Are You Lonesome Tonight?
| Convention skit | |
|---|---|
| Title | Are You Lonesome Tonight? |
| Fandom(s) | Elvis Presley |
| Related articles on Fanlore. | |
"Are You Lonesome Tonight?" was a professional play (the title is an Elvis Presley song) that was performed in England.
Described as a "tragic comedy," it takes place during the last six hours of Elvis' death.
It had fannish interest. Martin Shaw (portrayed Ray Doyle) and Paul Darrow (portrayed Kerr Avon) both took on the lead role in 1985 and 1987, respectively.
Martin Shaw's Performance
See video of Martin Shaw's performance.
from BritWit (1986) and In the Public Interest #2 (1988), artist is Karen Eaton
In 1991, a fan wrote a bit of cheeky metafic. See the 1991 zine, Beguiled, excerpt from "Crossroads" by Natasha Barry.
Martin Shaw's Performance: Fan Reviews
The play opens with Elvis's funeral up stage while the lower stage is shrouded in dust sheets. Colonel Parker appears with a ventriloquist's doll resembling Elvis. He tells the doll how he found his 'meal ticket' - "best thing I ever did was to put him in the army; you wanted to go into the army...didn't you?" It slowly shakes its head "never did see what they saw in the boy anyway..."
[MUCH about the plot]
There are problems with this play, it was originally a five hour one, but I advise anyone who can, Martin Shaw fan or not, to go and see it. I've missed a lot out here. Martin is charming, funny, paranoid, yelling with rage, crying, real tears, the lot. There are so many times he could have gone over the top and he doesn't...you believe everything he does. He plays Elvis, warts and all, but at the end huddled in that chair you can only pity him. [1]
Paul Darrow's Performance
from Avon Newsletter #31, Paul Darrow "doing his Elvis impression"
from B7 Complex #13 (1988), Julie Nowak, a nod to Paul Darrow and his 1987-99 role in "Are You Lonesome Tonight?": "Special thanks to Paul for (unwittingly) posing during his panel in New York!"
From a 1993 interview with Paul Darrow:
I am not surprised at the growing number of new fans, because of the release of the videos. What is nice about Blake's 7 fans in general, not just those who are members of the club, they are interested in your other work as well. People who are enthusiastic about your performance as Avon, actually come to see you play Macbeth or Elvis, that is good. [2]
Paul Darrow's Performance: Used as Entertainment at Cons
Darrow's performance was entertainment at conventions:
The "workers" party" was the final official con event. All of the guests were there and stayed there and circulated, making a point to talk to as many people as they could. There was a country-western duo playing and someone suggested they play some "Elvis" songs and get one of the guests up to sing. (Guess who?) So we wound up with Darrow reprising his stage "Elvis," backed up by Keating and Price and assorted other fans in several wild and crazy moments. It perhaps typifies the whole attitude of the convention that the guests felt comfortable enough to do this... [3]
Not all of the entertainment at cons contains adulation:
The fan favourite was Houston's own James Doyle (our Captain Video who ran our video room operation) as Paul Darrow doing 'The King Of Rock and Roll.' As most everyone knows, Paul Darrow had to cancel out on our convention because he got the part of Elvis in the play 'Are You Lonesome Tonight?' James called his little skit 'Are You Tone-Deaf Tonight?' Mark Ryan said later that James had Paul's speech patterns down perfectly when he intoned in his most serious Avonish tones 'It's..a...one...for...the...money, ... two... for ... the show' and then stopped to count on his fingers what came next. When he left the stage, one member of the audience ran up the aisle after him waving her room key frantically shouting 'Elvis, Elvis!' It was hysterical.[5]
Paul Darrow's Performance: Fan Reviews
All the performances in the show are good but Paul's seemed outstanding to me, possibly because of the importance of his role (also I'm biased!) but mainly because he's so good in it. He seemed to be enjoying himself a great deal, which Isn't surprising as he's apparently been an Elvis fan for many years. I'd heard that his Elvis impression was good and it certainly is, both speaking and singing. [6]
A fan suggests that SOME of the impetus for the Blake's 7 Wars was criticism of an idol:
Note to the Controversy Historians: Did you know some of it had its root in fans daring to criticize Mr. Actor, remarking that his range was rather limited, and that his singing — he was playing Elvis at the time — was a little less than spectacular? [7]
References
- ^ from May Jones in Mixed Doubles #7
- ^ from Avon Newsletter #50 (1993)
- ^ from a con report for ORBIT by Jean Airey in Tarriel Cell v. 4 n.1 (1990)
- ^ from a con report about a November 1988 Creation Con, printed in Aspects #2
- ^ from a con report for Destiny (1988) in Oracle #17
- ^ from a much longer review by Carol Wicks, from Aspects #2, reprinted from Vilaworld, September, 1988
- ^ from an issue of Rallying Call (1990s)