TRANSCRIPT:
The Public’s Radio Morning Edition host Luis Hernandez spoke with Tony Estrella, artistic director of The Gamm Theatre in Warwick, about Bill Gale’s work and impact.
This transcript was edited for length and clarity.
Luis Hernandez: Tony, great to have you back.
Tony Estrella: Thanks for having me.
Hernandez: I never got to meet him. Obviously, I’ve been hearing a lot about him. Is there one thing about him that stands out that you would say, “Oh, this is something about Bill you would have loved?”
Estrella: Yeah, I think, you know, that he loved the theater. It seemed to me that he had a place within the community, even as he had to stand aside. This is the mark of a great critic in a sense, right? I don’t envy the job because you have to kind of straddle both worlds, but you have to also be a part of it, and so that there’s a culture of, “I’m here to kind of express my views as I see them, but at the same time, I’m deeply invested in that the theater is important to the culture. Dance is important to our culture.” Bill certainly embodied that. Getting a review in The Journal was a big deal, especially when you’re, kind of, a fledgling kind of actor coming up and you’re like, “Is the show even going to get reviewed? And if it gets reviewed and Bill’s going to do it, is he going to like it, and are people going to come and see it?” So you have a weird love, hate relationship always with this figure that you don’t know. Many years later, of course, I would meet him, especially in my job as artistic director at The Gamm and get to talk to him in the lobby a lot and at different events that we had.
Hernandez: I’d heard that he actually even went as far as taking ballet lessons. I’ve heard of some reporters taking that step to better understand what they’re writing about, but did you get the sense that he really, truly was immersed in the craft to understand what he was talking about? He wasn’t just critiquing.
Estrella: Yeah, I think it speaks to his presidency of the Critics Association, et cetera, his investment in the culture of criticism. We certainly, from our point of view, the professionals on stage, we don’t want just this kind of completely unadorned opinion. We want someone that can be a bridge from our work to the audience. I think that does take a little bit of education. To do that, I think, that’s a responsibility. The Bill’s of the world, to go and take a ballet class, that’s taking that responsibility very seriously.
Hernandez: How is the theater community right now reacting to his passing?
Estrella: Well, it’s obviously gotten around. Bill knew just about everybody who’s been doing it for any amount of time. I think I remember the first review that I ever got from Bill, and I think it was for a production of Antony and Cleopatra in 1996. I think I’m getting the quote right. I played Octavius in that and he said, “Anthony Estella’s Octavius Caesar is a skittery mess.” I kind of parsed that for like a week and I was like, “Is he saying the character is [a skittery mess], and is that a good thing or is my performance a skittery mess? Is this the end of my career?” No. I mean, it wasn’t, thankfully. But the Journal carried a lot of weight. You run into people, you see someone at a bar, at a restaurant, at a party, at a theater event and you’re like, “Hey Bill, how’re you doing?” And he says, “Hey Tony, what’s up?” You’re just thinking back to what was the last review, you know? Did he say I was terrible or – and you’re trying to be professional – did he say it was great? And then all of a sudden it’s a much better interaction. So I think those guys – the critics – who do that and take it seriously also have to have a really thick skin on their own because that can’t be an easy thing.
Hernandez: What’s his legacy going to be?
Estrella: I don’t know. That’s a really great question because the culture changed so radically when he left. I think obviously his work, he continued to do that here at The Public’s Radio, and that was a great thing. His connection to the history of Rhode Island theater was very important, so it’s an open question who will carry it forward. How do we re-establish a culture of healthy, positive, constructive arts criticism?
Hernandez: Tony Estrella, artistic director of The Gamm Theatre, I really appreciate the conversation. Thanks so much.
Estrella: Oh, my pleasure. Thank you.
