By Michael Buckley
30 Jul 2007

Next came Say, Darling, in which Morse played Ted Snow, a character "loosely based on Hal Prince. It was the story of how The Pajama Game came to be. At that time, I met my first wife, Carole D'Andrea, who was a dancer in West Side Story." Their marriage (1961-81) produced three daughters: Hilary, Robin and Andrea.

Say, Darling brought Morse his first Tony nomination (of five, to date). The second nomination came for Take Me Along, in which he had the juvenile lead, Richard Miller (the show is based on Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness!). Also nominated were co-stars Jackie Gleason (who won) and Walter Pidgeon. Recalls Morse, "Gleason liked me very much. He'd invite me into his dressing room — 'Morse, come in here!'"

One of Morse's competitors when he won a Tony for How to Succeed was Ray Bolger (for All American). As a young man, Morse had seen Bolger many times in Where's Charley?. "I loved his warmth, the way he gave of himself to an audience. I'll never forget him singing 'Once in Love with Amy' — the way he danced and looked. I went backstage to meet him. I told him, 'I'm from Massachusetts, too.' He said, 'Really? What's the matter with the Red Sox?' I'll never forget that."

Sugar, the musical version of "Some Like It Hot," earned Morse his fourth Tony nomination in the Jack Lemmon role of Jerry/Daphne. "One of the classic moments is when I danced with Cyril Ritchard [playing the millionaire]."

Coming back to "Mad Men," a genuinely enthusiastic Robert Morse concludes, with a laugh, "To be in a big fat hit again is such a wonderful feeling!"

***

"I love theatre actors," says producer Marco Pennette, as the second season of ABC's "Ugly Betty" starts production. "I grew up back east [he was born in Greenwich, CT], and I'm a big lover of theatre. I want to go into theatre; TV sort of lured me away…"

During the series' first season, guest stars included Patti LuPone, Kristin Chenoweth, Rita Moreno, and Jesse Tyler Ferguson. "I think we've seen everyone in L.A. When you're doing auditions, it's easy to get the same actors in the room. There are a lot of great theatre people that, just because of the proximity, aren't able to be exposed to a bigger audience.

"When I was working on 'Caroline in the City,' we needed an older lady to play a part. I said, 'Let's fly in Marilyn Cooper [a Tony winner for Woman of the Year].' They all looked at me like I was insane: 'We have plenty of older people in L.A.' 'Yeah, but we've seen them. We haven't seen Marilyn.' I flew her in myself [to play the part].

"Luckily, ABC loves theatre actors, too. 'Ugly Betty' is a Broadway-friendly show. It's over the top, flashy, extravagant. It is a Broadway musical. We're going to do a musical episode for February sweeps. We're in talks with a big Broadway director-choreographer, and we're talking to Broadway composers to write some original material. We're bringing Patti back, and we're going to try to get Kristin back. We'd love to have Bernadette Peters [as a guest star], and when Curtains ends, we want to get David Hyde Pierce on an episode. He's a good friend. We're always looking to theatre — before we start searching the Farmers Market for actors out here."

There's a new casting director, "who's also theatre-friendly. For each episode, we have a 'casting concept' meeting, where we run down the guest stars: 'We have a professor here. Check to see if Victor Garber's in town.' We work from a list, and suggestions are made. If we can't cast it that way, we bring in actors to read, which is similar to theatre. We shoot an episode in ten days. We started shooting July 9 and we premiere Sept. 27, but by Thanksgiving we're working weekends, fighting to catch up. [Laughs]"

Also upcoming "is an episode where Betty [America Ferrera] goes on a date to see Wicked, and literally stops the show. We're going to film it out here at the Pantages, doubling for the Gershwin, and show scenes from the show.

"The last episode of the [first] season centered around a production of West Side Story at Justin's school. [Justin, Betty's younger brother, is played by Mark Indelicato, who appeared on the 2007 Tony Awards.] Everybody said, 'No, no, don't use West Side Story. It's an iconic musical; they'd never give the rights for a TV production.' I said, 'Let's try.' I talked to a wonderful woman at the Leonard Bernstein Foundation. She liked ["Ugly Betty"], and got the Jerome Robbins estate, Sondheim, everybody to sign off on it. It was kind of a miracle."

I mention that part of this month's column is an interview with Robert Morse. "He's great," says Pennette, who, with partner Steve Rabiner, is raising two daughters, Ally and Chelsea. "I did an episode of 'Union Square' [a 1997 sitcom] with him. Jimmy Burrows directed it. Of course, Jimmy's dad [Abe Burrows] wrote How to Succeed. [Morse] is wonderful. We'd love to have him come on 'Ugly Betty.'"

Kristin Chenoweth and America Ferrera in "Ugly Betty."
photo by ABC, Karen Neal

View article on single page

Previous Page   1 | 2 Next Page