Post Frasier with David Hyde Pierce
Tom Alvarez
Indianapolis Performing Arts Examiner
August 1, 2011
Ever since “Frasier,” the hit NBC sitcom in which David Hyde Pierce played prim and proper psychiatrist Dr. Niles Crane, went off the air in 2004, the Emmy-winning actor and comedian has not let any grass grow under his feet.
On Saturday, Aug. 6, Pierce will join renowned musician and entertainer Michael Feinstein for the opening-night celebration of the Tarkington Theatre, the last of three venues built at Carmel’s Center for the Performing Arts.
The Tarkington will become the home of the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre and other performing-arts groups.
In 2005 Pierce originated the role of Sir Robin in the Broadway production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot”. In 2007 he won the Tony Award for his role as Lieutenant Frank Cioffi in the musical comedy “Curtains.”
Most recently, he appeared in the acclaimed London and Broadway production of David Hirson’s “La Bete.”
Currently Pierce stars in “The Perfect Host,” a film that was released on July 1.
Speaking recently by phone, Pierce, who last appeared with Feinstein in a 2009 holiday show at Feinstein’s at Lowe’s Regency in New York City, talked about his upcoming Tarkington appearance and some future projects.
They include his directing debut in “It Shoulda Been You,” a musical that opens at New Jersey’s George Street Playhouse in October, and an acting assignment in Manhattan Theatre Club’s “Close Up Space,” which begins rehearsals in December.
Have you and Michael performed together since the 2009 holiday show at Feinstein’s?
No. Since then I’ve been away. I went to London to do a play last year and then I brought it back to Broadway and he’s been on his own, so this will be the first chance we’ve had to reunite.
A New York Times review of that show referred to the two of you as “refined musical clowns,” comparing the two of you to Penn and Teller. You as introvert and Michael as extrovert. How would you describe your chemistry?
I would say, smooth as silk. That’s how I would describe our chemistry, because it was really effortless. We have been longtime friends. Then, besides our collaboration on stage, there was our collaboration in putting the whole show together, which took several months of research, working on different songs and coming up with what seemed to be the best program. It was just amazing and so much fun. I think what the audiences in New York and the critics responded to was that infectiousness – that feeling of fun.
Are you performing any of that same material in the show for the Tarkington opening?
Yes, there are some real great standards by Cole Porter, and also I’m going to sing a song called “Penny in My Pocket.” It was a song Jerry Herman wrote which was cut from “Hello Dolly.” And I’m also going to sing a song [“You Won’t Succeed on Broadway”] I originated on Broadway in “Spamalot.”
Prior to knowing Michael, were you a fan of the American Songbook?
It’s probably too much to say that I was a fan. I certainly appreciate that music and knew it somewhat, but when you get to be a friend of Michael’s – along with that you get an incredible education in the American Songbook. Not just the most popular songs but also the most obscure and everything in between. And as you all well know he is an incredible font of knowledge about that entire repertoire and I would say I became a much bigger fan and a much better educated fan after having met Michael.
Who are some of your favorite composers
Well certainly Cole Porter is up at the top. Jerry Herman in a completely different way is a favorite, but I would say Cole Porter would be my first choice.
Knowing Michael, I presume that you are aware of his role as artistic director at the Center for the Performing arts as well as the Michael Feinstein Foundation headquartered the Palladium?
Yes, I think it’s just amazing and not surprising. Michael is endlessly generous and always looking for ways that his talent and his expertise can find new outlets and new ways of being creative. I think this is just an example of his ability to do that.
What do you know specifically, if anything, about the Tarkington, the theater where you are performing for the grand opening?
Well I gather it’s gigantic.
Did you know it’s going to be the new home of the Booth Tarkington Civic Theatre as well as others?
No I didn’t realize that. It’s an on-going theatrical institution that is going to live at the Tarkington?
Yes. The Civic is a community theater. I know that you started acting in high school. Did you perform in community theater when you were younger?
I did not do any community theater, but my dad – this was before I came along – my dad wanted to be an actor. He wanted to be a professional actor, and when he got out of college it was the Depression, and so instead of going to New York to be an actor, he went to work in his dad’s insurance agency and ultimately met my mom and then became an insurance agent.
He fulfilled his dreams by acting in community theater a lot in my hometown in upstate New York, Saratoga Springs. At one of my recent performances on Broadway, a women’s group that my mom had belonged to came to the show, and they brought with them a folder of reviews of my dad from all of his shows that he had done, and this was back in the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s.
So you can appreciate why this is so special – that this theater will be the home of one of the oldest community theaters in the country?
Yes, I think that’s just great. You know, what’s amazing is during these economic times, when arts are usually the first to go because there are so many places in this country where people don’t understand or appreciate the arts – not just as entertainment, but they are really important in people’s lives. How thrilling that in the middle of the country that you have found a community that has embraced the arts, they have said, “No, we believe in this, we believe this is going to make our community a better place and a more attractive place for people to come and play and to come and work.” I think that’s very exciting.
Other than your appearance here, you have some other exciting projects coming up. Are you looking forward to directing “It Shoulda Been You?”
Boy, you did your research. I’m actually in the middle of it right now, because even though we don’t start rehearsals until September, we’ve all the pre-production of doing the casting of the show, meeting the designers. We’re going to have a workshop reading next week, so I’m already in the thick of it. It’s a great challenge, but so far I’m taking to it, so we’ll see what happens when the curtain actually goes up.
Was it your decision alone to cast Tyne Daly and Harriet Harris?
Well, I would say everything is a group decision. As a director, the buck stops with me, but Harriet I have known forever. She’s an old friend – we’ve worked together many times – and Tyne I knew through business, but we hadn’t worked together. But they were both perfect for the roles, and in fact Harriet is playing a role that was written for her.
It’s about an inter-faith couple right?
Yes, it’s a Jewish family and a WASP family. It takes place at the wedding of the daughter of the Jewish family and the son of the WASP family.
Is it a big musical? How many people are there in the cast?
There are 13 people, so it’s bigger than a little chamber musical but smaller than a large musical. It’s what you call a “book musical” – meaning it’s not a lot of big production numbers, so it’s more about the story.
Do you anticipate special chemistry between Daly and Harris?
Oh yes, because they are both really strong performers and unique performers. Tyne brings an incredible kind of earthy power to the role of the Jewish mother, and Harriet brings this kind of wackiness, slightly off-kilter energy to the tipsy WASP mom. I think those two coming together will be something to behold.
I also read that your partner Brian [Hargrove] wrote the book for this musical. What’s it like, working with your life partner on a show like this? Does he give you input in terms of making changes? How does that play out?
That was a big question, whether the relationship would survive the production. The reality is – as long as we’ve been together, which is nearly 30 years now, I’ve advised him on the scripts that he has written, he’s advised me and given me notes as an actor on the roles that I’ve been given. So this is really just a heightened version of something we have been doing all our lives together, and yes, it’s already been a great collaboration.
He’s had some terrific ideas, directorial ideas that I have found very useful and I will definitely use, and I’ve been going over the script and making things clearer or making things stronger or whatever. I think we work really well together, and what I’ve tended to do as a director is put together a team of actors and a team of designers who all work well together and who are all willing and able to collaborate.
My experience over the years working with the best directors, I’ve seen how the best shows can also be the most fun to put on. I don’t see any reason why you should have to choose between having a good time and having a good show, so that’s my goal.
While working with the fine directors you mentioned, did you consciously try to absorb their style and technique?
No, not only was I not consciously absorbing. I didn’t ever want to direct. People had asked me to direct for years, and I never was interested. It wasn’t until this script came along and I’d seen it in several workshops. They were looking for a director, and it’s the first time I looked at something and thought, “Oh, this is the thing I think that I can maybe have something to contribute to.”
But now that I am in the process of directing, I’m finding that both consciously and unconsciously, all of the advice I had been given as an actor, all the directives, good and bad, I have worked with, I can now put to good use. It’s like Richard III, where his past comes back to haunt him on the eve of the battle. They all come back and talk to me, all the people I have worked with, and give me ideas about the way to talk to actors, the way not to talk to actors, how to get the best out of people.
As far as your next acting engagement “Close Up Space,” tell me about the literary editor character you play.
He is clearly a mess; he’s very strict and very particular. And he’s also at a very difficult time in his life because he’s become so uncompromising in his role as an editor that he has driven away a lot of his office. Not only has he driven away his office, he has alienated his daughter, and the play is about how all of that works itself out, how his daughter, who has been shunted away to a private school, returns to confront him and how they work through their relationship. It sounds very serious – it’s got serious undertones – but essentially it’s a comedy.
It’s been a while since your stint on Frasier. No doubt you will be forever identified as that role of Niles – so how would you describe your personal relationship with that character now?
I think of him as an old friend, and like any old friend whenever I stumble upon him I’m happy to see him. So I think of him very fondly, and although our lives have taken different paths, whenever we do cross paths, whenever I catch a re-run of Frasier, it’s always great to see him again.
What’s been the oddest place you have and seen a re-run of yourself?
Well … probably at the gym. Someone was on one of those Stairmaster or something like that, and they had a television screen and they were watching a Frasier episode. I had to walk by, and it was one that I really liked, and of course there was no sound because she was wearing a headset. I just stood there four feet behind her in the middle of the gym watching the Frasier episode. Fortunately, I don’t think anyone saw me, because I think it would have looked extremely egotistical, but I was just caught up because I was having a good time.
Do fans who only know you as Niles ever confuse you the actor with that character?
I don’t have a problem with it, but it doesn’t happen that much because people are very sophisticated and understand that you are an actor and that you play a role. Frankly, what happens is people just come up – it just happened in the grocery store yesterday – this woman came up to me and said, “I just want to say I love you.” The only way she knows me is from Frasier, but that’s not a hard thing to embrace. That’s a pretty nice thing to have happen to you.
Tell me about your work with the Alzheimer’s Association and how it was that you became involved. Do you have a family member or a friend with the disease?
Yes, I have had family members affected with Alzheimer’s. My grandfather had Alzheimer’s, and my dad had dementia at the end of his life, which was probably also Alzheimer’s, so I have had personal experience with it.
I’ve had personal experience seeing the devastating effect it has, not only on families, but also their spouses who care for them. I’ve been working with the Alzheimer’s Association now since the mid-’90s, doing everything that I can to help out. I help with fundraising. I’ve been an international board member for eight years. I’ve worked a lot in Washington with members of Congress.
It’s a very important issue to me personally, but it’s also one that’s becoming more and more critical to the country because of the aging of the population, so we’re really trying to get the word out to let people understand it’s serious.
With the passing of the same-sex marriage bill in New York, can we expect to hear wedding bells for you and Brian?
We’re already married. We were California residents and married in the window when it became legal there [prior to the passing of Proposition 8, which outlawed same-sex marriage]. Friends of ours are getting married in New York. We are very happy for them and pleased to live and work in a state where our right to be married is recognized.
As reported in Theatermania complete casting has been announced for Molly Smith Metzler’s Close up Space. As well as David, the play will star Rosie Perez (who was originally in the frame to play Martin Crane’s home health care worker in Frasier. Can you imagine – Frasier without the Niles and Daphne story arc?!) For full information on Close up Space including how to book tickets visit Manhattan Theatre Club’s website.
We leave you with some great Perfect Host press:
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