A 'Drowsy' Jason Kravits Cooks On Stage

This interview actually was a surprise to me due to my curiosity.  OK, that sounds kind of cryptic, but here is a better explanation for you. While attending a performance of THE DROWSY CHAPERONE recently, I noticed someone in the cast who looked awfully familiar to me. His name is Jason Kravits, who plays Gangster #1 in the show, and later in this interview, you will see where I knew him from and many of you will also remember him as well. 

Kravits' stage credits include the most recent Broadway revival of SLY FOX. His numerous film credits include THE STEPFORD WIVES and SWEET NOVEMBER. Many people will probably recognize Kravits as a television guest star in episodes of shows like "Friends," "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Yes, Dear," and "Gilmore Girls." In 2000, he was a regular panelist on the Oxygen Network revival of "I've Got a Secret."

TJ: OK, Jason, first of all, your character of Gangster #1 is absolutely hysterical in the show.  It must be totally a kick to play this character so many times a week? 

KRAVITS: Thank you. It is a fun role, no doubt. Plus, in this show, you're totally on the move, either performing or changing costumes. So there's not a lot of down time, which I like. 

TJ: How did you get involved with THE DROWSY CHAPERONE? 

KRAVITS: Just auditioned, you know, simple as that. They did read me for a few other roles before the Gangsters. I read for Underling the butler, George the Best Man, and then Gangster #2. When I left the final call-back, I thought to myself, "Oh, they like me, but can't find anywhere to use me. Oh well." After that, I let it go. It was another two weeks before I was cast, and in my head, I had already moved on. 

TJ: Are you a natural comedian, because you make it look so easy? 

KRAVITS: Wow, that's the best compliment you can give someone doing this kind of role! Even though I've been doing comedy for a long time, I find there's nothing easy about it. I know that's a cliché, but it's true for me.  I grew up in an extended family full of "shtick-meisters," obviously my brother included, so I guess the comedic timing could be in the genes. I don't really think that's something you can learn anyway. But no matter how "natural" it is for anyone, working on the specific bits for a show can be an excruciatingly detailed process! The stuff we do has to be so specific, so timed and choreographed that even the smallest change... a pause that's too long, a move that's too big or small...can ruin how the audience responds to you for the rest of the show. And you know immediately if you don't hit it. Every night you have to be on your game or they dismiss you by the second sentence. It's a great challenge every single time we do it. 

TJ: I guess working with such a talented cast of people everyday must make it a joy to go to work, huh? 

KRAVITS: Talent aside, they are just a great group of people. Not to dismiss the amazing talent that's on display. That's a joy just to watch. But the real joy is going to work with a very professional, loving, respectful, supportive family. And that's onstage and off. Wardrobe, stage management, the stage door crew...everyone. It's truly a pleasure to come to work with these people. 

TJ: Have you always been musically inclined? 

KRAVITS: My brother and two sisters and I went around to nursing homes when we were kids and sang and played instruments. We were called Music, Music. I doubled as the emcee and told really bad jokes that were about as old as the people that were hearing them. But we killed. Not literally. I hope. 

TJ: And a dancer to boot!  Working with one of the best currently on Broadway, Casey Nicholaw...what a treat! How was he to work with as a director and choreographer? 

KRAVITS: You think I'm a dancer, right? That's how good Casey is! Seriously, the thing about Casey, what makes him such a terrific director and choreographer to work for, is that he makes it so much fun! He is incredibly hard working, prepared and serious about the product, don't get me wrong. But he also is silly, inventive and full of energy. (I don't know if I'm revealing too much, but I don't remember one rehearsal in which he was wearing shoes.) And he has such respect for the ability of the people he works with. He approached the process with so little ego and a great love for what we were creating. I think that's evident in so many ways in our show.  

TJ: Performing in a live show can have its special moments when unexpected things happen.  Do you have any moments like this that may have occurred during this show that you can share with us? 

KRAVITS: The strangest thing was when the bed in the show malfunctioned. It acts like a Murphy bed and goes onstage and off regularly, sometimes with people lying on it. The end of "Aldolpho" is one of those moments. Well the bed was on its way up with Beth Leavel and Danny Burstein on it, and it just snapped and tilted sidewise. After a shocked moment, Danny said something like, "Let's get the hell out of here!" in his faux-European accent. And they ran off. Bob Martin had to ad-lib for a few seconds. Then the crew started reaching through the set to pull up the bed and Bob said, "Oh, look, the neighbors." Then the curtain came down and there was a five minute "intermission." The first intermission we've ever had in this intermission-less show.

TJ: So, did you attend school for theatre? 

KRAVITS: Yes, University of Maryland. It was more of a theatre than an acting program, though Ii did get some terrific training. I think the majority of my training came from performing in the Washington, D.C. theatre scene for the 6 or 7 years after college. I was doing 3 or 4 shows a year there for a while. Everything from Shakespeare to Sondheim to Nicky Silver. 

TJ: Now I also read that you write, produce and direct. Do you do this for the stage or TV or film and what have you done? 

KRAVITS: When I first made the leap to New York in '95, my busy years of theatre suddenly dried up. I couldn't get a theatrical agent, and didn't work at all for years. I stumbled upon a group called "A Rumble in the Red Room" that was writing and performing original, character-based work on a weekly basis. That's when I started working with a partner on a two-man show. Just to get attention, get an agent, maybe. We put that show up 3 times over 4 years with no bites. So we took it to L.A. for a week and the next thing you know, we were winning the Jury Award at the U.S. Comedy Festival in Aspen. THEN I got an agent. Everybody thought I was a writer at that point. But I had no desire to write, I wanted to perform. I still like to write, but at the moment I don't do it, because I'm working. It's not easy, writing. For me it's always been a means to an end, the end being performing what I wrote.  

TJ: It was funny because when I saw you, I couldn't remember where I knew you from and then it dawned on me? You were Richard Bey from "The Practice!"  That must have been a great experience for you working with such an amazing ensemble cast? 

KRAVITS: It was an amazing experience. And it was a great cast. But TV is a very different animal, because even though I really liked everyone I was working with, the nature of it is so different...the politics, the money, the egos, that it was hard to really bond with anyone. I'm sure that's not true of all TV, but it was of this show. I still keep in touch with a few people, though. But I loved pulling into the studio everyday. And starting on season 4 of a show that already was in the top 10 with two Emmys for Best Drama ain't a bad way to start your TV career.

KRAVITS: I knew about a week before. Crushed. I couldn't believe it. I was having such a good time! At the time, I described it as like being uninvited to Thanksgiving with your family, especially if your family was paying you a good deal of money on a regular basis. I look back on it now very differently. I was lucky to be on the show, really. I started as a one-episode guest star and then they kept bringing me back. So, you know, you live by David E. Kelley, you die by David E. Kelley. Plus he gave me an amazing, memorable, juicy exit. But when I found out, I was devastated.

KRAVITZ: Almost daily. Though now I'm mainly getting those odd stares, like, "Hey, did I go to college with that guy? How do I know him?" 

TJ: I understand that back in the 1990s, you were a counselor at Green Acres Camp in Maryland, where you played guitar and performed skits for campers. 

KRAVITS:Wow, you do your research. Yes, that was my "day job" for a couple of years. I taught theatre to elementary school kids. I also started the day by singing silly songs telling bad jokes and just being goofy. So basically, nothings changed. 

TJ:Going back a little further, you were involved in a show called POWERHOUSE. Tell me about that. 

KRAVITS: POWERHOUSE was a show for PBS that filmed in Washington, D.C. where I grew up. It was about a group of young people at a community center, pre-teens and teens that faced "issues," and had to solve problems, while learning something in the process. Sort of a cross between "Scooby Doo" and an ABC Afterschool Special. I played "Lolo," the shy, awkward, but lovable genius.  I shouldn't belittle it, as it was actually a really good show for kids. Unfortunately, it lost it's funding in the second year of the Reagan administration. 

TJ: What's up next for Jason Kravits? 

KRAVITS: Why, what have you got? I'll take More Of The Same, please. Nothing like working, you know? 

TJ :OK, now we find out a little more about you in a segment called MY FAVORITE THINGS, so here you are….FAVORITE CITY? 

KRAVITS: Cape Town, South Africa. I went there on a commercial shoot. Beautiful place with beautiful people. 

TJ: FAVORITE SOFT DRINK 

KRAVITS: Stay away from them, mostly. 

TJ: FAVORITE HOLIDAY 

KRAVITS: I've always like Thanksgiving. The weather, mainly. I'm a fall. 

TJ: FAVORITE PLAY 

KRAVITS:  The Tempest. A love-letter to the magic of theatre.  

TJ: Finally, FAVORITE ACTOR 

KRAVITS: Stanley Tucci does it all, you know? So smooth with comedy or drama, stage or screen, leading man or character role. Writer, director, actor...and has had the courage to do the projects he wants to do.  

Many thanks to Jason for his candid interview and my best to him and the show. But, hey, don't take my word for it, folks. Go see THE DROWSY CHAPERONE, now playing at the Marquis Theatre at 1535 Broadway and experience it for yourself.  You can get tickets on-line at Ticketmaster or call 212-307-4100.  For now folks, I remind you that theatre is my life and wish you well. Ciao!