Joe Mantello (Act I)

Welcome back-or welcome to- a new season of SDJ. And who tastier to kick it off than the doyen of American theatre directors and Tony-nominated actor, Joe Mantello. Joe has won the Tony for best director three times, his latest coming shortly after this chat with Jonny, for directing Death of a Salesman starring Nathan Lane and Laurie Metcalf (and Jonny Cake). Jonny had a front row seat as Joe shaped Salesman into a show that won more Tonys than any revival of the play in its storied 77 year history. Joe is the great American director of new writing (Blackbird, Vagina Monologues, The Humans, Take Me Out, Love! Valor! Compassion!) as well as the cultural behemoth that is Wicked. Joe talks about his dislike of unnecessary noise, the silence during Salesman, the concept of “sonder”, what makes Laurie Metcalf special, details of his staging that made Salesman into the tragedy of whole family, the best-lit strand of snot on Broadway, Joe’s ventriloquist doll, the secret conversation at the back of the stage in Mame and its influence on his artistic taste, his devotion to artistic restraint, shame and the influence of Miss Windsor, sex and a shift in consciousness, who’s his primary watcher and what he doesn’t need people to see after watching one of his shows. * * * Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.