was a dream job for a working actress but not a career move. I needed to create a role. I needed to get reviewed. I needed to do something that industry people would see.
They saw me all right. All of me. Upside down in a headstand on a raked bed with my unclothed breasts flapping against my chin. I was grateful I didn't have to tap.
I was a bit concerned about what my mother would say when I told her I'd be performing nude in an off-Broadway show. She was all in favor of my having a career, but she was my mother, after all. I called her before we started rehearsals.
"Off-Broadway, Adrienne?" she asked. "Won't you be taking a cut in salary?"
Well, yes, but that's not the reason we do these things, is it?
And now here I am, 25 years later, off-Broadway once again. The role of Judy Garland in The Property Known as Garland is a job I need to do--a challenge I've never been offered before. The audiences are loving it; they're standing up to applaud at the end. I keep my clothes on. I'm not singing or dancing, and I'm grateful I don't have to tap but this time it's also the job I've dreamed about.
Deleted
I'm sitting in my dressing room at the Actors' Playhouse in Sheridan Square. They've just finished painting it for me, a deep, dark green with cream-colored accents. I have a Berber rug and antique wooden chairs and ornate iron hooks to hang my costumes on. My Judy Garland costumes: a bejeweled gold brocade pantsuit from The Valley of the Dolls, the red chiffon shirred jumpsuit with matching feather trimmed skirt Judy wore in her last concert, a blue silk robe and a full length mink.
And I'm thinking about the first off-Broadway play I did and the dressing room I had and the costumes I wore.
None.
It was a musical entitled Stag Movie, and I starred as an innocent young actress who gets cast in an X-rated film. I sang and danced my way through 13 numbers. In the nude. There was barely a costume in sight, which was just as well because I didn't have an antique chair or ornate iron hook to hang one on. I was grateful we had a bathroom.
It wasn't the job I'd dreamed about but it was a job I needed to do. It was a challenge I'd never been offered before--the opportunity to carry a show. The only other work I'd done in New York was in Fiddler on the Roof, where I'd played Tevye's daughter, Hodel. I'd joined the show in 1968--long after agents and producers and critics had stopped coming--and I'd stayed in it for two years. It was a dream job for a working actress but not a career move. I needed to create a role. I needed to get reviewed. I needed to do something that industry people would see.
They saw me all right. All of me. Upside down in a headstand on a raked bed with my unclothed breasts flapping against my chin. I was grateful I didn't have to tap.
I was a bit concerned about what my mother would say when I told her I'd be performing nude in an off-Broadway show. She was all in favor of my having a career, but she was my mother, after all. I called her before we started rehearsals.
"Off-Broadway, Adrienne?" she asked. "Won't you be taking a cut in salary?"
Well, yes, but that's not the reason we do these things, is it?
And now here I am, 25 years later, off-Broadway once again. The role of Judy Garland in The Property Known as Garland is a job I need to do--a challenge I've never been offered before. The audiences are loving it; they're standing up to applaud at the end. I keep my clothes on. I'm not singing or dancing, and I'm grateful I don't have to tap but this time it's also the job I've dreamed about.
6 years ago
