By Robert Simonson
19 Mar 2010

Warchus is a something of a breeder of Begleys. During the long run of Reza's hit play Art, three actors returned to the production to play different roles than those they had created at first. And Warchus was the director behind the famous modern-day switcheroo — when Philip Seymour Hoffmand and John C. Reilly regularly exchanged duties as Austin and Lee in the 2000 Broadway revival of Sam Shepard's True West.

Such acting bravado is "common practice" for him, Warchus said with a laugh. "It can only work with certain plays in which the roles don't require absolutely opposite types," observed the director. "And also certain actors who are as chameleon-like as Jeff."

He joked, "I'm assuming Jeff is coming back to play the women in a while."

Another famous incident of double duty: Laurence Olivier played the title role in Becket on Broadway in 1960. When the played resumed in 1961 after a short hiatus, he played King Henry II to Arthur Kennedy's Thomas Becket.

The next to ostentatiously display his versatility? Kelsey Grammer, who will reportedly spend the first six months during the upcoming revival of La Cage aux Folles playing Georges, and the second half-year (assuming the show lasts that long) playing Georges' partner, Albin.

For Daniels, there is nothing boring about coming back to the same play he did last year. After all, Michael's God is a world away from Alan's God. "You get to the same place at the end of the night. But it's a completely different journey. There are four people on stage, but at the top of the play there are really only three. And Alan is an island to himself. He's already kinda there, if 'there' is behaving in a kind of horrible light, because that's where you're the most authentic — as Yasmina writes. Alan's already there. At the end, he's the one picking up the flowers, trying to see some kind of beauty.

"If Michael is A to Z," he added, "Alan is Z to A. It's truly a flip."