Latessa & Latessa,
Mondo Gals,
Nominee Roberts
& Idol (x) 3
WILBUR'S TURN
Considering the Broadway flashes in the pan that find themselves honored with a Sardi's caricature these days (David Hasselhoff, anyone?), it's reason to cheer when a genuine theater talent finds himself on the third floor of the legendary restaurant for an unveiling of his very own. Tony nominee Dick Latessa of Hairspray, who made his Broadway debut in 1968 and hasn't stopped working since, received his caricature last week—and a throng of his colleagues did indeed cheer.
“People assume that Dick has three or four Tonys by now and that his picture's been up at Sardi's forever,” director Rob Marshall told me at the reception. Marshall certainly knows Latessa—he worked with him on the Broadway productions of Damn Yankees, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Cabaret and cast him as joke shop owner Wilbur Turnblad back when Hairspray was his baby. Marshall remembered that Latessa was apprehensive about taking the role in an early workshop of the show—after all, he was busy enough doing eight shows a week as Herr Schultz in Cabaret. “I had to convince him to do it,” Marshall said.
Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman, who was busy cracking up good friend Christine Ebersole in the corner of the banquet room, revealed that Latessa wasn't the only one who needed convincing. After several workshops, the producers of the show almost lost Latessa. “[They] didn't want to pay his quote,” Shaiman told me. “They told us that we had to find someone else for the role. Thank God Harvey finally put down his foot and said, 'I'm not doing it without Dick.'”
The Harvey in question—Harvey Fierstein, of course—credits Latessa with helping shape his acclaimed drag performance. “I couldn't do what I do without him,” he said as he looked around the room for his 1983 caricature. (“As I remember, I'm wearing a blue turtleneck.”) “He treats me as his wife—he always has—and that helps the illusion. I need that kind of support.” Of course, Fierstein was also willing to take a few jabs at his slightly more mature co-star: “I have to hold him up a lot. He's very old, you know. And I have to give him cookies and take care of him. What are ya gonna do?”
I also gabbed with several other ladies in Latessa's life. Ex-wife Shirley Latessa (celebrating with Latessa offspring Gabrielle and Gina) recalled that he never waited tables after landing his first paying job doing summer theater in Kansas City. Hairspray cut-up Jackie Hoffman praised his “natural anger and foul mouth.” Old friend and former co-star Anita Gillette talked up some of his offstage talents as a carpenter and horse breeder. (He raised quarter horses on his own horse farm! Who knew?!) Polly Holliday, who appeared in Chaucer in Rome with Latessa at Lincoln Center in 2001, spoke fondly of a trip to Florence, Italy that she took with the man of the hour and Mary Louise Wilson last year (Wilbur, Flo and D.V. together at last!)
As for Latessa himself, he was a little choked up by all the attention. When I told him that his caricature was one of the better ones, he replied, “I know! Have you seen some of those others? They are truly frightening!” He admitted that he'd looked up at the Sardi's wall in the past and thought about “getting one of those” but was afraid it would end up in the basement. And what about his bare dressing room at the Neil Simon, which Fierstein told me only held the essentials—a dressing table and chair? He laughed when I mentioned it: “Anne Meara came in and said, 'Jesus Christ! Get a plant in here or something.' So, I did. I have a little plant. But I don't move in. It's my work. I like to keep it sparse and go home. And I take great pride in the fact that if they say, 'Latessa, you're outta here,' I got two shopping bags, and I'm gone.” Somehow, I don't see that happening in the near future.
RUBBERNECKING WITH RHEA
At the opening of Mondo Drama, Douglas Carter Beane's ode to those infamous 1960s “shockumentaries,” star Caroline Rhea informed me that she was watching me watch the show when I caught it the night before. As I tried to remember whether or not I had smiled enough during the bizarre-yet-funny show, the very quotable Rhea sat me down in a corner of Bar K to talk. Although Rhea's talk show has made her a regular on the theater scene, Mondo Drama is her first legit stage credit. “It's so fun to be at an opening night party where I actually have a seat!” she quipped.
After she took part in a September 2002 reading of the script, playwright Beane became a fast friend, exposing her to the cult Mondo films. Rhea remembers: “I said, 'There's a pig suckling a woman's breast. I can't watch. And Doug was like, 'Isn't it dreamy?'” Even if the inspirational films were a bit much for Rhea to swallow, she understands the appeal. “They pre-date reality TV, so audiences didn't know how psychotic people really were back then,” she said. These days, Rhea has her own obsession: Episodes of The E! True Hollywood Story. “Those are my Mondo films,” she said. “You don't want to look, but you can't look away!”
The show offers Rhea and her co-stars Siobhan Mahoney and Miriam Shor a chance to play many international characters. “I've become personally attached to my African woman and my Dutch hooker,” she revealed. Shor, best known as Yitzak in the stage and film versions of Hedwig and the Angry Inch also cited her African woman, a sea turtle character and a scene in which she plays the Mona Lisa. Yes, that Mona Lisa. “I lived in Italy for a year in my life, and no one in their right mind would cast me as Italian!” she said. Shor has taken in the real Leonardo da Vinci painting—”I've been there many times,” she said. “It's fascinating. I can see why Hitler stood there all night looking at her.”
Mahoney, a short, funny redhead who's going places (trust me!), weighed in, saying that her favorite Mondo moment comes when Shor plays an uptown socialite who adopts a starving Mexican boy, played by Rhea. “I'm always backstage cracking up at that one,” she said. Since she pays the bills with a day job at an all-Japanese company, Mahoney was a little weary about the gals at work learning of the show, in which she nails a horny Asian character named Miso Shy early on. After her boss, similarly named Miho, finally prodded, suspicious that Mahoney hadn't pinned a flyer up on the company bulletin board, she caved and revealed her multicultural night job. “You play an Asian woman?” Miho inquired. “How they do that? They tape your eyes back?”
Thankfully, no. But there is still plenty to shock and awe audiences in Mondo Drama. Director Christopher Ashley relished the chance to work on such borderline material, although he admitted that one touchy sketch was cut after just one performance. It involved a 42nd Street-style snuff film and it left one audience member aghast—John Cameron Mitchell. For those of you who haven't kept up with Mitchell, he's currently hard at work on The Sex Film Project, which strives to combine a strong storyline with explicit sex. “If he thought we went too far, then I guess we went too far!” Ashley cracked.
IDOLS IN THE HOUSE
The audience at Rent last Saturday night couldn't believe their eyes—was that really American Idol champ Ruben Studdard and runner-up Clay Aiken sitting in Box A of the Nederlander? Yup—they were there to check out Franchelle “Frenchie” Davis, the American Idol bootee who is making her Broadway debut in the show. I caught up with the talented two (and their battery of music industry types) during intermission. The rumor backstage at Rent is that Frenchie and Ruben are more than friends, but I didn't really witness any sparks when she came out to greet them. As for 24-year-old Clay, I asked if he's heading to Broadway next. After all, American Idol host Simon Cowell regularly criticized his voice as being “too Broadway” for the contest. “I never really thought about it before,” Clay told me. Well, think about it now, Clay! For producers who want to cash in on his quick celebrity, I offer a list of roles that Aiken could be perfect for: Mark in Rent, Jimmy in Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Snail with the Mail in A Year with Frog and Toad, the Emcee in Cabaret (okay, I'm stretching!) and, of course, Chip in Beauty and the Beast. Strike while the iron is hot!
IN BOX
I'm finally catching up on my e-mail. Thanks for all of your letters. Keep them coming, but remember to include your name and hometown for publication. Thanks!
Dear Paul:
What's going on with Keith Roberts? I loved him in Movin' Out when I saw it over Christmas, but a friend told me that he's not in the show anymore. How will Tony voters see his (amazing!) performance?
Glenn Daniels
Milford, Connecticut
Dear Glenn:
Roberts has been out of the show for several months with a shoulder injury. But fear not—most Tony voters attended the show back in the fall when it first opened. According to Tony rules, a voter is not supposed to vote in a category unless they have seen all of the nominees. Roberts is hoping to be back at the show next Tuesday, June 3, which means that in theory even voters seeing the show at the last minute (ballots are due June 6) can catch his performance.
Dear Paul:
I'm looking for info on Dana Ivey. She's such a great actress. But she isn't in your Star File section. Why?
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous:
No question about it—Ivey is a terrific actress. The Star Files section of Broadway.com is fairly new. We're still in the process of building it up. In case you didn't realize, Ivey is currently starring in the Tony-nominated revival of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg through Sunday and will next be seen in the Dylan Thomas play Under Milk Wood at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in late July.
Dear Paul:
I LOVE this column. Thanks for keeping up with all of those parties. Just wondering, do Broadway people actually campaign for Tonys?
Teri Ann
Knoxville, Tennessee
Dear Teri Ann:
Thanks for the kind words! Producers are known to campaign for Tony Awards more than performers, sending out items like CDs, souvenir programs and videotapes and even throwing receptions after special Tony voter performances of their show. Performers don't aggressively campaign, although they do try to get on the talk show circuit in May. And some of them are just plain nicer as Tony night approaches (or flirtier, in the case of Harvey Fierstein).
Dear Paul:
Thanks for standing up for Bernadette Peters. She's a fantastic talent, and I can't understand the vitriolic trash I keep reading about her. What's up with that crap?
Joe L.
Brooklyn, New York
Dear Joe:
When your name is that big above the title of a multi-million dollar show, you're a target. When you've received a rave from Ben Brantley after a month of negative word of mouth, you're an easy target. Look, I'm just trying to look on the bright side and based on the facts, she just sounded genuinely ill. Hopefully she's back in tiptop shape-in fact, Peters hasn't missed a performance since her last absence at the matinee on May 10. Keep your fingers crossed.
That's it for now. Talk to you next week.
Paul Wontorek
Editor-in-Chief
