This week, Theater Talk focuses on the current Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie, featuring two cast members, Cherry Jones and Celia Keenan-Bolger, who share their exciting Boston-to-Broadway odyssey with co-hosts Michael Riedel and Susan Haskins. Then Broadway press agent Susan L. Schulman shares stories about stars and shows from her newly-published book, Backstage Pass To Broadway: True Tales from a Theatre Press Agent and explains to the uninitiated what a press agent actually does.
Jones and Keenan-Bolger, fresh off rapturous reviews for the Williams revival and its entire cast, which also includes
Zachary Quinto and
Brian J. Smith, talk respectively about portraying the iconic Amanda Wingfield - first acted in 1945 by the legendary
Laurette Taylor - and her daughter, Laura, in the new production directed by
John Tiffany, now at the Booth Theatre. Ironically, the play never appealed to either actress; Jones said she always thought the play "was just so grim."
Next up, we welcome press agent
Susan L. Schulman. The verteran publicist, who has worked with Broadway's biggest names -
Zero Mostel,
Lauren Bacall and producer
David Merrick among them, as well as the stars of the New York press - has written a book of backstage tales, both hilarious and heartbreaking. The interdependence between press and press agent is immediately apparent when Riedel admits that press people "are divas in our own right." Schulman replies, ever tactfully, "Yes, you are."
The Glass Menagerie and the
Susan L. Schulman episode of THEATER TALK premieres in the New York metropolitan area today, November 22 (2013) at 1 AM (Saturday morning) on Thirteen/PBS, and continues on CUNY TV* Saturday 11/23 at 8:30 PM, Sunday 11/24 at 12:30 PM, and Monday 11/25 at 7:30 AM, 1:30 PM, and 7:30 PM.
THEATER TALK is jointly produced by the not-for-profits Theater Talk Productions and CUNY TV. The program is taped in the Himan Brown TV and Radio Studios at The City University of New York (CUNY) TV in Manhattan, and is distributed to 100+ participating public television stations nationwide.
THEATER TALK is made possible in part by The New York State Council on the Arts, The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The TDF/TAP Plus Program, The CUNY TV Foundation and The Friends of THEATER TALK. *CUNY TV, the City University of New York television station, is broadcast in the New York metropolitan area on digital Ch. 25.3, and cablecast in the five boroughs of New York City on Ch. 75 (Time Warner and Cablevision/Optimum), Ch. 77 (RCN), and Ch. 30 (Verizon FiOS).
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