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What's Second Stage's LOBBY HERO All About? Chris Evans and Company Explain!
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Nov 3, 2022
Rehearsals are now underway for Lobby Hero at Second Stage's Hayes Theater (240 West 44th street). Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, directed by Trip Cullman and starring Michael Cera, Chris Evans, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bel Powley, will begin previews on Thursday, March 1 and officially open on Monday, March 26.
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Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World
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The inaugural production that will open Second Stage's new Broadway home, the Hayes Theatre, is Kenneth Lonergan's critically acclaimed play, Lobby Hero
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And we drop by Sardis to catch up with the company during a break in rehearsal
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So you're about to make your Broadway debut. How does it feel? A little nerve-wracking, but so far it's felt, you know, kind of like home
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I grew up doing plays my whole life. I was a big theater kid. I know Broadway is a very exclusive group of people
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and there was a real challenge to decide to jump right to Broadway
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having not earned my stripes, which I think is important. So I'm a little nervous about not being accepted
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but hopefully over time, if I work hard enough, people will kind of let me in the club
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You were talking about musicals. Did you grow up on musicals? Oh, God, of course. Name one
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I mean, I did a lot of musicals as a kid. I come from a family of, I'm one of four, and we all are actors
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So year round, you know, whether I'm in a show or my sister or my brother, year round
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It's just musical theater going on in the house. I always loved the music from Pippin
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You know, some of the shows that I loved growing up, whether it was, you know, Falsettos or Sweeney Todd or, you know, even Into the Woods
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The roles were younger roles. You know, I wanted Jack and Tobias, and like, you know, the roles that I would have been able to play as a kid
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I always liked Seymour and The Little Shop of Horrors, but I don't know if I did
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I don't know, they wouldn't cast me in that. I got a real soft spot for West Side Story
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I love Les Mis which is kind of you know a little obvious Actually Once on a Silent I keep hearing that I gotta to go see it I love that show That one of my favorites So I got to go check that one out
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So what has it been like being in the rehearsal room? Because it all comes back to the play and the work
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What has it been like being in the room with this incredible company? I think it's a lot of hard work, first of all
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I mean, we are working our butts off at the moment. Because this play doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles
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There's no crazy big set situation or mise-en-scene or a big crash of an angel through a ceiling or anything like that
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It doesn't have that. It's literally set in this lobby at 3 o'clock in the morning
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and it's just these intensely, beautifully wrought conversations between these characters who are all struggling to do the right thing and are trapped in these horrible situations
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where inevitably they're going to have to make a decision that's going to ruin someone else's life
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This is so relevant, this play. What went through your mind when you first read it, why you wanted to do it
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I mean, it's the relevance of, particularly for me, what happens with Dawn. It's crazy
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I mean, in the light of the Me Too movement, I mean, you know, she's really stuck between a rock and a hard place
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which is, you know, and it's so, that's just something that happens to so many women in so many industries
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I mean, she's sleeping with a guy who's a senior cop, but then he uses it against her and blackmails her
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and threatens to ruin her career. And it's just that constant thing that's happening with women
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It's like, who is they going to believe? Like the guy or the girl? And then there's this incredible cast. What's it like working with the four of you in the rehearsal
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room and your director Tripp Coleman It pretty amazing It so nice being in a small cast I mean we only been doing it for like two weeks and we already so close And they all such good actors I worked with Brian before He astounding Michael is so funny Chris is so brilliant They all so open And Tripp
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I mean, he's genius. What an incredible play to start off with. I mean
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Kenneth Lonergan has quite a history with you. Tell me. Well, we did his first play
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This Is Our Youth, many years ago, I think over 20 years ago
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And I remember sitting in theater at the first preview and thinking
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whoa, this guy has an incredible voice. What an ear he has for dialogue and character
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and how hysterically funny is this play? And yet how meaningful and sentimental in a way it is
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And so I really love his work, and I've had a long history with him
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And we did his play, Waverly Gallery. We were part of that as well, which is, you know, a brilliant piece
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And here we are, when it came time to choose what play do you want to have open your theater
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this was the one, because Kenny's the one. This is so relevant
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Kenny literally could have written this yesterday. Yeah, I mean, that's the crazy part about it, is that, you know, it was written almost two decades ago
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and here we are, and the issues and topics that are within it are still prevalent
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And it's really cool to watch that unfold. Like, you know, dealing with classism, sexism, racism, socialism, all that kind of stuff
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and it's still there, and it's still fresh, and it's exciting to watch it, you know, unfold in front of us
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That's where we are, but it's all about, you know, people keep saying
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well, who's the hero of the play? I was like, well, that's very interesting, because now you have to redefine what the term hero means
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because I believe that the audience is the hero because I like you showing up to see this play watch these stories unfold look to your left and look to your right What are the connections that you going to have when you leave here What are the connections of what you think is heroic and what is true
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going to mean to you? And I think that that's the greatness of this play. What an incredible cast you have put together. I mean, look at the four of them you put together
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What's it been like being in the rehearsal room with them and working with them? Well, you know, you hope that the rehearsal room is a place where you go as a playwright
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As a lazy playwright, you want to go in there, you want to say, try walking in a little later, or maybe he should be less angry there
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and then everyone tries it and it works great. And then you sit back and watch everyone just do all this magic
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And usually it's not like that. Usually you go in and everyone's struggling to find the play, and that's not bad
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The result can be very good, but the process can be a little less fun. And so this cast is just like on the money all the time
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They're just really great. And they're like, should I try this? Should I try that? And you're like, both sound great. Try everything
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Who do you play? I play Jeff, who's this security guard in the lobby where the play takes place
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And he's sort of at a place in his life where he's sort of disillusioned and unhappy with his station in life
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and not sure if he has the potential to make anything else happen in his life
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or if he's just one of those guys who's just going to be in a lobby for the rest of his life
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That's a big problem for him. He's grappling with that. So when you walked next door the first time, you saw the Haze, you saw the marquee, you saw your pictures outside
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What went through your mind? How fortunate we are to be doing this show
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That it's really happening. I mean, it's very rare to get an opportunity like this to bring such a great piece of material to Broadway
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It's not something that you get offered every day. So it's a good moment
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