One of the most frequently discussed musicals of all time is the legendary production of FOLLIES.. The original 1971 version of the show was directed by Hal Prince and featured a score by Stephen Sondheim. Much of the conversation often centers on the cast which included Alexis Smith, Dorothy Collins, Gene Nelson, Mary McCarty, Fifi D'Orsay and Yvonne De Carlo. Very few discussions include John McMartin, who was very much a part of that stellar cast. Sadly, the more celebrated members of FOLLIES are no longer around, while McMartin is still very much a part of the theater community.
In
A.R. Gurney's newest play, INDIAN BLOOD at the Primary Stages, McMartin delights the audience as a character called "Eddie's Grandfather". The actor doesn't appear in the production until about one third of the way through it. Up 'til then, the play ambles along happily and is carried by a cast of extremely skilled actors. However, when McMartin walks on the stage as a successful banker, the production becomes ignited in a very special way. It must be stated that Gurney has written a very accessible and marvelous character, but McMartin wins over the audience with his warmth and skill. In a cast full of veteran actors, this man is one of the most skillful. And why not? He'd been plying his trade for years!
Speaking with
John McMartin in the theater after one of the play's final performances, found him to be relaxed and friendly. The cast had just celebrated the birthday of
Charles Socarides with a cake and candles. McMartin excused himself from the proceedings and sat down for a pleasant conversation about his lengthy career.
Removing his baseball cap, the native of Warsaw, Indiana explained that he came into the profession in a rather unorthodox way: "I was in the service. In the 82nd Airborn and was asked if I wanted to be in a show. I volunteered, and we did ROOM SERVICE. The guy who was the director told me that I should look into this [as a possible career]. I did and here I am." After the service McMartin went into summer stock. I spent about five years at the Allenberry Playhouse doing a different play every week in seasons that would run from March through September. I did about 75 plays and it was really a case of learning-by-doing." His experiences in stock led McMartin to perform with Eileen Brennan in BRIGADOON and A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN .and he became friends with her. "The season was over and I was back in New York," explained the actor, "and Eileen called me saying that she was going to be doing an Off-Broadway show called LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE and that I should come down for the old guy in the show. I went over and saw the people and that's how I got involved in it. Then they lost their juvenile at the last minute and they asked if I would do the two parts. I didn't know any better and said, 'okay'. It felt more like 'Let's put on a show' more than anything else. It was a big success and I went from that to Broadway." For his performance as Billy Jester, McMartin earned a Theatre World Award. LITTLE MARY SUNSHINE was more than just the springboard to McMartin's career on Broadway, it was also important to his personal life because he married the producer, Cynthia Baer, and the couple has two grown children, as well as three grandchildren.
For three years McMartin appeared with the New Phoenix Repertory Company and he looks back on the experience as being the "best part of the career he's had in the theater. For the three years I was with the Phoenix I did two or three shows in each season and they were rehearsed all together. When they were performed, we might do a matinee of a Feydeau farce and then Eugene O'Neill at night. It was just a wonderful time for an actor to grow. I look back on that as being an absolutely exquisite time."
One of the roles that McMartin essayed for the New Phoenix, was that of Anton Schill on Frederich Duerrenmatt's THE VISIT in 1973. It was a production that was extremely well received and co-starred British actress Rachel Roberts. It was directed by
Hal Prince. Some thirty years later, McMartin found himself playing the same role in a musical version of the play. This time the leading lady was
Chita Rivera. What was it like to play the same role opposite two very different actresses? "I didn't find too much of a difference. Of course Chita's wonderful, as is Rachel. I found myself echoing how I I played it originally. I didn't think it was that far removed. The play was intact, it's just that there was music in it…wonderful music by Kander and Ebb." In the play, Rivera's character has lost one of her legs and in the musical, "Chita performed a number which favored her wooden leg. It was a tricky piece of choreography but it came across wonderfully." As for the prospects of the musical version of THE VISIT ultimately getting to Broadway, McMartin is optimistic. With Kander and Ebb's CURTAINS Broadway bound and trying out in California, as well as the team's musical version of THE SKIN OF OUR TEETH being presented at Goodspeed this summer, it may only be a matter of time before THE VISIT gets done in New York.
Rachel Roberts and
Chita Rivera weren't the only marvelous leading ladies that McMartin worked opposite in his career. He also played opposite the legendary Gwen Verdon in the original production of SWEET CHARITY, a performance that he repeated in the film version opposite Shirley Maclaine. What was it like to work opposite Gwen Verdon? "Well, she, of course, was magnificent. She was a true wonder. I would just stand in the wings and watch her when I wasn't on." Bob Fosse was the show's director/choreographer and McMartin had done three or four shows with him previous to SWEET CHARITY. Fosse was the original force behind McMartin's first Broadway show, a plague-ridden vehicle called THE CONQUERING HERO. However, by the time that show opened in New York, Fosse had been replaced. "It was all rather messy," recalls the actor. "Then we did PLEASURES AND PALACES together but it never made it to New York at all. We were in Detroit and we knew we were closing when Bob and I were in a bar across the street crying in our beer and he said, 'Listen, I think I'm going to be doing something. It's a two act thing. One act will be by Fellini and the other will be by
Elaine May. Would you be interested?' " The actor was taken aback by the invitation. He said to the creative genius, "I've been in two of your productions. Neither was successful. I thought you might feel I was bad luck for you!" Fosse responded, "I was afraid to ask you because I thought you might feel the same way about me!" The project turned out to be SWEET CHARITY in 1966 and
Elaine May's contribution to the show was never done. Looking back on the experience, McMartin smiles and says, "Fosse was a fascinating guy and I just adored Gwen. She was a trouper all the way and I was shocked when she died."
Of course the conversation turned to the original 1971 production of FOLLIES. It was a show that received national coverage in magazines and has been the topic of at least one book. "It's still being talked about today," mused McMartin, and that is more than 30 years after its opening night. "Being in a show of that scale was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. There were so many performers in the cast and it was so unique." McMartin admits that
Stephen Sondheim's music and lyrics aren't always the easiest for an actor to perform. He recalled the difficulty he was having with one particular number. "In 'Too Many Mornings" the ghost [Marti Rolf] was standing between me and Dorothy Collins. There was a break in the music where I was always late coming in all the time. Marti was holding me and she had her arms around my waist as I was singing to Dorothy. Jonathan Tunik had arranged the music with oboes in there and I told him I needed a drum or something to bring me in. Honestly, I didn't have a clue about when to enter, so Marti was told to squeeze my waist when I was about to sing. That's how we overcame that problem. One time, though, she forgot and I remember they went into her dressing room to give her the note for my error."
Continuing with his thoughts about the complexities of Sondheim's music, McMartin recalled being in a regional production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC and having great difficulty with the lyric, "Now, as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap…" The actor remembers calling
Len Cariou, who had originated the part on Broadway. "I told him that I was doing his part in Stockbridge and I can't…. He didn't let me finish. He said, 'Now as the sweet imbecilities tumble so lavishly onto her lap' right? EVERYONE has trouble with that!' " It's one of the challenges of playing Sondheim.
McMartin hadn't been apprised of the fact that Encores! has scheduled FOLLIES to open their 2007 season. When asked if he would consider taking part in it, he cast aside the suggestion, claiming that there's no part in it for him at this point in his career. After ruminating for a bit, he realized that the role of Dimitri Weismann might be a good fit. "That would be something, wouldn't it?" he mused.
Of course, such casting depends on his schedule and he's committed to
the Broadway run of GREY GARDENS which goes into rehearsal just three
days after INDIAN BLOOD closes on September 2nd.
Looking at McMartin's resume, one realizes that he's appeared in many notable films: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, KINSEY, LEGAL EAGLES and PENNIES FROM HEAVEN. It also leaves one to ponder whether there's a television series or sitcom that the actor hasn't done. "Oh sure," he chuckled. "And some I've never seen!" The talented actor recounted how he became involved in the TV show Cheers: "They called me in New York and asked me to do an episode. They sent me the script and it was funny, so I said, 'Sure, sure!' It wasn't until I finished and got back home that I realized it had been written for
John Cleese and he couldn't do it. Still, it was fun. These sitcoms are written like one-act plays and include the audience."
Conversing about the audience led McMartin to discuss his role INDIAN BLOOD. "It's like it was written for me and fitted like an old shoe. It was a wonderful role and beautifully written and I really enjoyed coming in every day to do this." He had great praise for his cast members in the production and was immensely fond of
Rebecca Luker, with whom he worked in the 1994 revival of SHOWBOAT. "I adore her. She's just a wonderful person."
Has there ever been a play that McMartin hasn't enjoyed performing in? "I remember a show that I did called THIS STORY OF YOURS and it was all about this cop who beats a prisoner to death. He had a fight with his wife in the first act and an inspector who wants to fire him in the second act. The third act showed him beating the prisoner. I didn't look forward to do this because it was rough going through that every night. The pain of it was emotionally draining."
Talking about a failure like PLEASURES AND PALACES, the actor still says he enjoyed performing the show. "It wasn't working. Of course I was young and I didn't know why. First of all, I was in it and it's hard to see the forest for the trees. When a show's in trouble, everything's in trouble and people are out of sorts. You never stop working and rehearsing. It's a difficult time but you're learning all the time."
Next on McMartin's agenda is the Broadway run of GREY GARDENS, a musical that acquired something of a cult following at the York Theater earlier this year. "I did this show earlier and play Major Bouvier who was the grandfather of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy. It started down in Florida at Sundance two years ago. We did it Off Broadway and are now moving it to the Walter Kerr Theater primarily because of
Christine Ebersole, who seems to channel the woman she's playing. It's an amazing performance"
All of this recalls a lyric that Yvonne De Carlo sang in the fabled FOLLIES: "Good times and bum times, I've seen them all and my dear, I'm still here!" It's a lyric that can easily be applied to this extremely accomplished actor and his illustrious career. He's an actor who seems to have done it all: comedy, tragedy, musicals and searing drama.. Without a doubt,
John McMartin is still here and will be on stage again in GREY GARDENS on Broadway this fall. (2006)
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