Betty Birney’s Blog

This week, my husband Frank and I went to see Jersey Boys at the Ahmanson Theater. I was excited about going because it was so sold out that we even got a letter saying, in essence, “Don’t even think about trying to exchange your tickets. If you can’t attend, give your tickets to someone else.” Also, I knew that the show had won last year’s Tony award for best musical, among others. And I knew the show was about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, whose success spanned several decades which just happened to coincide with my growing up and young adulthood.

The Ahmanson is part of a complex of three theaters in downtown L.A. Many people are familiar with the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, because the Academy Awards were held there for many years (remember the fountains outside?) before the ceremony was permanently moved to the Kodak Theater at Hollywood and Highland. (We were just there to see Elmo Makes Music, which I have to admit was a great little show for kids.)

Now the Dorothy Chandler is used mainly for opera. The Ahmanson is a large, traditional theater. Then there’s the smaller Mark Taper Forum which has a thrust stage instead of a proscenium. A proscenium stage is what you probably picture as a stage. A thrust stage is “thrust” out into the audience. Sight lines are better, there’s no curtain and it’s more intimate. There’s a large plaza between the Dorothy Chandler and the Taper with the famous fountains. Recently, they’ve added a lovely outdoor restaurant - perfect for L.A. where the weather is almost always nice. So Frank and I ate at Pinot Grill and then headed to the Ahmanson.

Several hours later, we emerged from the theater feeling completely recharged and invigorated. We go to a lot of theater, but Jersey Boys had an effect on the audience I’ve rarely seen. We were not just entertained, we were involved and thrilled. It’s the only show I’ve seen where the audience members jumped to their feet to give a standing ovation in the middle of the play! Not to mention, the huge standing ovation at the end. (It’s not entirely clear to me whether we were cheering for the performers or the real Four Seasons. Probably both. But cheer we did.)

I never knew that much about the Four Seasons. I just danced to their music and sang along on the radio. But Jersey Boys is far more than a string of musical numbers. The playwrights cleverly dramatize the group’s rise and reign as pop favorites by having each of the four principals tell his own version of what happened. It’s funny, sad, touching … and the music is moving. I couldn’t help cheering out loud, especially when the group goes through a medley of their first three back-to-back hits: Sherry, Big Girls Don’t Cry and Walk Like a Man. (Personal note: I once wrote an Emmy-nominated Schoolbreak Special titled Big Boys Don’t Cry.)

The Four Seasons stood out among other pop groups mainly because of Frank Valli’s distinctive falsetto voice. I believe he had (or has - he’s still performing) a two octave range and unlike some falsettos, he could move seamlessly up and down the octaves. I didn’t realize that the other key to their success was Bob Gaudio, who drove the musical style and wrote the music, as well as performing.

I walked out of that theater realizing there is nothing - NOTHING - like live theater. You can be thrilled by a book, a work of art, a recording … but in live theater (dance and music as well), it’s the immediate shared response of the audience that adds another layer to the experience. We were totally involved with what was happening on stage. Jersey Boys knocked my socks off.

It’s been a great year for theater for me, personally, We saw Doubt with an incredible performance by Cherry Jones, who also won a Tony for that role. Next came Light in the Piazza on our anniversary. I went in feeling neutral about seeing the show and I came out feeling totally enchanted. On New Year’s Eve we saw the innovative dance extravaganza, Edward Scissorshands, with our son, Walshe. Next came Yellow Face, a thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining new play by David Henry Hwang (who wrote M. Butterfly). We still have tickets to two more plays: Come Back Little Sheba next week at the Kirk Douglas Theater in Culver City, and Wicked at the Pantages theater in Hollywood.

Pinot Grill, New Year’s Eve afternoon, 2006

As for Jersey Boys - to borrow a title of one of their hits - Oh, What a Night!

When you write a book, you just hope that you can sell it to a publisher. Once you sell it to a publisher, you hope that readers and reviewers will like it. Then you hope that the book will sell well, which will open the door to more books. But once a book is out in the world, unexpected things happen which even a fiction writer couldn’t imagine. And, because THE SEVEN WONDERS OF SASSAFRAS SPRINGS deals with quirky stories, quirky things have happened since it was published. The most recent surprise was an email from Natalia “Saw Lady” Paruz, an accomplished musician who specializes in playing the musical saw and other lesser known instruments, such as cowbells and the glass harp. In addition to her performances with such diverse groups as the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and John Hiat and appearances on MTV, VH1 and Prairie Home Companion, she is a “busker” (street performer) in NYC. Here’s a little bit of what she told me:

“The other day I was playing the saw at Times Square, when a lady and her daughter came to a screeching halt in front of me. They told me they had just read ‘The Seven Wonders Of Sassafras Springs’ and were absolutely sure that the author made up the bit about a saw that can play music. They were sure such a thing doesn’t really exist. So, they were astonished to see/hear me do exactly that - play a saw. I thought it was funny and actually very cool, so I wrote about it in the blog I keep about what happens when I play on the street - www.SawLady.com/blog and I also put an ad for your book there. The lady bought my CD in order to show her book club that saw playing really exists :)”

You can imagine my jaw dropped when I wrote that email. First of all, it’s so cool that book clubs are reading the book. And also, it’s a long way from Lonedell (not just in miles) to Times Square. But I absolutely love both places!

Me in Times Square

Me in Lonedell

Now I’m sending the book to Natalia and she’s sending me a CD. You can listen to her music on her website, too. I guarantee, it will knock your socks off. You can also learn a lot about busking in New York. It’s http://www.sawlady.com. The Sassafras blog entry is June 15 and that url is http://www.sawlady.com/blog.

I have to chuckle at something else Natalia had to say:

“Just curious - how did you come to know about saw playing? The reason why I’m asking is because in your book you show knowledge of the saw which most people don’t have:

1) The date the story you wrote takes place at - 1923 - was when saw playing was very popular in the USA (it later declined in popularity and almost disappeared. Now I am part of a revival movement to bring saw playing back into popularity).

2) You wrote about crops that grow better when saw music is played to them - a saw player from India claims to have discovered that by chance years ago when he first started playing saw.”

The fact that people play saws is just one of those interesting oddities I have stored in my mind. I suppose I heard about them growing up in Missouri, and I think some places in Missouri and Arkansas, such as Silver Dollar City, feature saw players. I just figured it was popular in the 20s. I wasn’t aware of a revival - but I’m delighted. When I speak at schools and ask students if they’ve ever heard a musical saw, I only occasionally get a raised hand. And when I ask kids to describe the sound, they think hard before saying something like “eerie” or “heavenly.”

I did research on how the saw sounds and how it’s played on the internet while writing the book. As far as Natalia’s second question, I almost forgot that at the very end of the story, Eben speculates that the saw player’s crops grow better because of the music. The core of the story is about the saw and a plague of grasshoppers. But when I was in Middlebury, IN, a saw player, David Vermilyea, gave me an article from the internet about how various sounds might be able to affect the (recent) midwestern grasshopper attack. So the story in the book just might be possible. That’s stretching it a bit, though.

I have to admit, if my story about the saw was accurate, it was more of a result of instinct, general knowledge and good luck! (Although I do always research whatever I’m working on.) And now I want to find out who was the first person who picked up an ordinary saw and a bow and decided to make music!

…a world where adventurous hamsters, musical saws, cheerleading princesses and seekers of wonders come to play! I consider myself a lucky person, to be able to spend the best parts of most of my days in my backyard office, weaving stories, just the way I’ve wanted to since I was seven years old.

I recently returned from Middlebury, IN (almost on the Michigan border) for a fantastic Seven Wonders event. Communities have been adopting my book, THE SEVEN WONDERS OF SASSAFRAS SPRINGS, as an all-community read and searching for the wonders of their own cities and towns. This has been completely spontaneous, not spurred on by the publisher or me, but a wonderful development!

The Seven Wonders of Middlebury were announced while I was there (and even made the front page of the paper). Two lists were made: one from the seventh graders and one from adults. There was some overlap but the adult list didn’t include Yup’s ice cream stand. I think I’d vote with the seventh graders there. I was lucky enough to see several of the wonders. In fact, I stayed in one: the Essenhaus, which is a hotel, a complex of shops and a huge family style restaurant. I saw Yup’s as well, and Krider’s Gardens, with its whimsical windmill and giant toadstools.

But, just as in the book, the true wonders of the community are the people and their stories (I heard some dandy ones, too). The friendly welcome I received from librarian Terry Rheinheimer and the students, teachers, library workers and readers of Middlebury was astounding. The library event was a special treat for me because they had a local, David Vermilyea, on hand to play Amazing Grace on the saw, just like Calvin Smiley played it in the book. I was close to tears, especially since my mother loved that song so much.

There was also a table loom (but no Aunt Emma to weave the truth) and I was presented with a book of wonders from third graders and a copy of the book, my book, where the middle school students wrote in their comments. We even drank Sassafras tea, thanks to a creative teacher, Kim Commenga. I liked its slightly root beer-ish flavor but some wanted sugar added.

Terry drove me through the countryside with beautiful Amish farms and lots of horses and buggies, and to Shipshewana, a charming town with popular flea markets twice a week. Rowena Miller and Teri Schmidt took me to lunch and on a walk to some charming old stores on Main Street. When I mentioned I’d never been to Michigan, Terry drove me over the border! (I will see much more of Michigan when I am in Farmington next spring.)

What really struck me, though, were the lovely big porches on almost every house I saw in town and on the farms. Porches are not a regular feature of homes in L.A. (except the Craftsmen houses) and I could just picture Eben sitting there with Pa, Aunt Pretty and Sal, reading about Wonders and dreaming of the day he’d leave Sassafras Springs and see the world. And I remember the happy times on my grandparents’ front porches where I’m sure some Sassafras-y stories were exchanged. Here’s a pretty porch: the farm in New Baden, IL where my father spent his early childhood. He’s the little boy, with my Aunt Irene, Grandfather, Grandmother and Great-Grandmother.

Thanks to Middlebury for including me in their wonderful celebration and providing the chance for me to visit such a friendly, charming town! Next stop…. Victorville, CA, Wednesday June 6 !