The Way

Some of you know I'm working on a play about the pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, which is a walk from a variety of points in France or Spain (it seems like you can choose where you start to a certain extent) to the shrine of St. James in the Cathedral in Santiago, Spain.  You don't have to walk, you can cycle and of course, there are no real rules, because you do it on your own hook, but you follow a basic route and get stamps along the way (like these events for kids where, if they visit certain places they get a stamp in a book!  Maybe that's where they got the idea!) and you push yourself physically and spiritually along the way and hopefully have an epiphany that teaches you something about yourself and your place in the world and the meaning of life.

I saw a movie yesterday called "The Way" which is about a middle-aged man (Martin Sheen) who embarks on the pilgrimage after his son (played by his real life son, Emilio Estevez) dies while trying to do the pilgrimage himself.  Emilio Estevez wrote and directed it and it wasn't a great movie -- it had lots of cliches, like the people he befriends along the way are representative types and the things that happen to them are things you are expecting long before they happen -- the loss of the backpack, the revelations of the various characters, the burgeoning friendships, everyone's personal epiphany, but it kept me watching, because it was beautifully filmed and I liked the music and it was sort of experiential, in that I feel like I know more about the camino now than I did.  I wouldn't recommend it.  If you want to see Martin Sheen in a movie, see "Apocalypse Now", which is also about a pilgrimage (a very different one) and is a stupendous performance and a magnificent movie.  If you want to see Emilio Estevez in a movie, see "The Breakfast Club" which is not magnificent, but is entertaining.  It uses stock characters, too, but the actors are really good, I think, and there's a lot of energy there that keeps things going.

Did I say I have been cast in a play called "Momma Don't Fly"?   I am playing Momma!  It is also about a pilgrimage, of sorts.  Momma and her daughter and daughter-in-law-to-be embark on a cross-the-USA trip to California to Momma's son's wedding.  It is a farcical comedy and Momma has another southern accent so I anticipate that it will be lots of fun to rehearse and perform.  Those days when I felt depressed about being in comedies because I WASN'T FUNNY are gone now.  I think, in my own opinion, that I'm much more likely to take risks now that I'm older and that is the fun of comedy (or one of them).