Interview: Adam Grupper Is a Stitch in I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE

When the Broadway veteran Adam Grupper has down time between scenes in the revival of the 1962 musical I Can Get It For You Wholesale, he knits. Grupper’s lengthy wait steered him into a new artistic passion.

“I was looking for something creative to do backstage,” Grupper shared after a recent performance.

Not only is this novice knitter imprinting a new skill, he’s also being schooled on his russet brown, free-form yarn project by his 23-year-old daughter, Phoebe.

Grupper inhabits the meaty role of garment district top dog Maurice Pulvermacher. (“Macher” is Yiddish for “big shot.”) The character, who is one of the most successful dress manufacturers on Seventh Avenue, oozes rage and resignation with every scowl.

I Can Get It for You Wholesale, based on the 1937 novel by Jerome Weidman, is a complicated,  cautionary tale set in the bowels of the garment district, a beehive of ingenuity and skill  stretching from 34th to 42nd Streets and Broadway to Ninth Avenue. By 1931, the district encompassed the world’s highest concentration of clothing manufacturers, most of whom were Jewish.

At the center of Weidman’s book was the anti-hero Harry Bogen, played in the 1962 Broadway production as an affable charmer by Elliot Gould. Barbra Streisand slayed audiences as the overworked, lovelorn Miss Marmelstein.

The novelist’s son, John Weidman, has restored the tale’s darkness for this current version. Bogen, played by Santino Fontana, returns as an unapologetic rogue striving for greenbacks and chauffeur-driven passage around town.

Mega-talented Julia Lester, seen recently as Little Red Riding Hood in “Into the Woods,” slams it out of the park with show-stopping finesse, grace and humor.

“Julia’s definitely an old soul,” reflected Grupper. “Marvelous performer and a terrific person.”

Director Trip Cullman and choreographer Ellenore Scott have the actors navigating the narrow aisles of Classic Stage Company’s wee performance space. Actors zip past seated patrons, praying they don’t trip, and finesse furniture to set up the next scene.

Grupper admitted it took some getting used to. ”Initially, it was jarring to have the audience so close,” he said. “Now I really like it. You can gauge reactions because everyone’s near.

“Audiences are more sophisticated now than when the show first ran in 1962. This is a show that will make you think,” he said. “Some things are going to make you uncomfortable, and I appreciate John Weidman’s commitment to the original vision.”

Audiences relate to characters who expose their own weaknesses and flaws. But they’re not always forgiving, he added. “There are bad people among us, dancing on the edge of morality,” Grupper said.

Grupper relishes his complex role. “Maurice is a great character, he’s literally a macher. I love playing Jewish tough guys,” he laughed. "Pulvermacher’s jaded, jaundiced world view is a product of those times," said Grupper. “He’s a man who’s had to navigate an unfair and unjust world. The only way to exercise power was to accrue wealth amid the anti-Semitism,” he noted.

The production is star-studded, with Tony Award-winner Judy Kuhn, Tootsie’s Tony-winning Fontana, Rebecca Naomi Jones, Julia Lester and Sarah Steele among others.

“Pound for pound this is the best cast I’ve ever worked with,” joked Grupper, who has been involved with assorted iterations of the show since 2017.

Grupper last performed in Pictures from Home, starring Nathan Lane and Danny Burstein. He also worked with Burstein during the most recent Fiddler on the Roof revival.

“It’s meaningful when a show I’m doing captures something in the zeitgeist,” he said. “When I did ‘Fiddler’ in 2015, the refugee crisis was exploding. When I did My Fair Lady, in 2018, the ‘Me, Too’ movement was ascendant. And now there’s something profound about doing ‘Wholesale’ against the backdrop of rising anti-Semitism and the tragedy unfolding in the Middle East,” Grupper said.

Pulvermacher’s father crushed his boyhood dreams of becoming an architect. Instead, he was forced into a low-status occupation where Jews could make a living.

The music and lyrics by Harold Rome, are passionate, poignant and heartfelt. The one song that melts the entire cast? “Have I Told You Lately?” Grupper replied in a beat. “The hardest thing to do to present a song like that, is not make it twee and sickly sweet.”

Backstage, Grupper hoists beginner’s knitting needles. If he needs a break, Grupper falls back on meditative coloring books outlined with mandalas. “I’m all set -- colored pencils and gel pens,” he said. “With my daughter teaching me how to knit with big fat needles, this has become one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve ever undertaken.

“If it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, I’m on hour three,” he laughed.

I Can Get It for You Wholesale, directed by Trip Cullman, is extended through Dec. 17 at the Classic Stage Company, 136 E. 13th Street.

The original 1937 book is by Jerome Weidman, music and lyrics by Harold Rome, book revisions by John Weidman. Score arranged and adapted by David Chase, music direction and orchestrations by Jacinth Greywoode with choreography by Ellenore Scott. ]