By Harry Haun
23 Apr 2004

Michael Cerveris, who normally sports a shaved head, dons a wig here to play John Wilkes Booth, and Marc Kudish, who normally has a full and healthy head of hair, shaved his head to play the shooting-gallery proprietor who distributes the guns to assassins and wannabe assassins alike. "Why did I do it? They asked me," he shrugged. But there is a deeper reason for the transformation: "If somebody offers you something that's completely the opposite of the last thing you did on Broadway, I do it." (The last thing he did on Broadway was the uptight, buttoned-down, square-jawed square boss in Thoroughly Modern Millie.) "There's no other show like this anyway. And then to do what I did, which was a huge experiment because, originally, it didn't exist this way. The proprietor opened the show, and that was it. All the other stuff that we did was stuff that Joe Mantello and I came up with."

For a month recently, Cerveris found himself performing Wintertime and rehearsing Assassins. "It was exhausting, but exhilarating, because it was two things that I really loved doing, and they were extremely challenging, and they could not have been more different—except, of course, that I had access to both of them, but that was about it."

Much has been written about John Wilkes Booth, and Cerveris did a deep dive into the research. "I did a lot of reading on him, including some of his own actual writings, which was really fascinating and very helpful in getting inside his mind a bit. I've also watched some of Ken Burns' documentary on The Civil War, just to understand the context."

When Alexander Gemignani walked into the rehearsal room to audition for the John Hinckley role, Pop (the show's musical director, Paul Gemignani, and a conducting show unto himself) politely took a hike and let the lad fend for himself, which he apparently did with considerable effectiveness. He credits costume designer Susan Hilferty with helping him nail the character. "Once I get into those clothes, I am there."

Another first is racked up by Neil Patrick Harris, who previously worked Studio 54 as the Cabaret emcee. The balladeer-turned-Oswald is the first role he has originated on Broadway, and the experience blissed him out. "It felt great," he said. "I was really trying to stay in the moment the whole time. This has been a dream of mine since I was a child—to originate a part on Broadway. I didn't want to be overwhelmed by it all so I just kinda got my work done early and got to the theatre early and took it all in."

The evening's grandest exit is accomplished by Denis O'Hare, who, like director Mantello, is not resting on the Tony he won for last season's Take Me Out. As assassin Charles Guiteau, O'Hare gets to strut and kick his way up a long staircase to the gallows, singing "The Ballad of Guiteau," which, in its razz-a-ma-tazz buoyancy, is not unlike Georges Guetary's "I'll Build a Stairway to Paris" number in "An American in Paris." "I can't tell you how much fun that is to do. I really enjoy myself—and I like the character. He's always trying to better his life. He believes in the American dream and pursues it."

Nathan Lane dropped by Sondheim's table to congratulate the composer on the evening. The two are now collaborators. Lane is adapting as well as enacting Sondheim's The Frogs, which goes into rehearsal May 10 directed and choreographed by Susan Stroman. And when he finishes that it will be the film version of The Producers, also directed and choreographed by Stroman, co starring Matthew Broderick and Nicole Kidman.

He says the Nicholas Martin-directed Butley, which he did to much acclaim last year in Boston, is Broadway bound. "It's just a matter of timing. We're aiming for fall of 2005."

One of Cerveris' Wintertime co-stars, T. Scott Cunningham, was in attendance not only to show his support for the actor but also because his old college roommate at North Carolina School of the Arts directed the show. "Joe and I are going back for our 20th reunion next week," Cunningham said. "We both had techie roommates and we switched, without really knowing each other. We just knew that it wasn't going to work out the way it was."

Next, Cunningham heads to D.C. to play Goober in the Cat on a Hot Tin Roof that Mark Lamos is directing with Mary Stuart Masterson, George Grizzard, Dana Ivey and Emily Skinner. The production has been Brick-less since Patrick Wilson bowed out to do a film. Now it's believed the role will be played by Ron Livingston of "Sex in the City."

Mantello's contributions to the current season has been Wicked and Assassins, which collectively is a lot of sympathy for the devil. After taking the summer off, he'll ready for revival David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, another wonderful example of humankind. "It's my specialty," he grinned. "Assassins was one of the best times I have ever had doing a show, even though the material is so dark and depressing at times. I thought the cast gave the best performance they have ever given. I told them afterward, `If I had a notepad tonight, I wouldn't have taken any notes.' You know, sometimes on opening night they can either overshoot or undershoot? Tonight they were right on target."

Probably, no pun intended.