David Ives and Mark Waldrop

this is theater talk I'm Susan Haskins here with me is my co-host Michael Riedel of the New York Daily News mere mortals is a collection of wacky one-act plays at the John Houseman theatre that won a lot of rave reviews here and here to discuss it is the playwright David Ives that master maestro of the miniature as they said David welcome to theater mr. Edel yeah now critics have described your your sense of humor as Lupe's wacky is offbeat as off-center how would you describe it how would you explain to someone what mere mortals is about it's easier if you've seen all in the timing which was your first collection the first collection of 1s which was three years ago and it is sort it is it is the sibling the Siamese twin the sideshow Siamese twin two all in the timing at six one at comedies which do everything from show what happens when two mayflies go out in a date and realize they only have the rest of the night to live a men's group which is which is gathered to discuss David mammoth and hail him hail him for his testosterone-filled plays and a man who goes to a psychic healer in a strange Central American country and what my sense of humor is like I only let the critics describe because I have no idea what it is much so how do you you know sitting around thinking about but I'm gonna write a play how do you come up with me a day I'm gonna write a play about mayflies on their first day their first and only last days I should well I should actually mention as a sidebar that that I wrote that particular play on my honeymoon so I was collecting materials [Laughter] well doctor I don't I actually wrote that that as a I wrote a little 5 page skit a few years ago which I threw into my drawer which is actually how a lot of these things happen and I don't quite remember where I where I got that idea but I like most things that probably came from sitting down over coffee and reading the New York Times in the morning the science section or something but I I wrote that little play and I didn't much care for it and so I throw it in the trunk and what we were putting mere mortals together the evening of mere mortals I had had a play that just was not working that that I couldn't get to work in him and we were about a month and a half away from starting rehearsal and I told the director about this old skit that I had written called time flies and he said that sounds like the play we're looking for so every morning on my honeymoon I would I would I would ride for a few hours while my my my blushing bride went down to the pool and and I'd work on it when I came back we read it we said that's it and that's kind of how it happened [Music] [Applause] [Music] the plays in mere mortals were they other ones that you had sort of dabbled with before and put in a drawer or did you come up with some new ones for the put together there are two new ones in the evening four of them have been done before back at the Manhattan punchline there was one there are a couple at the punchline there was one at est a couple of years ago and so I put in two new ones one of which I wrote for a particular performer in the show Nancy Opel dr. Fritz the one about the face but then left your show for because you got a Broadway gig yeah how do you I'm curious to everyone you're putting together an evening of short plays 1x do you they'll have a sense of any kind of theme to link them together or a sense a sense of structure for the flow of the entire evening is that something that you think that was certainly much undermines when we put it together but we didn't really know how to put it together until we had the pieces in our hands and then and then the director and I sort of moved them around so that two plays didn't collide that were too alike for example there were a couple of play there a couple of plays that are about dating there's one that takes place on a miniature golf course and there's one that's the the mayflies play those two plays obviously couldn't go together and so actually we opened previews it was it was quite a learning experience we started previous with the second act in a completely different order that just didn't work and so we we moved each of them around to a different place and suddenly it fell into delusion thank God for previews you know that's what they're for right is there I mean I don't want to ask you to be a critic since when you look at the whole evening I mean is is there a kind of david ives theme any point of view way of looking at the world that you're trying to get across in this Colette in these collections of plays you know I just try to be funny really I wanna make some money yes I work in a gas station in the Sag Harbor I have to say that I I don't look for that sort of thing when I'm what I'm writing I I write to amuse myself and my friends you know and and what I feel like I've accomplished that then I think I have something but I throw away more plays than I then I ever finish and I have to it's hard for me to know what what these what these themes are to these evenings because I I try for every play to be a little different from the one that went before it and so there's a kind of mortgage board quality to the evening that that's something that I like for one thing but we only kind of see the themes when we when we gather these evenings together I had no idea when all in the timing happened that there was so much about language until suddenly it was there it's just like I had no idea that there was sort of so much about mortality until in this in this evening until my director pointed out even though the title is mere mortals you know we always wanted to get to get get you on the show you were on our show about three years ago went on and on any often and you said to me you didn't like to do television because you felt that this kind of interview interfered with your writing process which I found so interesting yes you did are you sure it was me that they were making this a short interview actually I think that what I said was that I didn't like to do interviews before my play was when a play was in rehearsal or before it had opened because I have been I won't say by whom not by you guys but I have been quoted against myself by speaking about a show before it opened and then having a critic pick up something I had said and usually the word again use it against me and I hated that so much it was used so viciously oh did it I will not I will not speak ever since they're still out there carrying their Black and Decker tools waiting before me but that taught me that taught me just not to speak until until it was out there and people sort of knew what it was and and I have to say that after all in the timing there was I was constantly sort of doing things like this you know and I don't think that it's very good for you frankly I mean I I have turned down lots of interviews I have to say just because I get tired of hearing myself say the same thing but I also think that it gives you an idea of yourself that's just that's just not not not helpful in a certain way I do want to ask you get your response to this Peter marks the drama critic for the air times gave you yes minor minor figure on the theatrical scene oh you have not read now I stopped reading reviews of my plays a couple of years ago actually because I found that that wasn't very glad was getting them it gets in your way I I will quote myself and say that there should be surgeons general's warnings on all reviews because the the good ones turn your head and the bad ones break your heart and I found again after all of the timing that it gets in your way to have to know what people are saying about you and so to write innocently is something that I did for so many years that I you're always a struggle you're a young playwright until you're 65 and you're struggling playwright forever but I I just find that I prefer to write innocently and so I haven't read any of the reviews on mere mortals which I hear words well the Peter barks review wellness oh no I was working we have to attend to destroy his innocence all right I'm okay well of course the Peter marks review was pretty much rave which is why you are running at the John Houseman theater now he did however say something in review that I want to read to you and get your reaction to he first of all praises your first collection one acts on all the timing then he says his subsequent full-length plays including the flat and cryptic red address at second stage earlier this season failed to show off his skills to best advantage mere mortals demonstrates that mr. Ives his gift maybe for riffing rather than ruminating is that a fair comment are you more comfortable writing so sorry to have heard that for a second on that or shall I ruminate on that the point though is that you know you you had told me what could ask me any questions I didn't want to answer you've had success with the short plays the longer ones you've tried at least in Peter marks estimation have not finished successful are you more comfortable writing smaller place or are you capable of writing a big old three act play like long day's journey in the night or something I think that critics often speak of plays in terms of how the critics have received them and I will for example it was interesting when I was reading the the obituary and vs Pritchett when you know he had a great big beautiful obut and in The Times and the whoever wrote the Ovid mentioned that when he he wrote a few novels in his in his 20s or 30s and went on to say that they were not critically well received and I thought but are they good you know are they it doesn't what does it matter what the critics said and so critics yes those plays were not well received at file length but the full-length plays by certain critics but I had I had one play which was well received by audiences and was supposed to move closed by a review and Chicago was closed by one bad review as we were poised to move that play and I still have people that stopped me in the street and say did you write did you write Don Juan in Chicago and and it just breaks my heart to hear that because we had a good production which was unfortunately her because the critics said it wasn't all in the timing and the whole question of of critics is just so naughty for a playwright and so my first response to that to that quote is that I don't I think that those are quite good plays and when you talk about the cryptic whatever it was ready to add I think cryptic and flat road address the most disastrous experience I've ever had in putting up a play in the theater I mean I I continued to deceive myself in thinking that that was a good play but we had it was living hell putting that that show up because we couldn't find a director for it and and we had problems with the said it was just a nightmare so that by the time it finally went up it was just a horrendous experience and so to speak about the virtues or failings of that play is not critics often speak of what they see as if it's the play and when it's when there are production qualities that may be can you rally I do want to agai be now you come from right in the polling place let me put it this way after the way the critics have treated me on full-length plays I would prefer to continue to write short plays just because I feel like they are ready it's easy the easiest thing in the world for them is to say david ives right rights can sustain a portfolio yes so you know they why should i why should i succumb to you know their their prejudices so yes i'm probably going to continue to write one hour close i guess is the short answer to that but one one just never knows when one is going into a production and I'm speaking apart from the virtues or failings of a play how that production is going to is going to work out and so I'm I was I was very fond of those of those full-length plays and I'm and if the critics didn't like them that's too bad the audience's do you know the audience's did well critics an audience is like mere mortals which is running at the john houseman theater and david ives thanks for being our guest tonight on theater talk thanks very much [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] when pigs fly is a very funny very campy off-broadway revue at the Douglas Fairbanks theatre and here to tell us about it is one of its creators Marc Waldron Marc welcome to theater talk thank you very much all day long I was racking my brains thinking of a way to describe to people what when pigs fly is and I couldn't come up with a way to do it so I'm going to push that responsibility off on you can you tell us exactly what when pigs fly is well it is a review I think it's a return to what I call the classic review form which for me is like new faces of 1952 or the whole new faces series it's it's a grab bag of songs and sketches with some running jokes that go through it and then it's it's just strung along on a little thread of a story in this case it's the story about our costume designer Howard Crabtree who is also the title character and the creator of it with you and my co-creator and we should say that Howard Crabtree is no longer with us he died he died shortly before the show opened actually of AIDS yes just after completing his work on the costumes isn't it true that even this the story is that he was quite ill but that he sort of kept himself going he absolutely did that's absolutely true I know that he he hung on yeah so that he could finish his work because I think he he knew this was going to be his very well gesture and and his breakout hit it was certainly what we had hoped for and it it's turned out to be all that and more which is a wonderful thing into your second year now at the fifth of Fairbanks yes I'm sorry that we interrupt you and describe you DeForest don't forget to tell us about the costumes because they really are the thing that one remembers most from the right well the it's it's created as a as a vehicle for costumes because that's Howard's unique talent you know and the little thread of story is is about we start with a prologue that has Howard with his high school guidance counselor and he tells her how he rejects her mundane career suggestions and says he wants to sing and dance and make funny costumes and put on shows and he says do you do you think I can do that and she says yeah you can do that when pigs fly and that's where the title the show comes from and then we get into the show and the show is just a variety show but periodically throughout the evening things go awry because Howard's vision for the evening is is oversized and yeah the the ghost of his guidance counselor comes back to haunt him and and make him feel like maybe I did go too far maybe I shouldn't have attempted this and at the end of the show he has a sort of a an epiphany and a showdown with with that negative voice and triumphs now mark it's it's very campy show in a very gay show but you have been running for a year and we all know in this business you really can't run forever on Olli gay audiences so I assume that your show is attracting variety of people in deceit is that the case have you found that to be absolutely let me just say this Walter Cronkite was there this week it's we've had what are you saying about Walter Cronkite I'm just I just think he's the most mainstream a comfortable guy you could ever have what do you think its appeal is and why do you think you can break out of sort of the gay ghetto that a lot of gay themed shows get stuck well I'll tell you why first of all it's a very smart show it's very funny it's very campy it has all that wonderful element of what gay people do to entertain each other and and it's expressed largely through the costumes but it's it's smart and it's also sweet it doesn't there is nothing offensive in the show it's not making a big political statement a la angel in America or something like that well it has its little statement to make but the statement is mostly about hanging on to your dreams being yourself being yourself not letting anyone tell you you shouldn't be yourself and that's a message that really cuts across all lines mm-hmm I say that when pigs fly is no more for a gay audience then bringing the noise bringing the funk is only for a black audience or rent is only for an audience under 30 when you market the show when you have your advertising campaign how do you get beyond just conveying that it's a campy fun gay show do you try to do that to get in other other people to broaden the audience well it's it's a delicate thing you know it's it's because a lot of people will be immediately scared off by the idea that it's a gay show I think what's happened to us now in our business into our second year is actually picking up and we are experiencing a much bigger attendance from the mainstream audience I think people are not only reading great quotes from the critics and the ads and seeing that we've won all these awards but they're hearing from their friends tell us a little bit about Howard Crabtree because I don't mean to take away your cousin from the show but it is Howard Crabtree's when pigs fly and I'd love to talk about Howard oh what was he like I mean I got a sense of the shows kind of autobiographical actually well it is to a certain extent Howard Howard was he was really like the boy next door actually he was very very Midwestern very friendly and nice and clean cut and but he just had this wacky side and he had this gift for humor visual humor and humor that you wear you know and he and I met when we were working at lacasa fall together I was in the singing chorus and he was in the wardrobe department and we started working together we actually did a nightclub act together which I directed for him and it was like it was like an electric pairing we both found in each other something that really had sparked our own creativity when he was ill and you were doing this show and then he passed away but was there a point where you thought I can't go on without him I mean well we were you know we were watching that clock certainly when we conceived the show and when we started working on it we thought he would play the part as he had played himself in whoop-dee-doo yes but it started to become apparent that he wasn't going to bounce back again and no I didn't certainly I was worried about how we were going to complete the show and how long he'd hang on but and I had many sort of bedside intense conversations with him about now how are those feather boas gonna pop out of that the flower pot and what's where does the spring go and how because I wanted to be sure that we could complete the vision you know but he was so scrupulous about communicating that that it all went off without a head well your opening night must have been bittersweet because you got wonderful reviews but of course co-creator was not there to to enjoy them it was a very emotional night we we all felt like Howard was there you know now what's next here when pigs fly do you envision little flying piglets going out there across the the country and making you lots and lots of money that would be nice I would love for the show to play around the country because I think it has something to say I think it's sort of a wonderful ambassador for gay people in general here in New York it's not you know it's such an surprising issue but out there in America I think if we could get people to come see the show I think they it might even educate them a little bit while they were laughing of course what would you say though - oh I imagine the Tony Kushner's in the world who are more political who might say this show shows off gay people is you know a bunch of show Queens essentially who just want to sing and dance and Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals have you had that kind of criticism from any gay quarters I I have not heard that from any gay quarters and most the gay people I know who have seen it and Tony Kushner has been to see the show and he loved it but but I did anticipate that reaction and and that's why I wrote a song called laughing matters which is sort of the the 11 o'clock spot and it sort of addresses that issue of the guy who sings it starts out by saying I know what you're thinking don't we know what's going on in the world is all this for volunteer ially called for and then he sings a song about how important it is because the answer is yes and the reason when white pigs fly works is because it's a funny show it's running as a Douglas Fairbanks theatre Marc Waldrop the co-creator thanks a lot for being our guest on theater talk thank you [Music] well happy Halloween Michael riedle do you have a Halloween story for me I have a scary thought Arnold Schwarzenegger the king and I how does that grab you it's a puzzlement we're not in a brilliant exclusive in the New York Daily News by yours truly I reported that Arnold Arnold Schwarzenegger is going into talks with the Dodgers prominent producers on Broadway to star in the king and I now the timetable if he agrees to do it he would go in the spring replacing Kevin gray who's playing the King of Siam the uol Brennan roll now and do it for a limited run in the spring these discussions were at a very very tentative stage when blew him out of the water and tipped the world off and I know that the producers were very concerned that because there was a lot of publicity surrounding this this news that he would back off but I've since been told from some other sources over at the king and I that he has not backed off that he's still interested in the show he went to see it a couple of weeks ago apparently liked it very much met the director Christopher Wren Shaw and is seriously considered considering doing the show now it's a fabulous show and it's a fabulous role but this is a man who was a bodybuilder and has never I think gonna play in his life sure I'm a little shall we dance Arnold it's sort of can we dance Arnall I think that's that's we would sell tickets amazingly but yeah and well he's a man who's used to meeting all kind of man so we guess he could do it yeah it would be the ultimate ultimate star casting yeah but you know you it would be interesting for the first few minutes and be almost like a freak show having him up there in the yul brenner part and then he would have to deliver the goods for two hours and 40 minutes eight shows a week and that remains to be seen if he can do it if he wants to it's gonna be with faith prints or Vanessa Williams could be faith prints but there's a rumor about Marie Osmond going in oh no I'm a little bit country and I'm a little bit muscle-bound no offense Marie but alright what's owed the saga and now the king and I see but you do expect women to be faithful naturally hi me naturally because it is natural it is like old Siamese rhyme a girl must be like a blossom group with funny for just one man a man must live like honeybee and gather all he can to fly from blossom to blossom a honeybee must be free but blossom cannot ever fly from bee to bee to bee [Music] we welcome your questions or comments for theater talk thank you and good night [Music]

Channel: Theater Talk Archive

Views: 410

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: david ives, mark waldrop, theater talk, susan haskins, michael riedel, broadway

Id: rmlLaZ7RfRc

Length: 26min 49sec (1609 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 03 2020