General Hospital
GH & Former OLTL Writer, Scott Sickles Chats On His New Play Lightning From Heaven! Discusses Writing For GH Characters!
If being a script writer for General Hospital these days is not enough, Scott Sickles is also an accomplished playwright whose new work debuts this Valentine’s Day in New York City!
Lighting From Heaven tells the love story behind the classic film and the celebrated novel Doctor Zhivago, between poet Boris Pasternak, his muse Olga Ivinskaya, and the Soviet government’s attempt to silence their story. After Pasternak’s death in 1960 Olga, his lover of fourteen years, was arrested by the KGB. Lighting From Heaven chronicles Olga’s subsequent interrogation and trial, while depicting her and Pasternak’s struggle to complete and publish Doctor Zhivago despite determined Soviet efforts to stop them.
Sickles spoke to On-Air On-Soaps not only about creating Lighting From Heaven, but also the challenges he faced when after writing for a few years at One Life to Live, he came aboard the GH writing team train where he had to write in the voice of many popular and beloved characters. Here is what he had to say about his exciting new play … and Port Charles!
Scott on what inspired him to write Lighting From Heaven: “I started writing this play in 1998. My dad found Olga Ivinskaya’s obituary in the newspaper and cut it out and handed it to me and said, “I know you like the movies. She just died!” I read the obituary and there was such a fascinating life in it that I went and found her memoirs. I did research on her, and over the next year or so, I put the play together.”
Courtesy/ABC
Scott on why soap fans would love to see the play: “It is a big sweeping epic romance. Soap fans like romance that is one of the main reasons they watch the soaps. In Lighting from Heaven, it’s a romance of a couple facing insurmountable odds. It is about an extra-marital relationship as well!
Scott on what are the easiest types of soap characters for him to write for: “After years of OLTL, it is usually easier for me to find the voice of a woman with a sharp tongue! (Laughs) I loved those characters, and I love Carly on General Hospital after writing ‘One Life’s’ Dorian. It’s the people who are more secretly witty and who you don’t expect to be funny in a certain way, like Sonny on GH and on Viki on ‘One Life’ that can be fun and challenging. With Sonny, you picture him being sort of taciturn and brooding and every now and then, you get to let loose and so it was great finding that voice.”
Courtesy/ABC
Scott on some of the more challenging types of scenes to write for on GH thus far: “The really challenging scenes when I got them were between Jason Morgan and John McBain and for the two men to talk to each other. They don’t speak! (Laughs) It was actually much easier to do once you got into it. And least those two characters only spoke to each other when they had to. So everything they said was important, and that was just great to try and figure out what those two men would actually say when they were in the same room with each other. I guess I specialize in the voice of the taciturn men! (Laughs)”
Scott on writing for the character of Damian Spinelli: “I was terrified at writing Spinelli, at first. Then I got the hang of it, and then I was told we are making Spinelli sound less like Spinelli, and making him talk like a regular person with an intense vocabulary. I spoke to GH writer Elizabeth Korte when I came on board at GH, and told her my biggest thing to figure out was … who is funny and how? And one character that came up was Elizabeth. You can’t be that beautiful, and suffer so horribly! (Laughs) She is often in those situations where she is heartbroken and then Maxie gets her in face and she sort of grits her teeth. It’s so much fun to listen to and write for.”
Scott on writing for Maxie Jones as played by Jen Lilley and Kirsten Storms: “I was happy to write for Maxie, and when we went from Jen Lilley to Kirsten Storms, I was wondering if there would be a sigfnicant change in the voices. I remember Kirsten being different from Jen, but when Kirsten came back, it sort of all clicked. That was great.”
Lighting From Heaven runs from Valentine’s Day February 14th through March 9th for a limited engagement at the Workshop Theatre Company at 312 W. 36th Street 4th Floor in New York City. To purchase ticket and show information visit workshoptheatre.org
What do you think about Scott’s comments about writing the characters of GH? Let us know your thoughts!
General Hospital
General Hospital’s Adam J. Harrington Weighs-in On John and Carly, and How it’s ‘Starting to Get Very Complicated”
On recent episodes of General Hospital, Carly (Laura Wright) came to John “Jagger” Cates (Adam Harrington) rescue as he was beaten down in an assault. Carly put on her “nurses cap,” sort of speak, and got John to his hotel room and watched over to him, to make sure he didn’t lose consciousness.
GH fans also got their first glimpse of what may be a new romance for Carly, if she and John continue to bond. If John and Carly were to have a relationship, it would certainly have a ripple effect with Jason (Steve Burton) and Sonny (Maurice Benard).
Adam J. Harrington shared his view on the scenes and what might be next between the two. Speaking to Soap Opera Digest, Harrington shared, “I thought it was written in a way where there’s an understanding and a respect between them both. I don’t think there was any moment where she was not aware that he’s an FBI agent, and there was no moment that he wasn’t aware of her history and relationship to other people in the town. I really liked it. I was really looking forward to shooting it with Laura and we had a really nice time shooting it.”
Photo: ABC
When Carly and John part ways, it seems there were some romantic sparks, as Harrington puts it, “Isn’t that interesting that sometimes with people, the one moment they actually show how they feel is when they know there’s an escape hatch. They know they’re about to walk away. So, it’s almost safe in that moment to do it. I thought that was really special about how (the writers) handled John and Carly. Even the music in that scene was beautifully done.”
Where is this all heading? Conflict! Internally and professionally, and as Adam explains, “Who Carly was to John on paper as just a tool to be used as bait is starting to get very complicated.”
What would you think of a John and Carly pairing? Would you prefer him with Anna, or neither of them? Let us know via the comment section and take our poll below.
General Hospital
General Hospital’s Steve Burton Reveals the Emotional Scene He Almost Could Not Get Through
On a recent episode of General Hospital, Jason received a message from his mother, Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson) via a note. The effect it had on Jason’s portrayer, Steve Burton turned out to be quite visceral.
As GH fans know, although Jason’s bio-mom was Susan Moore, he was raised and adopted by Monica. Speaking on his Daily Drama podcast with his co-host and GH co-star, Bradford Anderson (Spinelli), Steve shared some insight on the difficulties he had getting through that scene.
Burton shared that in the key moment, “Brooklyn (played by Amanda Setton) came in and that’s where she gave me (Jason) the letter from Monica. That was a very hard scene for me to do. That was a tough one. That was the one time I was almost going to call ‘cut!’ It read ‘Jason, I believe in you.’ I was literally going to walk off the set.”
Photo: JPI
To clarify and in the story, Monica was saying “I believe in you” and that she knows Jason didn’t shoot Dante (Dominic Zamprogna). Steve added, “It was tough, man. Emotionally, it was a tough scene. It was overwhelming in the moment.”
Steve went on to detail to Anderson, “She (Brook Lynn) pushed it to me and I read it and she was walking out and I had to stop her, but I was so emotional I couldn’t even get it out. And at that point, I’m like, ‘Do I just keep going … or do I just walk off the set right now?’ But, I knew just to stay, because it’s so hard to get back there, once you shut it down. I knew, the next take wasn’t going to be the same.”
Photo: JPI
It’s clear that Leslie Charleson is so missed on-screen as Monica by all of her castmates, and that Jason and Monica had a very special mother/son relationship throughout the decades on GH.
What did you think of the moment when Jason got a note from Monica that said, “I believe in you?” Were you touched as well? Let us know in the comment section. You can check out the latest episode of Steve and Bradford’s podcast below.
General Hospital
George Russo to Appear on General Hospital as Carmine Cerullo
Coming up, it looks like Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) grandfather, Carmine Cerullo is headed to Port Charles.
According to casting news from the ABC soap opera, George Russo will take on the role. Russo will tape his episode next week on April 15th and will appear on the May 15th episode of the long-running daytime drama series.
If George looks familiar he has been in numerous primetime television shows and motion pictures including: The Offer. Winning Time, Grand Crew and Shameless.
Photo: ABC
Longtime GH viewers will recall that Lois’ (Rena Sofer) dad, Carmine, was previously showed up in Port Charles on and off from 1994 to 1996 and was played by John Capudice.
Clearly, it seems that Carmine will be a part of Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn’s wedding. Will it go off without a hitch? Are you looking forward to it? Stay tuned.
Who else would you like to see attend the nuptials? Gloria Cerullo (Ellen Travolta), any other blasts from the pasts who should be present? Let us know in the comment section.
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Sounds like a wonderful play. I’ve always loved both the book and movie version of Doctor Zhivago.
As for GH, I wish there would be more writing for and about Elizabeth.
Great interview Michael. I love Scott’ s writing for OLTL…he wrote some great stuff for John and Natalie too, my favorite all-time couple. Now he’s doing some great stuff for GH. His play sounds great. Loved Dr.Zhivago so I’ ll have to get tickets for it.
Carly Jacks in the same breath as Dorian Lord? Yeah, I don’t think so.
Dorian was sorta like Carly during her heyday ..
Both young, rich , strong, and attracted to same type men and drama etc ..
Totally agree with you, Ann. Dorian is a far more complex and interesting character than Carly could ever hope to be.
Scott Sickles is a modern-day Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Even Bette Davis would guest star on GH if she were still alive today.
Fun interview Michael! I like understanding how challenging it may be to write for different characters and to get the character and actor’s voice appropriate for them and for them historically. The character of Damien Spinelli has to have been a challenge for people to write but they seem to be doing a great job transitioning him with age and experience. I love what has been happening with Carly. Enjoyed hearing the challenge of John and Jason… SB has always gotten flack for his robot like character and portrayel of Jason but it has to have been challenging to write and at times very challenging to emote to get that minimal voice to have come across so well.
I feel Elizabeth has become the new Jessie Brewer. Jessie was an important character on GH from the beggining and shoved behind the desk in favor of the newbies. Except for a brief romance with Dan Rooney very little else was done with Jessie and i felt that was a waste for the vet who should have been treated better. Now Elizabeth dont get a thing to do. I think she should fall for A.J. just as Carly starts to fall for him too. At least that would be a start in getting liz back into the picture. Scott did a great job over at oltl and good things at gh too. Before this stuff with Prospect Park I was hoping GH did a brief story arc with OLTL’s David Vickers that revealed him to be the biological father of Damien Spinneli. David did once mention to Mathew he had a kid, and i imagined him to be someone as goofy as David and Spinneli would have been my choice. Scotts play sounds very interesting and i think it would make a great movie too.
Maxie’s story line in the prison was so annoying. I’d never wish a character off because I’d never wish anyone out of work as that is evil and nasty but every day she wasn’t on I thanked god and when she was I had to put it on mute as I had guests over who don’t watch the show complain about what an annoying whiner she was. Elizabeth needs to stop grinding her teeth, it’s just stupid, no one wants to see others get constantly bullied. I could write a book of all the comebacks I could dish out to Maxie not that I’d ever have someone like that around me.
this guy is from mars I can’t believe he’d actually say Elizabeth was funny because she was miserable and taunted by a shrill, annoying blond. Misery isn’t funny, people are empathetic and sympathetic, no one finds it funny when a character cries for months about her dead child, followed by being bullied by Maxie. It makes people sad then change it to Ellen.
I think its time for them to change Maxis pad. Two rivals living in the same apartment with the man they love? Threes Not Company here, its a crowd. As neighbors ok but not roomies. Keeping them together like that this long is starting to stink, so i feel its time they change Maxis pad.
What saddens me is that Mr. Sickles now has to pen Todd’s insta-love for Carly after writing so wonderfully for Todd and Blair. Luckily, I have a DVR and can fast forward through it.