the craptacular

It’s always a little sad when show people leave the Great White Way for television. But in the case of Sutton Foster, it seems like a logical move. The two-time Tony winner’s been working consistently on Broadway since the mid-90s, leading the casts of hits like Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Drowsy Chaperone, and Anything Goes. We couldn’t possibly keep her that much longer.

Still, if we’re going to lose Sutton Foster to television, ABC Family’s new ballet-drama penned by Amy Sherman-Palladino (Gilmore Girls) seems like a pretty solid pick. The gracious, gleeful, and gorgeous actress sat down to discuss her new show, and why she’s ready to begin a whole new chapter in her life:

On making the switch to TV and working on Bunheads
Sutton Foster’s no stranger to have the entire weight of a show resting on her shoulders but television is a whole new medium. So why now? “I was coming to a point where I wanted a new challenge,” Foster told me. Making the move in an Amy Sherman-Palladino show must have made it easy for a woman who calls Gilmore Girls her “favorite show of all time.” “Amy has a very specific voice unlike anyone else on television.  [Bunheads is] a whole new set of characters, a whole new town, a whole new base. But you’ve got that rapid-fire dialogue and the humor that Gilmore has. It’s exciting to hear Amy’s voice again on TV. I think she’s just a genius.”

On meeting Amy Sherman-Palladino
Being such a big fan, you can imagine meeting Amy Sherman-Palladino was a bit of a trip. “Oh, I was a super-fan freak on her. She probably thought I was weird.” Clearly the meeting went well. Sherman-Palladino hadn’t mentioned the Bunheads script, but she offered Sutton the show a few days later. “I made up my mind before I read the script. It could have been about anything and I would have done it.”

On the growing presence of musical theater on TV
Foster, whose main exposure to musical theater as a kid was Fraggle Rock and The Carol Burnett Show, applauds this generation’s easy access to the arts, via YouTube, Twitter, and other social media outlets. “It’s such an incredible outlet for people,” she said. “And it’s exciting. It’s bringing theater – people who maybe can’t travel to NY – it’s bringing all of that stuff into the living rooms all over the world.” Foster wishes she had then when she was a kid. “Oh gosh, if I’d had YouTube when I was a kid! Oh my gosh. That would have been – oh who knows. I would have been videoing myself every day and putting myself all over the internet. I would have been obsessed.”

On getting advice from Christian Borle
Foster isn’t the first person to make the jump from the big stage to the small screen. In the past few years alone, we’ve seen Kristin Chenoweth, Matthew Morrison, Cheyenne Jackson, and Megan Hilty turn into certifiable TV stars. But of all the people who’ve gone before Sutton Foster, you’d be surprised who gave her the best advice about adjusting to the new medium. “My ex-husband Christian Borle,” Sutton told me. “We’re very good friends. I was asking him how SMASH was going, and he was saying, ‘You just got to keep moving forward because there’s so much material. And as soon as you finish a scene, you have to let it go and move on to the next one. You can’t keep holding on.’” Foster said Borle’s advice forced her to approach this role withabandon. “In the theater, you do a scene over and over and over and over again for years. With TV, everything moves so quickly. And in many ways, it’s a blessing because you can’t get in your own way. I’ve been able to dive in and do it. It’s been scary and fun at the same time.”

You can check out the premiere of Bunheads when it airs on Monday, June 11 at 9/8c on ABC Family.

Credit: ABC Family

In an industry where some years there aren’t even enough leading roles for women to fill a category—something which basically never happens to the men—nothing makes me happier than a season full of powerhouse female performances. This was one of those seasons. And my favorite powerhouse of the year? Brit Tracie Bennett, making her Broadway debut as Judy Garland in End of the Rainbow.

Watching Tracie’s performance was like being pulled under by an unexpected wave, pinned down, tossed about and ejected on the shore, gasping for air and scraped raw. At the end of the show, audience members around me wondered aloud how she could possibly pull it off 8 times a week. I nodded in silent agreement.

Equal parts calculating and impetuous, gleeful and distraught, anchored to this world and desperately lost  at sea, her Judy held me captive for a full 130 minutes, and her painful, quiet final moments broke my heart.

And just when I didn’t think I could love her anymore,Tracie went to the Drama League Awards and told everyone about her British childhood spent wearing stars and stripes and being called “The Little Yankee” and I melted inside and she for sure, for SURE snagged the Tony of My Heart forever. It’s not nearly as beautiful as that badass necklace she’s wearing up there. But I think it’s kind of neat.

Here’s the crap thing about the Tony Awards that you’ve probably already figured out: The people that you love don’t always win. Hell, people who fully deserve to win, and have thriving careers and consistently do wonderful work, don’t always win. Barbra Streisand, Stephen Schwartz — neither has ever won a Tony. Theater’s top prize has thus far eluded Jan Maxwell four times — including the time she was nominated twice in a single year. Alan Menken has enough Oscars to fill a swimming pool, but he has yet to win a Tony. So what gives?

Well, lots of things: Politics, the relative strength (or weakness) of the theater season and of the category in question, and general trends, for starters.

So we wanted to make you feel better. Or maybe we just wanted to remind you, before your annual bout of Tony Anxiety settles in — that the little spinning disc ain’t everything. It’s a nice bauble, for sure. But here are our favorite folks who have never won, and who have retained their awesomeness in spite of it…

Patrick Wilson
If they gave Tonys for handsomeness and sweet, lurking vulnerability, Patrick would have six by now. With back-to-back Tony nominations in 2001 and 2002, he was Broadway’s hottest commodity in those years, and with good reason. Pretty face aside, he more than delivered as Jerry Lukowski, the self-esteem-challenged leading dude in The Full Monty, and as a robustly sung Curly McLain. For that, he wins the Tony of Our Hearts forever.

Terrence Mann
He’s the Beast. He’s Javert. He’s the Rum Tum Tugger now and forever, just like the poster says. He’s the best thing about the movie version of A Chorus Line simply because when he’s on screen, we feel slightly less crazy. But alas, despite being a staple on Broadway for a major chunk of the 80s and 90s, Terrence Mann remains stupidly Tony-free.

Gavin Creel
What does being one of the greatest theater singers of your era get you? Not a Tony Award, as it turns out. Nominated twice, Gavin’s never won. He has, however, become a passionate equal rights advocate, a charting solo artist, and the guy who musical theater programs point to and go, “Be like that guy.” We’re guessing he’ll take that. We will.

Judy Kuhn
With three Tony nominations, and a spate of both memorable and memorably recorded roles under her belt, the lovely Judy Kuhn has never won. Apparently being Pocahontas has less cache in the theater world than we thought. With a plum role playing Fosca in the Classic Stage Company’s off-Broadway revival of Passion next season, however, we think Tony gold (silver?) could still be in her future. And if it’s not, she’s still Pocahontas.

Raul Esparza
Our prediction? Raul Esparza will win a Tony at some point. His outrageous talent and commitment to new material make that much seem inevitable. But up until this moment, Raul cannot catch a Tony-related break. Being nominated without a win hasn’t really stopped the Raul Train, though. Since 2000, he’s played nine major roles on Broadway, all with aplomb. Maybe ten will be a winner. And if it’s not, we’ll probably love watching it anyway.

Rebecca Luker
You’ve gotta give a girl credit for breathing actual feeling into the otherwise dead-souled Christine Daae, and the literally dead Lily Craven. Pretty Rebecca Luker, with her airy soprano, did both, and has picked up three Tony nominations for other roles, but she’s never won. Small consolation? We’re likely to see her at this year’s ceremony alongside hubby Danny Burstein.

Victor Garber
Joining Raul Esparza and Jan Maxwell in the Four Times Shafted Club is silky voiced Victor Garber, who spends his time away from Broadway starring in hit TV shows and stuff. With a stage career that has spanned more than three decades, and has included roles in both musicals and dramas, we love Victor for his versatility and his offhand sense of cool. Will a Tony change that? Not likely.

Marin Mazzie
From the first time we saw her whole mostly-naked self in Passion, we sort of felt like Giorgio did when he first saw Clara: Obsessed. With crazy pipes for days, Marin sings it like almost no one else can. Of course, she has dramatic chops, too. Her performance in Enron filled us with so much glee-slash-horror that we almost ended up underneath the seats in front of us. Give this woman a Tony, please.

We’re kind of worried about The Lyons. Its grosses have consistently been some of the lowest on Broadway. When Linda saw it on Saturday night, the entire balcony and most of the mezzanine was empty. And Saturday night wasn’t a fluke – this week, The Lyons grossed $209,210 and filled 44.8% of its house. It’s a shame, because it’s a really fucking great play.

Yet it appears that The Lyons is dealing with the same issues that plague many small, new plays. A title few Times Square tourists have heard of, the lack of a big star, a small theater on the outskirts of the theater district, an over-crowded season, and dark subject matter. It can be a recipe for disaster. And even though the show’s gotten great reviews, and Linda Lavin received a Tony nomination for her performance, The Lyons has struggled to find an audience.

Look at the numbers since the first week of performances:

With declines in the capacity percentage since mid-April, you might actually be surprised that The Lyons has held on this long. But look closer at the numbers.

The average price of admission and gross have steadily increased until this week, which is a positive sign for the show, and could mean that The Lyons has stopped giving away tickets and that people are actually starting to buy them.

Though the numbers fell back a bit this week, producers are likely hoping that grosses continue to increase or at least hold steady. We don’t imagine it costs a fortune to run this show, and we hope they can keep it open at least through the Tonys, where Linda Lavin might get some stage time.

If you want to see The Lyons, however, you should probably buy your tickets now. And bring 20 friends. Or 50.

Numbers are provided courtesy of The Broadway League. Here’s this week’s full grosses report.

Read more from NineDaves and LovelyLinda on their blogs.

Welcome to Tony of My Heart, the yearly series wherein we disregard all actual winning potential and honor the Tony-nominated actors we’ve loved the most this past season. We thought it best to kick the series off with none other than…

Dear Jeremy Jordan,

If you asked my friends/family/colleagues to tell you the one thing I’ve talked about most since September, the easy, obvious answer they’d all give would be “you.” My brother would roll his eyes. My roommate would groan, even though she loves you too. Even my 7-year-old cousin Fiona would have something cheeky to say.

And it’s true. I’ve been a bit obsessed. But with a story like yours—last seen on Broadway as an alternate in West Side Story, this season you opened two major Broadway shows and a movie within months of each other—how could I be anything but entranced by you, Mr. Jack Kelly of My Dreams?

That’s to say nothing of your roughed-up good looks, endless eyes and universe-brightening, slightly crooked smile. Or your powerful, effortless voice and remarkable phrasing/lack of need for oxygen. Or your ability to walk the line between hoodlum and sensitive soul with charm and ease. Or your determination and hustle—rehearsing one show in NYC by day and leading another in New Jersey by night—or your down-to-earth realness, frequently showcased on your F-Bomb-y Twitter feed.

You’ve had a pretty magical year, Mr. Jordan. And there may be more magic still to come between now and June 10^th. But I wanted to make sure you knew that no matter what else happens—always and forever—you have the Tony of My Heart.

Photo: Jimmy Fontaine

Read More:

• Jeremy Jordan Choose-Your-Own-Adventure: Broadway Season 2011-2012
• You Want a Headlines, Bitches? You Got One: Jeremy Jordan is Jack Kelly
• 5 Reasons You Should See Joyful Noise, or, Praise Jesus for Jeremy Jordan
• Pants Poll: Aaron Tveit v Jeremy Jordan

You know how it goes at awards shows. A bunch of actors throw on their Sunday best and then sit until their category is called. If they win, they make a speech. Lose? They pretend to not look upset as they sneak out.

At the Drama League Awards, however, everyone wins. A slew of actors from off-Broadway and Broadway are nominated together for the honor of Distinguished Performance (there were 69 total this year). They gather for a gala luncheon and sit on a dais. One by one they pass the mic, each giving short speeches.

You can only win the marquee award, Distinguished Performance, once in your lifetime, so for the majority of the nominees up there, winning is a total long-shot. But having the chance to give a speech changes the tone of the show. Everyone’s happy and relaxed. People crack bad jokes and gush to the other nominees.

No wonder the Drama League Awards are the oldest theatrical honors in America. Who wouldn’t want to keep doing that year after year?

Of course, the Drama League presents more traditional awards. This year, Other Desert Cities and Once nabbed Distinguished Production awards, while Follies and Death of a Salesman won Distinguished Revivals. But it’s the Distinguished Performance Award — won this year by Audra McDonald — that stands out.

Bananas, right?

Here are my favorite quotes from the afternoon:

“The inclusiveness of the Drama League luncheon is one of the most exciting things about it. I get to see old friends and meet new friends. Of course I can’t tell who anybody is if they’re under the age of 75. So my old friends become my new friends.” – James Earl Jones

“I made my performance debut in New York City downtown on the Lower East Side in college doing awkward performance art as a go-go dancer at Lady Starlight’s Party. And I never thought that my love for mediocre performance art and bad mime would ever come to use in my career as an actor. But my fantasies came true and I got to play Maureen in Rent.” – Annaleigh Ashford

“When I was 2, I used to put pictures of the Manhattan skyline in a little scrapbook. And I used to wear American ‘stars and stripe’ vests and Daytona Beach stuff and they used to call me ‘The Little Yankee.’ Thank you to my producers for having faith in a little nobody from Lancashire.” – Tracie Bennett

“My second act prep is standing in the wings, looking at Greg Hildreth dressed as a mermaid with ringlets, and saying ‘Do it, do it’ and he sings ‘I Think I’m Gonna Like it Here’ from Annie as a pitchy 13-year-old girl. And then we go out on stage. And for this, we get health insurance. We are incredibly lucky.” – Christian Borle

“Who puts strawberries in a salad? Seriously, is this a thing now? Is it a thing I don’t know about? Is it an American thing? It can be. It’s freaking me out.’” – James Corden, referring to lunch.

“When you look at me you don’t immediately imagine a very very glamorous icon, so it’s only in the theater that I get to do these experiments. I’ve been an actor about 51 years now. I’ve played everything from an 8-year-old black boy to a 72-year-old French matriarch, and they hardly hire you to do that on TV.” – Tyne Daly

“When I moved to New York, I had nothing. And a friend of mine also had nothing. And he said, ‘Hey, come with me to the Marriot Marquis. And if you go to the 30th floor, and you wait by this door, and you sneak in, you can get free food.’ And I did that for three years. I was prepared if anyone said, ‘Can we see your room key?’ to be like, ‘Do you know who I am? I’m Bob Marriot’s nephew.’ Um, so great, I’m glad to be here and have free food again. And I didn’t have to sneak in!” – Santino Fontana

“I’m right next to two beautiful women right now, so I’m going to sit right back down.” – Andrew Garfield, referring to Cynthia Nixon and Audra McDonald.

“Sitting on this stage with these incredibly talented people and I’m shaking right now. I haven’t even met them all but it’s my proximity to them that I’m freaking out. It’s just an honor to be here and I want to thank my Newsies and my Bonnie and Clyde teams, I know many of you are here. It’s been an honor to get to make my journey to Broadway in this wonderful, wonderful season. Thank you Jeff Calhoun for giving me these two roles and opportunities. It’s been a joy.” – Jeremy Jordan

“Twenty years ago, my mother gave me a plaque that said ‘Dare to Dream.’ And it was not easy being a kid who grew up in post-industrial Appalachia. Think Hunger Games, District 12, Katniss – that whole thing is very much where I was from. As I stand up here today and look at people – friends and legends that I have worked with and also had the pleasure of watching my entire life – I’m reminded of that plaque. And I’m reminded of my mother.” – Steve Kazee

“The opportunity to carry water every night to James Earl Jones on stage is a dream come true.” – John Larroquette

“Thank God that I am not over 75 so that James Earl Jones knows who the hell I am.” – Linda Lavin

“This could be a season about only competition, [but] we are family. And I mean that in the best sense of the word. That we know each other’s experience and we love each other and we support each other more than anything else. I have never seen it anywhere else in my life. Expect maybe in the gay community. I have to say that it is inspiring and powerful.” – Judith Light

“I want to start by saying Andrew Garfield spilled his chicken on my foot. And I loved it. I feel like I’ve been in the land of the lost for the past four years in LA and to come home – no offense to LA – but my home is here and my family is here and it’s so nice to be home.” – Audra McDonald

“I’m very scared that I’m going to pull a Janet Jackson, so I’m going to hold on to the front of my dress. I’m really very very honored to be here especially on this dais with people I’ve looked up to since I was little. I’d also like to thank Santino Fontanto, who taught me piano. I would not be here if it weren’t for you. To Steve Kazee – I don’t know what I would do without you. He’s very ugly and untalented – makes my job very hard. But this show has changed my life, and this company has changed my life.” – Cristin Milioti

“Our opening night and our closing night came awfully close together, so we didn’t have a whole lot of time together. But I want this community to know it was an extraordinary group of actors who had commitment and dignity and respect to the end. And we gave whoever was out there a show until they shut us down.” – Leslie Odum, Jr.

“You always want to be the person who doesn’t need to be included, but it feels damn good to be among you people. My first Broadway show was Master Class, and I saw Audra McDonald. The one that sealed the deal was Ragtime, with Marin Mazzie. My first big role was with John Lithgow, and he taught me the ropes. Norm Lewis sang the night I met my husband. It makes me feel like I have a family.” – Kelli O’Hara

“I just graduated from school almost a year ago. And I’m just so blessed to be getting this recognition. In these interviews they’re like, ‘So how does it feel? Has it hit you yet?’ And I’m like, ‘Nah I’m just in it to win it.’ Well it hit me now.” – Da’Vine Joy Randolph

“It truly is a great privileged to be here. I do have to confess I am here purely through theatrical plagiarism because I based my performance in Look Back in Anger entirely on James Cordon in One Man, Two Guvnors. Which is why my cast had no idea what the hell was going on most of the time either.” – Matthew Rhys

“Clybourne Park is this incredible play, there’s seven of us onstage almost the entire time, and I’m honored to be up here representing all seven of us. The other six people, I really want to mention their names. I can’t because I don’t really know their names. But they seem just wonderful.” – Jeremy Shamos

“Oh my god I’m crying. I’m drunk, really.” – Mary Testa

“Thank you for welcoming me home.” – Audra McDonald, on winning the Distinguished Performance Award

Read more from Dave on his blog, NineDaves.

• Queen Audra McDonald won the Drama League Award for Distinguished Performance. Someday that girl will make something of herself…
• Because Benjamin Walker is a sexy machine sent to earth to make ovaries implode — and not, say, a real boy — he recently talked about… vibrators. Which means we now know a) that he is not intimidated by them and b) that he thinks they’re all about pleasure. Good luck ever looking at Ben, or your vibrator the same way again.
• Question. Did Darren Criss not get the joke? Or is he just incapable of delivering a joke? Either way, the audience is not amused.
• Priscilla Queen of the Desert announced this week that it will close on June 24, and without recouping its initial investment. Well, that’s a drag.
• Newsies announced that it will have an open run, sending Twitter into spasms of overwhelming joy and stuff. We’re excited because now we know, for sure, there’s definitely going to be enough time to finish our Jeremy Jordan needlepoint pillowcase and get it down to the Nederlander so he can sign it. But then, isn’t that why everyone is excited?
• Ghost is holding a contest to win a pottery class with Hottie McHotass star Richard Fleeshman. We’ve already entered six hundred thousand times, so, you better get started now if you want to have a shot.
• We see what you’re doing over there, Mamma Mia, concocting evil plots to get us back into that damn theater. The forever-handsome Aaron Lazar will assume the role of Sam beginning June 4.
• Bret Michaels banged his head on the Tony Awards set once. It was fucking crazy. Like, it was so fucking crazy that everyone at your Tony Awards party was instantly like, “OMFG, did he just BANG HIS HEAD ON THE SET?” Then you missed the next three awards because you kept rewinding and re-watching it. In related news, Bret’s lawsuit is now settled.
• The New York Times profiled Steve Kazee this week. Things learned: In addition to being smokin’ and talented, he has a lot of intense feelingz that will make you want to gather him in your small but protective arms and sing him to sleep.
• How many Broadway shows does it take to fill the empty St. James? Fourteen, you said? No, one. And this summer, that show will be Bring It On. The show will have a limited run (HAR HAR…) beginning in August.

Cock.

There, we said it, plain and simple. Cock. The title of Mike Bartlett’s new play, currently open at the Duke on 42^nd Street, which cannot be printed in about a zillion other publications. Which triggers spam filters and makes people giggle with vague, junior high school-esque glee and discomfort.

This title—which is both incredibly appropriate for the piece and at the same time manages to stand totally apart from it—has created a maelstrom of chatter that is at times, distracting. But please, please don’t let that happen. Don’t let it distract you. Because you need to get your ass (or your cock, if you have one of those too) into that theater.

Cock is the story of John, a young man who has been in a relationship with his current boyfriend—known only as M—for a decade. After John breaks off this relationship with M he soon find himself falling in love with, and sleeping with, a woman known as W. John eventually goes back to his relationship with M, sort of, while maintaining something with W as well. From there the battle royale ensues as M and W fight to keep John for themselves, which ultimately plays out at the most awkward dinner party you can imagine. (Seriously, M’s father F gets involved here, too. It’s all kinds of uncomfortable.)

The play, both in composition and setting is styled  like a Cockfight—or any number of combative sports wherein competitors fight to the death, you know, dog fights/ bullfights/gladiator games—to the extent that the set is a small, round plywood stadium. This intimate set, wherein the audience can see both the competitors and their fellow audience members at all times, heightens the sense that you are observing an illicit fight in some dirty basement.

Director James MacDonald has stripped away all artifice in this production. There are no props and no set pieces outside the arena style seating.  There is almost no physical contact between the actors, even as the audience comes to understand they are taking off each other’s clothes, or having intercourse.

What we are left with, then, is dialogue. Is the way in which we wound each other, hide from each other, trap each other, exalt each other with our words. The way we build dream worlds, and dream selves, and bumble madly through real relationships, with little more than the power of language. And to that end, Bartlett’s dialogue is exquisite. He has a fantastic ear for the way in which real people, in the real twenty-first century speak to each other and he presents it beautifully within the construct of the play.

Scenes change with the ringing of a bell, as the periods of a boxing match would end, and in each scene, it is clear there is some fresh new bruise that the characters have left behind on each other. This is due in no small part to the first-rate acting happening in that arena. Cory Michael Smith was a particular standout as John, a character whose wishy-washy inability to let go of one of his partners could be seriously grating in the wrong hands. Instead, Smith’s John feels sympathetic, genuinely lost and in love with two people—and the ideas of the relationships he could have with them—at the same time. He feels whole and real and fully imagined on stage. As M, Jason Butler Harner is fantastically prickly, but deeply vulnerable at all the right moments. And Amanda Quaid’s W feels very real, like she could be the girl sitting in the seat across from you in the audience who is leaning forward, chin in hands, dying to find out what happens next.

By the end of this 90 minute slugfest of a play, no one on stage is left standing and the word “cock” itself has appeared perhaps once—all its silly giggle-inducing connotations are gone. Have been gone from the moment the cast took to the ring. What remains is the audience, left there to stare at each other and wonder if there were even any winners at all.

Composer David Yazbek has written some of our favorite musicals – and one of the best TV theme songs of all human history. We chatted with him recently about that, his upcoming gig at Joe’s Pub (May 30; mark your calendars), the secret unreleased tapes of his band with Adam Guettel, and being a Twitter superstar, among other things. Here’s how it went…

Lucky: Hey David! How are you doing?

David: I’m good. I’m entering the Twitter realm for the first time. I got followed by Jason Robert Brown.

L: That’s awesome!

D: I mean, he’s a friend of mine. I’m not surprised. He has a giant, giant list [of followers], so all of a sudden I got like, 40 emails from Twitter saying that people are following me and I’m thinking I shouldn’t let this come into email. Would you suggest not letting these confirmations come through your email?

L: Yeah, just shut them off. It’s going to be a pain, and it’s just going to clog up your inbox.

D: OK, before we start talking, I’m going to do that. Because it’s happening now and it’s driving me fucking crazy. So, it’s Notifications, right?

L: Yes.

D: Email me when I get a direct message? Yes. When I send a reply or are mentioned? Yes. But not when I’m followed by someone new. One of my friends has like a million Twitter followers, I think.

L: Really, who?

D: Michael Ian Black.

L: I don’t think his Twitter is set up so that he gets emailed every time someone follows him.

D: Seriously, I just figured that out. OK, I’m feeling pretty secure.

L: So, how does it feel to have written one of the greatest TV theme songs of all time –- “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?”

D: It’s a feeling of guilty satisfaction, but I’m proud of it. I like to think of myself as someone who can write a hook, and I think that song is like one big hook. And I’m happy about it.

L: Any residual royalties coming in for that?

D: A lot of people use it without permission and then we get money from them. And some people have used it with permission and we still get money from them. So it has been one of those gifts that keeps on giving.

L:You’re playing Joe’s Pub on May 30th. What can we expect from the show?

D: I’m approaching it as pretty much a selfish exercise in playing with these great musicians. It’s my usual band. I know it sounds corny but I feel a little honored to be playing with them. We’ll do a bunch of songs from my album, Evil Monkey Man, and we’ll do a few songs from Women on the Verge… because it’s really fun to play those songs.

L: So you don’t mind mixing the theater stuff and the rock stuff together in one show.

D: As long as it sticks, you know? Some of my theater stuff is so different from some of the stuff that I play with my band that it just wouldn’t feel right. But certainly songs from Women on the Verge… And sometimes songs from my other shows find their way into my concerts because they feel of a piece with whatever the song list is.

L: Do you feel kind of compartmentalized when you’re writing? Are you always focusing solely on writing a show, or solely writing an album?

D: There’s a big separation, and it comes in the form of intent. Writing for the theater is partially writing on assignment, and it’s also writing for character. I’m done a lot of screenwriting, too, and I’m used to writing for characters. When I’m writing stuff for my own albums, and for the band, it flows more freely because it’s just me saying what I want to say.

L: So it’s not like you’re writing a pop song, and something will come up that could feasibly go into a show…

D: I’m never thinking that while I’m writing it, but that has happened, where a piece of music will wind up in a song in a show. Music is an expression of a pure emotion. So if you’ve come up with some music that’s joyous or mournful or angry, it may very well fit how a character feels at the time.

L: Do you have any new projects brewing -– for Broadway or a solo album or anything else?

D: Yeah. Jeffrey Lane and I are writing a new show.

L: Can you say anything about it?

D: I can’t. He made me promise I wouldn’t. But I’m really excited about it. It’s the first show we’ve written together that’s for a broad, family audience. But it’s still smart and has a depth to it. I think it’ll probably be a big Broadway-type show, rather than a little chamber piece.

I’m also writing something with Henry Krieger. He’s doing the music and I’m doing the lyrics. I’ve never done that before and I’m really having fun working with him. It’s a show about Tammy Faye Baker, and Kristin Chenoweth is really hyped up to do the part.

And I think there’s going to be a Women on the Verge… production in London next year. So Jeffrey and I have done a lot of rethinking and rewriting the structure of it. There will definitely be changes. We’ve tried to make it more efficient. We didn’t really get the time we wanted or needed when we did it in New York. Now, we’ve had plenty of time to do some nips and tucks and we’re really looking forward to doing it. When the cast album came out, we got all these glowing reviews, we were like, shit. We’ve got to get this up on its feet again.

L: Do you always see a show as a work in progress?

D: I guess. Until I die.

L: Any Musicals that you seriously love?

D: There are shows that are right up there with my favorite classical or rock or jazz pieces. Guys and Dolls. Porgy and Bess is probably one of the five greatest pieces of American music, of any genre. I think Sweeney Todd was spectacular.

L: Are there any that you completely loathe?

D: Oh yeah, a lot of them. But I’m not going to tell you what they are.

L: Damn.

D: I can’t tell you what I hate if it’s written by anyone alive. Because I run into these people all the time. But the truth is, I actually can’t think of anything that I really, really hate. You know, a lot of people in musical theater feel betrayed by stuff they don’t like. They feel like it’s betrayed the whole form — this great American art form. But I pretty much follow the rule that 95% of any art in any genre in any form is shit. Like 3% is OK and 2% is really worth it.

L: You were in a band with Adam Guettel when you were younger. Is he a good bass player?

D: He’s a brilliant musician and he’s a really wonderful bass player.

L: Who wrote the songs in that band?

D: I wrote most of them, and he wrote a couple.

L: I was wondering if there are any lost Adam Guettel/David Yazbek songs out there…

D: Oh, there are, yeah. He and I wrote a song called, “Help Us, We’re Cargo on the Train to Destruction” which featured him playing this incredible, like, Red Hot Chili Peppers-style bass line. And somewhere, there’s a tape of Adam, me, and a guy named Bob Golden on drums playing six or eight songs. We had so much fun doing that. It was really loud. If you heard this stuff, you would not expect that Adam Guettel was part of it.

L: I think you should put this tape out.

D: I would have to do it behind his back, and he would kill me.

L: Your shows can be kind of potty-mouthed and adult-themed. Has anyone ever put pressure on you to change your lyrics for content — whether it was from producers or anyone else?

D: I’ll sometimes get requests to modify things for content — if a song is being performed in the Bible belt, or somewhere where it won’t be appreciated. And almost always, I’ll say yes, unless it ruins a joke or something like that. I have a kid, so I kind of understand. The thing I won’t do, though, is if people want to change something because they don’t like the politics of it. There’s a line in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels where there’s a George Bush joke: “The Bushes of Tex were nervous wrecks because their son was dim.” I got a lot of feedback about that, even in San Diego, which is a pretty Republican town. And my response was, ‘Fuck you.’ I can say anything I want. But now there’s a show on Broadway that says “Fuck God in the cunt,” so I think the bar can’t get any higher or lower than that. So I can pretty much do anything I want now. Of course, I’m not one of the guys from South Park, so it might be harder for me to get away with that.

L: Give me your five desert island albums.

D: The Beatles, Revolver; XTC, English Settlement; Captain Beefheart, Trout Mask Replica; The Tony Williams Lifetime, Emergency!; Louis Armstrong, Satch Plays Fats; and Buddy Rich and Max Roach, Rich Versus Roach.

L: Any stories you can safely share about either Patrick Wilson or Patti LuPone?

D: I love Patti. I really, really dig her. And I just think she’s great. Since we didn’t go out of town, it’s not like we hung out that much. We had several great dinners at Jeffrey Lane’s house, and I love talking to her. But I don’t have any big adventures with her.

With Patrick, I have a lot of great memories. I don’t know if he would remember this, but when were rehearsing The Full Monty out of town, there were these giant underground rehearsal studios at the Old Globe. We found like, five really nice, solidly built, upholstered wooden chairs, and they had wheels. So I marked out this course — because there were these big columns in the middle of the room. And Wilson and I — and I can’t remember who else, but there was usually three or four of us — we would race these chairs. And somebody broke their thumb. I don’t think it was Patrick. It was really violent, and incredibly fun.