Thursday, May. 15, 2003 | 3:58 PM

Oh gosh I wish I could take a theatre trip to New York right now. Long Day�s Journey Into Night just opened, and two of my all time favorite living actors, Vanessa Redgrave and Philip Seymour Hoffman are starring in it. That�s nearly as good as the revival they did a couple decades ago with Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey.

Long Day�s Journey is my favorite O�Neill drama (besides Morning Becomes Electra, which isn�t nearly as good a play but which I adore as a guilty pleasure.) I would KILL to see Vanessa Redgrave play Mary. I have to figure out some way to go. I have to.

Gypsy directed by Sam Mendes (who is behind the current seedy and brilliant production of Cabaret on Broadway, as well as being the director of American Beauty, for those of you who haven�t been living on planet earth for the past few years) also just opened in New York and the Times gave it a terrific review. The post however panned it, but they suck anyway. In any case, I�d love to see it�supposedly it�s not as revisionist as was expected (shucks), but I think Bernadette Peters was an interesting casting choice to play Mama Rose, and I�d be interested to see what she does with the role�I�ve never seen anyone do it who I really felt did it justice, but then again I�ve only seen the awful movie with the great but miscast Rosalind Russell, and several regional productions. Oh wait�that�s not entirely the truth�Bette Midler gave a very nice performance in the version on TV. She was a bit too soft and likeable, but overall her interpretation was compelling.

I played that role when I was 15 in high school, and I would kill to do it again. Like Cabaret, Gypsy is one of those great musicals which are hefty dramas with complex themes and characters, and happen to be jam packed with magnificent songs. Mama Rose is quite possibly the greatest female musical theatre character of all time.

In other New York theatre news, there was a production of Medea that played a little while ago which was supposedly stunning, and Nine looks like good fun too. There really isn�t enough drama on Broadway anymore. It�s all sham musicals. Big budget crowd pleasers. Friggin� Beauty and the Beast. Everything�s directed at the outta town tourist-o crowd. In the 20�s, hundreds of new plays opened a year. It�s a fucking shame what�s happened.

Lately I�ve become obsessed with Eva LeGallienne and Eleanora Duse, and have been reading everything I can get my hands on about them. Le Gallienne was an actress whose career began in the early 1900�s on Broadway. She gave up money and stardom to start the Civic Repertory theatre which was modeled after Stanislavsky�s Russian rep theatre and she brought Chekov to American masses. She was also an out lesbian and fiercely independent� producing, directing, and starring in her plays, and was an early follower of the Method. Le Strasberg said that in the first half of the century that the only place to study acting was at the feet of Eva Le Gallienne.

Eleanora Duse was an idol of Le Gallienne�an Italian actress and one of the first stage stars who brushed aside theatrical conventions in search of an inner truth. She believed that acting was a way of getting close to god, and Le Gallienne actually wrote a book on her called, The Mystic in the Theatre. Le Gallienne had begun her career as a devotee of the intellectual analytical method of building a character, but after seeing Duse, went through sort of quasi religious conversion in terms of how she viewed theatre arts�that there is a live spark and subtle intuition, a union with something greater and higher that occurs when an artist reaches a state of grace while playing a character onstage. Something divine happens. The intellect and analytical process is a solid foundation, but you have to open yourself up to something spontaneous and profound�you become on stage sort of the spiritual version of a lightening rod, ready to be energized and enveloped by whatever electricity hits you in the moment.

Through reading about Duse and Le Gallienne I�ve become obsessed with Ibsen and Chekov�especially Ibsen. I�ve been devouring Le Galliene�s translations and notes on his work�especially A Doll�s House and Hedda Gabler (by the way, if you like Ibsen, Woody Allen wrote a great parody of Ibsen critiques which either appeared in Without Feathers or Side Effects-- can�t remember which�and I believe is called �Lovborg Revisited�, although I could be wrong�anyway, if you know anything at all about Ibsen, and specifically Hedda Gabler you HAVE to read it�it�s fucking hilarious.)

I really want to tackle modern drama. But first I need to fine tune my body�grow more comfortable and in control of it. Which is where the demanding yoga/swim schedule/ cutting out alcohol/smoking/junk food comes in. I think I also want to take a fencing class and if anyone could recommend a cheap one to me, please let me know. I haven�t fenced in ages, and I miss it terribly. There�s nothing that�s more focusing and intensive physically and mentally than that.

OK�I�m just about off now to take a shower at home and then to my make up call.

I have a great feeling about tonight�s performance. Hope to see you there.