Brill offers a look at his process of morning wakeup, leisurely commute to the theatre, pre-show rituals, between-show activities and backstage shenanigans. In the process, the actor captures some rare and humorous candid shots of the theatre legends and screen stars who join him onstage.
What the $%#, Playbill? It's a little early, don't you think? Well, welcome to my two-show day with Gore Vidal's The Best Man! Be patient. . . I had a long night.
Corey Brill
Priority number one.
Corey Brill
Priority number two...
Corey Brill
Starting to feel human. Each morning of late has started with coffee, a nice scramble and a liberal serving of the previous night's Rachel Maddow show.
Corey Brill
My roommates' cats have to have breakfast, too. I call them Uday and Qusay (they're really named Harvey and Mac) for the royal pillaging they get up to each night. For the record: my roommates hate those nicknames.
Corey Brill
This fella's been living in the hallway for the last couple of days. Luckily, thanks to the efforts of Daoud and Michelle, he'll be picked up later this afternoon by a shelter...
Corey Brill
A little more coffee never hurt... this is the Blue Roost across the street in Lefferts Gardens, Brooklyn. Lovely!
Corey Brill
Daoud (my roommate) joins me. I forced him to look friendly. He's not. Especially in the morning. He's just a really good actor.
Corey Brill
Back inside for some FaceTime with my pooch, Arlo!
Corey Brill
This is my wife, Joy, in Los Angeles. Well, it's her hand. She refused to be photographed this early in the morning. I can't imagine why, as she's always so pretty!
Corey Brill
Waiting for the Q train. Yes, I smoke a pipe. No, I'm not in AARP. I just like it. Why all the judgement?
Corey Brill
Crossing the Manhattan Bridge. You could ask for a prettier day, but you'd just be greedy...
Corey Brill
It occurs to me that this is the first photo I've taken of Times Square in years. Onward to the Schoenfeld. . .
Corey Brill
Here we are! Such a great theatre, and perfect for this play, I think.
Corey Brill
There's our fine looking cast!
Corey Brill
Signing in. . . yes, I'm here and fully awake! Only took all morning...
Corey Brill
In the interest of journalistic integrity, I've left my dressing room the pig-stye that it is.
Corey Brill
Quick trip to the basement to say hi to folk and yes, get a bit more coffee. Here's our wonderful company manager Brig Berney and PSM Matthew Farrell...
Corey Brill
The infamous James Lescene. Kevin Bacon has nothing on this guy. Everyone in the city knows James. It's a lucky city.
Corey Brill
Cantwell usurper John Stamos is caught lurking behind Bill Kux. I caught him measuring Eric McCormack's dressing room--welcome aboard good man!
Corey Brill
Each day I lead an optional warm-up for the cast (I don't know how I ended up leading these, but they're fun!). You're about to see some photos of very talented people making some very strange sounds. Bear that in mind. . .
Corey Brill
Here's Fred Parker showing us how it's done!
Corey Brill
Hey! Here's James Earl finding his lower register (as if he could lose it--I think he invented the damn thing)! He never misses a warm-up, nor a chance to smile. He's an inspiration.
Corey Brill
Who needs coffee when you have Kerry Butler around? She's kinetic energy personified. . .
Corey Brill
I've managed to capture the longstanding feud between these two--here they are in the middle of an anger-filled wrestling match!
Corey Brill
Okay, actually they're talking about the fact that they only have 2 more weeks with the show...
Corey Brill
Here's Eric's calendar. He's been trimming off each week of the run after it's done. You can tell he has mixed feelings about the short time remaining...
Corey Brill
Curtis Billings, ladies and gentlemen. Possibly the coolest cucumber in the cast.
Corey Brill
A quick visit to the mens' dressing room (it's waaayy up there, but so worth it). Here's Tony Carlin getting in some guitar time before the show...
Corey Brill
The guys are so lucky to have Danny Paul as their dresser. Never once seen this guy do anything but spread good feelings...
Corey Brill
See? This is looking down the stairwell from the top floor! It's like an Escher drawing. . .
Corey Brill
Like all great actors, I've read Stanislavsky's "An Actor Procrastinates." It's half hour, so of course it's time to sit out on the fire escape and play the ukulele! What?
Corey Brill
Love seeing the crowds gather on 45th St before the shows. . .
Corey Brill
Here's John enjoying the weather through his window...this is right before he tells me to leave him "the %#$^ alone" so he can get ready. Such a kidder. . .
Corey Brill
Caught Angelica Page in the midst of preparation. . .
Corey Brill
And now my own. . . you're about to witness a stunning transformation. Wait for it. . .
Corey Brill
See?? Unrecognizable, right?
Corey Brill
Here's our dresser, the wonderful Lolly Totero. No, she doesn't walk around with Eric's headshot all of the time. She's just dropping off some fan mail. . .
Corey Brill
My dressing-roommate, Dakin Matthews tries to make himself look even older! (I'll pay for this comment, I'm sure...)
Corey Brill
Candice (among others) loves her dresser, the awesome Andrea Gonzalez...
Corey Brill
How could you not love that friendly, on-the-spot face? It's Ken McGee our ASM! I'm told that Gore Vidal named the play after him. . .
Corey Brill
Yikes! What did I do?? Flynn (JEJ's assistant) is actually very nice--this photo makes him look like he's sometimes strangles kittens. He doesn't. (You don't, do you Flynn?)
Corey Brill
So I gave the camera to some of our on-stage reporters to take actual shots with a real camera. Very meta. Here's Eric and I about to enter stage left.
Corey Brill
And. . . I'm now onstage!
Corey Brill
Sherman Howard used to like me. I'm losing friends right and left with this camera...
Corey Brill
Here's the lovely Amy Tribby being wigged-up by the incredible Linda Rice!
Corey Brill
First intermission! Kerry Butler's the one who got me hooked on the uke--sometimes we sit out and play together. If you're ever walking along 45th and hear beautiful music above... it's probably not us.
Corey Brill
HA! Kim Butler. HA!!
Corey Brill
This is right before the couch they're sitting on spins around onto the stage. I love knowing that the three of them are sitting on a couch in the dark together every night. Kerry, Angela and Candice-- about to have a tea party!
Corey Brill
Another meta-shot. Dakin leaves them laughing every time!
Corey Brill
I should be shot for including this photo--but I can't help it. I managed to catch "Sheldon Marcus" just after finishing his sandwich offstage.
Corey Brill
There we go--much better. Jefferson Mays defies description, but a good starting place is "genius"
Corey Brill
Dresser Laura Beattie created this wonderful photo menagerie--gives you something to smile at while you're huffing up and down the stairs. Thanks Laura!
Corey Brill
Mark Blum is our most recent addition (miss you Michael McKean) and he's fit in perfectly. . .
Corey Brill
Had to include this: Costume designer Ann Roth chose this for me. Can you see? It's a tortoise and a hare. But in this case. . . . it's a TIE! (Go ahead and groan, I don't care)
Corey Brill
Dar-nit. Angelica's stunning eyes are closed. . .
Corey Brill
Another meta shot. See how angry I am? Don't mess with me.
Corey Brill
Olja Hrustic has a little crush on Eric's photo. Not Eric. Just the enormous photo...
Corey Brill
From the wings at curtain call--first show wrapping up!
Corey Brill
Pure class, and the audience shares the sentiment. . .
Corey Brill
I think they liked the show. . . fun house at today's matinee!
Corey Brill
Okay, maybe Andrea is the coolest cucumber. I stand corrected...
Corey Brill
Joined for a between show meal at Tacocina (delicious) by friends Daoud, Michelle and David. . .
Corey Brill
After a nap (no photos of that) it's time for the second warm-up. . .
Corey Brill
It's been decided: we have the coolest front of house crew on Broadway. Or at least they have the best hats!
Corey Brill
I'm just so sick of these photographers. . .
Corey Brill
Sean has been so helpful during the run--now he's off to San Diego to play Machiavelli... go get 'em, good man!
Corey Brill
The lovely Linda Lee is either yawning or laughing. . . I either said something funny or boring. Can't remember.
Corey Brill
James and Fred hanging in the stairwell. . . who needs a green room?
Corey Brill
One thing I learned today: James Lescene is an incorrigible ham!
Corey Brill
The delegates before the top of Act II. (See what I mean about James?)
Corey Brill
No comment.
Corey Brill
Bill Kux was shocked--shocked, I say, that I was taking a photo of him.
Corey Brill
This is John tolerating me again. . .
Corey Brill
A slightly blurry, but no less beautiful, Donna Hanover hanging in the basement. . .
Corey Brill
One more meta shot. Angela leaving them laughing as she goes. . .
Corey Brill
There's some scene change music that brings out the worst dancing in us. Here are James and I right before I lift him above my head. Why we weren't invited to perform at the Tony's I'll never know. . .
Corey Brill
Onstage with Kerry and JEJ. Come see me, with a handful of new cast members, through Sept. 9.
Corey Brill
Brill has appeared on Broadway in Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Other theatre work includes the Cabaret national tour, The Glass Menagerie (Kennedy Center), Pride and Prejudice (South Coast Rep), Doubt (Seattle Rep), Opus (Old Globe) and The Bay at Nice (Hartford Stage). He is a graduate of Otterbein and UC San Diego's MFA acting program.
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Shortly after this photo project, the company welcomed new cast members Cybill Shepherd, Kristin Davis and John Stamos. They replaced, respectively, Candice Bergen as a presidential candidate's troubled wife, Kerry Butler as the spitfire Southern wife of another candidate and Eric McCormack as a heartless and oily candidate. Elizabeth Ashley replaces Angela Lansbury as a women's advocate, beginning July 24.
Original cast members James Earl Jones, John Larroquette, Jefferson Mays and recent cast addition Mark Blum remain with the production, staged by Michael Wilson, through its final performance on Sept. 9.
The production was recently nominated for a 2012 Tony Award as Best Revival of a Play, with an additional nomination for James Earl Jones as Best Leading Actor.
The company also includes Curtis Billings, Corey Brill, Tony Carlin, Donna Hanover, Sherman Howard, Olja Hrustic, Bill Kux, James Lecesne, Dakin Matthews, Anjelica Page, Fred Parker, Jr. and Amy Tribbey.
The 1960 play "is set at the national convention where two candidates are vying for their party's nomination during the primary season." Expect "an inside look at the dirt-digging, double-dealing, triple-crossing chicanery of presidential electioneering and what could be more fun in a presidential campaign season than these theatrical fireworks."
The Best Man was originally scheduled to play through July 8, and has been extended twice. The Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre is at 236 W. 45th Street. Tickets are now on sale and can be purchased at Telecharge.com or by calling (212) 239-6200.
For more information, visit thebestmanonbroadway.com.
