"Titanic" at Encores

Victoria Clark had no intention of becoming an actor; she wanted to direct. But certain colleagues recognized a talent. And, like George Washington, reluctantly accepting the calling, Clark did what she had to do.

Early in her career, Clark was known as a clown. (Clowning is still something she makes use of. She has an irreverent attitude toward "The Light in the Piazza," which, after all, is about getting kicked in the head by a horse. Once, during an improvised moment in "Kimberly Akimbo," Clark turned to her co-star and said, almost inaudibly, "I can't give you my address, because I don't remember it. I was kicked in the head by a horse, at a child's tenth birthday party....")

It seems to me that Clark's career really began to change during "Titanic." (This is when I "discovered" her.) Her character, Alice, does have clownish qualities. Like a fan of People Magazine, she whispers about moneyed Americans:

He's the richest man in Philadelphia!

Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad!

He lives in luxurious sin with his latest mistress--and they call that justice!

Clark doesn't judge or mock her character; she has total empathy for this person. And the silliness burns away quickly. Under the gossip, there is a woman who is dissatisfied with her own world.

I have danced with the First Class, Edgar;

It was--oh--such a dream come true!

Informed that she is stuck with the desk-clerk life that fate has handed to her, Clark becomes quiet and intense. She stretches an arm toward the First Class dining area:

Please don't tell me never.

I want this forever....

No actors won awards for "Titanic"--but, even in high school, I could sense that Clark had really done the work of inventing a person, and that this person had "staying power." And "Titanic" is back in New York this year. I'm ready!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBSzWEl5egc

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