INTERVIEW: Almog Pail brings her one-woman Rita Hayworth show to 54 Below
Almog Pail, the accomplished actress and singer, will bring her one-woman show based on the life and legacy of Rita Hayworth to 54 Below for a special engagement Thursday, April 20 at 9:30 p.m. Me, Myself and Rita includes both original songs by Logan Medland (A Bronx Tale: The Musical) and classic standards from Hayworth’s career, all making for a unique evening that will take audience members back to the 1940s.
“Me, Myself and Rita is a one-woman cabaret show that I wrote a few years ago,” Pail said in a recent phone interview. “It’s a story about the 1940s Hollywood actress Rita Hayworth who unfortunately has passed away from Alzheimer’s, which is something not many people are aware of. It is somewhat featured in the play; however, the story evolves around her kind of scandalous love life, her relationship with her own film persona, the characters that she was often associated with, like in her most famous film, Gilda, in 1946 — this seductress, temptress, sexy character that she was often associated with. But in her real life, she was always craving to live some sort of simple life and specifically when it comes to her love life and relationships.”
The songs from Hayworth’s career are pulled from her famous films, including Gilda and The Lady From Shanghai, which was actually directed by Hayworth’s ex-husband, Orson Welles. There are also some selections from Hayworth’s time working with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly. Finally, Pail has included a few standards from the 1940s that help set the mood for the audience.
“A fun fact is that Rita Hayworth never really sang in any of her movies because she was not a singer,” Pail said. “She was primarily a dancer.”
The performance piece can be draining for Pail. She not only has to act and sing but also interact with the audience and musicians on stage. Although it’s tiring, she finds Me, Myself and Rita a fulfilling experience, and she cannot wait to see how it plays at 54 Below.
The play previously played Theatre Row in fall of 2015; however, that version was more of a monologue in a black box theater. Pail has now adapted the show to be more of a cabaret piece or musical. Me, Myself and Rita was actually created when Pail was living and working in Malta, although it has gone through several changes over the years.
Pail was born and raised in Israel and first became interested in theater around the age of 15 when she was in high school. “I majored in theater in high school, and then later on, I did my B.A. in theater arts at Tel Aviv University,” she said. “Then I moved to the U.S. about six-and-a-half years ago where I continued to pursue my acting career, and I had a short stopover, like a two-year stopover, in Malta. I lived there for two years, and that’s where I created the show, Me Myself and Rita, for its first time. That’s where it was performed for the first time ever.”
Bringing the show to 54 Below feels like a full-circle moment for the performer.
“I’m very excited because I had that in mind since I decided to bring it over to New York,” Pail said. “Even when I was doing it back then at Theatre Row, I was thinking that 54 Below would be more of a natural space for it, and I was kind of waiting to collaborate with them because I wanted to adapt the show into a cabaret, into a musical. … I feel like this is the right form of the play, like the final version of the play, and this is what I’m trying to promote from now onwards. The idea is not to stop at 54 Below. The idea is to move up hopefully on Broadway at some point.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Me, Myself and Rita will play 54 Below in Midtown Manhattan Thursday, April 20 at 9:30 p.m. Click here for more information and tickets.
