Enter

Flying

his is a story about inspira- Theatre, and the La Jolla Playhouse, city this week to see friends, and, T tion, renewal, and doing what as well as the Guthrie Theater, the today, An American in Paris. I asked you always dreamed as a kid you Williamstown Theatre Festival, and him why he became interested in would one day do. the Humana Festival, working with trapeze and made a documentary Tom Moore ’68 is a director such actors as Anne Bancroft, about one of the art form’s most with a lengthy list of credits and Kathy Bates, Kirk Douglas, Richard famous families. awards. He was the director of the Gere, Burt Lancaster, Lynn Red- “I was burning out,” Tom says. “I Pulitzer Prize-winning ’night grave, and John Travolta. He needed something new, some Mother and of the original produc- served for 12 years on the Executive inspiration.” tion of Grease. On television, he has Board of the Stage Directors and With only relaxation in mind, he by barry jay kaplan directed the era-defining shows ER, Choreographers Society and is took a Club Med vacation in Mexico, Mad About You, L.A. Law, and currently a member of the Yale where one of the recreational countless other television series School of Drama Board of Advisors. features was instruction on the from the 80s to the 2010s, from It’s the resume of a man who trapeze. And there, in a moment of to Ally McBeal to could use a little R and R. serendipity, Tom say: “I finally Dharma and Greg, The Wonder Tom and I meet for lunch on a learned to fly.” Years, Cheers, and Picket Fences. On humid Sunday in New York. Blond, Finally? A little background will the west coast, Tom has directed at trim, dressed all in white, and with explain. the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahman- an enviable tan, Tom is every inch “When I was a boy and the circus son Theatre, the American Conser- the Los Angeleno, which he’s been came to town,” Tom recalls, “my vatory Theater, the Old Globe for most of his adult life. He is in the cousin Frank and I would score free

16 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 17 01 The Flight Fantastic Executive Producer Masha Nordbye and Tom Moore ’68 during a trapeze performance.

02 Tom Moore ’68, director of The Flight Fantastic.

03 04 Tom Moore ’68 left, along with fellow trapeze artists John Carr, Mary Kelly Rayal, Gary Estrella, and Peter Gold.

04 02 Masha Nordbye, associate producer, and Tom Moore ’68, director of The Flight something better. It brings back a Fantastic, are flanked by circus fans Wil- joy that I haven’t experienced in a lie Edleston of The Flying Edelstons; and long time. And I’m fulfilling the Norma Fox (La Norma), a legendary star fantasy I had as boy of being on the of the swinging trapeze, during the U.S. 01 premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival. trapeze.” What would Sigmund Freud say 05 about the psychological meaning of The Flight Fantastic movie poster featur- the desire to fly? ing the Flying Gaonas. Tom laughs. “Freud says flying is Background photos of the Flying Gaonas sexual and I agree. But I think courtesy of theflightfantasticfilm.com 03 tickets by helping with the tents everything in show business is sexu- and even carrying water for the al.” Another laugh. “Flying is a very elephants. At that time the circus sexy sport. It seems daredevil, but The Flying Gaonas, the legendary was still under the big top, and it not if you’re doing it properly. For Mexican circus family from the was just what it advertised—the example, everyone must land on golden age of trapeze. The troupe greatest show on earth. What I was their back in the net.” made its debut in the 1960s with waiting for was that magical not pursue as an adult, he says, Another aspect of his fascination the Clyde Beatty-Cole Bros. Circus moment at the end of the show because it is very tough on the with flying had long been simmer- and went on to appear in Berlin, when the trapeze troupe spun into joints. “You’re always landing on a ing inside him. “A lot of directors Sweden, Munich, and at the the center ring, climbed to the top hard surface. This is not so in were once performers, which I was, Olympia in London, performing for of the tent—and flew! I was dazzled. flying.” By the time his Club Med but I knew early on that I didn’t Queen Elizabeth II, before signing Amazed. If only I could do that. It vacation was over and he was back have what it takes to be an actor. with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & was…a fantastic flight! I never got home in Los Angeles, Tom was Trapeze let me get back to perform- Bailey. over wanting to fly.” hooked. ing. In a larger way, I think this is It was the Gaonas who welcomed 05 He continues, trying to define Along with his boyhood fascina- typical of people in the arts. They Tom into the rarefied world of the the excitement, the thrill, of being tion with trapeze—how did he become so involved in the arts that trapeze. “The whole family became in the air. “It depends less on account for his ongoing immersion they leave out other parts of close friends of mine, starting with strength than on timing. The in this rekindled interest? The thrill themselves.” Tom’s interest had Richie [who officially joined the moment at which the flyer—that’s of flight? The risk? The danger? more to do with an unconscious troupe in 1980], who is the one who me—is caught by the catcher is the Tom nods his understanding response to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s taught me to fly, and then extend- point at which the flyer is at the because he’s used to the questions, dictum that there are no second stagnating, of seeking the next big point, you need to reinvent yourself, ing to each new member. I have a peak of the arc of the flight and lets and shakes his head because they acts in American lives. Flying is thing, of not falling into the trap of get excited about something new. I wonderful family of my own and go of the trapeze! For those few always miss the point. “It’s not the Tom’s second act, something coming to the end of a stage in life was looking for my second act.” we’re quite close, but there was seconds you are actually flying thrill that makes me do it,” he says. deeply and essentially different and simply giving up. “I see so many And a third act was yet to come. something about this family that upward until you connect with the “When people hear that I’m doing from what he was used to doing. people in the arts who feel left Even more remarkable than a was extraordinarily welcoming and hands of the catcher. And I’m the the trapeze, they always say to me: “On the trapeze, I am not controlling behind as they age,” Tom says. spiritual reawakening and living out warm.” Tom was also impressed flyer!” Tom also has the athletic the next step is bungee jumping, things the way I was as a director,” “They’re bitter and disenchanted. I a childhood fantasy in his rediscov- that they put the same energy and skills for the trapeze. In part, this right?—which I actually have he says. “I am putting myself in hate to see people who’ve had ering the trapeze, were the circus devotion into their coaching and can be attributed to his back- done—but that’s not it. It’s about someone else’s hands, literally.” extraordinary careers pass un- and trapeze legends Tom met along teaching as they had into the work ground in gymnastics, which he did perfecting the art. How to make There was also the notion of not known from the scene. At a certain the way, none more amazing than when they were famous and in the

18 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 19 There is nothing like circus people celebrating their own! — tom moore ’68

can premiere at the Sarasota Film Festival in Sarasota, FL, once the winter home of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus and where many residents still work of the documentary film The Flight for the circus. “It was a thrilling Fantastic has been a labor of love time,” Tom says. “Two sold-out for Tom, labor being a key word. screenings, standing ovations, and “When I shot a Hollywood movie, all kinds of carrying on. There is there would be a crew of 100 people. nothing like circus people celebrat- It was so much easier with a team ing their own!” The documentary wasn’t to be like that. On this film there was the Checking the time, Tom gulps just about the Gaonas when Tom director of photography and down his water and gets up. Lunch began, but a tribute to the world of sometimes not even that. We have is over. The curtain for An Ameri- the flying trapeze and an attempt no marketing campaign. We’re can in Paris goes up in an hour and on his part to capture both the joy relying on Facebook and other Tom has to race across town. Just he found in discovering it as a child, social media to get the film known. before he leaves our lunch, he turns and then again as an adult when he We’ll do the best we can. There to me and says: “Ladies and center ring. to combine my love of film with my began to fly. “I just felt it had to be were times during the filming when gentlemen! And children of all ages! But as energized and inspired as love of the trapeze. This idea came done,” he says, “that these artists I wanted to stop but I couldn’t Coming soon to a theatre near you: he was by the experience of flying at a point when I again was looking and teachers needed to be remem- because of all the favors people had The Flight Fantastic!” and the world and dedication of the for something new. But first and bered, recognized, and honored, done to make this happen. It’s been Goanas, Tom’s journey was far from foremost the trapeze was self-serv- and that I was in a particular place difficult, but also exhilarating.” over. “I’m not sure that’s what ing. It was all about me. It was only with particular skills and means to The Flight Fantastic had an motivated me to make a film about after I’d been doing it for a while make that happen. So I did!” Australian premiere at the Byron them,” he says. “I thought a that I started thinking about it This is where Act Three begins. Bay International Film Festival in documentary was the perfect way as a film.” For the last five years, the making March, and in April had its Ameri-

20 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 YALE SCHOOL OF DRAMA ANNUAL 2015 21