DAY TWO in RIO, continued…

DAY 2 in RIO, continued…

Hey, here’s a pic of that aquaduct that the cable carcrosses over… you can see the mosaics of Selarón at the base of theaquaduct. Turns out the “colorful stairs” those Australians were looking for – the ones from the U2 video – yes,these are the same ones we mounted to get to Compania dos Atores.

To continue: We’re in the office at Compania. We meet Cesar Agusto, the garrulous actor and impresario whohas been our main contact thus far; the sly Marcelo Olinto, who pretends to keep working on his laptop but never fails to roll his eyes at some of Cesar’s exaggerations or add in side comments with hand gestures; and the calm BelGarcia (Bel is short for “Isabel”), whom we saw as Hamlet yelling at Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the video of Hamlet.Rehearsal we watched lastnight.

We talk about the dates; looks like we got it wrong on our end (the 29^th is a Tuesday, it’s incontrovertible). We’ll start tomorrow with a group ofabout 20, actors from Compania, actors they’ve had in workshops or who have collaborated with them in the past, plus Dito and myself.

Compania dos Atores has been around for 20 years. It began as a company of 8 actors. In recent years, Enrique Diaz has emerged as the center of the group, and he directs most of the company's work. They have a repertory, like Pig Iron, and they're still performing some works from ten years' back.

Cesar and Bel have seen some the videos we sent ahead. Bel says she dug Love Unpunished a lot, “In the first five minutes, I thought, Oh no, I’m going to hate this,” but then found herself sitting to watch the whole thing. I say: I get that comment a lot, and not just about that piece.

Cesar’s got a story. He picked up a cellphone in a cab in Sao Paolo (the Compania is collaborating with a famous “boulevard” kind of actor, Marco Nanini, on acomedy in Sao Paolo this month; as far as I can tell, it’s the equivalent of“the Odd Couple” in Brazil. They say “O Bem Amado” is one of those comedies that was huge in the 60s, became a movie, then a TV show. It takes me a while to understand where it “sits” in the culture: but I guess it’s as though Elevator Repair Service did “the Odd Couple” with Ricky Gervais. Which, now that I think about it, I really hope happens. The play only runs Friday through Sunday, so the actors commute 3 days a week to Sao Paolo, an hour’s flight away.

(Wikipedia tells me that Nanini was made famous with his production of Charles Ludlum’s Irma Vep, which ran for 11 consecutive years in Brazil. Nice.)

But the cellphone. Cesar left an identical cellphone in a taxi last year. He grabbed this one bcause he trusts himself more than the cab driver to send it back. He searches the address book for clues. Famous Brazilian actors and actresses pepper the list. Could this be…the cellphone of DADO DOLABELLA, the sexy telenovela star? No, it couldn’t be!

But in the cellphone is none other than Pepita Rodriguez: movie star of the 60s and 70s (Marcelo, at his desk, indicates “from waaaaaayback” with his hands, continuing to type).

Marcello at his desk (note the wine bottle…):

Cesar tries a few numbers. No answer. Does he dare to call Pepita Rodriguez? (Again, I’m trying to find a counterpart from the US: Jane Fonda? Diane Keaton? I have no idea, really.)

He does. He did. Pepita is thrilled that he has indeed found the cellphone of her son,matinee idol Dado Dolabella. Thephone is dropped off, and a bottle of wine is sent in thanks. The card proves the story: “With kisses, from Pepita.”

Pepita as Cesar knew her in his childhood:

Cesar also receives some text messages of an erotic nature from a well-known actress, several years Dado’s senior, while he’s in possession of the phone. The office staff confirm their contents. But this blog has never been in the business of exposing the private lives of Brazilian stars; and we won’t start now. Let’s say only that Dado has been urged … to take things a little bit slower.

(Now it’s really a blog, right? Food, television, gossip. Back to food.)

After drinking Pepita’s wine, we adjourn to a nearby restaurant, Nova Capela, for some cabrito (goat), brocoli rice, fried bananas, and codfishballs.

Here we are with Cesar and Marina the translator, enjoying the enormous dishes.

This gentlemen was voted the “Best Waiter in Rio.” Cesar spends the meal making deals on his cellphone (he’s involved in a varitety of programming and producing projects in Rio) and embracing the waiter.

When we get back to the hotel, bats as big as cats circle the fruit tree out front. We head upstairs to review our videos for our presentation tomorrow.