Talking Baseball with Peter Scolari

reposted from Charles Paolino

The coincidence is a conversation piece. For example, I read somewhere that actor Peter Scolari’s ambition to play pro baseball had been derailed by an elbow injury. Baseball is a favorite subject of mine, so when I met Scolari recently I began by saying, “Tell me about you and baseball.” He did. The reference I had read was true: he played high school ball well enough to think that he might turn pro, but he got hurt, had surgery, and after that — well, let him tell it: “I couldn’t get anything on the ball,” although he has played in several theatrical leagues.

But to put that story in context, Scolari told me that his father — attorney Art Scolari — had played baseball at East Side High School in Paterson (this would have been long before Joe Clark got there) and then was an All-American shortstop at Drew University. Paterson? I was born in Paterson. My dad, who was about 13 years older than Art Scolari, went to Central High School where he ran track — particularly relays — and later managed a semi-pro baseball team that played all around the Paterson area.

I haven’t told Peter Scolari this yet, but after our conversation, my web browser stumbled on a story in a 1939 issue of the old Daily Record of Red Bank, N.J., reporting that a teenager named Lawrence Mahoney, who was from Lincroft, had successfully defended his state horseshoe pitching championship for the fifth time in a row. It was no snap, according to the story: breathing down Mahoney’s neck was 15-year-old Art Scolari of Paterson. Mahoney was 9-0 in the tournament; Scolari was 8-1.

I could have talked about baseball all night — it’s one of my many excuses to talk too much — but I was at the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick to talk to Peter Scolari about his current project, a production of Ken Ludwig’s new play, “Fox on the Fairway.” This play, with a golf theme, had its world premiere last year in Washington, D.C. It’s a farce, and that’s a word that sends up the skyrockets, because farce done badly — or even done “all right” — is a painful experience for an audience. I’ve been there. Scolari, who knows a lot more about it than I do, made that point: “I don’t like to see a farce in which folks do an okay job. I’ll watch ‘The Sunshine Boys’ or ‘The Odd Couple’ and have a great time if everybody does a ‘good’ job. If I go to a farce and everybody does a ‘good’ job, I think, ‘Why did you do this?’ “

Scolari first drew national attention in 1980 when he co-starred with Tom Hanks in “Bosom Buddies,” a TV sit-com about two young men who dress in drag so they can live in a women-only hotel where the rent is dirt cheap and about what they can afford. The show, which lasted a couple of seasons, was indirectly inspired by the Billy Wilder movie “Some Like it Hot.” Since then, Scolari has put together a long resume of television and stage appearances, mostly in comedies, including 142 episodes of Bob Newhart’s second hit series, “Newhart.”

Talking to Scolari, who is witty, thoughtful, and articulate, was an entertainment in itself. If I weren’t aware that I was keeping him from his train after he had spent a full day of rehearsal, I would have prompted him to talk for another hour, just so I could listen. If I had had unlimited time and he had had unlimited patience, I would have steered him back around to baseball, because no sport lends itself to talk as well as baseball does, and my guess is that Scolari appreciates that as much as I do. I asked him which New York team he roots for now that he is living on the East Coast again after his sojourn in California. He could have simply said that he roots for the Yankees, but this wasn’t a guy answering questions. This was a guy talking baseball:

“I follow the Yankees. I make no apologies about it, but they’re not the Yankees. For me the Yankees who owned my heart ended with the captain, with Thurman Munson. I never got over that, to be honest with you, as a fan. So you come back, and they’re your team, and they’re in the Bronx, and that’s really important — but it’s not quite the same.”

Heartbreak and Humor

by Anthony Stoeckert


Michael Mastro was performing in West Side Story on Broadway last year when he talked about directing with fellow actor Peter Maloney. Mr. Mastro had directed a few one-act plays and was looking to make the jump to a full-length production, and Mr. Maloney asked what play he’d like to direct first.

”I said something where the scenery doesn’t move with a fairly small cast,” Mr. Mastro says. “Something like — I literally said this — something like ‘The Subject Was Roses’ or ‘You Can’t Take it With You.’”

Two hours later, he ran into David Saint — the Artistic Director at George Street Playhouse and the associate director of West Side Story — in the green room of the Palace Theatre. ”David was visiting to watch the show and take notes,” Mr. Mastro says, “And he said, ‘Do you know the play ‘The Subject Was Roses?’” ”I said, ‘Yes.’” ”He said, ‘I have it in my season and I had scheduled myself to direct it but I realized that’s not going be possible and I was wondering if you’d be interested.’ And I said yes right there and then.”

That moment of serendipity led to the run of Frank Gilroy’s 1964 play at George Street through March 6. Mastro is making his full-length directorial debut at the New Brunswick theater, after acting in three plays there. Working at George Street is a bit different from his last directing gig, which involved rehearsals in his living room and buying props himself at Bed, Bath & Beyond.

”Suddenly I’m at a beautiful live performance theater with a staff of people who have fantastic attitudes, fantastic work ethics,” he says. “To sit at a production meeting with 10 people around the table who are all ready to support me in seeing through this vision of Frank Gilroy’s beautiful play is like a dream come true.” He also calls his cast a dream.

Stephanie Zimbalist — best known for playing Laura Holt on Remington Steele in the 1980s — plays Nettie Cleary, who’s in a troubled marriage with John (Lee Sellars). Nettie and John’s son Timmy (Chris Wendelken) has returned home from World War II, and the family’s arguments lead to significant, painful truths being shared. ”My first take on it was that it’s a family dysfunction piece,” says Ms. Zimbalist. “It’s coming home from the war, it’s a coming-of-age piece for the young man coming home from World War II and all the accouterment thereof. And it’s a piece about how families function and don’t function.” Depsite its pedigree (it won the Pulitzer, the Tony and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award), The Subject Was Roses has never had a Broadway revival and has been, in Mr. Mastro’s words, “sitting on the shelf.”

The director adds that it’s the kind of play that offers various points of view for different audience members. ”People who know people in the armed forces are going to see one play,” Mr. Mastro says. “I think people who are feeling that they’re stuck in marriages that are stale and troubled are going to see another play. I think young people who feel caught between their two parents and caught at home, somehow unable to get out, are going to see another play. I think it’s all those plays.” But for all of those interpretations, he keeps coming back to one word. ”I think that ultimately it’s a play about forgiveness and the power of forgiveness and its power to allow people to move forward,” he says. “There are people who need forgiveness in the play, there are people who need to forgive in the play, I think everybody has a bit of both.

But it’s a word that kept coming up for me as I was preparing to direct the play.” As much as the play explores some honest, painful emotions, Mr. Mastro says it has a healthy sense of humor. ”This may be a family that’s troubled, but like any family, they would like things to be good, everybody wants things to be better,” he says. “There’s a wonderful sense of humor and love of humor, love of music, so it will be very rich that way. It’s not a constant harangue of screaming and yelling, not at all.” It’s also a play that is sparking discussion.

George Street has chosen it for its program where subscribers read the play and talk about it (a sort of play book club). ”The conversations about the play go on for hours, they have to shove people out the door because people want to talk about this play,” Mr. Mastro says. “They see something of their family in this play. I think everybody, young and old, will see something of themselves in this play.”
Read the complete article at centraljersey.com

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In Rehearsal with Seth Rudetsky

from Onstage & Backstage

Tyler Maynard and I drive to the George Street Playhouse a lot with Lauren Kennedy, and we were discussing onstage mishaps (my fave). We were saying that the gun at the end of West Side Story often fires by accident or doesn't fire at all. Apparently, Lauren knows of one performance where Chino went to shoot Tony at the end of the show and the gun didn't go off. Tony had to die, so he feigned that the sight of the gun….gave him a heart attack. What? Then when Maria brandished the gun to the Sharks and the Jets, instead of saying, "How many bullets are left in this gun? Enough for you? And you?" She made it more specific and said, "Enough to give a heart attack to you? And you?"

	Tyler Maynard and Seth Rudetsky

The last story sounds like folklore, but Tyler was actually at a performance of Sweeney Todd where the guy playing Sweeney shooed the Beggar Woman out of his shop with his signature "Off with you! Off with you." Unfortunately, it was the scene where he was supposed to kill her! The whole end of the show rides on the fact that the Beggar Woman is dead, so Mrs. Lovett came out and decided to save the day by killing her with an ax. But, it was a real ax and too dangerous to use close to someone's body. So, as she yelled, "Die! Die!" and swung the ax downward, she was forced to stop a good two feet above the Beggar Woman. I guess it allowed the audience to use their imagination. And ask for their money back.

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Well, the dress rehearsal went great! I can't wait until the show officially opens this Friday! And I have the whole cast coming to my Sirius/XM Live On Broadway show on Wednesday. I'm interviewing them and then we're going to sing from the show! Come by the Times Square Information Center Wednesday at noon (next to the Palace Theatre) to see us. And furthermore, peace out!

Conversations with Susan Mosher

By Sherri Rase, Qonstage.com

QonStage.com recently published a review of “Hairspray,” at the Paper Mill Playhouse, with a dazzlingly talented cast. Playing a variety of character roles was the versatile and talented Susan Mosher. An actress whose face is as mobile as the shadows of clouds across the prairie, she took a few moments to speak with us as she’s preparing for her role in “[title of show]” by Hunter Bell, on book, and Jeff Bowen, the music and lyrics. George Street Playhouse’s opening will be directed by Matthew Lenz and opens on November 19.

QoS: Susan thank you for taking some time out to speak with us. The schedule must be grueling.

SM: Well, I am commuting in from New York City every day so I’ve become VERY familiar with the Northeast Corridor line. It’s only about a four walk block to the theater from the train.
QoS: Four blocks? That’s nothing for a city girl! Are you originally from New York City?

SM: I was born in Tampa, Florida, and raised in San Diego, California, where life revolves around a beach lifestyle and it was a very looks-ist environment. I am an only child and come from parents who are funny in a cerebral way, so my style of comedy is more outgoing. They divorced when I was eight years old and there were two very different sets of rules between homes. I became a major attention whore. I really found my niche, though, in the theater. The first time I went to New York, there was and is so much life of the mind that I knew I had found my home. I’d never live anywhere else.
QoS: Many of our readers have seen you at Broadway at the Beach, hosted on Mondays by Brandon Cutrell, at the Ice Palace, out in Cherry Grove. What is it that you enjoy most about the Grove?

SM: Broadway at the Beach has such a slumber party feel, because those of us who travel out to perform are staying the night. There is such a happy feeling, a feeling of freedom and the sense that we can play with wild abandon and take risks. Freedom, and it’s such a good time–plus the margaritas are delicious!

QoS: In your past, were there any events or occurrences that helped prepare you for your glamorous life as a singing, acting comedy star?

SM: (laughing a little) I don’t know that I’d really call it glamorous. There is some anxiety around pursuing your dreams and doing the things you want to do. Right now it’s wonderful, I’m preparing for this show and everyone is creative and talented. David Saint (director/artistic director of George Street) lives up to his name. He’s a lovely man and very giving as an artist. For the barren times and the waiting and the auditioning, I remember that this is the path I’ve chosen. Someone who chooses theatre as their life has those golden moments, like working on this role, but it’s an odd life.

QoS: That’s a lot to consider! Let’s move from the practical to the fantastical for a moment. Where would you live, or vacation, if given absolute freedom of choice?

SM: Hmmmm, as for vacation…I LOVE Greece and Santorini, it’s just beautiful. But there is nothing like living in New York City. Wherever you go, there are always a lot of people around you.

QoS: You’ve got so much going on right now, what’s next in your career?

SM: I am a writer as well as an actress and I’ve got a one-person, called “The Great Daisy Theory,” that I’ve been performing, writing and refining. It’s written by me, for me and directed by Matt Lenz, who’s directing this production “[title of show].” I am a big believer in creating your own work and all the people I see around me, whom I respect, are always pushing and writing and creating. Work will continue and you’ll see some performances scheduled in January, in and around New York City.

QoS: That’s super! You and I both attend a lot of theatre. Do you feel that there are enough people attending theatre to keep it alive and growing? I know that many of the productions I see are well attended by elders in our community, who see the value of strong performances, but what of people our age and younger?

SM: I saw “Circle Mirror Transformation” here at George Street Playhouse. I noticed that the many of the audience around me were those who develop a relationship with their local theatre. These people, subscribers, are very important. When I see shows in the city, there are a lot of people of all ages in the theatres. These people who love live performance, many of whom are subscribers, are the backbone of any regional theater. People need to come together to experience live events and to feel “This play is me.”