Playbill On-Line spent Tony Awards night, June 2, in the Tony pressroom at Sardi's, letting members of Playbill On-Line's America Online forum chat live with winners and presenters of the awards, moments after they came offstage.
The stars -- including Edward Albee, Sigourney Weaver, George C. Wolfe, Gerald Gutierrez and 16 others -- talked about their careers, their Tony-winning performances, and their future plans. A transcript of the chat will be posted separately. Here are some of the highlights of what they said: * Gerald Gutierrez (Winner, 1996 Best Director of a Play for A Delicate Balance) -- Gutierrez, who won the same award in 1995 for another Lincoln Center Theatre production, The Heiress revealed that his next project for Lincoln Center Theatre will be a revival of Noel Coward's Tonight at 8:30 in the 1997-98 season. (See separate story.) This fall, he will direct a revival of Once Upon a Mattress starring Sarah Jessica Parker.
* Sigourney Weaver (Presenter) -- Confirmed that she'll be starring on Broadway this fall in Christopher Durang's Sex and Longing, in which she plays a nymphomaniac named Lulu whose coffee table book of her last 100 lovers falls into the hands of the Religious Right. She recalled her first collaboration with Durang when they were in college together in the 1970s. (See separate story.)
* James Naughton (Presenter, also1990 Tony winner as Best Actor in a Musical for City of Angels) -- Talked about the upcoming June workshop of the new Kander & Ebb musical, The Skin of Our Teeth, in which he plays Mr. Antrobus opposite Bernadette Peters and Debra Monk. He said he may come to Broadway this fall in a revival of Kander & Ebb's Chicago.
* Leslie Uggams (Presenter, also 1968 Tony winner as Best Actress in a Musical for Hallelujah Baby!) -- Said she has approached the New York City Center's "Encores!" series about doing a concert version of Hallelujah Baby!. She said she's also developing a musical based on the life of actress Ethel Waters, in which she would star. * Len Cariou -- (Presenter, also 1979 Tony winner as Best Actor in a Musical for Sweeney Todd) -- Said he'd like to take his current off-Broadway hit Papa, about Ernest Hemingway, on a national tour. In response to a member's question about playing Frederic in A Little Night Music, he said the best preparation would be to work on diction, as the Stephen Sondheim lyrics were devilishly complex. As a warmup for Papa each night, he said he recites the lyric to the ALM's "Now," and proceeded to recite the lyric at lightning speed to astonished Playbill On-Line staffers.
