Full Article Text
o
7
6
p
rtg'EgEATR,
Thnee eheers for the ffien 0f 'Frasier,'
to$ether aqain (sort of) on sta$e.
Whmt wouEd Frgud sav? ts-, ,*rcrrA.Er, Gx,,rz
rasier" is the only sitcom to win tire Best Comedy
Emmy five years in a row And its I l-year run, from
i993 ro 2004, set aii sorts of orher recorcis, maiilng the
"Cheers" spinoff one of the most acclaimed and suc-
cessful shows il TV historv. Now. its stars are back in
the spotiight in a trio of New York theater productions
David Hycie Pierce (the former Niles Crane) is the
learl in "Crrrfains " thc new nnmodrr-mrrcfahr mrrcinrl frn'-
the team behird "Cabaret" and "Chicago." John Mahoney
(cranky Crane patriarch Mar-
tin) stars in the first Broadway
revival of Craig Lucas's ear-
ly '90s romantic cirama "Pre-
lude to a tr{iss." And "Frasier"
star I{elsey Grammer siides
into Henry Higgins' loafers for
staged concert readings of "My
Fair Lady" at Lincoln Center.
ls it a testainent to the high
caliber of the "Frasier" cast, we
asked Hycie Pierce?
"It's a testanent to the low
stanclards of Broadway," he
immediatel)' replies Niies
couldn't have put it more w4rly.
.\ clor DJvid Hyde Pierce has already
s{ rpl,eared on Broudwal rn tlre forry-
; i winnirg musical 'Spamalol." He has
I 1 per{or med with the legendary Ula
tlagel FIe has set a i ecord for consec-
utive Lrnmy nominatiuns for his pcr'1or-
mance as Niles Crane on the smash hit
"Frasier"
But remind him thal he s playing lhe
lead role in "Curtains," a musical from
John Kander & Fred Ebb (who died in
2004) at the Al I-lirschfeld Theatre, and
he adruts it does something to hm-
"It makes me a little tingly when you
say those words," says Hyde Pierce, sit-
ting backstage with a gun by his side (He
piays a policernan in the shor') "I'm hav-
ing so much fun I'm not thinking about it "
"Cutains" opened in Los Angeles last
sumer to solid reviews and will be one
of the last, if not ahe last, new Broad'way
worls from the team that did 'Cabarer,
"Chicago" and "Itiss of the Spiderwom-
an " (Atter Ebb passed away, Kander col-
laborated with book witer and llricist
Rupert HoLmes on some songs; Kander &
Ebb had staried other sirovs, t()o )The show bows on March 22
But "Curtains" is something a little dif-
ferent - it's a CroU musical comedy mur-
der mystery set in 1959 and co-staring
Debra lvlonh, Karen Ziemba anci "Frasi-
er" regular Edwild Hibbert Hyde Pierce
plays Cioffi, a police lieutenant who is a
verv good detective but would really love
to be an actor When the untalented lead-
ing lady of a stage production is mur-
dered, Cioffi finds himself trying to solve
the crime md fix the book ot the troubled
show before it moves to Broadway.
It's intended as a lark, though, of
course, this is a Kander & Ebb show.
"lt has some dark underbelly to it,
whicir pops up or rolls over occasional-
ly," says the 47-year-old Emmy winner "I
guess I don't know what the right image
is for'dark underbelly' but it expos-
es itself periodicaUy. However, this is not
'Cabaret'in its darkness "
Naturallv. it's easy to see this as a vale!-
tine to the theater for Kander & Ebb, two
of that world's most acclaimed ta.lents
"l-hat's nol w ong," :,Jvs Hvde Pierce,
who r" as droll - but more appe3ling -m person than the buttoned-up Niles
"But if this were the begiming of John
Kander's cileer and he Mote a valentine
to the theate! that would be one thing
But at this stage, where Kander has done
so much and experienced so much, say-
ing the same thing means something
completely different That's what I love
about this show.
"This is a really Niles Crme-like, elite-
ish obseNalion. bul Bach s'Goldberg
Varial ions' stans out with a very sim-
ple tune and then it goes through varia-
tron after variation with a.ll this incredible
.{rmnlpyitu An.l 2fthevarupnri vnrr hprr
the tune again, just Iike it was at the be-
giming, except everything has changed,"
A keyboard in his dressing room is a re-
rninder that until he was halfrvay throughi college, Hyde Pierce believed he would be
: a classicalpianist He grewup inSarato^
: ga Springs, N Y (about a three-hour drive
i liom the city), following a calling to per-
i fom that his father felt he never could
i "My dad did comunity theater before
: I was ever ilound," says Hyde Pierce "He
i was an lnsurance agent who wanted to
: be m actor Friends of my mom and dad
j came to the show lrecently] and said to
: me aftemard, 'You're vour father' I have
: a picture of my dad at about the rime tfus
i show takes place in the '50s He's with his
i two sisters and his mom and he's in a suil
; va^r L,milrr t^ tha c,,'i I ,.,d." i,, rlla cL,*,,
: "Ithirkclhimalot Theideaof this
: gxy who is in a certain professton but
: what he always walted to do was act -
: that's him "3
-
o
c
g)
fr
T
t.-oc(\
c
c
q
d hc lJsl time F:elsey a;rammer came Lo :
New York. it wtr rn il i1l-starled pro- ;
oucuorr. i
, "lhadashod-livedluontsroadway i
with 'Macbeth,' which I reaiJ,v, really en- :
ioyed," says Grammer of the 2000 prociuc :
lion that rm less thm three u'eels, hclud- :
:itf t)fcvteu,s :
Fir'l,Jusys wrilrc\qursrirrlnriltUl,eiur" :
uddirrq "ft1hs1 5 gnjoyrd il icss - i
And rvir;ie Grammeq 52. says he hopes :
tn tlckle thal play a8iain before he's too i
lunA in the loofr. lre s coming back. d- i
beit briefly. u rth u r ole lhJl everuonc cJn :
agree is a perfect fit: the persnickety, de- :
marrding, bracingly intelligent Henry Hrg- i
Sins of Lemer and Loewe's "My Fair Lady." :
A staged concert version at Lincoln Cen- i
ter runs fforn Wednesdaythrough Satur- :
day and also stars Kelli O'Hara (previous- i
ly seer in "'fhe Light in the Pizza'), Brian i
Dennehy and Marni Nixon, who famous- :
ly dubbed Audrey Hepburn's singing in the :
Osccr-utnrring 1964 fiIm version :
"tvcnr)ne is kind of expocting me 1,, Llo i
the 'understudy performance' of Rex Har- j
risor1." says Gramer, a multiple Emmv :
wrnrrer lor "l-rasier' rentl cr,-sir in lasi I
year's "X-Men: The Ltrt Stand') He :
luou,s the role has Harrison's indelible :
stamp. "It doesn't belong to anybody etse " i
lnlerrsringlv. his ( aslinF u Dc ( rJne i
bad a backstoryinvolving a muslcal: ln the :euly '80s, Grmmer was in a workshop :
production of Stephen Sondheim's "Sun- i
dav in the Park With George " But he didn't i
follow it to Broadway because his "Sun- :
day" co-starMandy Patinkin gave Gram- a
ner's name to an aigent seeking someone i
ro lacklc a rnlc on lV s Cheers Grammcr i
ioined the show in I 984, as it wm evolving :
from crilical darling to ratings smash :
Ard soon he'll be retuming to TV: This :
spring, Gramrn_er rs frlming the pilot for ;
"Action News," a sitcon about a nation :
al lV anchor kicked back down to local :
news It co-stars Patricia Fleaton from "Ev- :
erubody Loves Ra-vnrorrd " :
"ltcould be aton of fun I'nr notsurethe i
stars could alig;n any befter [My character] :
is not really Frasier; people have that long- :
ing, I think, probablv- to see some ofthe :
same histrionics Rut he's nol such an ef- ;fete, this new guy I thid{ this fella is a little
more sure of hircelf "
Grmmer, soon to celebrate his lOth
wedding miversary (mother l0 years and
he md his wife. Cmille. will match Grm-
mer's lime playing Frasier on two shos's),
says digging into the deliciously witty lyr-
ics in songs iike "A lllmn to l{im" ard'l'm
an Ordinary Mm'' bmgs back memories
ofhis eighth birthday, when he carne from
New .Iersey to New York to see Caol Chan-
ning in "Hello, Dcillyl" And he even says do-
ing a full-blom musical comedy isn'1 out of
the question for him.
"I've been working on a J Edgar Hoover
mGical with Harry Shearer," sys Gran-
mer- "We've been kicking this thing around
for a decade, It's actually a delighftul piece
Boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy gets bov
back - , oh. it's a clmsic'S0s-stvle musical "
1]j n the Broadway revival of Craig Lucas' "Prelude to a Kiss,"
ii\ openirtg Thursday at the Roundabout, .lohn Maironey of "Fra-
i.t sier" plays, for the majorify of the shorv, a newlryed bride who
l: linds herself magically trapped in the body of a dyrng old man-
Th(rugh woried about the commilmenl of muriage, nou' she
iongs lor a secon.f chance
Nlahoney lmows all about tahing chances Wheil he was 19,
the British-born actor lefi most ol his lamilv behind md moved
to Anerica, where he joired the military and became an English
teacher At 37, he foud himself editing medical joumals, utlerly
bored and wondering what on eilth had happened So Mahoneyplunged into acting classes for the frrst time
''As soon as Lhey cast me in [a local Chicago productiorr of] Da-
vid Mamet's "I'he Water Engine' in the late '70s, I quit my job,
which was not too smart!" Iaughs the 66-yetr-old actor, who
made aD impression onthe big screen in "Moonstruck" (1987),
"Say Anlthing" (1989i and "The A^mericao President" (1995) and
lvho'Il be seen next iD "Dan il Real Life," starring Steve Carell
"I was making $75 a week, but I ws never happier," he says
"I lrad to sell a]l my furniture and records and books ad sleep on
the floor for a while. I sold oll my books md LPs That killed me-"
At Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater combany, Mahoney worked
with talent like John Malkovich and Garv Sinise
Then cme the play "Orphans," a hit that trans-
fened to Off-Broadway and led to his Tonv-u'inning
turn in John Guare's 'The House of Blue Leaves,"
film work and ultimately "Frasier," an 1 1-year-ride
(mostly on his character's reclining chair, with Jack
Russell terrier Ecjdie on his lap) that was filled with
unexpected riches md critical md popuiat acclilln
It reversed Mahoney's fortunes "l don'1 have a fi-
nancial care in the world," he says "I'rn gonna die
eventually, so I'n gonna have a great time "
That's certainly one theme of "Prelude" appre,
ciating life while you have it. And ivlahoney linows
the b',ttersweet feeling of missinEi those you lovc
"That's one regret I have, lhat neither one of rnv
parents saw lmy success] on stage," he says "They
were very proud of me because I was thc first in my
fanih' to go to college But my father was a classi
cal-music fan I subscribe to the Lyric Opera, and
sometines I'li be on my way to see sonteihing and
I'll thinh, 'l n'ish my dad was here with me "' si{$,\\NNN\NN'i :t- i :i i ri. jlr'* "i\T',:,:Iit':,:. iiii:i:i\":r.iN:.r.ii\ii:l::.\i ii.-l})::tl.iti"sr.,'siril\i:liriiiti:r.i\:ti,ii.tlii.:,rii
7
6
p
rtg'EgEATR,
Thnee eheers for the ffien 0f 'Frasier,'
to$ether aqain (sort of) on sta$e.
Whmt wouEd Frgud sav? ts-, ,*rcrrA.Er, Gx,,rz
rasier" is the only sitcom to win tire Best Comedy
Emmy five years in a row And its I l-year run, from
i993 ro 2004, set aii sorts of orher recorcis, maiilng the
"Cheers" spinoff one of the most acclaimed and suc-
cessful shows il TV historv. Now. its stars are back in
the spotiight in a trio of New York theater productions
David Hycie Pierce (the former Niles Crane) is the
learl in "Crrrfains " thc new nnmodrr-mrrcfahr mrrcinrl frn'-
the team behird "Cabaret" and "Chicago." John Mahoney
(cranky Crane patriarch Mar-
tin) stars in the first Broadway
revival of Craig Lucas's ear-
ly '90s romantic cirama "Pre-
lude to a tr{iss." And "Frasier"
star I{elsey Grammer siides
into Henry Higgins' loafers for
staged concert readings of "My
Fair Lady" at Lincoln Center.
ls it a testainent to the high
caliber of the "Frasier" cast, we
asked Hycie Pierce?
"It's a testanent to the low
stanclards of Broadway," he
immediatel)' replies Niies
couldn't have put it more w4rly.
.\ clor DJvid Hyde Pierce has already
s{ rpl,eared on Broudwal rn tlre forry-
; i winnirg musical 'Spamalol." He has
I 1 per{or med with the legendary Ula
tlagel FIe has set a i ecord for consec-
utive Lrnmy nominatiuns for his pcr'1or-
mance as Niles Crane on the smash hit
"Frasier"
But remind him thal he s playing lhe
lead role in "Curtains," a musical from
John Kander & Fred Ebb (who died in
2004) at the Al I-lirschfeld Theatre, and
he adruts it does something to hm-
"It makes me a little tingly when you
say those words," says Hyde Pierce, sit-
ting backstage with a gun by his side (He
piays a policernan in the shor') "I'm hav-
ing so much fun I'm not thinking about it "
"Cutains" opened in Los Angeles last
sumer to solid reviews and will be one
of the last, if not ahe last, new Broad'way
worls from the team that did 'Cabarer,
"Chicago" and "Itiss of the Spiderwom-
an " (Atter Ebb passed away, Kander col-
laborated with book witer and llricist
Rupert HoLmes on some songs; Kander &
Ebb had staried other sirovs, t()o )The show bows on March 22
But "Curtains" is something a little dif-
ferent - it's a CroU musical comedy mur-
der mystery set in 1959 and co-staring
Debra lvlonh, Karen Ziemba anci "Frasi-
er" regular Edwild Hibbert Hyde Pierce
plays Cioffi, a police lieutenant who is a
verv good detective but would really love
to be an actor When the untalented lead-
ing lady of a stage production is mur-
dered, Cioffi finds himself trying to solve
the crime md fix the book ot the troubled
show before it moves to Broadway.
It's intended as a lark, though, of
course, this is a Kander & Ebb show.
"lt has some dark underbelly to it,
whicir pops up or rolls over occasional-
ly," says the 47-year-old Emmy winner "I
guess I don't know what the right image
is for'dark underbelly' but it expos-
es itself periodicaUy. However, this is not
'Cabaret'in its darkness "
Naturallv. it's easy to see this as a vale!-
tine to the theater for Kander & Ebb, two
of that world's most acclaimed ta.lents
"l-hat's nol w ong," :,Jvs Hvde Pierce,
who r" as droll - but more appe3ling -m person than the buttoned-up Niles
"But if this were the begiming of John
Kander's cileer and he Mote a valentine
to the theate! that would be one thing
But at this stage, where Kander has done
so much and experienced so much, say-
ing the same thing means something
completely different That's what I love
about this show.
"This is a really Niles Crme-like, elite-
ish obseNalion. bul Bach s'Goldberg
Varial ions' stans out with a very sim-
ple tune and then it goes through varia-
tron after variation with a.ll this incredible
.{rmnlpyitu An.l 2fthevarupnri vnrr hprr
the tune again, just Iike it was at the be-
giming, except everything has changed,"
A keyboard in his dressing room is a re-
rninder that until he was halfrvay throughi college, Hyde Pierce believed he would be
: a classicalpianist He grewup inSarato^
: ga Springs, N Y (about a three-hour drive
i liom the city), following a calling to per-
i fom that his father felt he never could
i "My dad did comunity theater before
: I was ever ilound," says Hyde Pierce "He
i was an lnsurance agent who wanted to
: be m actor Friends of my mom and dad
j came to the show lrecently] and said to
: me aftemard, 'You're vour father' I have
: a picture of my dad at about the rime tfus
i show takes place in the '50s He's with his
i two sisters and his mom and he's in a suil
; va^r L,milrr t^ tha c,,'i I ,.,d." i,, rlla cL,*,,
: "Ithirkclhimalot Theideaof this
: gxy who is in a certain professton but
: what he always walted to do was act -
: that's him "3
-
o
c
g)
fr
T
t.-oc(\
c
c
q
d hc lJsl time F:elsey a;rammer came Lo :
New York. it wtr rn il i1l-starled pro- ;
oucuorr. i
, "lhadashod-livedluontsroadway i
with 'Macbeth,' which I reaiJ,v, really en- :
ioyed," says Grammer of the 2000 prociuc :
lion that rm less thm three u'eels, hclud- :
:itf t)fcvteu,s :
Fir'l,Jusys wrilrc\qursrirrlnriltUl,eiur" :
uddirrq "ft1hs1 5 gnjoyrd il icss - i
And rvir;ie Grammeq 52. says he hopes :
tn tlckle thal play a8iain before he's too i
lunA in the loofr. lre s coming back. d- i
beit briefly. u rth u r ole lhJl everuonc cJn :
agree is a perfect fit: the persnickety, de- :
marrding, bracingly intelligent Henry Hrg- i
Sins of Lemer and Loewe's "My Fair Lady." :
A staged concert version at Lincoln Cen- i
ter runs fforn Wednesdaythrough Satur- :
day and also stars Kelli O'Hara (previous- i
ly seer in "'fhe Light in the Pizza'), Brian i
Dennehy and Marni Nixon, who famous- :
ly dubbed Audrey Hepburn's singing in the :
Osccr-utnrring 1964 fiIm version :
"tvcnr)ne is kind of expocting me 1,, Llo i
the 'understudy performance' of Rex Har- j
risor1." says Gramer, a multiple Emmv :
wrnrrer lor "l-rasier' rentl cr,-sir in lasi I
year's "X-Men: The Ltrt Stand') He :
luou,s the role has Harrison's indelible :
stamp. "It doesn't belong to anybody etse " i
lnlerrsringlv. his ( aslinF u Dc ( rJne i
bad a backstoryinvolving a muslcal: ln the :euly '80s, Grmmer was in a workshop :
production of Stephen Sondheim's "Sun- i
dav in the Park With George " But he didn't i
follow it to Broadway because his "Sun- :
day" co-starMandy Patinkin gave Gram- a
ner's name to an aigent seeking someone i
ro lacklc a rnlc on lV s Cheers Grammcr i
ioined the show in I 984, as it wm evolving :
from crilical darling to ratings smash :
Ard soon he'll be retuming to TV: This :
spring, Gramrn_er rs frlming the pilot for ;
"Action News," a sitcon about a nation :
al lV anchor kicked back down to local :
news It co-stars Patricia Fleaton from "Ev- :
erubody Loves Ra-vnrorrd " :
"ltcould be aton of fun I'nr notsurethe i
stars could alig;n any befter [My character] :
is not really Frasier; people have that long- :
ing, I think, probablv- to see some ofthe :
same histrionics Rut he's nol such an ef- ;fete, this new guy I thid{ this fella is a little
more sure of hircelf "
Grmmer, soon to celebrate his lOth
wedding miversary (mother l0 years and
he md his wife. Cmille. will match Grm-
mer's lime playing Frasier on two shos's),
says digging into the deliciously witty lyr-
ics in songs iike "A lllmn to l{im" ard'l'm
an Ordinary Mm'' bmgs back memories
ofhis eighth birthday, when he carne from
New .Iersey to New York to see Caol Chan-
ning in "Hello, Dcillyl" And he even says do-
ing a full-blom musical comedy isn'1 out of
the question for him.
"I've been working on a J Edgar Hoover
mGical with Harry Shearer," sys Gran-
mer- "We've been kicking this thing around
for a decade, It's actually a delighftul piece
Boy meets boy, boy loses boy, boy gets bov
back - , oh. it's a clmsic'S0s-stvle musical "
1]j n the Broadway revival of Craig Lucas' "Prelude to a Kiss,"
ii\ openirtg Thursday at the Roundabout, .lohn Maironey of "Fra-
i.t sier" plays, for the majorify of the shorv, a newlryed bride who
l: linds herself magically trapped in the body of a dyrng old man-
Th(rugh woried about the commilmenl of muriage, nou' she
iongs lor a secon.f chance
Nlahoney lmows all about tahing chances Wheil he was 19,
the British-born actor lefi most ol his lamilv behind md moved
to Anerica, where he joired the military and became an English
teacher At 37, he foud himself editing medical joumals, utlerly
bored and wondering what on eilth had happened So Mahoneyplunged into acting classes for the frrst time
''As soon as Lhey cast me in [a local Chicago productiorr of] Da-
vid Mamet's "I'he Water Engine' in the late '70s, I quit my job,
which was not too smart!" Iaughs the 66-yetr-old actor, who
made aD impression onthe big screen in "Moonstruck" (1987),
"Say Anlthing" (1989i and "The A^mericao President" (1995) and
lvho'Il be seen next iD "Dan il Real Life," starring Steve Carell
"I was making $75 a week, but I ws never happier," he says
"I lrad to sell a]l my furniture and records and books ad sleep on
the floor for a while. I sold oll my books md LPs That killed me-"
At Chicago's Steppenwolf Theater combany, Mahoney worked
with talent like John Malkovich and Garv Sinise
Then cme the play "Orphans," a hit that trans-
fened to Off-Broadway and led to his Tonv-u'inning
turn in John Guare's 'The House of Blue Leaves,"
film work and ultimately "Frasier," an 1 1-year-ride
(mostly on his character's reclining chair, with Jack
Russell terrier Ecjdie on his lap) that was filled with
unexpected riches md critical md popuiat acclilln
It reversed Mahoney's fortunes "l don'1 have a fi-
nancial care in the world," he says "I'rn gonna die
eventually, so I'n gonna have a great time "
That's certainly one theme of "Prelude" appre,
ciating life while you have it. And ivlahoney linows
the b',ttersweet feeling of missinEi those you lovc
"That's one regret I have, lhat neither one of rnv
parents saw lmy success] on stage," he says "They
were very proud of me because I was thc first in my
fanih' to go to college But my father was a classi
cal-music fan I subscribe to the Lyric Opera, and
sometines I'li be on my way to see sonteihing and
I'll thinh, 'l n'ish my dad was here with me "' si{$,\\NNN\NN'i :t- i :i i ri. jlr'* "i\T',:,:Iit':,:. iiii:i:i\":r.iN:.r.ii\ii:l::.\i ii.-l})::tl.iti"sr.,'siril\i:liriiiti:r.i\:ti,ii.tlii.:,rii