Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993 TAG: 9401050002
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES ENDRST THE HARTFORD COURANT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
In fact, with Jack Lemmon and Matthew Broderick in the starring roles and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Mamet working behind the scenes as writer/executive producer, this made-for-TV movie, which airs tonight (at 8), amounts to a small classic.
Written by Mamet when he was just 25 years old, ``A Life in the Theatre'' is an emotionally rich, tender look at the backstage lives of two actors.
One, played by Lemmon, is taking the final bows of his career. The other, played by Broderick, is still in the first act.
Together, over the course of a season of repertory theater, they go through private and public passions on and off stage.
``The Theatre is, of course, a part of life,'' Lemmon says in a summarizing scene. ``One cannot separate the time one spends. It's all part of life.''
At a recent news conference in Los Angeles, the movie's stars and director Gregory Mosher talked to critics about the challenges and rewards of playing a part in Mamet's dramatic world.
Apparently, it's not as easy as these actors make it look.
``You would think the better the writing, then the easier it is for the actor. That's not necessarily true,'' said the Oscar-winning Lemmon, who received raves for his performance in the film version of Mamet's ``Glengarry Glen Ross.''
It's particularly difficult, Lemmon said, to pick up the sometimes peculiar pacing of Mamet's dialogue.
``Each one of those `ooh, ah, ee, ums' and so forth - they're all written. And you can go crazy for a couple of weeks before you begin to get his rhythm. And each actor will have a different sense of what that rhythm may be.''
``It was hard to learn the lines,'' said the Tony award-winning Broderick (``Brighton Beach Memoirs''), who found the characters' style of banter quicker than he was used to playing.
``It's also, though, very easy,'' he said, fully aware of the contradiction, explaining ``there's a musical quality to it, so once you kind of pick it up, when you're in step with it, it's like a dance. And once you've got it going, it's really relaxing and really fun to do.'' Director Mosher, who began collaborating with Mamet in 1974 with ``American Buffalo'' (and the man who has directed nearly all of Mamet's plays), said the film version is little changed from original stage production, which starred Joe Mantegna.
``We did it in '77,'' said Mosher, adding that the play had been around a couple of years by that time.
``I once lost the only manuscript of `A Life in the Theatre,''' he confessed. Mamet ``kept asking for it back and I kept saying `I left it in the car.'''
Eventually, of course, Mosher found it and audiences should be glad he did. (The play is Mamet's most translated, according to Mosher.)
As Lemmon said, Mamet keys in precisely on ``what it is that makes an actor tick.''
``I don't know how to verbalize it,'' said Lemmon. ``I'm no David Mamet. But I don't know of any writer that ever did it more successfully than I think David did it in this play and, therefore, in this film.''
One of the visual treats for viewers in ``A Life in the Theatre'' are the frequent costume changes including one where both actors are dressed in bunny suits.
It's not what some fans might consider classic Mamet, however.
``I could not believe when I was half way through reading this play that this was the same man who wrote `Glengarry' and `American Buffalo,''' said Lemmon. ``I said, `This is a brilliant writer. But it's someone using David's name. It's too sweet. It's too lovey. It's too wonderful.'''
But it's that love of theater, that sensitivity to actors and acting that makes the production such a success.
Broderick - a young veteran of stage and screen (``Biloxi Blues,'' ``Ferris Bueller's Day Off'') - certainly had no problem relating.
Like many actors, he had lived through some of the scenes in real life he was replaying for film - moments of comedy in the face of theatrical disaster.
``That's happened a lot,'' said Broderick. ``One that comes to mind is when I was doing `Brighton Beach Memoirs' and the guy playing my brother had to come in with this big, long speech about being fired ... and he came bursting onto the stage and started his speech. And then after about a page, he just started to go `And uh ... and uh ... um ... ' And I thought, oh, he doesn't know what he's saying at all. And I looked at him and he grabbed me in an embrace and he said, `Help me.'''
The play had been running for nearly a year by that point and ``that was the scene where I sort of let my mind wander and thought about other things.''
Which is why Broderick had to apologize sotto voce and tell the poor, struggling actor before him, ``I haven't listened to you for six months.''
by CNB