10 Questions for Philip Sales
Anguished Auditioning Actors, Dramatic Divas, Pretentious Playwrights, Cruel Critics, Dilettante Designers… as a longtime actor and producer, Sonoma’s Philip Sales has seen them all. Now he’s brought all the delicious theatrical stereotypes together for “Ze Show…” a revue of hit material about mounting a theatre production. Philip Sales arrived in San Francisco in 1982 where he performed in the long running British comedy revue “Beyond the Fringe.” He has also performed in the award-winning Marin Theatre production of “Noises Off.” and has many film and television credits, including “Bottle Shock,” “I Almost Got Away with It,” and “The Witchfinders Bible.”
The Sun: You’re English. Why?
Philip Sales: I was born in Yorkshire, England, I suppose.
Sun: About us Yanks. What curious habits do we have?
PS: Having been living in the USA for 32 years, I am constantly amazed about how enthusiastic Americans are about everything!
Sun: What brought you to America, other than an airplane?
PS: I was offered a job as the City of Las Vegas’ first Landscape Architect. Really.
Sun: How did you get into the theater?
PS: My father, Freddie Sales, was a professional comedian (He was the emcee and star of the “Casino de Paris” at the Dunes Hotel in Las Vegas from 1975-1984), my grandparents were a vaudeville act (Walker and Ray, The Likable Pair), my great-grandparents ran one of the last traveling theatres in the North of England in the 1890s to before WWI… but I spent most of my life trying to avoid performing in the theatre. I really had no ambition to be a performer. I watched how hard my dad worked and he always recommended having a stable career. I only appeared in one play in the UK, a production of “The Importance of Being Ernest”. It was a fundraiser at my sister’s High School to send pilgrims to Lourdes for “the cure”. My sister still reminds me that we were so bad they should have sent the cast to Lourdes instead. My sister Shannon Hommel is a stand up comedian in the UK.
While I was living in Las Vegas, a friend of my father’s, an a retired English actor who was trying to run a business, had been cast in a local production of Tom Stoppard’s “The Real Inspector Hound”. He had to drop out to concentrate on his business and asked if I would try out as his replacement. So I met the director and the next thing was that I was cast and then getting parts in other plays. I ended up working with a theatre troupe in Las Vegas as both an actor and producer.
Sun: “Beyond the Fringe” is in the pantheon of great British comedy. Was it daunting to be part of that production?
PS: The short answer is Yes. I was very privileged to have been part of it. It was an amazing experience in many ways. However if you want the long answer it was a stroke of good luck that I got cast. I owe it all to Sir Cameron Macintosh, who as many of your readers may know is the biggest theatre owner in the UK and has produced shows like “Les Miserables,” “Evita” and “Cats.” In December 1963, while I was at an English boarding school, we were treated to a Christmas Show. An older student, Cameron Macintosh, had apparently been up to London and got hold of (or as we say in England “nicked”) a script of “Beyond the Fringe”, which was then the hottest show in the West End. Cameron passed off to the school “his production.” I thought it was brilliant and assumed that the school was full of witty fellows. Little did I know!
Now fast forward to 1982. I had been working as a landscape architect in Colorado, designing ski resorts, and there was a downturn in the economy. The company I worked for was based out of San Francisco. We were forced to close our Vail office and I packed up my station wagon with the files and drawings and headed west to San Francisco. I found myself without a job, but decided to stay for a bit. I slept on floors and took odd jobs such as being a filing clerk and even a singing telegram. Things were looking grim until a friend pointed to an audition notice in the San Francisco Chronicle for “Four actors with English accents”. The show turned out to be “Beyond the Fringe”. I went to the audition. There was a sketch called “Bollard” about three gay male models making a cigarette commercial. Here I was in the “Gay Capital of the USA” and all the gay actors auditioning were getting up and doing impersonations of Richard Burton or James Mason. Having had the benefit of seeing Cameron’s show I knew the joke was that the models were the gayest of gay. When it got to my turn to read I went totally over the top — I think I sounded like a cross between Kenneth Williams and Liberace. The Director and Producer fell about laughing and I was finally cast in Peter Cook’s role. The production was a hit and we ran for three years in San Francisco and touring the west coast. So, thanks to Cameron Macintosh, I stayed in the Bay Area, married my then girlfriend, Jude, had two wonderful kids and have enjoyed a parallel career as an actor.
Sun: Is there a difference between “English” and “American” comedy?
PS: Yes and No. I grew up being exposed to both American and British comedy. Being that my dad was a comedian I grew up meeting a lot of the great English comedians of the 1950s and 60s such as Dick Emery and Benny Hill. However I recall one guy in particular. He was a scriptwriter on a short-lived 1950s TV series in which my dad was appearing. His name was Marty Feldman. Marty and his writing partner Barry Took (who later produced “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” for the BBC) used to come over to my parents for Sunday lunch. You can imagine how Marty’s bulging eyes used to intrigue and scare my brother and me. However, his comic timing was amazing and the script sessions over lunch hilarious. At the same time I was a big fan of the Marx Brothers, Sid Caesar, Stan Freeberg, Mort Sahl, and Bob Newhart . I was probably Mel Brooks’ only fan in England at age 13. I still remember having to explain the “2000 Year Old Man” album to my friends. This was before “The Producers” and “Blazing Saddles.” So when I saw Marty Feldman and Mel Brooks working in the same movies like “Young Frankenstein” and “Silent Movie,” I knew that the there were no real differences and all was well with the comic universe.
Sun: Easiest way to make an Englishman laugh?
PS: There is the whole gamut of comedy, but Englishmen tend to prefer irony and satire more than Americans.
Sun: How did you get started in the local theatre scene?
PS: Like everyone else, I auditioned and got cast. A big hello to Nancy Noleen, my first director in Sonoma.
Sun: What can we expect in “Ze Show”?
PS: It’s a little bit like “Monty Python” collides with “A Chorus Line”. As the opening production of the season, (co-director) Cat Austin and I wanted to avoid a show about the challenges of live theatre which ends up as one of those awful precious “how wonderful show people are” types of shows. We wanted to lose the sappiness and go for the comic jugular. We have combined some of the best sketches and musical numbers from several hit Broadway shows which illustrate the pitfalls and challenges of live theatre. We even got special permission from Richard Curtis, writer and director of “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “Notting Hill”, to use two sketches he wrote for Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean). We have a couple of dance numbers which Zoe Rank, our hometown choreographer, has directed. Zoe is amazing and her dancers (some from the Santa Rosa JC and some from Cat’s ETC! group) will amaze audiences. I still cannot believe how good they are. Cat has been wonderful to work with and it has been a happy process.
Sun: Will you dress as a woman at any point?
PS: There are some stereotypes about Englishmen that simply must be put to rest. I certainly do not intend to wear any of my wife’s dresses in the show. Mine have now come back from the dry cleaners in time — whether I wear them or not will depend on my mood.
Sun: Final question: Best, Beckham or Rooney?
PS: Georgie Best, a truly great footballer! Er.. I mean soccer player!
On with “Ze Show…”
The rambunctious revue “Ze Show…,” opens at the Sonoma Community Center’s refurbished Andrews Hall, with plush seating surrounding a new stage, on June 24. Performances are Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 24 -26, July 1-3 and July 8-10. Curtain is 8 p.m. There will also be one matinee show, June 17 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $22, $10 for student, and available at Readers Books, Pharmaca and the Sonoma Stage Works. Or call 996-6003.
