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Jason Danieley Tributes His Late Wife and 2019 Tony Honoree- Marin Mazzie
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Oct 31, 2022
On June 9, as the greatest artists of the 2019 Broadway season are saluted for their outstanding work, the Tony Awards will also recognize the late, great Marin Mazzie for a lifetime of outstanding work. As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Mazzie, who passed away in September, will be honored for her advocacy and leadership within the theatre community as a brave and dedicated voice for women's health issues and organizations such as the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation.
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0:00
Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge
0:02
I'm sitting in the Tony Award Suite at the Sovital, NYC, which is the official hotel for the 2019 Tony Awards
0:10
And I'm sitting with Jason Dee, who is accepting the special honorary Tony Award given to his late wife, Marin Mazie, for her advocacy work
0:25
Well, first of all, I am so thrilled to be sitting with you. because I have known you and Marin for like the beginning of her career in New York and your career
0:35
And I think I've been to every opening night that you both have had in New York
0:39
So it is a real privilege. Thank you. Jason, are you able to put into words what this special Tony Award
0:45
which is being given to your late wife, actress and advocate, Maramasey
0:49
I don't know that I can put it into words because it is so, you know, all consuming
0:54
You know, really? That's kind of how it is all encapsuled in one word, really
1:04
You know, I wish it would have been a more celebratory event for Marin to be accepting an award for a performance
1:12
or even for her advocacy while she was still here. But I know that this award means more to her than any single performance recognition
1:24
would, that's who she is. That's how deep she goes. She's not a, as I'm sure you've seen in all of
1:34
her performances, she's not a surface kind of a performer. She goes deep. And so this speaks to her
1:41
core, her soul, her heart. Yeah. Do you remember the first time you saw her on stage
1:47
In passion. Yeah, I went with my then girlfriend. And, um, I
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I loved it. I mean, I loved Sondheim, and she loved Sondheim as well
1:59
It just wasn't her cup of tea, and that's, passion was very polarizing
2:03
You either loved it or you didn't. You didn't really fall in the middle. And I just was, I mean, shocked by the opening scene, of course, with Maren being completely naked
2:13
In full orgasm, astride, Jerry Shea, as the curtain rises. But that idea that Steve and James were looking
2:24
and delving into the beauty isn't, you know, on the surface, it goes deeper
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And Donna's character, of course, exemplified that, the passion of true deep love
2:36
And it's so interesting. I haven't really thought about it, but that that show is what brought us into each other's orbit
2:43
And then I went, then my girlfriend said, oh, gosh, I wish we would have gone to see Tommy instead
2:49
And I was like, oh, Tommy was wonderful, but it wasn't this for me
2:53
and so I went back the second time by myself and so I didn't then
2:58
Martin Moran who Marin met doing the national tour of Dunesbury and then they were
3:05
Huck and Jane is it Jane? Yeah, and Big River they made their Broadway debuts together
3:12
so they've known each other for a long time and the next year Marty and I were doing
3:17
Floyd Collins at Playwright's Horizons so it was just a very tight turnaround from passion
3:23
to us actually meeting. Yeah. What was the first time you appeared together on stage
3:30
The year in 2000, sorry, 1996, Marin and I were cast in a play called the Trojan Women, a love story
3:41
that Tina Landau directed. And she had just directed me earlier that spring in Floyd Collins
3:47
So, yeah, it was very, we weren't cast opposite. We weren't in any scenes together
3:52
And then the woman who was playing opposite me in Act 2 was fired during previews who wasn't working
3:59
And so Tina just said, hey, Marin, could you learn this overnight
4:04
And the second act was essentially the two of us, you know, speaking stream of conscious monologues that Chuck Me, this play that Chuck Me wrote
4:14
And she learned it in 24 hours because she has, you know, photographic memory, incredible
4:18
but we got to the point where our characters, Dido, Queen of Carthage and Anaeus, Kiss
4:25
And that was it. She had been waiting for that moment, she said. And she let me have it during rehearsal
4:32
And our stage manager, Martha and Tina said, let's take a 10, loose 10
4:39
And we fell in love within like, you know, two days. By the end of that week, we knew we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together
4:46
Yeah. you got to share the stage again on Broadway and Next to Normal
4:50
which to me will still go down as one of the most memorable nights
4:54
I have ever spent in the theater. And I remember I think I told you that because I used to run into the two of you
4:59
like coming out of a stage door when you'd meet your fans. What was it like
5:03
What are your favorite memories of working together next to normal? I think it goes back to the deep well
5:11
that the two of us have in our work. We gravitate. We like to work on things that are deeply, profoundly moving to us, but also if they have an effect that they did on the audience for next to normal, it's astounding
5:27
Yeah, it took us to a different level as not only performers, but as a couple
5:34
You know, Marin would have to wake up in the morning and start her day becoming sad
5:39
And so that by matinee, if we were unfortunate enough to have a matinee where she had to perform, starting at a four
5:46
tilt breakdown, she was ready. But as soon as we took our final bow, she was like
5:52
ah, let's go have a glass of wine. Yeah. But we always had deep conversations about a myriad of
6:00
things. But bringing mental health into our focus, which was never really there, was
6:08
extraordinary in seeing how it affected people because of people who were bipolar in their
6:15
family or people who have lost a child at an early age and how they dealt with that or a caregiver
6:21
And I think it really created somewhat of a framework for us to refer for me to reference lightly as
6:30
we were going through Marin's cancer journey as watching Marin go through such difficult time
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And I was there along with her But we were there were parallel journeys but not the exact same thing She was going through her thing I was going through my thing And yeah it was extraordinary
6:48
Because I followed your blogs that you two would do during her cancer and everything else
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You as the caregiver. And just how you dealt with things, because I had friends going through a lot that I said, you have to watch these
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You know, what that meant to you of the help you gave to other people
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What does that mean to you? It's extraordinary, and I still have people mentioning it
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and I stopped writing them after a certain point. I think when Maren's cancer recurred
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maybe after she went into remission in 2016 in January. And it was, we wanted to get ahead of everyone
7:27
We didn't want anyone to make up things or get the information wrong
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We thought, instead of doing a variety of interviews, Why don't we just put it in writing and people can extract exactly what we mean and say because
7:40
Marin's mindset was very specific. She changed, not didn't change, but she implemented her already positive attitude, her
7:49
positive mindset when she met her surgeon, Dr. Nadim Adderustum at Memorial Sloan Cantering
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He said that your mind can do more for you, your healing than the science and, you know
8:05
education that I have. And she took that to heart. And so through a positive mindset
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changing vocabulary, as simple as, instead of looking at chemotherapy as a horrible, horrible thing
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it's actually a medication that has very difficult side effects, but ultimately it's healing you
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It's hopefully curing you of the cancer, if not buying you time. So she would call it healing
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therapy instead of chemotherapy. She wanted to remove any sort of negative, oh, cancer is so horrible
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It is very difficult, but it's her journey. And if horrible is part of the vocabulary, it makes it
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harder to lift yourself up at any given moment. So we just try to disseminate that information
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so that people can understand when we see them on the street that we're not with our arms folded
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and that idea has spread considerably, and that's what a portion of Marin's cancer advocacy was
9:07
about power of positive thinking, along with bringing awareness of ovarian cancer
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Well, what you two did then and what you continue to do helps a lot of people, just so you know
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I'm glad. I'm very, very glad. I want to talk about the Feinstein concert, the last one
9:23
Broadway and Beyond? Right, Broadway and Beyond. Okay, so tell us. what's going on with that now? Sure. So in 2017, June, it was the last couple days of May
9:34
and culminating on June 1st. We did the show that we've been performing for a couple of years
9:40
in the regions, and it was the first time we played together at Feinstein's. We both performed
9:45
separately, and they were kind of like the greatest hits of our careers, you know, which is
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something we really tried to avoid, but so many people wanted to hear back to before. And
9:56
You walk with me and, you know, I miss the music and all those
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So let's put it together in a thoughtful way, not just highlighting, hey, pat me on the back
10:07
And it also, we included a song that Marin sang in and The World Goes Round
10:13
the national tour of the off-Broadway show. And a lot of songs have, the whole thrust of the show was to show that the songs change over the course of a lifetime
10:26
mean something different to us and give us different inspiration. And the world goes around and taken on a whole different connotation
10:33
not a defiant railing at the skies, but the world does change, the seasons change
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I have cancer, and it's changed my life, but the world is going to continue to go around and around
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and I can either try to force the world from not moving
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or I can continue to move with that. So that was sort of like the crown jewel of the show
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But anyway, 54 below, they were savvy enough to not just do a regular board recording
11:04
but they did their higher quality board recording, which enabled me to now posthumously mix a CD of an album of the evening
11:17
And her concert agent, Michael Moore, said, why don't we videotape this
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We could use it for something. and Joe LaCarle, who was an ensemble member of Ragtime, showed up with two cameras on the last night and videotaped it in HD
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And so we did a Kickstarter fundraiser that we made our first goal in the first 24 hours for the CD
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Then we bumped it up to add the DVD. We made the second goal on the second day
11:44
And then the money kept coming in. So it's going to be the best it could possibly be given all the circumstances
11:49
But we're looking to release that in September. which is ovarian cancer awareness month, which not very many people know
11:57
And it will also coincide with the anniversary of Marin's passing, September 13
12:03
It'll be, I'll be doing a concert. September 18, 19, 20, I'm sorry, 19, 20, and then on the 22nd
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we'll be doing hopefully the first annual Marin Mazie. It's yet to be named
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I'm calling it the Sunflower Power Hour. I love it. Sort of like a variety show
12:23
harkening back to our 60s and 70s upbringing and bringing friends in to help bring an awareness to ovarian cancer
12:30
as well as cancer support community. That gives millions of dollars of free services to people with all kinds of cancers at any stage that they are dealing with her cancer
12:42
and their families, and the caregivers. So if you unfortunately are diagnosed with cancer, CSC is there for you
12:50
and the other organization that will benefit from the sale of the CD and DVD alongside cancer support community is an organization called Tina's Wish
13:00
And that was founded to find an early detection test for ovarian cancer, which there is no early detection test
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When you are diagnosed, as Marin was, you were in late stage, and the survival rate is less than favorable
13:18
So these are two organizations that anybody at Broadway World can go to which of course again is Tina wish and cancer support community That correct yeah They can donate in Marin name We don
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have a website out for the CD DVD yet, but it's coming. But it's coming. And if you buy that
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portion of the proceeds, we go to those two organizations. And yeah, we're not just proselytizing
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for the cancer organization, but also the, which I think is a part of it
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of what the Attorney Committee is acknowledging in Marin's advocacy. It's the power of positive thinking and positive leadership that Marin had before she was diagnosed for years and years
14:04
She was an incredible team leader. And, you know, being a positive role model for the ensemble, for the young people who are just starting off, she was extraordinary that way
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Who mentored you early on? early on like at home or here in the city
14:21
At your career like when you started out, yeah. Well, you know, I was actually school of hard knocks
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I didn't really have one particular. I absorbed a lot from a variety of people that I worked with
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Early on, Tina Landau was a huge champion of mine. Floyd Collins, Trojan women where I got to meet Marin
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a musical that played at the Vineyard Theater. called Dream True that Ricky Ian Gordon wrote with Tina
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all of these sort of laying a foundation of doing these deep water kind of musical
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theater pieces. And I would have to say my huge, the biggest influence was Marin
15:06
When we found one another, we instantly became not only a team, but teacher and student
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on both ends. You know, she would say that she learned so much for me and I would obviously
15:17
learned so much from her over the years. So that's what makes it even more extraordinarily difficult
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If it's possible, then just losing a spouse, a team partner, a work collaborator
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I don't know if I can ever sing. I miss the music again. You know, John's homage to his collaboration with Fred, it's that deep
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And every time I turn around, I was just downstairs here at the hotel
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And they have pictures of past Tony things. And in the room I was saying there were all these couples
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I was like, oh, Andy and Orfei and Philippa and Steve. And, oh, where's Marin and Jason
16:00
It ceases to exist except for inside of me. And also, not to ramble on, but to continue on that thought
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the community has been extraordinary, not only through Marin's cancer journey, but also my dealing with whatever it is that I'm continuing on with
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It's been almost nine months. It'll be nine months in June. And I haven't stopped
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Cancer advocacy, running half marathon, raising money for cancer support community, speaking and participating with Tina's Wish Foundation
16:35
moving from our apartment of 20 years to a new place, just trying to get it all together so that I can figure out what moving forward is
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and it's going to obviously be completely with merit but it's been a roller coaster
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You were asked, I read somewhere where you were asked to pick a musical theater song
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to sort of figure out what you were going through. Was it move on
17:03
I was reading something online that you had done a piece and they were like, it was from a cancer community
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that asked you if you could pick a musical theater song to put into perspective what you were going through
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And you had mentioned move on. There are elements of move on, definitely
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It feels thinking back on, I don't recall that specifically, it feels a little on the nose
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But, yeah, and there was a great TED talk, and I can't remember her name, a comedian
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who lost her husband. And people were talking about moving on. And I guess that's what catching me is, because I don't think I can move
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on in those words maybe moving forward is a better way to put it. But there are so many, I mean
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I'm not even going to try to remember the lyrics right now, which I can recall very easily
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because we sang a suite of Sondheim songs from our first, from our only album until this one
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comes out opposite you, where we sing move on. And yeah, it can conjure up. It was interesting
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I was listening to the speaking of songs that, um, you know, might put into respect of where I am
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the producer, editor, mixer of the new album said, here's the first mix, let me know your notes
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And trying to listen to us sing together is quite difficult. And, of course, I can hear little things
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It's a live recording. How are we going to tweak this? I feel like leaving it as raw as it is, is almost probably what should happen
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but she sings oh gosh I'm blanking on the song from the king and I
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Hello Young Lovers And that song I could sing now Myself If I could bring myself to sing it
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Those lyrics You know I've had a love of my own I'm not going to
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Go on that path But that song And not a day goes by
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which Steve said, you know, Marin was paraphrasing, and I'm just, I'm going to say that Steve
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I know he said that she's the person who sings it the best. And to hear that day after day after day, not a day goes by, I keep thinking, when will it end
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You know, it's those two songs are kind of more profoundly where I am right now, which is a little harder place than move on
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That feels a little more fluid. And I'm not jammed up, but especially with the Tony's coming up
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It's, it's, I'm moving on Monday from the apartment that night. I'm coming to the cocktail party where I'll be accepting Marin's Tony
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Then the following Sunday is my last performance and Pretty Woman. And then from there I go to Radio City to, you know, be part of the festivities
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It is all like ground zero. Hoo I telling you Yeah Yeah How helpful was it having a job like going to the pretty woman family and doing eight shows a week It was extraordinary
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And it was the perfect kind of energy of a show. You know, I play the heavy, so I didn't have to fall in love with anybody
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I didn't have to sing a love song. I didn't have to carry the show. And I was able to be there as much as I could
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collect my paycheck by doing what I love to do and being surrounded by an incredible company of
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people who loved and adored Marin and put on an incredibly brave face and a supportive embrace
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to me and that if things weren't more as difficult I had to say goodbye to our 13-year-old
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minter schnauzer Oscar in March so and they were were there, you know, for that
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You know, a great group of people. Marin used her idea of healing therapy
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She drew a parallel to singing and performing as another extension of her healing therapy
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So when we do concerts, she was saying, I'm getting as much from this as you are performing
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It's not as easy for me right now to do that. I sang for the first time other than my 16 bars and pretty well
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at Tina's Wish Foundation event. And that was difficult because I don't sing from just projecting a pretty sound
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It needs to mean something. So I go to where those feelings are and there she is
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So it might be a little more difficult to me to get to the healing therapy part of that
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But being able to put on the costume, go downstairs, see the same faces who are smiling and singing
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an incredibly fun show for, you know, sold out houses. It's great
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You know, she lives through her art. Yeah. I mean, it's all out there
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We all have these CDs and everything else, and we're going to have the brand new one. And the other great thing about this season is that Kelly O'Hara is wearing Merrin's hat
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in the opening scene of Kiss MeK, which I thought was one of the greatest homage
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you could ever pay to anybody. Yeah, and Jeff Mashi, the costume designer who costumed us
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and next to normal, I think put a few Easter eggs in the coat rack or something going by
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Her outfit's in there. Is it? Yeah. Yeah. I believe they even did something in the Easter bonnet competition
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There was a bit of an homage. That is, the Tony is extraordinary
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That kind of reward is beyond. Someone asked me early on in my career, you know, what does success mean to you
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What would it mean to you? I being respected being respected by my my my peers, being respected by my peers by my peers and by my peers and by my peers and by my peers and by my peers
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and myrains, Mirren has, you know, achieved, you know, that, in spades
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So something extra special happened in Lincoln's Central happened in Lincoln Center. What is that? Right
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So with Andre Bishop, the artistic director of Lincoln Center, because Marin had
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just had a triumph as Anna Leon O'Anne's and the King and I, replacing Kelly O'Hare
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who you mentioned, we dedicated a seat in Marin's name. It's Mron had
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101 right on the aisle perfect shot of the of the stage she always liked to stand for some
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reason stage right of me when we do concerts it was a thing if she stood stage left it was like
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you know throw you off so she stage right you're just up the aisle and on the plaque says
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mary and maisie you were my sky and my moon and my stars and my ocean so in love with you my love
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am i from two of her songs from ragtime and kiss me kate so
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So I'm going to try and get that seat every time I go to the Beaumont
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I'm going to do the same thing. M101. I want that seat. Yeah, it's extraordinary
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We dedicated it a couple months ago when I was doing. There was a gala performance of Camelot
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And I was one of the nights in that. And so every night I was able to look up to M101 and give a wave to her
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So she'll be there in perpetuity. And also at the Gershwin Theater as a part of the American Theater
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Hall of Fame, which she was inducted in 2017. So she's little Easter eggs all over the place of..
24:37
All scattered through Broadway. That's right. Yeah. So the concerts are in September
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In September, 1920, 21, and then the fundraiser on the 22nd. Do you know where they're going to be
24:47
At Feinstein's 54 below. Okay. And there's a cocktail named after her, right
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There is. There's a specialty cocktail at Feinstein's that they were running for the year
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I believe they started it at the next month after, in like, October. And it's called Marin's sunflower power. And that's the name that I gave
25:06
Merin's Power of Positive Thinking. We had a teal-colored cocktail during our runs at 54 below
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to benefit cancer support community, teal being the color for ovarian cancer awareness
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And I said we should put that aside for right now. And it's a beautiful sunflower
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yellow, orange color, and there's tequila and at Maren's favorite liquor. It's got a good kick
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I was able to test it a couple of months ago, and that benefits cancer support community
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I just have to say that that's another extension of the cabaret community, the concert community
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You know, we did concerts since we were married. We started in a 98 or 99, and symphony orchestras and cabarets and performing arts centers
25:53
and they're calling me to come back and continue that journey with them
26:00
which is very appreciative. I'm very appreciative of that. But specifically, Feinstein's 54 below, the owners of that club have been extraordinary
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I was just there yesterday doing a photo shoot of someone who reached out
26:18
just to want to document where I might be at this point. I don't know what that is, but I'm accepting
26:23
what the universe is giving art-wise. And thank you for this opportunity to talk about Marin and her award
26:31
and being there over the years. It really means a lot to us. Well, I've been there from the very beginning
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I think of her all the time. I'm going to 54 tonight, and I'm actually having that cocktail
26:41
Good. Have a couple if you can stay in. Maybe I'll have two. Jason, always a pleasure
26:46
We'll see at the cocktail party, and I'll see you at the Tonys. Absolutely, thanks
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