DATELINE NEW YORK: West Wing star confirms Ukrainian connection (06/10/01)

DATELINE NEW YORK: West Wing star confirms Ukrainian connection

by Helen Smindak

Actor John Spencer, the president's chief of staff, Leo McGarry, in NBC's award-winning drama "The West Wing," has confirmed what Daily News feature writer Patricia O'Haire told her readers on May 22: Spencer is "of Irish-Ukrainian mix." Currently appearing in the Broadway play "Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine," Mr. Spencer was snagged by this reporter at the City Center entrance on West 55th Street following last Sunday's matinee performance and enthusiastically declared "Yes, I'm half Ukrainian."

Visibly tired from the demanding portrayal of hard-talking, recovering junkie trumpet player Martin Glimmer, the handsome sandy-haired actor nevertheless took a few minutes to talk to me. He told me he was Ukrainian on his mother's side. "My mother's maiden name was Bincarowski - I have no idea where the family came from in Ukraine - and my father's Irish. I think there may have been some Czech (ancestry) in my father's family - on his father's side - but I only found that out in the last six-seven years."

Another autograph, another compliment from a bystander, who said "You were absolutely fantastic today," and he said goodbye as he turned and walked briskly toward Seventh Avenue, heading for dinner and some rest in the two hours remaining before the evening performance.

Mr. Spencer, 54, has received dozens of complimentary reviews for his performance in "Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine" since the play opened on May 23. Here are a few samples: "John Spencer ... gives us a rumpled, hilarious and acerbic - but not malicious - Martin." (New York Post) "This sinfully watchable - and enormously talented - actor has used a Hollywood hiatus to transform himself into an almost unrecognizable character in Warren Leight's newest jazz and family play." (Newsday) "The new play provides John Spencer ... with a crusty comic role that he clearly relishes." (Variety)

The New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley wrote that "Mr. Spencer had the most to work with ... and he brings beautiful pace and variety to the long retrospective monologues." The Daily News review said: "Spencer, his eyes often lit with a loony fire, his gravelly voice a surprisingly elegant instrument for his many caustic lines, makes us believe Martin is a man too strong for life to break."

The story involves twin brothers Daniel and Martin Glimmer, who in the early 1950s made up two-thirds of the glow-in-the-dark trumpet section of a major jazz band. While Martin continues his life of music, drugs and poverty in Manhattan, Daniel gives up jazz and junk, marries, becomes a fabric designer and moves to Connecticut. After a 30-year estrangement, the two brothers are finally reconciled when Daniel's daughter meets and falls in love with Martin's young trombonist friend, Jordan Shine.

Mr. Spencer originated the part of Martin Glimmer at the premiere of "Glimmer" (then called "The Glimmer Brothers") at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in 1999 and has also played it at workshops in upstate New York and New Haven, Conn. During a Los Angeles run at the Mark Taper Forum from January 25 to March 4, he juggled "West Wing" rehearsals and work on the "Wing" set with "Glimmer" performances, playing two disparate roles at one time. Los Angeles reviewers praised his performance in "Glimmer;" one reviewer called it "never less than compelling," and another noted that "the actor has everything in his arsenal to create a memorable stage character."

Mr. Spencer's first big break came in 1963 with a recurring role on television in "The Patty Duke Show." Extensive stage work in the '70s and '80s earned him an Obie Award for his role in "A Still Life," a Drama League Honor for his role as Dan White in "Execution of Justice" and a Drama Desk nomination for his role in "The Day Room." Exposure in film work - "Presumed Innocent," "Sea of Love," "Forget Paris," "War Games" and "Green Card" - led to his being cast as Tommy Mullaney on "L.A. Law" in 1990, for which he became a household name. His work in "The West Wing" won him a nomination in the 2001 Emmy Awards.

He has performed extensively in films in the past decade ("The Rock," "Copland," "The Negotiator," "Twilight" and "Ravenous"). His recent stage work includes "Frankie & Johnny in the Claire de Lune," "Good as New" and "Pera Palas."

Mr. Spencer, who attended the Professional Children's School in New York City, Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and New York University, is the only child of Mildred and John Speshock of Totowa, N.J. The name Speshock sounds more Slavic than Gaelic; perhaps Mr. Spencer has more Eastern European blood than he is aware of. (I may have to corner the actor again for more details on his ethnic background.)

Broadway beckons

MaryEllen Baker, who recently appeared in a cabaret at the midtown café Don't Tell Mama, made a grand appearance in April at the New 42nd Street Theater in "Grand Central Stories," an original musical revue starring performers from 25 New York area corporations to benefit the Children's Aid Society. Belting out well-loved oldies that illustrated the hustle and bustle of historic Grand Central Station, the effervescent soprano participated in more than half of the show's music and dance acts, among them Leonard Bernstein's "New York, New York," Cole Porter's "Too Darn Hot," Irving Berlin's "There's No Business Like Show Business" and George and Ira Gershwin's "Fascinating Rhythm."

Ms. Baker was a standout in numbers that featured tongue-tripping lyrics or the sprightly, hip-hop style of Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, which she performed during a two-year stint with The New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players.

She has appeared in dinner theaters and outdoor dramas in Tennessee, North Carolina and Virginia, as well as in a variety of television commercials. The daughter of Stella and John Baker of Warwick, N.Y., Ms. Baker is an administrative assistant at William M. Mercer corporation by day and lives a second life off-hours as a singer/actress.

Off Broadway

Several Ukrainian musical aggregations, a spectacular juggler and a talented actor are keeping countless numbers of spectators amused and happy this spring and summer.

Andriy Milavsky's boisterous Cheres folk ensemble has been going strong on several fronts, most recently at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center in lower Manhattan, where the group gave a noon-hour concert of music from Moldova, Romania and Presov/Priesov, a Rusyn/Ukrainian region of eastern Slovakia. Singer Maria Lazurova, who hails from Priashiv, regaled the lunch-hour crowd with Lemko lyrics, accompanied by viola player Ihor Makar, tsymbaly player Alexander Fedoriouk and bassist Oleh Ivanyschuk, and two new musicians who recently joined the group - violinist George Ceremus and accordionist Victor Cebotari.

Always ready to provide authentic folk music for private and corporate parties, Cheres recently joined forces with the Syzokryli Ukrainian Dancers to give a lively performance at the Russian Tea Room. The two groups also appeared at a Ukrainian-Italian wedding that was shown live on TV's Food Network.

Beginning June 27, Cheres will give 10 performances over a five-day period at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington (the Smithsonian's newly released Folkways Label recording "New York City: Global Beat of the Boroughs" includes the Cheres trademark song "Haida-haida," a rousing Bukovynian refrain). The Cheres musicians and singers, performing the music of Carpathian Ukraine and neighboring countries on a wide array of instruments, will be heard on WNYC Radio in late July. Mr. Milavsky, who was recently interviewed on WFMU, New Jersey's world music station, plans to perform with the Balkan brass band Zlatne Uste at Lincoln Center on August 9.

Across the Hudson River at New Jersey's Liberty State Park, fiery-haired juggler extraordinaire Viktor Kee (whom I wrote about in The Ukrainian Weekly of April 22) has continued to fascinate "Dralion" audiences with his futuristic outfit, his dance show and unique juggling since early April. Interviewed by phone, Mr. Kee told me he was born Viktor Kiktev in Pryluky near Kyiv in 1970, the progeny of a Ukrainian mother (maiden name Tsybulka) and a Russian father.

Emulating his older brother, he began training at age 6 at a circus school in his home town and enrolled in a professional circus school in Kyiv at 14. Before joining Cirque du Soleil two years ago, he worked in Europe full-time as a juggler in shows like the famous Moulin Rouge in Paris, always inspired by the famous German juggler Francis Brunn.

Mr. Kee's cross-country tour with "Dralion" has netted him meetings with scads of celebrities, among them Kim Bassinger, Nicolas Cage, Steve Martin, Harrison Ford, Charlton Heston and Martin Sheen. As a guest artist with "Dralion," he is permitted to take on other jobs, as he did last New Year's Eve, performing with Barbra Streisand before an audience of 15,000 in the Millennium Show at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas. He has an apartment in Jersey City, where his mom recently stayed during a stopover between Florida and Ukraine (she likes to spend winters at her son's Florida home). If you did not manage to catch the mesmerizing Mr. Kee in "Dralion" (the local engagement ends today), take a look at Viktor and his $2,000 skin-tight futuristic costume on his website viktorkee.com.

"Communications with a Cockroach: Archy and the Underside" is the titillating title of a puppetry production with music that The New York Times theater critic Anita Gates called "original, laugh-provoking and charming to a fault." Starring George Drance, Tom Marion, Margi Sharp and Sam Zuckerman, the production of the Mettawee River Theater Company and the Shakespeare Project ran for a week in May at the Here Arts Center in Greenwich Village.

The play will be presented in New York City parks from June 14 to July 1 and August 4 to September 16, will tour upstate New York and New England during July, and will be performed at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine from September 6 to 9 and 13 to 16. Park performances are free and open to the public (for specific dates and localities, call the Archy Hotline at 212-479-7710 or check these websites: shakespeareproject.org or mettawee.org).

Based on witty sketches in a daily column written by journalist/playwright Don Marquis in The New York Evening Sun, which introduced a poet whose soul is reincarnated in the body of Archy the cockroach, the play centers around Archy, who lived in the newspaper office and at night would climb onto Marquis's typewriter and tell his story in poetry by jumping from key to key - all in lowercase because he couldn't operate the shift key. The whimsical, one-act production cleverly utilizes four actors, a dozen or so puppets and an off-kilter set to interpret the tricky source material. Ms. Gates considers Mr. Drance "a standout, especially as a tarantula and as a cricket who drives Archy insane by constantly repeating 'Cheer up, cheer up.' "

Mr. Drance, a faculty member of Fordham University's Theatre Department and a member of the Wisconsin Province of Jesuits, has performed and directed in over 15 countries on five continents. Last year he directed a spirited translation of Pedro Calderon de la Barca's 17th century work "Life is a Dream" at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. A regular performer with ImprovBoston and the U.S. Improv Theatre League, he was one of seven actors who represented the United States in the World Cup of Improv in Montreal in 1992.

As the Mayana Gallery on Second Avenue concludes an exhibition of original artwork and reproductions that reflect themes from the Ukrainian rites of spring, other groups are readying Ukrainian spring/summer folk songs and music for the public. Bohdanna Wolansky's Promin Vocal Ensemble and the Homin Stepiv Bandura Ensemble will represent Ukraine in the International Cultures Expo-Fest that's taking place along Madison Avenue (in the upper 40s) on June 17. The Ukrainian groups expect to perform around 2 p.m. This annual mini-World's Fair entices New Yorkers with international pavilions, music, art, crafts, foods and beverages.

Ancient songs for Kupalo's Eve, the pagan midsummer-night ritual, will be emphasized in Mariana Sadovska's workshops on midsummer-night songs, conducted at the La Mama rehearsal hall on June 16-17. The workshops are just one feature of the Yara Arts Group's plans for summer festivities; director Virlana Tkacz says there will be a concert at La Mama on June 23 and a Kupalo fest by candlelight in the community garden on Sixth Street at Avenue B on July 6.

The Gogol Bordello band is included as Ukraine's representative in the July 7 festival of dance, opera, spoken word and music from around the globe that make up the Central Park Summerstage's 16th season. Fronted by Eugene Hutz, Gogol Bordello is the four-man band that's famous for the punk cabaret style it initiated.

The Soho scene

Petro Hrycyk, whose haunting black-and-white photographs were shown during April at the Westwood Gallery in Manhattan's Soho district, graduated from the Lviv Institute of Decorative Arts in 1968 and began his artistic career as a painter. He returned to his initial fascination with photography and the mystique of the camera as his foremost concern after moving to New York. Mr. Hrycyk's show of abstract, surrealist work, titled "Reflections of Reality," distills his reminiscences of his early life - fleeting images of childhood such as trees, birds and mountains - as he looks for himself in everything he does. He builds images of loved people from details - their hands, relevant objects or shadows, and uses an accummulation of fragments as clues to decipher a microcosm governed by a unique system of rules.

The works on display included photographs of mannequin heads and wooden hands, reflections in an antique mirror, dead leaves floating in a puddle of water, the silhouette of a cross created by a chair back and a wooden doll enveloped in sprays of white flowers.

Commenting on his art, Mr. Hrycyk said: "My photography is permanently striving for self-affirmation, for the acquirement of spiritual freedom, a combination of cognitive experience and subjective associative experience. Sometimes the relationship I have to the subject is more important than the subject itself." He avoids the use of color, preferring black and white because "it is much more flexible for me." With a number of solo and group exhibitions in New York, Mr. Hrycyk has established himself as a very accomplished photographer.

Helen Smindak's e-mail address is [email protected].

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