Joshua Zamrycki’s Weblog

Keeping with tradition on Easter Sunday, Jan and I went to American Jan’s house to watch Monty Python’s The Life Of Brian. Watching this film made me realize how we romanticize our memories of films that we first saw when we were younger. Don’t get me wrong: I like this film very much! It has no doubt withstood the test of time. But we almost always remember these films in a brighter light than they really deserve. Especially those of us who grew up in the cotton-candy optimistic 80’s! There were some real stinkers that I watched on HBO every day (and they played them 5 times a day) and still revere. I dare you to go back and watch any of these today. I just dare you: Howard The Duck, Popeye, Soul Man, Adventures In Babysitting, Buckaroo Banzai, Splash, Mad Max, Just One Of The Guys, Joe vs. The Volcano, License To Drive, Weekend At Bernie’s, etc. I could go on forever. Maybe that ever-important “movie critic lobe” of our brains wasn’t fully developed yet.

But for every six stinkers, there were some definite gems: Real Genius, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, Back To The Future, The Breakfast Club, Ghostbusters, Indiana Jones, Caddyshack, Stand By Me, The Goonies, and on and on and on… I could watch any of these films a hundred times.

Well, looking at this list I’d have to say that either these “classics” were the diamonds in the rough, or that “movie critic lobe” of mine could still use a little more developing.

I went downtown the other day to buy some blank DVDs. The best place in Barcelona to buy anything related to computers is around Ronda Sant Antoni and Calle Sepulveda – two streets just below the University that are filled with computer stores. And there’s always a line of people out the door. Each store must see hundreds of different people every day. Depending on what I’m looking for, I usually know the best place with the best price so I don’t waste my time searching from shop to shop.

One of my favorite stores is a little one on the corner called Revolution. They don’t have a very large selection, but they usually have good deals on whatever they carry. Plus, there’s this girl that works at the counter who I think is very attractive (in a not-conventionally-attractive sort of way, if you know what I mean). I only make my rounds around the computer shops once every few months – I am by no means a regular. So it was a real shock when the girl behind the counter at Revolution smiled at me and said, “Hey, you’ve changed your hair!” My day was made.

10. The obscene amount of green shirts, hats, stockings, wigs, and scarves that everyone was forced was wearing.

9. Too-tall Dutch Ed taking bird’s-eye-view photos of the entire party by simply raising his arm.

8. That really cute French girl with the green top hat who smiled so big every time someone took a picture.

7. Finding the bowl of Runts candy and never being without a handful of oranges and strawberries (I gave all the bananas away).

6. American Jan (not mine) lap dancing on Shawn while Juls stuck pieces of paper in her bra and jeans.

5. The very deep and philosophical conversation with Rebecca in the orange wig about which super power we would want. I’m happy with my final answer of invisibility.

4. Not being able to decide whose cleavage was more impressive: Terry or Juls. Terry was the least contained, but Juls wins the award for most creative use of cleavage.

3. The never ending supply of orange and green jello shots.

2. The awesome mix of music that Val and American Jan spent all day planning.

1. Guacamole!

As a follow up to my post from a couple weeks ago entitled Nocturna: I got the part! Today I went into Sonoblok and recorded the voice of Mr. Pee for Filmax Animation’s feature-length film Nocturna.

I’m very happy to have been cast in this role, but the job wasn’t everything I had hoped it would be. The directors were all great to work with, I had a few laughs with the other actors, and Mr. Pee is definitely my favorite character, but I didn’t realize what a small role he had in the film. Whereas some actors were called in to record their parts over the course of three days, I wrapped mine up in two hours. I could have done it quicker, but other actors were called in at the same time and we had to share the studio. I know, I know: there are no small parts; only small actors. Well, all characters are not created equal and behind every great role is a great paycheck. But heck, even though I won’t exactly be laughing all the way to the bank, but I’ll certainly smile all the way to a nice dinner for two.

I just got back from the Wilco concert here in Barcelona. I went with Jan, my friend Bob, his 7 month pregnant squeeze Marga, and their (-2) month old son Ian. We only had to buy four tickets.

The concert was great! It was chill when it had to chill and it rocked when it had to rock. Highlights for me included Company In My Back, Theologians, Kingpin, and The Late Greats. So I was happy. Jan was happy because they played Spiders (Kidsmoke). Bob was happy because he’s a super-fan and they played some Woody Guthrie tunes. Marga was happy because Ian started dancing.

There must have been a speaker on my right side because my right ear isn’t as happy as my left ear. I can’t remember if they played three or four encores, but we definitely got our money’s worth (Jan thinks they played two songs too many). So if you’re not familiar with Wilco’s music, do yourself a favor and familiarize yourself. You won’t be sorry.

So like I said, Steve and I were walking past the theatre where We Will Rock You (the musical based on Queen) was playing. We didn’t have any tickets to any other show that night and there was a crowd of people milling around the outside of the theatre. So we figured that it must be intermission and everyone was outside getting some fresh air while waiting for the second half to begin. It wouldn’t be the first time this was attempted, so we decided to sneak into the show for the second half!

We immediately assumed our new roles as ticket-holding theatre-goers and casually waltzed into the joint. Nobody stopped us (we are actors, after all). I noticed right away that, instead of asking for our tickets, the ushers simply smiled at us as we walked by. This was fine at first, but the more people we passed who greeted us with a big toothy grin, the more uneasy I became. Upon asking him, Steve told me that he had noticed the same and prophetically stated, “Something bigger than us is happening here.”

We were told that there were still some empty seats down at the front and off to the side so we did as we were told and found a seat. The stage had a huge video screen with the phrase “Welcome Home” accompanied by images of young hip people playing music and having fun. The theatre was filling up. Steve estimated there were about 1,500 people there with us filling the entire theatre – with a line of people outside waiting to get in! There were programmes on every seat. Steve picked his up and read it. “Do you know where we are?” Steve asked with eyes wide as saucers. “We’re in church!” Aghast, I picked up my programme and sure enough, the title boasted the name of a local church that I will not write here for fear of random Googlers stumbling across this entry. We were trapped!

Steve tried to make a run for the door. I begged him to stay. This promised to be fascinating. The next thing I knew the lights went down and everyone started cheering, about 30 people ran on stage (all young and good looking), the entire audience – except for Steve and me – stood and applauded, and then the music began. What followed was a half hour of some of the most fun and catchiest rock tunes I had ever heard – all accompanied karaoke-style by the lyrics on that huge video screen on stage so the entire audience could sing along. Even Steve and I stood up and sang along. I really liked it.

Sure, most of the lyrics included lines like, “I’ve got a savior and he’s living in me” and “the world will never take him away”. Maybe it was a little strange that NOT ONE of the people in the audience spoke to the person next to them while they were hypnotically singing along with the bald Australian lead guitarist. Then there were the people who clenched their eyes tight and thrust their open hands towards the heavens while they sang – that was kinda odd. And so what if Steve and I were a couple of Jewish boys amidst a sea of devout Christians praying with all their might – I saw it as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

When the music ended, the Australian guy started preaching and leading prayers which Steve and I interpreted as our cue to exit. We slipped out the back door and swiftly made our escape. But darn it if we didn’t find ourselves humming those tunes all night long.

The flight from Barcelona was relatively hassle free, but stinky customs in London more than made up for that! Upon exiting the plane, I found myself at the end of a queue of more than 300 Americans for about an hour. It wouldn’t have been so bad if… well, if they weren’t Americans. We love to complain about anything and everything! But the best part is that we’re not afraid to enlist anyone within a 10-foot radius into our whining session – we’re a social people. And I had never noticed how strange Americans look before. As a group, that is. I can usually spot a group of French or Germans or Italians a mile off. They look like they belong together. But since we’re such a beautiful “melting pot”, we exhibit the little quirks and anomalies of every nation on Earth. Jewish noses, Dutch jaws, French cheeks, German brows, Italian eyes. A real smorgosboard of freaks. But I digress.

Steve was in “Luhndin-Taun” for the week on business and we had agreed to meet at the convention center where he was working. It only took me an hour and a half to track him down after he had given me the name of the wrong convention center (in another part of town) and registered under another name at his hotel. He didn’t make it easy. But I’m resourceful and so I showed up at the Camp America fair about 30 minutes before it ended – just enough time to wander around and apply for summer camp counselor positions to kill the time until Steve was free to go. 30 minutes and three job offers later we were out of there.

The plan: buy theatre tickets, eat dinner, see a show. We got the last two tickets to The Woman In Black (at half price!), ate dinner at a French-run Italian restaurant where the waiter’s name sounded inexplicably like “Can I have my coat?”, and then we saw the show. I thought it was great (in spite of the annoying Americans sitting in front of and beside us). You don’t see many ghost stories on Broadway or the West End nowadays. They did a wonderful job with a deceptively minimal set and scared the shit out of us with some blood-curdling screams. Steve actually jumped and grabbed my arm.

Later that night we went to the Escape Dance Club in Soho – apparently named after the only thing you can think about doing after you enter. We had much more fun challenging each other to various rounds of Dance Dance Revolution in a nearby arcade.

I could probably dedicate an entire paragraph to all the merriment one can have in the toy department at Harrod’s. Just watch: You can race remote controlled cars and have them crash violently into a) each other b) mechanical walking pigs, and c) passing toddlers. You can rearrange the hairstyle of any life-size Lego Harry Potter you may find. You can play an enormous game of speed chess – Steve won, then he didn’t, then I won. You can wrestle seriously visious looking bears. And you can even ogle a 40,000 “toy” Lamborghini.

Other highlights of the weekend included getting lost walking the town, getting lost on the subway, the woman with way-too-funky teeth who wanted to make sure we “enjoyed the show”, getting lost walking the town, and the truly unbelievable incident at the We Will Rock You theatre – but that’s a blog entry for another day.

I think I’ll go to London today.

I had a wonderful audition yesterday! I was invited to come and audition for Filmax’s newest feature-length animated film Nocturna.

When I got to the recording studio, the directors of the film were in the café talking with José Pozo, the director of El Cid and Donkey Xote (both of which I was in). I shook hands with everyone, but José gave me a big hug! He told the two young directors how great I was and which of the characters he thought I should read for. It was such a boost having a guy like José in my corner. And I’m not just saying that because he also told me that he found my blog on the internet and bookmarked it under “favorites” (Hi José!)

The first character I read for was Mr. Pee – a creepy little guy with a huge head who makes kids pee in their bed. I whipped out my best Joe Pesci and then turned it up a notch. I liked this character a lot!

Next was The Cat Shepherd (a main character). This guy looks like the Goodyear blimp in a striped sweater – a giant but friendly taskmaster. I mixed one part John Goodman and two parts Batman (old-school) to read for this guy. I think it might sound better with someone who has a lower voice, but I’m not the director.

Last, I read for a little light bulb named Murray. He was wearing a hardhat in the picture I saw so I gave him the roughest, deepest, scratchiest Brooklyn accent. This little guy had balls!

All in all, the casting was good fun. The directors were very friendly and we all had a laugh. As always, I felt much more comfortable with the comic secondary characters than with the straight main character, but we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

“He’s probably too busy planning the wedding to get involved with another play right now” you say?

“Pshaw!” I say.

A month ago I put an ad in the Metropolitan (a local magazine for English speakers) saying that I was looking for “jocular” actors. Then people started calling. English, American, Irish, Scottish, Spanish, and German. You gotta love Barcelona.

A week ago I held auditions. I arranged it so that four people would audition at a time in one-hour intervals. We did a few warm-up exercises, some improv games, and a couple line readings. I had a blast. I just love auditions – both as a director and as an actor. Most people would disagree with me, but I love the adrenaline.

Then I had to make some difficult decisions. There was a lot of talent there, but only 10 roles to cast. Thank goodness I majored in math and have an unhealthy fondness for spreadsheets. It becomes like a game: I mix and match all my favorite actors in all the different roles and imagine the play in umpteen different combinations. Did I mention that I loved auditions?

I finally chose five people from the last play and five totally new people (fresh meat!). Yesterday we had our first rehearsal/readthru and it was great. It’s not easy reading a script for the very first time without knowing the characters (or even the story) but this group has got massive potential and I can easily see this one developing how I had envisioned it. I can’t wait!

So what’s the play?

Jocular Theatre is proud to present Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” – opening their two week run on Friday, June 3 2005. Be there!