WHO: The cast and director of the show

WHERE: The opening night party at Bryant Park Grill

WHEN: March 22, 2005

“To me, it's the most fantastic portrait of a family”—Director David Leveaux

“I don't think anybody really ever wrote women better than Tennesse Williams, so you get this tremendously complex, complete, character handed to you, which is a gift really.”—Jessica Lange

“I'm embarrassed to say that I hadn't read the play before in school, so I felt a little bit silly about that. When I got the call, of course the first thing I did was go get the play. I read it, and I fell in love
with it.”—Christian Slater who jumped into the role of Tom Wingfield late in the rehearsal process

“[Director David Leveaux] saw something in me that I don't think I saw in myself and really helped me figure out how to do it. I knew that everyone in town wanted the part, and I wanted it, too! I went out and got it! I took it!—Sarah Paulson on being cast as Laura Wingfield

“I didn't know this was going to happen. But it was certainly good to have had that experience under my belt. Inevitably, I think that was very helpful.”—Christian Slater on coming to Broadway directly after his run in the West End's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

“She has great character, she has great spirit.”—Jessica Lange on the character of Amanda Wingfield

“To be out there every day and watch her and look into her eyes and feel the focus and passion and pain and kind of ferocious intensity that she has, it's magical. Broadway's magic.”—Josh Lucas on being onstage with Lange

“Jessica Lange cracks me up every night. The play is so funny, and we keep discovering new things to do. We're just really really enjoying it. It's a blast.”—Christian Slater

“The minute I met Christian, I thought, 'There's an amazing balance really between the very vulnerable and the very almost sort of undependably volatile.' Tennessee has written a very passionate play, so I was very glad to get a passionate actor to play it.”—Director David Leveaux

“Christian's just the most game guy in town. He showed up, was on stage within a week after we'd been rehearsing for five weeks. He was amazing.”—Sarah Paulson on Slater stepping into the role late in the rehearsal process

“It's pretty much a dream come true for me to be anywhere in the vicinity of her, much less onstage acting with her. “—Sarah Paulson on onstage mom Lange

“Lauras are notoriously hard to find, and I was just very very happy that day that she walked into the room.”—David Leveaux on casting Paulson

“They have language at the tip of their fingers. It's really fun to do.”—Jessica Lange on Williams' characters

“That particular madness of your family, my family, is something that I think Williams caught just superbly, and so I suppose if there is a surprise in the show, it probably is that little edge of comedic madness.”—David Leveaux

Interviews by Beth Stevens
Compiled by Grace Hernandez