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Jesse Tyler Ferguson Is Dishing on the Twists and Turns of FULLY COMMITTED
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Nov 7, 2022
The delicious hit comedy, Fully Committed, starring five-time Emmy Award nominee Jesse Tyler Ferguson as more than 40 outrageous characters, begins performances Friday, April 1 and officially opens Monday, April 25, 2016 on Broadway at the Lyceum Theatre (149 West 45th Street). This is a strictly limited engagement through July 24, 2016.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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Modern Family star Jesse Tyler Ferguson is returning to Broadway in Becky Mote's hilarious comedy, Fully Committed
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Under the direction of Jason Moore, it will open on April 25th at the Lyceum Theatre
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And I caught up with all of them during a break in rehearsal. First of all, welcome back to Broadway, my friend
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How do you feel? I'm so excited to be back. I mean, you know, Broadway is obviously something that I've been away from for a while
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I've been around New York doing Shakespeare in the Park and what have you, but this is such a pleasure to be back, and I'm honored to be part of the season
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There's nothing like it. There's nothing like being back on Broadway. This is such a beloved piece. Did you know it well before you signed on
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I didn't know it terribly well. I knew of the play. I never saw it
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I had friends who auditioned for it. And when it transferred to the Cherry Lane and started having a more successful run
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I had a lot of friends who went in to replace Mark Setbach when he finally left
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I'm very good friends with Christopher Fitzgerald, who was one of the replacements. But I personally never saw it or read it
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I knew what it was about, and I knew that it was really challenging. And I knew it was like, if you do Fully Committed, oh, that means you're doing Fully Committed
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Oh, how exciting. So when it was brought to me, I thought, okay, that's that play that's supposed to be really hard to do
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Let me look at the script. And I was like, oh, my gosh, I don't even know how this is possible. I don't know how one actor does this
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So I went to watch the Mark Selt-Lex performance at Lincoln Center
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and was blown away by what he did. And it was good to see that it's actually possible for someone to do this
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but also to see how hard it is. And I think that challenge is really what drew me to the beast
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So here we are. First of all, welcome back to Broadway. Thank you. How does it feel
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Oh, it's so great to be back to Broadway. I love it here so much, and it's my home, really
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and I get to be with a friend, Jesse, so it's really wonderful. How did this all come about for you to direct
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I had been finishing a movie last summer and I got a call that Jesse you know had a window in his Modern Family schedule and he was doing this play that I had loved and seen years ago fully committed And they had a theater and they needed a director
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and it was just like one of those sort of perfect things that lands out of nowhere that is exactly what I wanted to do right now
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It's a comedy, and it's working with a friend, and it's just been a blast
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It's a tour de force for him. How many people does he play in this
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Jesse plays 40 different characters, and they all have very different voices and accents and physicalities
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and it's virtuosic to watch him do it, and that's part of the fun of the show
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It's incredibly funny, but also watching one actor transform like that is part of the joy of it
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So what is the rehearsal room like? The rehearsal room is actually really fun, and it's one of the best gigs I've ever had
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because I get to sit there, Jesse has to work really hard, I actually don't have to work that hard compared to him
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and he just makes me laugh all day, you know, and it's kind of experimenting with like different
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sounds and different voices and physicalities and he is, he's really, you know, he has such
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deep roots in the theater and he's really rigorous, so just to watch him create and
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help him hone it, it's just been really, really fun. First of all, welcome to Broadway
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How does it feel? It feels fantastic. It feels incredible. Your leading man, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, I mean, what's it been like in the rehearsal room
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You know, I feel giddy in the rehearsal room. I asked Jesse, I sit there and laugh at things I've heard a hundred times before
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because he is extraordinary. He really is. It's like watching a master at work
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Truly. He's, you know, I was telling somebody, it's like each little segment is like its own play
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And he's showing me things in there I never thought, you know, jokes and moments and little character colors
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that I never knew could be in there. So I really feel like my mouth drops open and I feel
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I mean, I stand amazed. And he's an incredible collaborator. You know, there'll be a little moment where you think
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oh, how could we change this? He's the one who comes up with the fix. He extraordinary Isn it great when you have something that you can sort of keep shining or you know polishing the diamond with a piece of work It amazing and I have to say I feel sort of you know it like a I feel it like a guilty pleasure
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It's like, oh, you know, Jesse came up with another thing that I didn't do, but he, it's not just embellishing
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but the specificity that he brings to each moment, and he's very, you know, with his body and his voice
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and then he comes back to the main character and he's such a mensch. You know, he's really, it's incredible to watch
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He's wonderful. And then you have one of the finest directors in Jason Moore
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I know, I really feel, you know, I can't believe my good fortune with him
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And Jason is incredible too. He's very, I was saying to him the other day
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his notes, even as we went through the script and talked about what to
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you know, what might change and what might not change, He gave such wonderful thoughts about the structure and about the characters
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not just about comedy, which I would expect, but about any opportunity we had in the play to freshen something or to add texture
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He's been wonderful. And the two of them are great together. It feels, you know, it's a real gift
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What's the rehearsal room been like? I've spoken to many, like Vanessa Redgrave
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all of these people have done a one character. and they put cutouts of audience members in these chairs
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because it's a lonely place there. And you play so many people in this
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What's it like working with Jason in there? What's the room like? Well, fortunately, we're in a smaller room
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so it feels like we're full. We're also working with our brilliant sound designer, Darren
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who's actually sort of kind of tacking the show in the rehearsal room, which is unheard of
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because it's such a... The phones ringing are basically not the character of the play
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We really need to sort of, you know, start putting those elements into play as soon as possible
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And it certainly informs, you know, my, my, my, my chaotic world
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So I do have very friendly faces in the room. Kate Wilson, who is a brilliant dialect coach is, is with us a lot
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You know so it but it I will say the rehearsal days have to be on the shorter end because you burn out so quickly There are moments where you in rehearsal like okay if I could just get to this scene then I could sit down
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and then, oh, no, no one else is coming, and I'm in the next scene as well. So you have to sort of really pace yourself
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We take short days. We work for three hours or so, take an hour lunch and come back
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and maybe work for two or three more, and there are days where it's like 3 p.m.
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and it's like, I think this is all. I think time of death, 3 p.m. So, you know, but it's good because it's just me
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and we can make those adjustments where needed. You know, I was talking to Becky, you know
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this is such a beloved piece. It's been done all around the world in different languages. Why do you think audiences connect to this piece so much
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Well, I think it's just a fun piece to watch an actor for the, you know, pure theatricality of it
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watch one actor play 40 different roles and watch them toggle between these people
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But it has so much heart. and I feel like even if you're not a foodie
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you recognize the bad behavior of people and it's really cathartic to watch
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bad people played out on stage and be able to laugh at them in a room full of other people
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who think they're also ridiculous so I think that's a really fun thing but like I said, the play has so much heart
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and that's the one thing that Becky has actually really bumped up in this production
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we've actually turned up the volume on the heart in the play
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and the relationships between his father And it's just really, really lovely
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And at the end of the day, it's just a really great time. My final question is, when you first walked down the street and saw your face and your name up at the Lyceum Theater
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back on Broadway, walking by the theater, what do you remember thinking? Well, I cried
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But for a few reasons. I had just seen The Humans on Broadway, which also I was already like weepy from that
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And then I was like, I'm going to go look at my marquee now. And then I went to the marquee and put sunglasses on and I took a photo
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I was a nerd. But this is a big, big deal. And I'd never, if I had told myself 10 years ago
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that there would be a photo of me with my name above the title on Broadway, I never would have believed myself
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So this is huge. And again, I'm just so honored to be here in New York doing this
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