What's Up, Tuc Watkins? The White's Lies Star on Betty Buckley and Unruly Audiences

In off-Broadway’s White’s Lies Tuc Watkins, the strapping soap star of One Life to Live and Desperate Housewives plays Joe White, a 40something womanizing bachelor who spins a web of lies to pretend to grant the dying wish of his mother (played by Broadway legend Betty Buckley) to have grandchildren. We talked to Watkins to learn the truth behind all of White’s Lies.

Joe White sleeps around and is cruel to his mother, but he’s still charming. How do you approach a character like that?
There’s really nothing likable about the character on paper. When you [read the script] you think he’s a real toad. In order to make the play watchable, you’ve got to figure out what you like about this guy. I approached it as he’s not aware he’s a toad. He’s like a kid in a candy store. He’s not malicious. He’s just thoughtless and has a Peter Pan complex.

If he sounded awful on page, what attracted you to the part?
I liken him to Cary Grant in Bringing Up Baby. It’s fun to watch the transformation. Joe starts as a cad, but becomes someone who finds a woman he loves. Along the road there are a lot of comedic high-jinks.

The show references sitcoms like Alf and Cheers, and there’s even talk of it being turned into a TV show. What’s it like to do that style of comedy on stage?
There are sitcom elements, but it’s still a play about the journey of these people, so we didn’t necessarily approach it as a sitcom. It stands strong as a play, one that happens to have a lot of references.

One of the references is even about Newhart, which featured your co-star Peter Scolari!
Peter comes to the play with so much experience in the right kind of style and tone, so he was a huge asset to everyone. The rapport that Peter and I have developed is so much fun. You can put two actors together and they can be wonderful actors, but they may not work so wonderfully together. Our characters have the kind of relationship where they finish each other’s sentences, and that happened with us from the get go.

Tell us about playing the not-so-loving son of Betty Buckley.
She has found the humanity in a woman who could have been played as a shrew. Betty doesn't go for the obvious joke—she makes more of an interesting character choice. There’s a lot of disagreements between [Joe and his mother] in the script, but watching two people bicker on stage is not fun for anyone, so we agreed that the reason they don’t get along is because they want more for the other. She sees that being a cad will eventually lead to an unhappy life, and I just want her to approve of me. We tried to make the seed of the disagreement come from our hearts as opposed to just arguing.

You spend a good amount of White’s Lies shirtless. You're used to that from soaps, but how's it going with a live audience?
Well, that’s just the character. The first time you see Joe, he’s in his underwear and just had sex, so it sets the tone. The audiences have actually been really vocal. In rehearsals we cut back the running time, but once we started getting audiences in, the show got longer again because we had to hold for laughs so much. They’re talking back to the stage sometimes as if they’re in their own living room.

What kind of stuff do they say?
There’s a line like, "I don’t think I should do this," and an audience member yelled, "No, you shouldn’t!" It’s like they’re encouraging the plot the way they want it to go.

Do you respond back?
Part of what makes this play work is keeping the train on track at a quick pace, so we’re not easily derailed by audience comments.

Joe’s known for his lies. What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told?
Telling you would probably land me in jail! That’d be something that involves my sister’s Easter candy as a kid.

Sibling shenanigans! What’s the story there?
I can’t tell [laughs]. You’ll have to make up your own story.

Well, if you found yourself in Joe’s mother’s position, with only a few months to live, what would your last wish be?
That’s a question you can only answer when you’re actually facing something like that, but I’d want to make sure my family was going to be taken care of.

And if you found out they concocted an elaborate lie just to make you happy?
I would personally bury them alive!