Joel Grey on Doing Double Duty in Anything Goes and The Normal Heart

To musical theater lovers, the name Joel Grey immediately conjures up the slicked-back hair, white face and artificially pink cheeks of the original Emcee in Cabaret, a role for which Grey earned a Tony Award and later an Oscar. In his 60+ year career, Grey has created stage roles such as George M. Cohan in George M and the Wizard in Wicked, starred in films such as Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark and appeared in TV shows from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to House. The soon-to-be 79-year-old pro will be doing double-duty on Broadway this spring, opening one show as an actor and another as director. Grey is starring opposite Sutton Foster in Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of Anything Goes, playing Public Enemy #13 Moonface Martin, and is directing the Broadway premiere of Larry Kramer’s 1985 AIDS drama, The Normal Heart, after a successful benefit reading last October. During a recent—brief!—break between his many rehearsals and performances, Grey chatted with Broadway.com about his Broadway directorial debut and the moment he realized his daughter, Dirty Dancing star Jennifer Grey, was a splendid actress.

Did you know when you were working on the benefit reading of The Normal Heart last October that it would go to Broadway?
I didn’t, actually, but it’s absolutely just right. The play has never been seen in this way, and Larry Kramer, the genius, has never had a play on Broadway, which is just shocking. It’s thrilling to be able to make that happen. The Broadway thing happened because the play was and is so—how shall I say it?—thrilling and outrageous and devastating, all of those things.

What excites you most about the production?
We’ve just got the most wonderful actors on board. Two of the originals, Joe Mantello and John Hickey, who were in the production that we did for The Actors Fund, are coming back, and we just got some amazing other actors.

You were already committed to Anything Goes when you found out The Normal Heart was moving to Broadway. Did you ever consider letting someone else direct it?
No, never. This is my baby and I’m very fortunate that I have a great man of the theater to work on it with me, George C. Wolfe. We’ve been collaborating for the past couple of weeks, and if he needs anything he knows to call me but obviously I can’t be in rehearsal when I’m on stage. I’m so lucky to have him because he’s a man who understands this play, I’d say, as well as I do.

You have a long relationship with this play, having taken over the role of Ned Weeks in the original production.
Yes, I saw the play and I was devastated and thrilled by it, and I told Larry Kramer in the lobby that if anything ever happened, I would love to be a part of it. And as fate would have it, Brad Davis got AIDS and got sick and had to leave, and there I was.

And now you have Joe Mantello taking on the part. Did you seek him out for this project?
I was at a preview of a play he was directing, and I said “I’m going to California to do a reading of The Normal Heart,” and he said, “That’s the only part I ever wanted to play that I didn’t.” I said, “Well, come do it!” He told me he would try, but he couldn’t get out of his commitments. He asked me to let me know if I was ever doing it again, he did the reading, and presto change-o, here we are. And he is stunning.

He was your director in Wicked; is it odd to have the roles reversed?
Not at all, it’s all about the play for both of us. Always. THE PLAY’S THE THING, all in caps!

The benefit production last fall was a reading. Will this be a fully staged production on Broadway?
I would say yes, it’ll be much more filled out, much, much more so than it was before.

In addition to preparing The Normal Heart, you’re in previews for Anything Goes. What’s the biggest challenge in going back and forth between performing and directing?
Oddly, it doesn’t feel strange. It feels like it’s all part of the same creative wellspring.

What made you want to come back to Broadway to do this show?
[Director] Kathleen Marshall promised me that I was going to have a good time! And she’s been right; it’s been a lot of fun and a great group of people. Sutton Foster, Colin Donnell, Jessica Walter, John McMartin… John and I have known each other forever and I’ve always wanted to work with him. It’s like taking a master class watching him on stage.

You’ve worked with some of the biggest names on Broadway, including Hal Prince and Bob Fosse. Which collaborations have meant the most to you?
I don’t know that I can pick one, but the best ones are with people who have good ideas and taste and imagination. That’s all one can hope for.

You come from a family of performers. Did you always know you would be in musicals?
No, I never thought it would be musicals. I always knew it would be things like The Normal Heart.

So how did you end up as a song and dance man?
It was entirely chance. When opportunity came, it had to do with singing and dancing and I jumped, and before I knew it that’s what I was doing.

You’ve done a lot of television and film work. Do you prefer one over the others?
Nope, no favorites, I like them all. Just like children; you can never choose a favorite.

Speaking of children, I’ve read that you weren’t keen on your daughter Jennifer becoming an actress.
Well, sure. As a dad you want to protect your kids, and acting is a hard life.

When did you realize that she was good at this?
When I saw her in a movie she did with Kevin Costner [American Flyers, in 1985]. She had a scene and she was just…well, she was marvelous. It’s a wonderful thing to watch.

See Joel Grey in Anything Goes at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre.