Currently starring opposite Cicely Tyson in a Broadway revival of D.L. Coburn's The Gin Game at the Golden Theatre, Jones told the Associated Press that while he appreciates the feelings behind the entrance applause, "I wish there was a way for actors to kill it."
Tyson concurred, saying "It can be very distracting."
The two award-winning stage veterans—she's 90, he's 84—agreed that they prefer silence at the top of the show. "I think the ideal is you walk onstage and they're so rapt by what's happening to you that they don't think of you as an actor," Jones said. "They get lost themselves. That's home free, right there. That's what we all want. Forget the entrance applause, please."
The Gin Game won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1977, is now in previews. Directed by Leonard Foglia, the production will officially open Oct. 14. The limited run is scheduled through Jan. 10, 2016.
