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STAGE TO SCREENS: Robert Sean Leonard, David Javerbaum, Plus a Look at Fall TV
By Michael Buckley
01 Jun 2008
Our Town, at the Shaftesbury, in 1991, remains Leonard's only London appearance. His sole Tennessee Williams play ("unfortunately") was The Glass Menagerie (his favorite Williams play), at Baltimore's Center Stage, in 1997. He played Tom (who's based on the playwright).
"I'm not a director, but I had an idea I wanted to try. At the end of Act One, the script says that Tom 'steps away, or disappears.' Amanda calls Laura, 'Come, look at the moon, darling...make a wish.' It leads to the lights going out. 'This may be cheesy,' I told the director, 'but I want to stand with one foot offstage and the other, on — and watch the scene. I want to use the papers, my writing, almost like a paint brush, sweep the text over them, and bring the lights down.' It worked beautifully. We kept it in."
Confessing to a "guilty pleasure," Leonard admits that he collects disparaging reviews. A favorite example refers to a recent film release. Quotes Leonard: "'88 Minutes,' unfortunately for the audience, runs 108 minutes."
Here comes the groom: An August date has been set for Leonard to marry long-time fiancée Gabriella "Gaby" Salick. How did they meet? "An acquaintance said, 'I know of only one other person who loves to stay home as much as you do. I think you'd like her.' Our favorite things are watching 'Law & Order,' and walking our dogs [Bradley, "named for Bill Bradley," and Happy]. We're a perfect match."
Come fall, Leonard's series switches to Tuesdays (8 PM ET). When his "House" work ends, he plans "on coming home [New York]. I'll have some money in the bank, maybe Gaby and I will start a family, and I can go back to doing plays."
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David Javerbaum, like Robert Sean Leonard, is a New Jersey native who's achieved success. Currently a Tony nominee for his (Broadway debut) Cry-Baby score, which he co-wrote with Alan Schlesinger (they are both credited with music and lyrics), he's amassed, to date, two Peabody Awards, eight Emmys, a 2001 Richard Rodgers Award (for his Off-Broadway musical Suburb, written with Robert S. Cohen), and a 2005 Kleban Award (which was accompanied by $100,000).
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David Javerbaum
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| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
He and Schlesinger did not know each other before individually submitting material to Cry-Baby producers, who paired them. "The book writers, Mark and Tom [O'Donnell and Meehan] wrote a first draft that showed where songs should go."
Listed as co-songwriters in the Cry-Baby Playbill, Javerbaum admits, "The majority of lyrics are mine, the majority of music is his. Generally, the lyrics came first. We collaborated a lot by e-mail. We didn't want to make a Broadway version of rockabilly, we wanted it to be rockabilly."
A 1988 "Jeopardy" teen-tournament finalist (who retuned to the game show for a 10th-anniversary tournament), Javerbaum's a Harvard grad, who earned a masters in musical-theatre writing from NYU's Tisch School. During his time at Harvard, he collaborated (lyricist/co-librettist) on two Hasty Pudding Shows, and contributed to the Lampoon.
Also an executive producer (and former head writer) for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" (Comedy Central, Monday-Thursday 11 PM ET), he's writing "some new Christmas songs [with Schlesinger] for a Stephen Colbert holiday special." He and wife (of six years) Debra Bard are parents of Kate (3) and Sara (nine months).
Javerbaum has great respect for the Cry-Baby librettists, director Mark Brokaw, and the actors. "I enjoyed working with all of them." He reserves a special fondness for creative consultant John Waters, whose 1990 movie (written and directed by Waters) was the basis for the musical.
"John's our guardian angel," notes Javerbaum. "He's a terrific guy, the nicest guy. He's very smart, and loves our show. I'd love to work with him again." Did he watch Waters' film? "When we began, but not since."
Past writing credits include a year (1998-99) for "Late Night with David Letterman," and three years with the Onion. He's twice won the Thurber Prize (for American humor): 1999,
for "Our Dumb Century"; 2005, for "America (The Book)."
WATT!?!, a new musical by Javerbaum and Brendan Milburn about James Watt, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior, was presented for two readings (May 24, 25), at the Barrington Stage Company, in Pittsfield, MA. "It's not dependent on knowing anything about him," says Javerbaum. "It's interesting to write about an obscure guy."
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Stage Performers With Upcoming TV Gigs
Waiting in the wings are several stage actors who, like Robert Sean Leonard, are panning for (series) gold in them thar hills.
The "legitimate" folk making/taking TV bows in the coming season include:
Jesse Tyler Ferguson (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and TV's short-lived "The Class") plays Larry, head of housekeeping, on the FOX sitcom "Do Not Disturb" (Wednesdays, 9:30 PM ET), which takes place in a first-rate Manhattan hotel (the Inn), and stars Jerry O'Connell ("Crossing Jordan"), with Robert Wagner in a recurring role.
Blair Brown (most recently in Copenhagen) stars as corporate exec Nina Sharp in the FOX drama (Tuesdays, 9 PM ET) "Fringe." (If there's a spin-off, might it be called "Beyond the Fringe"?)
Rufus Sewell (last season's Rock 'n' Roll) portrays biophysicist Jacob Hood, a special adviser to the government, in the CBS drama "Eleventh Hour" (Thursdays, 10 PM ET).
Ian McShane (late of The Homecoming and HBO's "Deadwood") has the lead (King Silas) in an NBC winter addition, based on "David and Goliath," entitled "Kings" (Sundays, 10 PM ET).
Christian Slater (whose most recent Broadway credit was 2005's The Glass Menagerie) heads the cast of "My Own Worst Enemy" (Mondays, 10 PM ET), an NBC drama. Slater plays a dual role: two fellows who share the same body — efficiency expert-family man Henry Spivey, and Edward Albright, an operative trained to kill with his teeth.
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Various and Sundry
Upcoming guest stars on "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" (which airs new episodes on USA cable) include Boeing-Boeing Tony nominee Mary McCormack (June 15); Eric Roberts and (as himself) New York Sen. Charles Schumer (both June 22).
It's approaching Tony time, television's only worthwhile reality show. The 62nd annual presentations of "The Tony Awards", a.k.a. "the oldest established, permanent floating, crap game in New York," takes place Sunday, June 15 (CBS, 8-11 PM ET), hosted by multi-award winner (Tony/Oscar/Emmy, etc.) Whoopi Goldberg.
Among personal favorites of the 2007-08 Broadway season: South Pacific, Gypsy, Boeing-Boeing, November, August: Osage County, The 39 Steps...I think that Nathan Lane deserved a nomination for November, though I'm pleased that Laurie Metcalf got one...Also thought that the three leads in The Country Girl should have been nominees.
To date, the only time that the four musical-acting categories were won by actors in the same show was in the 1950 original production of South Pacific: Mary Martin, Ezio Pinza, Juanita Hall, Myron McCormick. Might Tony history be repeated with current nominees Kelli O'Hara, Paulo Szot, Loretta Ables Sayre, Danny Burstein?
Stage to Screens is Playbill.com's monthly column that connects the dots between artists who cross freely between theatre, film and television. Contact Michael Buckley at stagetoscreens@aol.com.
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