“Orphans”
Broadway debut at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on April 7, 2013
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the Matrix Theatre in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award.
Of course there was more drama (almost a new play) going on behind the curtain at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre Broadway with Ben Foster replacing Shia LaBeouf . Late February, LaBeouf was pushed out of the production a week into rehearsal by Lyle Kessler.
Orphans Producers described as the result of “creative differences” with producers.
Shia LaBeouf apperared on The David Letterman Show NBC, Where Letterman asked Shia, 26, bluntly “Why did you get fired?” Letterman asked LaBeouf, 26, bluntly. “Is this the thing with Alec Baldwin ? What did you do to him?”
“I’m pretty passionate and impulsive,” said LaBeouf. “And he’s a very passionate individual as well. That impulsiveness and that passion makes for some fireworks.”
Letterman revealed that he is a longtime friend of Baldwin’s. Keeping the questions coming, Letterman asked again, “So why did you get fired?”
“I think because me and Alec had tension as men, not as artists,” LaBeouf said. “In a room that became a hard thing to deal with. To do that for a long period of time, that would have been tough.”
Letterman created a scenario, that Baldwin may have gone to the producers saying, “I can’t take it another day. Fire him.” LaBeouf said he thinks that is exactly what happened. Addressing reports his dismissal owed to “creative differences,” LaBeouf suggested there was much more to it.
“He’s a good dude and the show is terrific. I got nothing bad to say,” responded LaBeouf, adding: “I’m pretty passionate and impulsive, and he’s a very passionate individual as well and I think that impulsiveness and passion make for some fireworks.”
LaBeouf told Letterman (David Letterman Show NBC) “I think that’s what you gotta say as sort of a business-savvy answer for what actually happened.”) He then took to Twitter to air private email exchanges with Baldwin and director Daniel Sullivan, among others, and also posted his Orphans audition video. And last week, he surprised his former co-stars by sitting front row at the very first preview performance.
I Think I want to see this play !
Synopsis
Two grown orphan brothers live in an old dilapidated row house in North Philadelphia—deserted in childhood by an unfaithful father and by the death of their mother. Older brother Treat, brutal and violent, provides for his younger brother Phillip by being a petty thief interpreting the role of father.
With the love and protectiveness of an older brother and an orphan’s fear of abandonment, Treat takes away Phillip’s chances to grow up, depriving him of knowledge and forcing him to live in a world of illiteracy and innocence: relegating him to their lost childhood. As Treat is out stealing to put food on the table, Phillip never leaves the house, thinking he will die from something outside because of a near deadly allergic reaction he had as a child.
Haunted by the death of their mother, he spends his time lying in her closet filled with unworn clothes. Curious about the world, he secretly attempts to understand things by watching reruns of the The Price is Right and underlining words in newspapers and old books he finds lying around.
Treat kidnaps and ties up a Chicago gangster named Harold. Harold, an orphan himself, with the prowess of an escape artist, loosens the ties that bind him, turns the tables around, and with gun in hand, puts himself into the role of teacher, healer and surrogate parent.
ORPHANS has been nominated for Outstanding Revival of a Play and Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play (Tom Sturridge) by the Outer Critics Circle. The annual awards ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 23rd.
All About Alec Baldwin (Harold)
Alec Baldwin is a graduate of New York University (BFA-Tisch, 94) and was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from NYU in 2010. He last appeared on stage in the 2010 Guild Hall (East Hampton) production of Peter Shaffer’s Equus, directed by Tony Walton. Other stage includes the Roundabout Theatre Company’s 2006 production of Joe Orton’s Entertaining Mr. Sloane, directed by Scott Ellis. Loot (Broadway-1986; Theatre World Award), Caryl Churchill’s Serious Money (Broadway-1988), Prelude to a Kiss (Circle Rep.-1990; Obie Award), A Street Car Named Desire (Broadway-1992; Tony nomination), Macbeth (NYSF-1998), The Twentieth Century (Roundabout-2004).
Other stage includes The Hartman in Stamford, Williamstown and Bay Street Theatre. Baldwin has appeared in over forty films, including Beetle Juice, Working Girl, Miami Blues, The Hunt for Red October, Glengarry Glen Ross, Malice, The Juror, The Edge, Ghosts of Mississippi, State and Main, The Cat in the Hat, The Cooler (National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actor, Oscar nomination), The Aviator, The Departed, It’s Complicated and To Rome With Love, among many others.
On television Baldwin starred with Tina Fey on NBC’s 30 Rock, winner of multiple Emmy Awards for Outstanding Comedy Series. Baldwin received eight SAG Awards (seven individual, one ensemble), three Golden Globes, the Television Critics Award and two Emmy Awards as Best Actor in a Comedy Series. Alec Baldwin is also a dedicated supporter of numerous causes related to the arts. He serves on the boards of The Hamptons International Film Festival, The New York Philharmonic, The Roundabout Theatre Company and Guild Hall of East Hampton. He is an active supporter of The Actors Fund and The Public Theatre/New York Shakespeare Festival, among many others.
All About Ben Foster (Treat)
Foster began working as an actor when he was sixteen years old. Foster dropped out of high school and moved to Los Angeles to pursue his career.[citation needed] In 1996 and 1997, he appeared in the television series Flash Forward and had an unsuccessful audition for the lead role in Richard Kelly’s Donnie Darko. Over the next three years, Foster obtained small roles in two made-for-TV movies as well as two episodes of the TV series Freaks and Geeks.
Broadway debut. Upcoming Films: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints; Kill Your Darlings; Lone Survivor. Past Film: 360; Love, Marilyn; Rampart; Contraband; Here; The Mechanic; The Messenger; 3:10 to Yuma; 30 Days of Night; Alpha Dog; Hostage and Liberty Heights. Past Television: Six Feet Under; The Laramie Project; Bang Bang Youre Dead; Freaks and Geeks.
All About Tom Sturridge (Phillip)
Tom Sturridge began his career in Vanity Fair alongside Reese Witherspoon, before going on to star in Being Julia with Annette Bening and Michael Gambon. Further leading roles ensued in Gregory J. Read’s feature Like Minds alongside Toni Collette and Richard Curtis The Boat That Rocked, with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Bill Nighy. Tom’s film credits also include Tinge Krishnans Junkhearts with Eddie Marsan and Romola Garai and Walter Salles On The Road with Kristen Stewart, Viggo Mortenson and Amy Adams in which he plays Carlo Marx, Kerouac’s alias for Allen Ginsberg.
Forthcoming films include Effie opposite Dakota Fanning and Terrence Malick’s new feature, with Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender. Tom made his theatre debut in Simon Stephen’s Punk Rock at the Lyric Hammersmith and Manchester Royal Exchange and subsequently received the Critics Circle Best Newcomer Award, along with Best Newcomer at the Manchester Evening News Theatre Awards. He was also nominated for the Milton Schulman Award for Outstanding Newcomer at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards and London Newcomer of the Year at the Whatsonstage Awards. He has since played leading roles at London’s Royal Court Theatre, in Simon Stephens Wastwater and most recently in Polly Stenham’s No Quarter.
