Lesly Kahn & Company, Actor Training

I’m pretty sure this is Rumi’s way of being Nike. You know, “Just do it.” Make the audition tape, go to the workshop, make the phone call, write the email, do the second draft of the script, send it for notes, make that short, make those TikToks - just do it.You ‘re not going anywhwere if you’re just sitting there. Rumi’s smart.

Thank you .

So many of you didn’t have the privilege of knowing Patrick Muldoon personally, but you probably do know him from STARSHIP TROOPERS, WHO’S THE BOSS, SAVED BY THE BELL and a million other films and shows.

He wrote and is singing the song you hear or is linked here - check out the lyrics on the program for the Mass. Pretty amazing. So talented. SUCH a loss.

However you knew him, I thought you might also want to know about some special moments from his Celebration of Life. Because he was so very, very special.

His father, Maritime Attorney Patrick Muldoon, Sr., got a huge laugh from the enormous crowd at St. Monica Catholic Community Church when, of Patrick’s passing, he said, “It was fast. You should know that. He was always in a hurry.”

His sister, Shana Muldoon Zappa, kept everyone’s spirits up as well. She began her talk by saying, “I want to thank God for whoever created Xanax because it helps on days like today.” Brought the house down.

She also said, “Grief is just love with nowhere to go.” And, “I suppose he’s always been larger than this life.”

Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson officiated and inspired everyone when he said, “When someone comes to the church, take care of the wounds. Sort everything else out later. Take care of the wounds.”

He also said, “Patrick was an angel sent by God.” No question. He was. “He was a man for others.”

He then said, “I baptized that man. I’m so glad it worked.” - Msgr. Lloyd Torgerson

Please take care of yourselves. I really can’t handle another death right now, ok?

Love,

Les

The film and television business might currently be in the toilet, but Broadway is looking good! And so MANY of you are nominated for Tony awards this year that I simply hadda go see what miracles you are making!

I got to see the extraordinary BLOW ME AWAY onstage at the Nederlander in SCHMIGADOON! Y’all, she was beyond RESPLENDENT! The voice! I cannot get OVER her VOICE!!!! The dancing! She’s just flying around that stage! The acting! Every moment was nothing less than superb! I laughed! I cried! (A lot!!!!) Plus? She’s just freaking GORGEOUS to look at! I could. Not. Get. OVER. HER!!!!

And? The show was SO much fun, the direction just excellent (you can tell that the brilliant had probably seen every musical that was referenced a zillion times), and Izzy introduced me to him afterward and I learned that he’d directed and choreographed almost all of them, so he CERTAINLY knew what he was doing and it SHOWED, as my beloved acting teacher, would say, like gangbusters. What a talent!

And WHAT a fun show! Totally restored my faith in the old Broadway!

Plus, it has already won soooo many awards for Best Musical - an Outer Circle Critics, a Drama Desk, and it has been nominated for 12 Tony Awards! The most nominated show of the whole season!

I think it was auspicious that we ran into en route to the theatre tonight. Y’all’re just taking over town.

I am? Verklempt. (Yiddish for overcome with emotion.)

My brother-in-law, arts writer Tom Jacobs, wrote an amazing article in honor of my late sister, Genie. It’s called “How Music is Helping Me Grieve.” If you are grieving, it might help. Especially if you love classical music.

The whole article is above, but if you go to the linktree in our bio, you’ll see we’ve attached a version in which I’ve put links to all of the music Tom references in his article! Which is really cool.

Look at my post in which Einstein talks about “swimming in the silence.” I think that’s what “rest” is. Again, if we don’t take the time to Stop (In The Name of Love!) — whether we call it “getting into the right brain,” “meditation,” “rest,” or “swimming in the silence” — we need to recognize that it is an integral part of doing our best work. And DO it.

Thak you for this,

My humble thoughts. 💭

Dick Van D**e was in the middle of rehearsing for Mary Poppins when a studio executive pulled him aside and said, “Walt thinks we need a real dancer for some of these scenes.”
Van D**e blinked, surprised.
He wasn’t offended—he was confused.
He’d been cast. He’d trained. He was ready.

Then the executive added, “We can still replace you quietly if we move fast.”

Van D**e looked at him and said, “Tell Walt I’ll dance until my legs fall off. Then I’ll dance on the stumps.”

The executive didn’t bring it up again.

Most of Hollywood didn’t understand why Walt Disney fought to keep him. Van D**e wasn’t the kind of polished, precise musical performer the studios preferred. He didn’t glide—he bounced. He didn’t sweep—he exploded. But Disney saw something the others missed: Van D**e was joy in human form.

And he proved it during the rooftop sequence.

Production was brutal. Heavy soot makeup. Sharp angles. Tiresome choreography. Several dancers quit after injuries. Van D**e kept going, ignoring the pain in his ankles, refusing to hand the number over to a double. Crew members later swore they’d never seen an actor smile through exhaustion like that.

But the real twist came after filming wrapped.

Van D**e discovered that some Disney board members had sent Walt a memo calling his performance “too silly” and “beneath the studio’s prestige.” They wanted someone more “sophisticated.” Walt slapped the memo onto his desk and said, “If they can’t see the magic in that man, they don’t deserve to run a studio.”

Van D**e never forgot it.

Off-screen, he battled alcoholism, depression, and career slumps—things the public didn’t see behind the lightness he projected. He went to rehab quietly. He rebuilt his life deliberately. He kept working long past the age when Hollywood usually cuts actors loose.

His survival—emotional and artistic—was its own kind of miracle.

Dick Van D**e didn’t become a legend because he danced well.
He became a legend because he danced like someone who believed joy mattered—
even when the industry wanted something colder.

In actionable terms I think he’s saying we have to stop killing ourselves to GET THE RIGHT ANSWER, BE PERFECT, and DO IT RIGHT (“thinking 99 times”). We learned to do that in school, and while it might have enabled us to regurgitate the answers on a test, now PREVENTS us from realizing our own brilliance. So, sure, if “swimming in the silence” does it for ya’, by all means do that. If getting into your right brain does it (dancing, playing basketball, singing, drawing, tap dancing, etc.), do that. If breathing works, go for it. Just know that the answers are already there. Our left brains are just very very busy being in the way and don’t even know it.

All is not fair.

(For context, check yesterday’s post!)

Are you acting every day? Sign up for class and we’ll make sure that you do!