Tony Perry's excellent adventure

Saturday, October 13, 2007:

Tony // 9:31 PM

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Saturday, June 23, 2007:

One more time.... lets see if this works!
Tony // 7:30 PM

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Trying something new with the blog... details to come
Tony // 7:29 PM

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Monday, March 20, 2006:

Hi!
the blogs are moving!
Check out the home page: tonyperry.com
and click on "BLOG"

or go to tonyperry.com/plog

thanks!
Tony // 12:03 AM

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Friday, February 10, 2006:

Thus is the life of a background actor: I got a call today to do some work on a well-known television show that shall remain nameless. They decided to add a scene to today's shoot schedule that was set backstage at an opera, and needed three guys to play stagehands.

When the call came, I was eating lunch with my friend Chris Capra, whom I don't see enough of. So I hopped a train for home, grabbed my black clothes (that's what stage hands wear you know), rode back to the city and reported for duty.

I was there an hour before they sent us home -- they'd decided not to shoot that scene after all. Hey, I still get paid for the day. And maybe, they'll decide to shoot the scene another day and maybe they'll give me a call.

Who knows? That's the business.

The other strange news of the week is the cancellation of "Love Monkey.'' The powers that be at CBS changed the order of episodes several times -- a tacit harbinger of trouble -- and after airing the episode that included a 3-second cameo of yours truly, the show gets dumped.

This is sad for two reasons. One, we love shows shot in New York. All New York actors do. We support them, even when they suck. Sometimes we even watch them when we know we would rather turn the channel. Second, it wasn't a bad show! Tom Cavanaugh is a very charming performer, and as a musician, I frankly loved all the inside baseball about the music industry. And any time Larenz Tate and Daniel Sunjata get work is fine by me!

The folks at CBS were positively high on the show when i was on set back in December. First, I showed up, dressed like a security guard as requested to a room full of extras, half of which were complaining about having to work that day. Now I truly find myself impatient with background workers who complain about having work. I mean, what's up with that?
Then, i have to be shown to the director so he can approve the look. But there's lots of hubub behind the camera. Turns out, that was the day of the annual CBS Christmas party and all the suits, and i do mean hall of them, were in town. And it seemed like all of them stopped by to talk to the creator, the stars, etc..

Meanwhile, the scene i was in featured Peter Jacobson, who was a blast to be around and a real natural actor. He also created this great bit at the end of the scene which didn't make it into the final edit. Oh well. I know it happened, and that's good enough, right?

I know its been a LONG time since i blogged. Hopefully i'll do this again soon, because i have lots of news to share!

T
Tony // 12:51 AM

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Wednesday, March 30, 2005:

Happy Easter!

It's been a busy period, I hope I can explain it all.

There's been a lot of background work in the New York area lately. I've worked on a film called "My Brother," an episode of Law and Order (the episode is called "Sects"), and an episode of "Third Watch." The Third Watch gig was three nights, overnight, outside the CNN center across the street from Radio City Music Hall. On the first night, a group of school kids from North Carolina walked by -- we had to hold the shot until they'd all passed -- and as they were talking I thought "gee, that sounds like my friend Meme's accent." Now, I'm no stranger to the various North Carolina accents. Meme's accent is different from Frank's which is different from Karen's. So anyway, they moved on and we went back to work. At some point in the night, I spoke to Meme on the phone and learned that not only was the crowd from her alma mater, but she was IN the crowd, we just didn't see each other! ON the third night, we had rain and sleet and ugly weather.

I also had a few auditions and "go-sees" in the past few weeks, and of course, lots of church for holy week.

Easter services were great, and later that night, Ben and Michelle and went to see "Ghetto Superstar," Billy Porter"s amazing show at Joe's Pub. Porter, who some remember from "Grease" and "Miss Saigon" on Broadway or from the Broken Hearts Club movie, is an incredible performer, and his autobiographical show was funny and heartbreaking, tender and brave, thrilling and uplifting. And it was closing night, so he went for broke (as he does anyway all the time), and there were a few celebrity types in the room. Alice Ripley and Shoshanna Bean among them. The highlights of the show were the songs "Time" and Billy's singing-for-his-life performance of "He Looked Beyond My Fault."
Tony // 12:18 PM

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Tuesday, March 15, 2005:

Another lesson for Tony in faith:

I get panicky about money. It hasn't always been that way, largely because I used to have some. Plenty, in fact. But these days, not so much. It's all good, because this is the life i chose, right? Its just that sometimes, ya wish you could buy a cup of coffee and such, you know?

So in a moment of complete faithlessness, i waltzed into another temp agency and said "I need work." Went throught quite a lot to fill out forms and take tests and accept some empty promises of employment. And in the next 24 hours, no lie, 24 hours, I booked background work on a movie, two days of work on Law and Order, and three audition appointments. So i just need to chill out, right?

Oh yeah, and I agreed to do a show in Nevada in late may, and it seems Hells Kitchen is going to make a Connecticut appearance next month. So yay me!

Birthdays this week are Maryanne and Ryan. Happy bday!
Tony // 9:31 PM

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Tuesday, February 15, 2005:

Yes! Its February! How do i even begin to talk about what has happened since the holidays?
Suffice it to say Florida was great. I did a showcase with six other great performers and had a great time. This past weekend, I was at the Triangle Theater in Philadelphia doing a cabaret with a number of terrific performers. I'd never met Demetria Bailey before rehearsals for the cabaret started, but we worked together so well, we're looking forward to another opportunity to work together. There were also some really terrific perfomances, so if you missed it, you really missed a lot. Here's the list of performers: Kati Kertesz, Arje Shaw, Jane Stojak, Polly Macintyre, Genevieve Perrier, Jay Nachman, Jeff Frost, Dee Freidel, Patricia Bartlett, Tony Perry, Demetria Bailey, Franklin Shen, Peter Crist, Tina Brock, Tanesha Ford, Michael Hans as "Dirty Diamond" and the Triangle singers. There was music, theater, comedy. It was great fun.
Tony // 3:43 PM

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