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Edie Falco & Company Get Ready for the World Premiere of MTC's MORNING SUN
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Oct 26, 2022
Manhattan Theatre Club's world premiere of Morning Sun, written by Tony Award winner Simon Stephens, directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer, began performances earlier this week at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Up next for Manhattan Theatre Club is Simon Stevens' Morning Son, which is directed by Lila Neugebauer, and he welcomes back to the New York stage Blair Brown, Edie Falco, and Marin Ireland
0:13
It begins previews on October 12th, and I caught up with the ladies during a break in rehearsal
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Edie, it is great to see you. Great to see you. And we're back in the rehearsal room. How does that feel
0:22
You know, it just feels great. This is where I first fell in love with this weird thing that I do for a living
0:30
It was rehearsal rooms when I was rather young. And here I am, still doing it all these years later, and I have to tell you, the love for it has not changed
0:39
Morning Sun is actually, the title comes from an Edward Hopper painting of a woman sitting on a bed
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And when you look at the painting, you can't figure out, is she happy? Is she sad? What's she thinking? Who is she? What's going on? Where is she
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And that's kind of what this play is about. It's based on a character
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Edie Falco plays this woman. It's about her mother and her daughter and their journeys
0:59
And what's amazing about Simon's writing, always true, is that he looks at life
1:05
And we look at anybody life and how curious it is how contradictory it is how surprising it is how ordinary it is how huge it is how little it is and that kind of the way this play goes I doing this play here at Manhattan Theatre Club
1:19
I know, I've never worked here. I've seen plays here my whole life
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It's a big deal. It's a really big deal. I mean, I feel like, you know, we were also joking, all three of us
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about how many times just even being in these rooms, Not rehearsing a Manhattan Theater Club show, but rehearsing other shows here
1:39
This place is a real institution for all of us. We all have these rooms that we sort of grew up in as little baby artists
1:46
And getting to be here with these people who have meant so much to me through my life
1:50
and in this building and this space and feeling, reminding myself that we are part of a tradition
1:57
and that telling these stories has mattered to all of us. It mattered to me, you know
2:02
It mattered to all of us through our lives. It really kept us all going
2:06
Talk about your wonderful director. Lila Neugebauer. Finally, I mean, we can say her name
2:12
Neugebauer. Get that name right. Lila Neugebauer. She's just the best. I did Mary Paige Marler with her at Tracy Let's Play, which is not dissimilar in some ways to this
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Again it about who that person you standing next to You have no idea who they are what their story is what they done in their lives So it about that same kind of thing Lila she one of the most extraordinary directors I ever worked with
2:32
Maybe the best in the sense that she can see the whole picture, but she can stumble around in the dark with you and let you stumble around
2:39
And the safety is you always know she's got a way of getting you out. She will find the light at the end of the tunnel, always
2:44
She's so imaginative. She'd start off saying, this was probably a stupid idea. And sometimes it is, but more times than not, it's actually extraordinary and completely unpredictable
2:55
Because of your success outside of the theater, many people know you from TV and film
3:00
and you'll be bringing that audience to the theater for the very first time. Oh my gosh, Edie Falk goes in something like, it's a play
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And we were all changed when we went early on. What does that honor mean to you of introducing people to the theater, maybe for the first time
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I hadn't thought about that, you know, introducing people to the theater for the first time
3:18
That feels suddenly very daunting. Like, I'm afraid to be that very first experience for them
3:26
but be that as it may, the off chance that they might have an experience like mine when I first went to the theater then you know something they may from my vantage point something I talked about for years is my first few audience experiences in a
3:44
play, like, what is this, you know, those are real people up there, it's not a movie
3:49
and then, you know, it can't be the same play that they did last night, because we're different
3:54
and I'm sure it changes, and, you know, just how magnificently important the theater can
4:01
and B, when it hits the right person, I don't know, that whole idea is very exciting to me
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Finally, what are you looking forward to? That first performance with an audience
4:10
Oh my gosh, I feel like I am excited for a brand new sensation
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I'm prepared for the fact that I think people might be really nervous. I feel a little nervous about the whole thing, and I feel like, okay, we're all going to be in this together
4:30
and I'm excited to feel a new feeling in the theater. And that's the thing
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It has never felt to me like our first day was like, oh, back to this old grind
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It's a brand new landscape. And that is something I'm excited about
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is a whole new thing
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