Edie Falco on Blue Leaves, Motherhood and a Reunion with James Gandolfini

TV fans revere Edie Falco for her Emmy-winning work in The Sopranos and compelling star turn in the current Showtime hit Nurse Jackie, but Falco is proud of her roots as a stage actress. Her performance as an unhinged wife in the 1998 off-Broadway debut of eventual Tony winner Side Man won a Theatre World Award, and she wowed critics in Broadway revivals of Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and ’night Mother and the 2010 off-Broadway premiere of This Wide Night as a needy ex-con. Now Falco is de-glammed once again as Bananas, the mentally unstable yet sharp-witted wife of would-be composer Artie Shaughnessy (Ben Stiller) in the Broadway revival of John Guare's The House of Blue Leaves. During a rehearsal break, the no-nonsense Falco talked about her career, single motherhood (of three-year-old Macy and six-year-old Anderson) and a possible re-teaming with Sopranos husband James Gandolfini.

Why is The House of Blue Leaves a classic comedy?
Because it is timeless. Not just the obsession with celebrity, but media in general, religion—issues that don’t disappear. It deals with so many things in such an honest and clear way, and at the same time it is sort of absurd, which makes it even more compelling. The play as a whole is perfect on so many levels.

You’re co-starring with Ben Stiller [as husband Artie] and Jennifer Jason Leigh [as Artie’s mistress, Bunny]. Do the three of you have the same sensibility?
We do tend to have a similar sensibility. I was surprised—for no reason, really—at the level of commitment they both have to making this work. Neither of them expected this to be a walk in the park, and I think they are excited by it and up to the challenge of it. It had been a while since either of them had done a play, and both of them had been L.A. people, so there was a lot to juggle. I am so impressed with how well they’re maneuvering everything.

What’s been the biggest challenge?
Just doing justice to the play. It has a great history, and [the 1986 revival] got a great deal of attention and Tony Awards, so it carries with it a certain pressure that you can take on—or not. I’ve decided not to. There are a million ways this play could be done, and [director] David [Cromer] is very much doing his own thing. I gotta tell you, I would have him direct me in everything I ever do, from this play on. We think alike.

Did John Guare sit in on rehearsals?
He’s there every day. His level of enthusiasm is inspiring. He’s like a little kid, so excited, like he’s just starting out. He absolutely has taken a hands-off approach unless we have something we want to ask him. There’s none of “the way we did it last time.” He’s incredibly respectful.

Given your Broadway credits, is it fair to say that you respond to plays centering on dysfunctional relationships?
I don’t know! I must. On some level, what else is there to tell stories about? What fascinates me is people’s attempts at living in a civilized society—their successes and failures in dealing with other people; the ways we fall short and the ways we try again. I’m thrilled to be part of any exploration of the strength of the human spirit.

There’s nobody better than you at playing real people.
That’s a great compliment. I have no desire to represent perfect people or pretty people. I want to be a person that [audiences] say, “Oh, I know her; I am her; I’ve seen people like her.” The point—for me, anyway—is to give people stories that they recognize. I want to see regular people on stage and in movies. That’s when I am most moved.

What do you enjoy about stage acting?
Well, it’s the first thing I did as a kid, so when I think about loving what I do, the original love affair was with plays. My mom was an actress in community theater when I was a kid, and I was a real theater rat. She would take me to every rehearsal, every performance, and I would hang out; I knew all the lines. I just loved being a part of this society of grown-ups who put on costumes and told stories.

You and Patti LuPone both grew up in Northport, Long Island. Did your paths ever cross?
When I graduated high school in 1981, she came back to the school for the commencement speech and they made a big deal out of introducing us. It was terribly intimidating. We’ve run into each other at events over the years since then. I can’t say I know her well, but we’ve met.

Is it too gimmicky to suggest that you and [former Sopranos co-star] James Gandolfini should do Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or Death of a Salesman together?
That’s so funny. People have thrown other ideas out, as well. There’s been talk about doing a Honeymooners remake; somebody said The Flintstones. There are all kinds of things brewing, but I would work with him again in an instant. I love him.

Would those remakes be movies?
I guess, unless they want to do a stage show of them. They do stage shows of everything now.

When he was on Broadway in God of Carnage, you were quoted as saying you felt jealous of his stage wife, Marcia Gay Harden. [Gandolfini and Harden are currently reprising their roles in L.A.]
It was definitely a little weird! [Laughs.] I watched him have all these affairs on The Sopranos, but to see him with a different wife was a little bit jarring. It’s a strange thing we do for a living, you know?

You managed to move quickly from The Sopranos to another successful TV show, a feat most people consider very difficult. Is it because Nurse Jackie is so different from Carmela?
I simply don’t agree with that—that people won’t accept you as something different, because my experience has been if I accept myself as something different, entirely and wholeheartedly, the audience will follow. As long as you’re not trying to grab onto the coattails of the last job you did, and you are committed to telling an entirely different story, the audience is very willing to move on. If you have something interesting to say to them in someone else’s voice, they tend to be down for the ride.

Jackie keeps a lot of secrets, which makes her a mysterious character.
I love the mysteriousness, although on some level, I completely understand all of her actions. I’m not great at verbalizing it, but on a cellular level, I understand her craziness. I know a lot of people like her; I could have been her at some point in my life, had things gone a different way. So I get it: People behave in exceedingly irrational ways at times, but that’s the only way they know.

You’ve been very open about your two decades of recovery from alcoholism. Does it give you pause to play an addict on TV?
No. I feel a million miles away from that life. If I were five years sober, I might feel differently about it, but I feel nothing but honored to be able to portray someone who struggles with addiction, which is something very close to my heart. Not just my own, but people I dated [laughs], that I loved—it’s a pervasive disease. I am concerned that it not be glamorized, or that people think it’s cool she does these drugs. It’s important to me that there’s a price to pay, and I made that very clear to the writers. Who knows how that will manifest, but this isn’t going to be a walk in the park for her because it can’t be. It never is.

On an entirely different topic, what’s great about being the mother of young kids in your 40s?
I’m present for them. I absolutely wanted them. Nothing happened by accident—it took a lot of planning. I’ve got my head on straight. I had a beautiful life before I had my children, so I have an even more beautiful life now that I do. I wasn’t looking for them to replace or fill anything in my life, just augment—and I had no idea just how much that would be the case. I don’t know how people do this in their 20s. I cannot imagine! I couldn’t see straight.

Are your son and daughter close?
They’re very close! They’re adorable. They’re sort of in love with each other, while at the same time beating the hell out of each other. It can be hard to watch, from “I love you, I love you” to “Gimme that!” in a matter of 30 seconds. But from what I understand, that’s normal!

See Edie Falco in The House of Blue Leaves at the Walter Kerr Theatre.