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Video: Jason Kravits Unpacks SABBATH'S THEATER, Improv and More
May 16, 2024
Jason Kravits has more than the holidays keeping him busy this Decmeber. In addition to starring opposite John Turtorro and Elizabeth Marvel in Sabbath's Theater at the New Group, the television and Broadway veteran is getting ready to make his Chelsea Table and Stage debut with a jaw-dropping evening of completely improvised music and comedy. In this video, he checks in with BroadwayWorld's Richard Ridge to discuss the thrill of being back onstage x2!
View Video Transcript
0:00
Welcome to Backstage with Richard Ridge
0:10
I am once again at The Legendary Sardis, and you've seen my guest on TV and screen for over 30 years
0:17
And now he's co-starring opposite John Totoro and Elizabeth Marvel in Sabbath's Theater for the new group
0:23
And on December 21st, he'll be back at Chelsea Table and Stage with his improvisational cabaret called
0:29
off the top, please welcome Jason Kravitz. Well, I am thrilled to be sitting with you here at Sardis, which is a friendly home of yours
0:39
isn't it is? Yes, I love this place, especially this room. This is like, I had my 50th birthday party here
0:44
Nice, one of the fourth floor here. 90 years ago. Yes. One of my favorite places
0:50
And this was one of your favorite places when you were doing the drowsy chaperone across the street
0:54
You all lived here, right? Oh, this was every week. This was the actress menu on Wednesdays
0:59
come here in Angela Pupelo and Linda Griffin and just a great gathering of people, we'd always come to the second floor and chow down on the actors menu
1:08
See how incredible memories all come back to like Sardis, right? When you come and think about it
1:13
This is the place. It really is. Yeah. Well, congratulations on everything that's happening for you
1:17
Thank you. You're back on the boards again, co-starring alongside John Chituro and Elizabeth Marvel in the incredible new play, Sabbath's Theater for the new group
1:26
Yeah. What is that like for you? Oh, it's like an acting class in a way, the rehearsals with Joe Bonnie directing Elizabeth and John, and I'm just sitting there watching, but also just getting to work with some incredible actors, with incredible material. It's a real gift. It's a real gift as an actor
1:43
So how did this show come about for you? Well, John and I worked together about 12 years ago. We did a show on Broadway called Relatively Speaking, which was three, one acts by Woody Allen, Elaine May, and Ethan Cohen
1:55
And I got to play there, and John directed all three. Since that time, John has invited me to do readings of screenplays
2:03
and other things he was working on, usually playing various characters. So when this came about, he called and said
2:08
would you come do this reading? I said, sure. And I thought it was going to be me and about 10 other people
2:13
And it tried to be me and John and one other person. And I was playing all the men that weren't John or weren't the character Mickey Sabbath
2:21
And the woman was playing all the other roles. And I just did a couple of readings of it, and then they asked me to do the show
2:27
Okay, so this is based on Philip Roth's book. Yes. So explain what Sabbath's Theater is
2:33
Wow. It's a big question. That is a big question. Sabbath's theater is an epic novel
2:39
It's 350 pages, and it's about a failed puppeteer who has been living a life of just complete and utter debauchery and lasciviousness and chasing the pleasures of the flesh
2:53
in order to really bury and escape from a certain amount of grief and pain in his life
2:59
But now all those ghosts are coming back to haunt him and he's having to come face to face with mortality
3:05
his own mortality and others' mortality. And he is retracing places in his life
3:11
back from where he lives in the Berkshires for the last 30 years, down into New York City
3:16
and his old haunts where he was a puppeteer and his other loves and past lives
3:22
and then to the Jersey Shore where he grew up. And John is on stage for 100 straight minutes
3:27
He's phenomenal. It's a Tour de Forest performance. I'm sure you can agree. And I play all the men in his life from past, present, and future
3:35
And Elizabeth plays all the women. Yeah. Beautifully written, beautifully performed. I mean, talk about some of the guys you play, the men in his life
3:43
Sure, but I just want to say about the beautifully written part. A lot of people have tried to adapt Philip Roth before for television for films especially and they have to rewrite a lot of things and it loses a lot John and Aria Levy who is the co were very specific in only using Philip Roth words
4:02
His cadences, his choice of phrases are so specific, and I think that's what makes the show really dynamic and interesting
4:09
And I play five different people in Mickey's life, everyone from the husband of one of his lovers
4:18
to his best friend from 30 years ago who produced his theater
4:24
to his 100-year-old cousin at the Jersey Shore. And so it's fun for me to really have to shape-shift
4:33
and character, you know, change all the characters over the course of the hour and a half or so
4:38
So I was to ask you, how much fun is that as an actor? It must be wonderful. Oh, I love it
4:43
To play different characters in the same show. Yeah, some people don't like it. Some people like to go in
4:47
and play a character and stick through. but I really love trying to find the specificity of each different person, each different character
4:55
and where they come from, and what their physicality is, and what their voices, and that's a lot of fun for me
5:03
Who was the easiest for you to grasp onto and who was the most challenging
5:08
Oddly enough, I would say the 100-year-old man named Cousin Fish. He's probably the easiest to grab onto for me because he reminded me of so many of my relatives
5:17
And a lot of people have that same experience. Like, oh, I know that guy. He was my uncle
5:21
He was my grandfather. Because, you know, there's something very specific about being an immigrant Jew from Russia through the Bronx into New Jersey
5:34
And at that point in the 90s. So it was really easy for me to grab onto little pieces of that and vocal ticks and things like that
5:42
And the hardest one was probably, well, the Croatian immigrant isn't easy
5:47
certainly having to learn a Croatian accent and make it specific from a Russian accent
5:52
or a Serbian accent. It's actually very specific. And somebody, my first entrance in the show
5:58
is somebody who's in a deep level of grief but containing it. So it's a really tough entrance to make
6:05
I love your voices and your dialects and everything else. Were you always good at that
6:09
Yeah, I think so. I think I grew up in a very vaudevillian household, even though nobody in my extended family
6:15
were performers until my biggest. brother and I kind of took the reins, really
6:20
Everybody was doing community theater or, you know, I like to say all of my family were vaudevillians
6:26
just none of them professionally. But there was a lot of comedy in my house and singing in music
6:32
And so, yeah, I think that was something that I did a lot of when I was young
6:38
Did you and your brother sort of start together? I guess, yeah, I mean, we were in bands together and shows in high school and things like that
6:47
My older sister is an accompanist and a musician. And my younger sister was a dancer and an artist
6:54
And she also performed at times. And my father did community theater. So we were all doing it together as a family
6:59
And then my brother went more towards the singing world for a long time
7:05
and was working with a vocal, what do you call it, an acapella group
7:13
An acapella group for a long time pursuing that. and I was doing theater and television
7:18
and then we came together for Drowsy Chaperone. But he's always been an actor as well, yeah. I love it
7:23
Talk about your director, Joe Bonnie. Love her. Joe is phenomenal. I mean, and it's such a different energy
7:28
When you have this character of Sabbath, Mickey Sabbath, who is so hugely masculine
7:33
and vociferous, and John, who's such a big performer. Well, he's not big, but he really puts everything into it
7:40
You know what I mean? And he can run the gamut from like just shouting to making you crack up to make putting you in tears he got this great range and joe is very quiet and uh she she said to me once she goes i like water
7:56
on a stone just drip drip drip and just persistent and clear and for me personally
8:02
i was so lucky to be able to come to her and say what am i missing with this i'm feeling i'm not
8:09
grabbing and she'll say, well, just do this. And she'll give me a little adjustment, and I
8:13
could take that and blossom with it. So I loved working with her
8:18
She has such a great eye and a real great way of talking to actors, which is very rare, actually
8:24
Not every director is a great actor's director, and she certainly is. Yeah, let's talk about the new group
8:30
We all fell in love with the new group many years ago. They do such incredible productions that Scott
8:37
Elliott has created and put together. I mean, had you worked before there
8:41
I've never worked at the new group before. Obviously, I'm a fan of their work and their choices
8:45
I mean, there's nobody else who does work in New York City like the new group
8:49
Scott is very, Scott Elliott is so specific in what he chooses. And I think he likes to say when he got this script, he knew immediately
8:57
He's like, we have to do this. And looking at this script, I'm like, that's impressive that you knew you could do this script
9:04
Most places I think would be like, yeah, that's not quite for us. It's a little crazy and lewd
9:10
And, you know, this is where Scott focuses. And he looks for shows that showcase great acting
9:18
And I think this really does in a lot of ways. And everybody wants to work there
9:23
When you look back at all the years of the incredible great star actors who have worked
9:28
So many. And that he's created, like, given them a job that then went on to become these huge names
9:34
Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was integral in a lot. lot of people's successes and giving them opportunities to perform in New York City
9:41
You know, I hope me too, you know. I hope to reach that level someday
9:45
Oh, I think you'll be back. I think you'll hire you in something back there. I hope so. But I love the audience to go to the new group, too
9:51
I mean, I was the other day. It's a crackling audience. Yes. They're so smart
9:55
Oh, they are. And they're very dedicated to that group. And thank God
9:59
I mean, it's like theater is a very difficult thing these days. It's very difficult to get an audience. So Scott's been able to develop this crowd that comes in
10:07
sees the shows and it's we stayed we've had a couple of talkbacks and uh wow it's like three
10:13
quarters of the audience stays and the questions they ask you know they're hard i'm like i don't
10:18
know the answer to that that's that's really difficult no it's a smart audience really smart
10:23
really great at all different ages which i love yeah isn't that great these young kids who want to like
10:28
they're like sitting on the edge of their seat and really watching this which is great so rare as well
10:33
to have a younger crowd in the in the theater these days that's not a musical on
10:37
So it's been really, really exciting to be part of something that's not only starting from scratch, but also seeing the response to it
10:45
Well, it's one of the most exciting productions in town right now. Oh, great. But now you have another show coming up, I believe, which takes place on December 21st
10:53
You're going to be back at Chelsea Table and Stage. Now, what is the name of this show you're doing there
10:58
This show is called Off the Top. It's a show that I've been doing for about six, seven years now, all over the place from in town
11:07
at Birdland and Joe's Pub and places like that all the way to Edinburgh and Amsterdam and
11:13
even in Adelaide, Australia. And it's such a fun night for me, I hope for everybody else, but it's an improvised cabaret
11:21
So it's me and a trio of very talented musicians and suggestions that are written down ahead
11:28
of time from the audience. Suggestions, not song suggestions, but things like words to live by
11:33
and the place your favorite place in the world or the last text you received and those get put in a fish bowl And then I fish out the things and make up songs everything from you know a typical cabaret So you have your ballads you have your son times you have your 11 o numbers you have your patter songs
11:50
And they're all made up on the spot. Terrifying. But you love that, right
11:56
I do after it's over. Yeah. Beforehand, people say, how did you do that
12:01
I'm like, panic. It's absolute panic. I start before the show, spending about an hour
12:06
the day I thought of the idea. And then I go out on stage and everything seems to have a good time and I have a good time
12:12
And then it ends and I go, well, I guess I should do that again. It's kind of masochistic in a way
12:16
But you've done this all around the world, which I love. Like I said, Edinburgh, Amsterdam, anywhere in New York and you have no idea
12:22
You're at the theater or at the nightclub. You're getting ready backstage. And they announce you and you have to go out there and put a show on
12:28
Yeah, and it's not even me that they announce. We get the name of the performer from the audience and where that performer's from
12:34
so it could be, you know, David Smithfield from Poughkeepsie, and I'm going to tell the life story of David Smithfield from Poughkeepsie
12:41
and how he became this big star in front of you today in song and stories
12:46
So it's a lot of, it's kind of a parody of cabaret and an homage to cabaret
12:50
and like a magic show in some ways too. So I really love, you know, the event
12:57
I think it's pretty unique. Yeah. And you've guest stars every now and then, right
13:01
I do. I have guest stars every show and I've had talented ones. from Broadway and beyond
13:05
The most recent one was F. Murray Abraham, which was phenomenal at Joe's Pub
13:09
and Richard Kind and Nellie McKay and Christina Bianco, who's done it a few times
13:14
and James Egelhart did it. He was brilliant. Norm Lewis came, and he was just hilarious
13:20
A lot of people have never done improv before, and they're gutsy enough to stand up on stage with me
13:24
and make up a song, which I just admire them for their guts as well
13:29
and I've been very lucky that way. I'm not sure who's my... I shouldn't say I don't know
13:33
I should say I shouldn't say, yet. Yes, exactly. Who the guest stars are, but it'll be some good ones for this one
13:37
It'll be a bit of a holiday themed show. Like I was sort of say, this is more of a holiday theme show, right
13:42
Yes, yeah. December 21st, we're heading right into the Christmas weekend, so it can't not be a holiday show
13:48
And Chelsea Table and Stage is such a beautiful venue. You've been, yes, it's just got a really great energy
13:55
and bright and fun, and it'll be a fun night. So how can people get tickets for that
14:00
You can go to Chelsea Table and Stage, their website, and find it there, and you can also go to my website
14:06
which is off the top. Dot NYC. How about that? That's a fancy one, right
14:11
Off the top, that NYC, and it'll take you to a link to the tickets. But they're going fast
14:16
and hopefully it'll be a nice pack house. Yeah, but going back to this
14:20
and Sabbath's Theater runs until when? Sabbath Theater runs to December 17th
14:24
and you can get tickets for that at the New Group website, the newgroup.org
14:28
And I'm excited for going into the holidays, with it. I think we're going to get a nice crowd and it's already selling well and I can't wait to
14:37
keep doing it. It's more fun every day. Yeah. Just how thrilling is it to be back on stage again
14:43
doing what you love the best. Well, it's very different. You know, it's like I love acting
14:47
I love singing, I love dancing. And obviously, Drowsy Chaperon was my big coming out party for
14:53
you know, for Broadway. And that's always fun. And this, doing something like this is challenging
15:03
great actors, but boy, it's nice to be in front of an audience, especially the last few
15:07
months when there was nothing else going on with the strike. It's been nice to have somewhere to go and perform regularly and develop a character and continue
15:15
to grow as that character. So I'm having a great time. Well, you were all incredible in this show
15:20
I wish you the very best with the rest of Sabbath's Theater and we'll be there on December
15:24
21st at Chelsea Table and Stage. But off the top. Yes, we're off the top
15:29
Thank you. Good to see you as always, my friend. I'll see you in the neighborhood. Got it. Peace
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