REAL LIVE DOGS!

Last night was a beautiful summer eve. Seriously. Beautiful.

In fact, it was 76 degrees Fahrenheit, with 42 percent humidity with winds from NNW at 9mph.

Perfect.

And I had the great fortune of attending Two Gentlemen of Verona as part of what is the Public Theater's 50th historic year of Shakespeare in the Park. It was the perfect night to be outside watching Shakespeare...or rather, a rock musical adapation of Shakespeare that, back in 1972, for some mysterious and absurd reason actually won Best Musical over Sondheim's Follies.

Perfect.

In addition to having great seats, great weather, wonderful music and an amazing cast (led by the young up-and-coming star of Rent, Daphne Rubin-Vega) I got to thinking about something that is becoming quite a trend in the theatre: Real Live Dogs!

In Two Gents, Launce shares a few scenes and comic "conversations" with his dog, Crab. Crab was played onstage by a real live dog who was credited in the playbill with the sole name "Buster." We have Madonna, Prince, Cher and Anna Nicole...now there's Buster.

I believe Uta Hagen once said, if you throw a baby or an animal up on stage, nobody is going to watch the actors. Or was it Stephen Hawking.

Well, okay....so it seems that some people believe babies to be "cute" and "loveable"

however:

The puppy has no competition.

And as proven last night, on the stage of the Delacorte theatre, the dog steals the show. Buster had even more fans at the stage door than any of the real live people...including Ms. Rubin-Vega!!

It's only real competition came from the flying dove which, on it's first entrance directly o'er my little head, scared the shit out of me. But I soon came to realize, as it flew toward stage, that the bird seemed to be either incredibly stiff or the work of a master taxidermist. And, in my opinion, taxidermy does not really belong in the American Musical Theatre.

For anyone who has seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, the fantasmagorical musical currently playing at the Hilton Theatre on 42nd Street, you will know that a gaggle of real live dogs swarm the factory scene in pursuit of everybody's favorite candy the "Toot-Sweet." I applauded and "awwwww-ed" right along with all the children in the audience. "Look at all those dogs! Ha ha ha! Dogs!" They got almost as much applause as the flying car machine.

So, while actors of the silver screen are currently fearing the development of CGI characters as replacements for live actors...the members of Actor's Equity should be fearing the popularity of the onstage canine.

I mean, really, who would you rather see in the next revival of A Streetcar Named Desire?

Suzanne Somers or Buster?

Alicia Silverstone even has a webpage run by her dog, Samson. And where is Alicia Silverstone these days!?

There are only 2 other kind of dogs that pose any kind of threat to the working canine.

1.

and 2.

#1. The Reservoir Dogs. Not really a threat. Put seven Busters in a room with those guys, see who comes out unscathed.

#2. The prairie dog. Small. Unassuming. But...very cute and unpredicatable!! And they can sing.

But here, some actor canines, perfectly capture the natural action of the prairie dog, while also providing a subtle social comment on their scandalous mating rituals:

Studies show that during a 4- or 5- hour period, a female Prairie Dog may mate with as many as 5 different males. All I have is a still photo, but in action, the dogs above can convey that fact with merely the wag of a tail.

So, Stage Actors of America beware! The canines are here! All the Vanessa Redgraves and Deborah Gibsons of tomorrow may have some serious competition in the coming years. And all I can recommend is to keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.