BWW EXCLUSIVE: Luke Yankee Talks 2015 Actors Fund Tony Awards Viewing Party In LA, Plus Candid Broadway Tales & More

Today we are talking to an accomplished director, actor and writer who has carved out an astonishingly unique career and is now once again taking charge of this weekend's annual TONY AWARDS Viewing Party sponsored by The Actors Fund LA, Luke Yankee. Shedding some light on growing up as the son of legendary Academy Award-winning stage and screen star Eileen Heckart, who famously collaborated with such noted theatrical luminaries as William Inge, Harold Prince, Arthur Laurents, Stephen Sondheim and many more, Yankee elaborates on stories shared in his fascinating tome all about her, titled JUST OUTSIDE THE SPOTLIGHT: GROWING UP WITH EILEEN HECKART. Most importantly, Yankee shares precisely what the lucky attendees can expect from the TONY AWARDS viewing party in LA this weekend - the only official live feed in the entire country besides the East Coast airing - as well as highlights the starry honorees receiving special citations, such as this week's InDepth InterView participant Alfred Molina (available here), in addition to the exciting spate of presenters and performers scheduled to appear at the hotly anticipated Broadway/Hollywood event - and much more.

More information on The Actors Fund TONY AWARDS Viewing Party in Los Angeles on June 7 is available at the official site here.

Reflecting on how became involved with organizing events for the The Actors Fund LA such as the TONY AWARDS Viewing Party and the annual Ovation Awards, Yankee posits, "It was basically through knowing so many people in the community - when you get right down to it, it's a pretty small community; theatre in LA. They more or less just asked me to do these events - they said that they knew I had worked with all of these celebrities and organized a number of events, so they wanted me to organize events for them and come onboard. Needless to say, I so admire The Actor's Fund and all of the wonderful work that they have done over the years and all that they continue to do, so how could I say no? This is my fourth year directing the TONY AWARDS Viewing Party and my second year both writing and directing it - they've been doing them for 19 years now, believe it or not."

Sharing details on the structure for the evening, Yankee adds, "We have a musical tribute to each of our four honorees and we do the entertainment sections during the commercial breaks since it will be a live audience, of course - it's the only live feed of the Tonys in the country besides the East Coast airing, so a lot of people pay a lot of money to watch the Tonys in real time. So, to be honest, there is a bit of a snob factor in it where people can say, you know, 'Oh, darling - I saw it as it happened!' Basically, we view the live telecast of the Tonys and during the commercial breaks we have live entertainment and we have presentations and we have the honorees all being presented with their distinguished achievement awards. We have some fabulous tributes planned for each of the honorees this year - I want to keep them a surprise for now so that the honorees are surprised, but I can promise that they will be absolutely wonderful. Of course, we have two FIDDLER ON THE ROOF people represented this year between Alfred Molina and Theodore Bikel, plus Cheyenne Jackson will be performing, as well, who did THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW on Broadway and that is so famously associated with Tim Curry and also recently did LOVE IS STRANGE with Alfred, as well. Needless to say, this whole thing is timed within an inch of its life, though - the sound engineer literally has two sets of headsets he wears for the whole night; one ear with the ballroom where we are and then one ear with the actual CBS control room in case they get behind schedule with the Tonys and suddenly have to cut a segment or something and adjust the timing. It's basically air traffic control as far as he is concerned. It's a little nail-biting to be perfectly honest as far as the technical side is concerned, but I am very excited to do it and it's going to be a really great evening."

Also, recounting his mother Eileen Heckart's work with ARTHUR Laurents and Stephen Sondheim on INVITATION TO A MARCH, Yankee shares, "Stephen Sondheim wrote the incidental music for a play that ARTHUR Laurents wrote that originally starred my mom in the original Broadway production - it was called INVITATION TO A MARCH. I remember my mom said that ARTHUR was very sweet and very shy at the time and she very much enjoyed working with him and she said much the same about Steve Sondheim, as well. Her favorite story about that show was one she used to tell quite often: she was playing a grand lady who had a long cigarette holder and everything and when they did a tryout production of it in some place like North Carolina it was in a 3/4 thrust theater where the audience was very, very close. So, one night, my mother had her long cigarette holder and put the cigarette in and the audience was so close that a man in the audience actually leaned over with his Zippo and lit it for her! He was certainly being a true gentleman!"

Additionally, Yankee reflects on assisting legendary director Harold Prince on the original Broadway production of GRIND and adds insight to his mother's work with Prince on A FAMILY AFFAIR before that, positing, "Hal has been such a supporter of mine and such a mentor to me. What a genius he is. To be assisting him when I was just 25 on GRIND was such a thrill and he was so kind and so gracious to me. Incidentally, the first musical that he ever directed on Broadway was called A FAMILY AFFAIR and it starred my mom along with Shelley Berman. I remember her telling me that the whole experience of doing that show terrified her - doing a musical was incredibly scary for her; she considered herself more of an actress than a singer. Of course, she had studied voice with David Craig and all of that stuff, but the whole nature of 'This number is out, so learn this new one tonight,' absolutely terrified her, at least as a singer. After all was said and done, though, she came to really enjoy the cast album and having been a part of it - she thought it was one of those shows that would have done better in a different time. To be honest, I haven't read it myself in a long, long time so I don't know how well it really works - I have to take another look at it."