Final Weekend with Marlo Thomas and Keith Carradine

When Art Imitates Life

In Arthur Laurents’ play, New Year’s Eve Marlo Thomas, plays Isabel a famous actress married to an award-winning playwright, whose daughter follows her family’s theatrical roots. In addition to several actors in the production, here’s a look at some other theatrical dynasties:

The Barrymores are perhaps one of the most famous American theatrical dynasties who, for three generations and well over a hundred years, provided America with important actors, particularly John and Ethel Barrymore. John Barrymore’s granddaughter, is actress, Drew Barrymore.

The Redgrave Family spans five generations of actors, directors, and writers. Vanessa Redgrave married director Tony Richardson, and gave birth to actress Joely Richardson and the late Tony® Award Winning Actress Natasha Richardson. Lynn Redgrave starred opposite her sister, Vanessa in London in Chekhov’s Three Sisters and received an Academy Award nomination for Gods and Monsters. Natasha Richardson was married to actor, Liam Neeson.

Bruce Paltrow was a stage, television, and film director who married Emmy and Tony Award winning actress Blythe Danner in 1969. Their daughter, Gwyneth Paltrow is married to Chris Martin, the lead singer of the rock band Coldplay

Actress and playwright Anne Meara is married to actor Jerry Stiller. Their son, actor, director, producer Ben Stiller is married to actress Christine Taylor. They also have a daughter, actress Amy Stiller.

Tony and Emmy Award winner Rosemary Harris is best known to audiences today as Aunt May in the Spiderman trilogy. She was married to director Ellis Rabb. Rabb directed Harris in 1975 in a Broadway production of The Royal Family, a parody of the life and careers of John and Ethel Barrymore. Harris has a daughter from her second marriage to author John Ehle, actress Jennifer Ehle who won a Tony® for her performance in Tom Stoppard’s Coast of Utopia.

Actor Alan Arkin has three sons who are all actors -- Matthew, Adam, and Anthony Arkin. Adam Arkin has appeared on and off Broadway and on television in Chicago Hope .Matthew Arkin is known to George Street Playhouse audiences for his roles in The Scene and this season’s Sight Unseen and has appeared off-Broadway in Dinner with Friends. Anthony Arkin is also an actor of stage and film.

Natasha Gregson Wagner who currently plays Samantha in New Year’s Eve is the daughter of actress Natalie Wood and producer Richard Gregson. Wood is best known for her films of Gypsy, West Side Story, From Here to Eternity, and Splendor in the Grass. Following Wood’s divorce from Gregson, she remarried actor Robert Wagner who adopted Natasha after Wood’s death. Robert Wagner is now married to actress Jill St. John

Actreess Marlo Thomas who returns to George Street Playhouse following the success of Roger is Dead is the daughter of actor Danny Thomas. Danny Thomas starred in the sitcom Make Room for Daddy and is the founder of St. Jude's Childrens Hospital. Ms. Thomas is married to talk show host Phil Donahue. Ms. Thomas's brother Tony Thomas is a film and television producer of Blossom, Empty Nest, The Golden Girls and Dead Poet's Society.

Keith Carradine is the son of actor John Carradine and part of a family that includes actors David Carradine and Robert Carradine. John Carradine appeared in film, TV, and stage with performances including the film The Grapes of Wrath, the TV series The Munsters, and stage appearances in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and Tobacco Road. Tony Award Winning Actress Martha Plimpton is Keith Carradine’s daughter.

Can you name others?

Setting the Stage

Take a look at the the work our fantastic scene shop does to bring our designers' work to reality.

New Years Eve by Arthur Laurents
Directed by David Saint
Scenic Design by James Youmans
Lighting Design by Joe Saint
Complete set photo by T.Charles Erickson

Interview with Marlo Thomas and Natasha Gregson Wagner

BY CHARLES PAOLINO, HOME NEWS TRIBUNE

Two experienced actresses whose parents were performers, may have some special insight into their roles in Arthur Laurents' new play, "New Year's Eve."

Marlo Thomas and Natasha Gregson Wagner — one the child of Danny Thomas, the other of Natalie Wood — play mother and daughter, both actresses, in the play that will have its world premiere this week at the George Street Playhouse.

But both actresses feel that the play, while it has a theatrical setting, reflects on experiences that affect people in every walk of life.

The play concerns a complex of relationships — personal and sexual — among six characters: Isabel, a successful stage actress whose career is winding down; Gil, her husband and a leading playwright; Sam, their daughter and a soap-opera star; Justin, Gil's accountant and, openly, his lover; and Mikey, an optometrist and Sam's boyfriend.

Thomas, who caused a sensation at George Street last season with her performance in Elaine May's play "Roger is Dead," was asked by Laurents to play Isabel; Wagner, whose extensive career up to now has been in movies and television, plays Sam.

The rest of the ensemble includes award-winning actors Keith Carradine as Gil and Peter Frechette as Justin, and Walter Belenky as Mikey.

The director is George Street artistic director David Saint.

An important element in this play is Sam's impending transition from a soap opera to the legitimate stage, an event Isabel witnesses after being told by a director that she was "too old" for a role written for her by Gil.

The effect of this moment, Thomas said, is to reveal feelings that have not been clearly articulated in a family that talks around issues more than about them.

"That's a big part of our family," said Wagner, referring to the characters. "They don't ask the questions — I don't think they're big on therapy."

"The mother is dealing with the loss of her powers," Thomas said, "and so, on the face of it, the first reading of it, you might think that she's competitive with the daughter."

In fact, Wagner said, Laurents emphasized at a rehearsal how the relationship appeared on its surface, even to the women engaged in it.

"There are times when it is contentious," Wagner said, "and Arthur wanted it to be more aggressive and — what did he call it? — as if we were in a boxing match.'

"But as you dig deeper into the play," Thomas said, "you realize that she wants to live through this daughter, and she wants this daughter, not just to hold up her banner because it will in some way flatter her or immortalize her — but because she really does love this daughter and wants her to experience the joy of talent."

This play is not all about Isabel and Sam but about layers of relationships among all the characters, one affecting the next, as they do, Thomas said, in the world at large:

"Everybody's dealing with these relationships," she said, " a mother and a daughter, a father and a daughter, a husband and a wife, a daughter coming of age and taking her place, seeing who her parents are in the world — I mean those are things that all families are doing."

Thomas and Wagner said they were impressed by the degree to which the 91-year-old Laurents — who directed the current Broadway revival of his classic "West Side Story" — has developed authentic characters in "New Year's Eve."

"He's so insightful," Thomas said, "on every single relationship, whether it's mother-daughter, or daughter-father, or husband and wife. Whoever it is, he's got an answer for all of it that's very deep. And that's not just because he's the writer, but because he is really psychologically equipped to talk about and think about and develop these kinds of people. That's why the play's so complicated."

The character of Sam is no less complicated than the rest, and Wagner — with a substantial resume of movie and television appearances since the early '90s — is tackling this part as her stage debut.

"I've never done a play," she said. "This is my first foray. I'm excited, I'm grateful to have the opportunity, and I'm very aware of the value of working with these talented people."

Wagner — who has been reading Eva Le Gallienne's 1966 biography of the innovative Italian actress Eleonora Duse — said the impetus for taking to the stage herself was her studies with famed acting coach Larry Moss at his studio in Los Angeles.

"I had been taking classes for three years, working with great playwrights, saying their words, and I realized this was something I wanted to do," Wagner said. "Larry Moss encouraged me to do a play, so he gave me the technique and the confidence to try this."

Liz Smith reports about New Year's Eve

The following article is from today's blog entry from famed former Page Six columnist Liz Smith:

FLASH! One of wOw’s most distinguished own — the actress Marlo Thomas — will open on Friday, April 17, in New Brunswick, New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse.

In almost the same moment that his revival of “West Side Story” opened to raves on Broadway, the writer-director Arthur Laurents is letting his new play, “New Year’s Eve,” be presented for a run there through May 10.

Arthur’s co-director for "West Side Story,” David Saint, is also directing “New Year’s Eve,” and friends tell me that when Mr. Laurents, age 91, isn’t off skiing and jumping about, he is in New Brunswick checking out his latest project.

I don’t have to remind you who Marlo Thomas is. (She is now “that woman” of the famous TV show “That Girl.”) Starring with Marlo are actors Keith Carradine, Peter Frechette and Walter Belenky. Notable in the cast is the beautiful daughter of the late film star, Natalie Wood. Natasha Gregson Wagner auditioned and won her role.

This production came about because, some time ago, playwright Laurents went over to the George Street Playhouse to see Elaine May’s play, “Roger Is Dead.” There, he simply fell in love with Marlo Thomas and decided she’d be perfect for “New Year’s Eve.”

Arthur Laurents is famous for not suffering fools gladly and speaking his mind. I have been a friend of his simply forever; we go back to the 1950s. But I was delighted and amused when Marlo told me how she feels about Arthur. “He has been so sweet!” she laughed. Ok, I’m going to New Jersey on the 17th to check this out!

Tickets at the George Street Playhouse range from $28 to $66, so this is a good chance for the theater-loving public in New York and New Jersey!

GSP TV: Entertainment Tonight & MSNBC

Arthur Laurents' production of West Side Story opened last night at The Palace Theatre. New Year's Eve stars Marlo Thomas and Keith Carradine were on the red carpet as well as last season's Roger is Dead director and playwright Elaine May. Keith and Marlo spoke with Entertainment Tonight before the show. Arthur also spoke recently with Mike Taibbi on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams about the historic revival. Both videos below!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Something's Coming...

Our Artistic Director David Saint has been quite busy lately, juggling production meetings and auditions for New Year's Eve and rehearsals in New York, working with upcoming New Year's Eve playwright and director of the current West Side Story revival, Arthur Laurents.

Saint and Laurents have collaborated eight prior times at George Street including 2 Lives, Jolson Sings Again, and Venecia.

Here's an excerpt from a recent interview with Star Ledger's new magazine Inside Jersey, with David about the landmark production:

"With a young and mostly Latino cast led by newcomer Josefina Scaglione in the role of Maria, the show opens at Broadway's Palace Theatre March 19 and it is grittier and more realistic than past versions of the Romeo and Juliet tale.

"What Arthur has worked so hard on is to find what is fresh and new and at the same time to present the same powerful classic," says David Saint, artistic director of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick and associate director of the show.

The idea of performing in English and Spanish came from Laurents' late partner Tom Hatcher, who attended a South American production done completely in Spanish. Allowing the Sharks to speak in their own language not only differentiates the two gangs, but also elevates the status of the Puerto Ricans, making the conflict seem richer and the two sides more evenly matched. The idea was called "a stroke of genius" by one critic who reviewed the five-week pre-Broadway engagement at the National Theatre in Washington, D.C., which ended in January.

While the Spanish dialogue gives the production an interesting authenticity, it also complicates it. And that's fine with its creators, says Saint. "The world has changed, theater has changed. This is a multilingual world. Sometimes you have to communicate and . . . sometimes there is a gap of understanding."

The show has had two previous revivals, in 1964 and 1980. In addition to his full-time duties as artistic director of George Street Playhouse, Saint has been working as associate director of "West Side Story" since March 2007, when auditions for the cast began. His selection as Laurents' right-hand man makes sense, given that the two artists have collaborated on eight plays in the last decade. Many have been at George Street, which Laurents describes in his Playbill biography as his "favorite theater."

The partnership continues next month, when Laurents premieres his new comedy "New Year's Eve" starring Marlo Thomas at George Street. Saint will direct"

photo by Joan Marcus, posted by Scott Goldman, Executive Assistant