WEBVTT - Broadway Star James Naughton Is Working for Change 0:00:02.279 --> 0:00:05.280 This is Alec Baldwin and you were listening to Here's 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:10.040 the Thing from iHeart Radio. James Naughton is known for 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:14.160 his decades of stellar work on stage in American classics, 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:18.440 from Tennessee Williams to Eugene O'Neill. The Drama Desk winner 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:22.119 made his off Broadway debut in nineteen seventy one in 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.360 Long Day's Journey in Tonight, which earned him a Theater 0:00:25.440 --> 0:00:30.160 World Award. He directed the Tony nominated production of Arthur 0:00:30.200 --> 0:00:34.120 Miller's The Price and Thornton Wilder's Our Town, which was 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:39.760 later broadcast on PBS's Masterpiece Theater. Naughton is equally comfortable 0:00:40.000 --> 0:00:43.720 with the Great American Songbook. He won his first Tony 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.760 for the musical City of Angels in nineteen ninety. He 0:00:47.840 --> 0:00:51.319 then originated the role of Billy Flynn in the hit 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:56.840 Broadway revival of Chicago, alongside Anne Rhymeking and B. B. Newworth. 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.320 It earned him his second Tony and became the second 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:03.000 longest running show in Broadway history. 0:01:04.360 --> 0:01:10.319 I don't care about expensive things, cashmere coats, diamond rings, 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:11.920 stunt made a thing. 0:01:13.000 --> 0:01:17.560 All I care about is long That's what I'm here for. 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:20.760 I don't care for, where it's silk cravats. 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:25.839 This is James Naughton with all I care about, from 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:31.319 the Broadway cast recording of the Chicago Revival, with all 0:01:31.400 --> 0:01:35.440 of his theater bonafides. Naughton is no stranger to film, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:40.080 appearing in the Devilwears product, nor television working on Who's 0:01:40.120 --> 0:01:43.480 the Boss, Planet of the Apes and Ally McBeal. I 0:01:43.560 --> 0:01:47.600 wanted to connect the dots between his great theatrical success 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:51.000 and his beginnings in Middletown, Connecticut. 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.480 I was born there, but grew up where in West 0:01:54.480 --> 0:01:56.800 Hartford and West We moved to West Harford when I 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.960 was three and a half, and it was it was 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.840 the halcyon days of the early fifties. It was spectacular, 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:08.120 you know, playing baseball, football, basketball outside every day all 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:11.120 year long, depending on what the season was. That's what 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.040 the sport was. And your parents were both teachers. What 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:17.560 do they teach? My father would say, students, that's my father. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:21.040 They taught everything, you know. He actually said, well, I 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:22.919 said to him, so when we moved to West Hartford, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.680 you got a job teaching at a school that I 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.919 eventually went to a junior high school. And he said, yeah, 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:31.320 I was. I taught English, I taught math, I taught 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:34.919 social studies. I thought I taught students. And my mother 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:38.560 was a business head person. She could do typing all 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.480 that stuff. Yeah, and my dad told a straight economics. 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:44.760 Of course, it's like contemporary problems they called it. Where 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:46.840 you got himself in a lot of trouble. Oh yeah, well, 0:02:46.840 --> 0:02:50.680 I Massapeaker was not Paris. It was not open minded 0:02:50.720 --> 0:02:51.320 place on earth. 0:02:51.360 --> 0:02:55.360 But the cultural scene in your home. Were your parents 0:02:55.360 --> 0:02:56.160 into movies? 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:56.239 That? 0:02:56.320 --> 0:02:59.280 Were they theater goers? Loved music concerts? Why did that 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:01.839 get into your bloodstream? Well? 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:04.680 Music was I think a part of the deal. There's 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:08.160 an old story in the family that my father, Bob 0:03:08.200 --> 0:03:11.280 and ray Eberly had a hit called Pennies from Heaven 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.880 in the thirties I think, and they went to some 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:17.639 dance and it was a dance band, and somebody challenged 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:20.360 my father to get up and sing Pennies from Heaven 0:03:20.680 --> 0:03:24.600 with the band. And the person with the challenger went 0:03:24.680 --> 0:03:26.519 up to the band leader and said, we had Bob 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:29.680 and Ray Everley's younger brother, Jimmy Everley here in the house, 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:31.040 you know, would you like him to get up and 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:33.520 sing a song? So they said, and he got up 0:03:33.520 --> 0:03:36.640 and sang Pennies from Heaven. So that was an old 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:39.040 story in the family, and of course it was one 0:03:39.080 --> 0:03:40.280 of the first songs I learned. 0:03:41.320 --> 0:03:44.280 But for you, how did it begin? Like school productions or. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:47.040 Yeah, you know, we used to do plays in school, 0:03:47.120 --> 0:03:48.360 elementary school and you had. 0:03:48.320 --> 0:03:51.400 An interest in that, yeah, in and around sports. Yeah. 0:03:51.520 --> 0:03:54.200 And we remember in the cub Scouts we had these 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.560 pack meetings like once a month, and our den mother 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.720 was interested in that stuff, so she used to put 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:03.320 these little plays together. I remember playing King Arthur pulling 0:04:03.320 --> 0:04:05.440 the sword out of the rock, and I was probably 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:07.960 nine years old. I was very authoritative, though. 0:04:09.880 --> 0:04:13.320 But for you plays while you were athletic. 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:17.400 Well you know the story. My story is in high 0:04:17.440 --> 0:04:20.880 school I was playing soccer and basketball and baseball, but 0:04:20.960 --> 0:04:23.240 I quit basketball. I wasn't really very good at it, 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:25.599 but I was playing soccer and baseball and in my 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.800 junior year I went to my coach and I said, Coach, 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.520 I have a problem. He so what I said, Well, 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.560 mister Lawer, who is the director of the choir and 0:04:34.160 --> 0:04:37.320 the director of all the musicals, wants to cast me 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.360 as the lead in the musical this spring. And he says, Jimmy, 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.560 that's great, you have to do it, and I go, well, yeah, 0:04:42.560 --> 0:04:44.839 but I want to play baseball. He said, well, let 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:47.160 me talk to mister Lawer, so that later that day 0:04:47.160 --> 0:04:49.400 he comes back. He says, Bill Lawer, and I are 0:04:49.400 --> 0:04:51.480 going to make it possible for you to do both 0:04:52.000 --> 0:04:56.000 in May, right, We're going to let you. And so 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:57.680 what was the part I was playing? I was a 0:04:57.760 --> 0:05:02.279 sixteen year old am Beck. I thought I was really 0:05:02.400 --> 0:05:03.839 I was really on it. And then I saw a 0:05:03.839 --> 0:05:05.880 picture of myself a couple of years ago that somebody 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:08.440 gave me. Looked like a little boy with a little 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:12.320 white crap in his hair, you know. And anyway, they 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.200 did it, and so I played baseball, which meant I 0:05:15.240 --> 0:05:18.279 always left rehearsal a little bit early after school, making 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:20.520 mister Lauer unhappy. And then I'd get to baseball a 0:05:20.560 --> 0:05:23.120 little late, which made mister Key, who was a tough guy, 0:05:23.560 --> 0:05:26.280 very unhappy. But the next year they did it again, 0:05:26.320 --> 0:05:29.839 and we did Carousel, and I played Billy Biglow and 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:33.479 played baseball at the same time. So I've always done that. 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:34.880 What did you like about it? 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.200 About? What about getting up in front of an orders? 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:38.440 You like performing in front. 0:05:38.320 --> 0:05:41.240 Of people well, you know you should know something about this. 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.200 You know, they say, if you're Irish or Irish American, 0:05:44.240 --> 0:05:47.400 you either want to sing or fight, or possibly both. 0:05:47.839 --> 0:05:50.040 And I think the deal is first you fight and 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:51.000 then you sing about it. 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.600 I mean, you sing and then you got to punch 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.239 somebody out. And I don't like you're saying. 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.920 Right, But it's always been that way. And even when 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:00.719 I was in college, I didn't get into the theater 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.200 until really late, and all my friends were jocks. My 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:07.160 roommate was a hockey player and a football player, and 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.039 I was a soccer player and a baseball player. 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:11.880 You went to Brown for American civilization was your major? 0:06:11.960 --> 0:06:14.440 American literature actually, is what I wound up being. I 0:06:14.440 --> 0:06:16.440 went there thinking I was going to be in pre med. 0:06:16.960 --> 0:06:19.279 But you couldn't do pre med and do labs in 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:21.800 the afternoon and go to soccer practice. So you know, 0:06:21.880 --> 0:06:24.240 if you're like me, were you you had really lofty 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.680 goals that were very academic in lecture, and they. 0:06:26.600 --> 0:06:29.160 Were like, nah, I go becoming active. Lofty goals are 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:30.880 chief I'll go to law. 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.240 School and I'm like, nah, maybe not that yeah, but 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.200 when you go to Yale, I mean you go to 0:06:35.200 --> 0:06:38.120 one of the great drama school drama schools in the world, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:40.599 and you go for there for the MFA. By the 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:43.080 end of the Brown thing, what's making you want to 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:44.920 go get an advanced degree in theater? 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:47.600 Well? I walked into the theater for the first time 0:06:47.640 --> 0:06:51.120 in my junior year because this girl at Pembroke, which 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.800 is now part of Brown, had told me, Hey, by 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:55.440 the way, there's something going on at the theater today. 0:06:55.440 --> 0:06:57.920 You should you should come by tonight. I had never 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:02.080 been in the theater out time there it's November. I 0:07:02.120 --> 0:07:05.040 wander her in there auditioning for a musical Guys and dolls, 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:07.680 and the guy he said, okay, who's next, and she 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:10.560 did one of these you know, she pointed and get 0:07:10.640 --> 0:07:13.440 him up there. So the guy said come on, and 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.680 I said, I'm not here to audition. He said, don't 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:17.520 be shy. What have you done? I go, I haven't 0:07:17.520 --> 0:07:19.560 done anything. I did a couple of high school musicals. 0:07:19.920 --> 0:07:21.480 He goes, all right, we'll sing a song from one 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:23.440 of those. I don't have any music. I'm not here 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:26.040 to audition. I'm just here to visit my friend Judy. 0:07:26.280 --> 0:07:27.880 He says, get up here and sing a song. So 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:29.520 I got up and sang a song. He said, okay, 0:07:29.640 --> 0:07:31.560 here go take this scene and go out in the 0:07:31.560 --> 0:07:33.000 hall and look at it and come back in ten 0:07:33.040 --> 0:07:34.920 minutes and read it. So I did, and he said, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:38.280 all right, everybody, take five. He said, come here. You've 0:07:38.280 --> 0:07:40.560 obviously been on the stage before. What are you a freshman? 0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:42.960 And I said no, I'm a junior. He goes, well, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:44.640 where the hell have you been, That's what he said, 0:07:44.680 --> 0:07:46.880 and I said, I've been playing soccer and baseball and 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.840 he said, oh, one of those he actually did, and 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:51.840 I said yeah. He said, well, i'd like you to 0:07:51.880 --> 0:07:53.920 be in the show and I said I couldn't do both. 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.520 We're still playing. We're in the NCAA tournament. We played 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.560 to get eliminated. I couldn't do both. He said, no, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:03.200 you couldn't. Will you come see me in January? So 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.160 I forgot about it, and it was Christmas vacation when 0:08:05.160 --> 0:08:06.680 I went back, and I was trying to find an 0:08:06.800 --> 0:08:10.360 arts course that would satisfy I had to take one 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:14.240 for a graduation, and I don't have any visual artistic 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.040 ability at all, graphic ability, so I thought maybe maybe drama. 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.520 So I went and found him and he opened the door, 0:08:20.560 --> 0:08:22.240 and he sat me down and he said, Jim, I'm 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:22.880 glad you came. 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:23.640 Listen. 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.120 I think if you wanted to, I think you could 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:30.119 do this. And I said, what you mean for real? 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.640 And he said yes. And I said, how do you 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.840 know that? I just sang you a song and read 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:37.880 a couple of pages. He says, cause I've been doing 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:39.680 this for forty years and I'm telling you if you 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.120 And I said, so, how do I get there from here? 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.079 He said, should take my class. It's a scene study 0:08:44.120 --> 0:08:47.080 class that meets three hours every afternoon, four. 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:47.520 Days a week. 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:49.360 I said, wow, that's a lot of time. He goes, Yes, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.679 it is, he says, and when you graduate in a 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.640 year and a half, you go to Yale Drama School. 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:55.600 And I said, just like that and he said, yeah, 0:08:55.760 --> 0:08:58.360 just like that done. So he didn't tell me you 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.199 had to audition. But a year later I audition and 0:09:00.280 --> 0:09:02.800 I got in and I went with the idea, well, 0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:05.160 we'll see how this goes, right, me too? But I 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.560 was there two days and I went Finally I found 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:11.520 out where the hell I belonged, because while I was 0:09:11.520 --> 0:09:13.760 in college, I didn't know where, you know, I didn't 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:17.800 know what to do, like drama school, law school, go to. 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:19.480 It's a tough time. It's a tough time that you 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:22.000 when I did it, Remember I said to my dad, 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:23.720 I mean the joke in my family. I've told this 0:09:23.800 --> 0:09:25.920 joke on the show before, which is I call my 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:28.680 parents and I go. I got offered a full scholarship 0:09:28.720 --> 0:09:31.880 to go to and drama tuition scholarship. It's a need 0:09:31.920 --> 0:09:33.880 based scholarship. I go, but I auditioned and I'm going 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:36.200 to get a full scholarship and I'm gonna leave after 0:09:36.240 --> 0:09:38.880 three years at GW, only one more year left to go. 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:40.960 I'm gonna go to NYU for drama. My mother is 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:41.840 screaming on the phone. 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:43.120 Are you out of your mind? 0:09:43.840 --> 0:09:46.160 So you go to Yale? What's that like? Hard? 0:09:47.000 --> 0:09:51.320 Well, you know, basically, I think all drama schools say 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:53.280 what we're going to do is we're gonna break down 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.840 all your bad habits and then we're going to build 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.640 you back up. And they're very good at breaking down 0:09:59.160 --> 0:10:03.040 your ego, and you know, like, oh, we're at a 0:10:03.120 --> 0:10:04.720 time we try and then then I don't have a 0:10:04.760 --> 0:10:05.960 clue as to how to do the rest of it. 0:10:06.040 --> 0:10:08.360 So you kind of have to go there and survive it, 0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:12.120 and you know, it's kind of like the survivitoro you want. Yeah, 0:10:12.360 --> 0:10:15.600 and if you get through it okay, it maybe makes 0:10:15.600 --> 0:10:18.400 you a stronger person because you've had to survive all 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.240 that tearing down of your of your self confidence and 0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.719 everything else. My classmates were Henry Winkler and Jill Iikeenberry. 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:28.800 Henry and I got hired into the al rep out 0:10:28.840 --> 0:10:31.400 of the school. So that was my first job, and 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.120 that was wonderful because I had a wife and a child, 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:38.520 and you and Pam had your daughter Greg Greg, ye, 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:42.480 he's older than Kira. Yeah. And I was looking for 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:45.120 a job that could pay me some money. And of course, 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:47.720 you know, the options were go to the Guthrie and 0:10:47.760 --> 0:10:50.160 work for fifty dollars a week and become a journeyman 0:10:50.200 --> 0:10:52.360 for seven years and then maybe you'll be an equity 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:54.679 act fort and bross, you know what I mean. And 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:57.200 this was all of a sudden full equity card. 0:10:57.320 --> 0:10:57.600 Bam. 0:10:57.760 --> 0:11:00.080 I'm you know. I was making big money, like one 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:03.000 hundred and sixty dollars a week, which was a lot 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:07.880 in New Haven at the time in nineteen seventy. Yeah, 0:11:08.200 --> 0:11:10.120 and then a year later I was working in New 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:13.240 York and you know, I've been lucky enough to keep working. 0:11:13.520 --> 0:11:16.960 So when you leave Yale, what's the first job you 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:20.520 get the play you mentioned? Oh, I got so lucky. 0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:24.480 I was at Yale rep from the someth We worked 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.880 all summer out at Guildhall in East Hampton. That was 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:30.280 our first something. We did the whole summer season, and 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:31.920 then we came back to New Haven and we did 0:11:31.920 --> 0:11:34.640 a bunch of plays and I was impossibly the worst 0:11:34.679 --> 0:11:36.960 production of the Scottish play that's ever been done. But 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:38.800 everybody I know says no no. I was in the 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:42.280 Worst Scottman and it was directed by Robert Brustein, who 0:11:42.320 --> 0:11:46.160 was not a director, he was a critic. And anyway, 0:11:46.360 --> 0:11:49.720 we got hammered. My friend David Ackroyd played McDuff and 0:11:49.800 --> 0:11:52.200 I played the guy and we had a sword fight together. 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:52.600 Yeah. 0:11:52.679 --> 0:11:53.760 I can't even remember the character. 0:11:53.760 --> 0:11:55.360 Who who is the thinge? 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:59.800 Lee Richardson, Lee Richardson, do you remember him? Yeah? And 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.120 Carmen de Lavalla played Lady McDuff, the dancer. She was 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:07.040 a lovely woman. Anyway, I got hired out of that 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:10.040 show to come to New York and do Long Day's 0:12:10.080 --> 0:12:14.720 Journey in Tonight with Robert Ryan, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Stacy 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:15.960 Keach playing. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.720 My That was my audition monologue. I did Edmund and 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:24.320 the guy in the auditions like sag oh Jesus, everybody 0:12:24.320 --> 0:12:24.880 did Edmund. 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.160 Yeah, where'd you do it? At the Promenade Theater which 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:31.120 doesn't exist anymore? In seventy six and Broadway and Arvin 0:12:31.200 --> 0:12:33.600 Brown directed it, and yeah, it was like sort of 0:12:33.640 --> 0:12:36.280 starting at you know, at the top of the game 0:12:36.360 --> 0:12:36.800 if you're. 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.839 Doing on Robert Ryan and Geraldine Fitzgerald. 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:42.480 She was the most fun to be on stage with. 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:44.400 She used to come in if I did something a 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:47.839 little differently, you know, instead of coming by the numbers 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:50.200 what we always did. I could see the fire would 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:51.800 light up in her eyes and she'd go, oh boy, 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:53.640 here we go. Yeah, And so she would come in 0:12:53.640 --> 0:12:56.480 to me every night before the show and she goes, well, Ducks, 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.160 what do you want to do different tonight? And you know, 0:12:59.280 --> 0:13:02.319 she loved it, and that was fun because then we 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.880 were playing with each They call us the players, right, 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:06.480 we were playing with each other. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:08.240 That's I like that too. I like it when you 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.439 I try as the as it goes on, just as 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.960 a as an exercise maybe, but it does lead to 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:16.600 something which is to expand my relationship, not just with 0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:18.959 the other actors on the catch, but with the set. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:20.800 You know. I used to do this thing. We did 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.320 a play where the guy came in and the guy 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:24.920 was his childhood home and his family's poor and he's 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:27.960 rich now, and the place repulsed him. He wouldn't touch 0:13:27.960 --> 0:13:30.520 anything or sit down. He thought you could catch a 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:32.880 disease from every just being in this space with us. 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:35.880 This is entertaining mister Sloan and with his sister and 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:38.760 her father's father, and the whole play unfolds and my 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:40.880 character is this rich guy that comes in. He's paying 0:13:40.880 --> 0:13:43.080 for everything and maintaining them. And I'd come in and 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:44.800 by the end of the play, I was like rubbing 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:48.240 the couch and not going on this couch. So many 0:13:48.360 --> 0:13:51.120 memories of this couch, you see, just something to play, 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:53.640 I mean. But when you would do that with her, 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:56.000 she was cool with it. Oh, she she welcomed it. 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:59.280 She thrived on it. Yeah, so did Joanne Woodward when 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:03.760 we did Glass and Aerie. You know, Joeanne plays Amanda Wingfield. 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:04.559 When did you do that? 0:14:05.120 --> 0:14:07.080 We did it at Williamstown in the eighties and then 0:14:07.120 --> 0:14:09.800 we did it once again at Long Wharf like six 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:13.200 months later, and on closing night, I came into the 0:14:13.200 --> 0:14:16.200 theater at Long Wharf in New Haven and joe Anne 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.760 said she grabbed me, pulled me in the corner. She said, 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:21.120 I figured this is going to be you know the 0:14:21.240 --> 0:14:24.120 end right, And she said, we're going to make a 0:14:24.160 --> 0:14:27.040 movie of this and Paul's going to direct it. You 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:30.040 want to be in it? Did you sure? Laura was 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:34.240 Karen Allen and Joanne was Amanda and we had three 0:14:34.280 --> 0:14:38.280 different times. John Sales did it first the movie Directory 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:42.040 Writer Treat Williams, The Late Treat Williams did it second 0:14:42.040 --> 0:14:45.240 at Long Warf and Malcovich did the film and Michael 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.840 Ballhouse shot the film and Paul directed it. 0:14:48.240 --> 0:14:50.400 You did the thing with Joeanne. You did it at 0:14:50.400 --> 0:14:54.200 Williamstown first? Was that your debut at Williamstown? No, you've 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:55.280 been at Williamstown before? 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:55.480 Oh? 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:57.720 Yeah? What was it about that place that everybody made 0:14:57.760 --> 0:14:59.240 that a home for a period of time? 0:14:59.360 --> 0:15:01.600 Well, I mean, you know, we all talk about a 0:15:01.640 --> 0:15:05.600 company making a company, we talk about an ensemble, but 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.640 that's what it really was. And we all came back 0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:12.040 there every summer together and Nicos who was I mean, 0:15:12.080 --> 0:15:15.560 he was a gifted entrepreneurs what he was? You know, 0:15:15.640 --> 0:15:18.880 he really was waiting for your explanation. Well, he was. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:22.880 He could be a terrific director, but he was a 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:26.960 producer in addition to that, and so he put people together. 0:15:27.040 --> 0:15:29.160 He was trying to get Joanne to come up, and 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.640 so finally they did and he said to me, what 0:15:31.680 --> 0:15:33.160 are you doing for the rest of the summer. I 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:35.920 was in like the first play of the summer, and 0:15:35.960 --> 0:15:37.640 I said, well, I don't know. I hope we're going 0:15:37.680 --> 0:15:39.800 to go to Maine for a while because my family 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.960 we grew up there. He said, well, will you keep 0:15:43.120 --> 0:15:46.040 August open because I think Joanne's going to come. We 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.320 might do glass Man Azri and if we do, i'd 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:52.040 like you to come and be in. Said, oh, okay, yeah, sure, 0:15:52.400 --> 0:15:54.680 I'll see what I can do. Keep my schedule open 0:15:54.720 --> 0:15:57.200 for that. And that turned out to be a home run. 0:15:57.360 --> 0:16:05.240 You know, actor and director James Naughton. If you enjoy 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:09.880 conversations with musical theater greats, check out my episode with 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.200 the legendary Patty Lapone. 0:16:12.560 --> 0:16:14.480 I don't go out there going They're gonna dig me. 0:16:14.600 --> 0:16:16.480 I go out there and I do know that the 0:16:16.520 --> 0:16:19.160 people that have come to see me know that I 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.960 have them in mind and that I already have them 0:16:23.080 --> 0:16:25.920 on my side. They know that I'm doing it for them. 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:29.000 It could be a persona could be a body language thing, 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:31.560 but they know that I know they're there. And the 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:35.400 difference is when actors don't acknowledge the audience, the audience 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:40.560 can't come. When an actor acknowledges the audience, then you 0:16:40.560 --> 0:16:47.320 can have a moment of ecstasy. 0:16:47.640 --> 0:16:50.720 To hear more of my conversation with Patty Lapone, go 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:55.440 to Here's the Thing dot Org. After the break, James 0:16:55.480 --> 0:16:59.720 Norton shares his experience being directed by and then directing 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:15.080 Paul Newman. I'm Alec Baldwin and you're listening to hear 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:18.840 the thing. James Naughton starred in the nineteen eighty seven 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:23.320 film adaptation of the Tennessee Williams classic The Glass Menagerie. 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:26.800 The movie was directed by Paul Newman and began a 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:29.679 lifelong friendship for the two actors. 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.280 I met Paul after because I was doing Glass Menagerie 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:36.280 with Joanne and we were up in Williamstown doing it, 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.439 and you know, he'd come up for a couple of days, 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.000 like the husband right of the actress, and he felt 0:17:42.040 --> 0:17:43.800 so out of it. And you know how Paul could 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:48.239 be socially awkward and shy and all those things, and 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:51.400 because he was basically ye talk about that, yeah, yeah. 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:52.360 And so he'd. 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:55.760 Come up and I realized we'd all felt kind of crazy, 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:58.720 like there's Paul Newman. And you know, Joanne was a 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:00.800 part of our company. She was like, you know, someone 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:03.679 I'm I'm working with, I'm playing with. We felt great together, 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:07.440 but then Paul would committed and everybody be so awkward. 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:10.320 And then I realized he's the one who feels really 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:12.640 awkward because he's not a part of the company. He's 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.439 the husband coming up to visit. So anyway, when we 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:18.560 started to when they said he's going to make the film, 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:20.919 he's going to direct the film, he insisted on a 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.720 couple of weeks of rehearsal, and I think it was 0:18:23.760 --> 0:18:27.000 partly so that he and we could all break down 0:18:27.320 --> 0:18:30.400 that stuff, you know, And and he'd come over. Karen 0:18:30.400 --> 0:18:33.119 and I'd be sitting there together because we were playing 0:18:33.119 --> 0:18:36.000 all the scenes together, and he'd come over and he'd 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:39.440 tell us some ridiculous jokes, and and then he turned 0:18:39.440 --> 0:18:41.080 around and walk away, and we look at each. 0:18:40.920 --> 0:18:44.080 Other like, whoa is that he's gotten this far with 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:47.000 that man? We were so we were so everybody was 0:18:47.040 --> 0:18:49.359 so awkward. But in the course of a couple of 0:18:49.400 --> 0:18:51.600 weeks that broke down and then we became really close. 0:18:51.640 --> 0:18:54.359 And then he discovered that he and I live five 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.520 minutes from each other in Connecticut, and he discovered, oh yeah, 0:18:57.640 --> 0:18:59.639 I like to shoot pool too, and I like to 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.200 drink beer two and so that's what we did. 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.160 So you go and do the film, and he wants 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.719