|
SHE
KNOWS HER AUDIENCE
Reynolds
Shares Stories at King Center
By
Breuse Hickman
Florida
Today
April
2, 2004
Despite
going through great pains to preserve old Hollywood memorabilia,
Debbie Reynolds lives too much in the now to reside in a bygone
era.
Consider
her critically acclaimed turn in the Albert Brooks film "Mother"
and her guest star appearances on NBC's hit fixture
"Will & Grace." She's done a Disney film, "Halloweentown,"
and has another film in the works.
Yet,
when she's on stage, she's very clear she's performing for an
audience of certain tastes.
"My
audience likes tunes of the '40s and '50s, and that's what I
do," Reynolds said by phone from her home in Reno, Nev.
"My show isn't geared toward the rock 'n' roll crowd."
However,
she has noticed a few recent changes in her audience
demographic.
"I
have more young people now," she said. "Especially
younger men who would never have heard of Debbie Reynolds if not
for 'Will & Grace.' "
If
that group is in the house Saturday, they'll get to hear - and
see - a lot of Reynolds, best known for her star turns in
musical films such as "Singin' in the Rain."
In
addition to singing Gershwin and '50s standards, she
offers a travelogue through her career history via film clips
and stories.
And
what stories she can tell - especially when the topic of
addiction arises.
"I
haven't got addiction or alcohol problems," she said.
"My daughter made that part up for her novel, 'Postcards
from the Edge.' "
She's
discussed such personal matters with her daughter - Carrie
Fisher of "Star Wars" Princess Leia fame -
on Fisher's Oxygen network show, "Conversations from the
Edge with Carrie Fisher."
"I
was happy to get out of there," Reynolds said of the
interview. "I didn't like the way I was questioned. Carrie
has a lot of different theories. She has some stories about me
that I've never heard."
Fisher
based her novel "Postcards from the Edge" on her life
with her mother, which became the subject of the 1990 hit film
of the same name.
"Yes,
I loved to get up and sing at parties," Reynolds said.
"I still do. That's how we were raised when I came into
show business."
Nevertheless,
Reynolds keeps in close contact with her daughter. Reynolds has
a second home in Los Angeles where she can see her
granddaughter, Fisher's daughter, Billie.
If
you want to get to know the real Reynolds, look no further then
"Will & Grace."
"I'm
really playing Debbie Reynolds (on the show)," she said.
"But I guess she's also a combination of Ethel Merman
and Bette Midler, too."
When
she's not doing theater, film or television, she works on
preserving Hollywood's past. She has hosted auctions to raise
money for her Hollywood Motion Picture Museum, scheduled to open
in late 2005 in Tennessee.
"This
presents an ongoing dilemma for me, because I can't afford
everything I want to buy," she said. "If I were to
purchase all the old Hollywood treasures I see, I would go
broke."
|
