The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio will present an interview with Tony Award-winning director and actor Walter Bobbie on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).  

Bobbie will appear as the special guest on Friday, March 23 at 6 p.m. The show will repeat on Saturday, March 24 at noon, Sunday, March 25 at 7 p.m., and Wednesday, March 28 at midnight.   The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday afternoon, March 26.

 

Bobbie talks about returning to the acting stage in the "Encores!" production of Face The Music, and how he feels preparing to act in the famously brief "Encores" rehearsal period that he helped to create; recalls his experiences in the original cast of Grease, and shares his thoughts about the revivals and the current TV competition; remembers when Jerry Zaks asked him to don a "fat suit" to play Nicely-Nicely in the 1992 Guys and Dolls revival; explains how he became a director without the usual years of apprenticeship; describes the origins of the long-running revival of Chicago; and explains why he wants his next production to involve three actors and two folding chairs.

 

Bobbie created the role of "Roger" in the original Broadway production of Grease, and also starred on Broadway as "Nicely-Nicely Johnson" in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, having also appeared such productions as I Love My Wife, A History of the American Film, and Anything Goes.  After creating and directing the Rodgers and Hammerstein revue A Grand Night for Singing, he became artistic director of the newly founded Encores! at City Center, and his revival of Chicago there in 1996 catapulted him to Broadway fame, earning him Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Director.  Other directing credits include the Broadway revivals of Twentieth Century and Sweet Charity, and the new musicals Footloose and High Fidelity..

 

Each new "Downstage Center" is regularly broadcast at 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7 p.m. and Wednesdays at 12 a.m. (all times EST). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally as both streaming audio and podcast on ATW's Web site, www.americantheatrewing.org.  Visit www.xmradio.com for more on XM Satellite Radio.

Photo of Walter Bobbie by Ben Strothmann