|
 |
STAGE TO SCREENS: Making "Taking Woodstock"; Chats with Groff and Schreiber
By Michael Buckley
24 Aug 2009
 |
|
Jonathan Groff in "Taking Woodstock"
|
| photo by Ken Regan/ © Focus Features | Jonathan Groff and Liev Schreiber discuss working on Ang Lee's new film, "Taking Woodstock," which features a host of New York theatre actors.
*
Commemorating the 40th anniversary of Upstate New York's Aug. 15-18, 1969, landmark Woodstock Music and Art Festival, is an Aug. 28 Focus Features release, "Taking Woodstock," produced and directed by Ang Lee, Oscar-winning director of "Brokeback Mountain." Among stage actors featured: Skyler Astin, Kevin Chamberlin, Dan Fogler, Henry Goodman, Mamie Gummer, Bette Henritze, Edward Hibbert and Stephen Kunken.
The peace-and-love concert featured 32 musicians and groups and was attended by a half-million people, ten times the estimated amount. Michael Wadleigh's Oscar-winning 1970 documentary was re-released in a '94 director's cut, which included several performances not previously shown.
Two of the film's stars are Jonathan Groff, who makes his movie debut as Woodstock co-creator Michael Lang, and Liev Schreiber, cast as Vilma, an ex-Marine transvestite. I spoke to both actors at the Waldorf Towers, on the movie's Aug. 2 press day.
*
Gracious, grounded, and grateful for his good fortune, to date, Jonathan Groff recalls his first meeting with Ang Lee: "We were given a three-ring binder, 'The Hippie Handbook,' which had pictures and articles from the time. Ang also gave me a dozen movies to watch, a bunch of mixed CDs to listen to, and a lot of books to read."
At 19, Groff came to New York, where for a year, he waited tables at the Chelsea Grill of Hell's Kitchen. In fewer than four years, he's appeared in six New York shows: In My Life, Spring Awakening, Hair, Prayer for My Enemy, The Singing Forest, and is currently (through Aug. 30) playing Dionysus in Euripides' The Bacchae.
Also, he taped 11 "One Life to Live" episodes, shot a Ryan Murphy pilot that wasn't picked up, played himself in three not-yet-released documentaries, and made his first film.
|  | |
Mamie Gummer, Jonathan Groff and Demetri Martin in "Taking Woodstock"
|
| photo by Ken Regan/ © Focus Features |
Groff wears a wig in the movie. "I grew my hair, and they were going to perm me," he explains, "but Michael's hair is iconic, and they didn't want to take any chances with the humidity."
Lang, who's seen in the 1970 documentary, was 24, Groff's current age, at the time of the concert. He recently wrote "The Road to Woodstock," and has announced plans to produce a Broadway musical based on the event.
"Last summer, in the park [at the Delacorte]," relates Groff, "Michael came to see me [as Claude] in Hair. He waited to say hello, gave me his telephone number and e-mail address, and said to 'tap him as a resource.' I spent a weekend at his Woodstock home, with Michael, his wife, and their two sons. He's an incredible guy!"
Playing Woodstock co-creator John Roberts is Skyler Astin ("Hamlet 2"), a Spring Awakening alum (Georg). Says Groff, "Skyler's first day on the set, he was doing a scene with Eugene Levy. I was on the side, thinking: This is surreal. Here's someone with whom I've shared an incredible stage experience, and we're together on a movie set. It's one thing to experience it on your own, but to be able to share it with one of my dearest friends was special."
Born in Lancaster, PA, Jonathan's the younger son of Julie (a gym teacher) and Jim Groff (who trains and races horses). In the fifth grade, Jon attended a high-school production of Annie Get Your Gun.
"Something just clicked," he says. Doin' what comes natur'lly, Groff appeared in shows at the Fulton and Ephrata Playhouses, and played in high-school productions of Kiss Me, Kate (as Fred), You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (title role), How to Succeed... (Finch), and Godspell (Jesus).
During childhood, his parents brought him to see Broadway musicals. "My first was Beauty and the Beast." While in high-school, he'd make day trips with friends to see Saturday matinees: "Annie Get Your Gun, with Bernadette Peters, and I saw Thoroughly Modern Millie six times."
Who were some of the actors he admired growing up? "Sutton
Foster," he responds, making me feel like Methuselah's older brother. Continues Groff, "Not only her talent, but also the way she deals with fans waiting for autographs. I try to do it the same way.
"Sutton represents a lot of things for me. She's generous, down-to-earth, and sweet. She came to see Spring Awakening Off-Broadway, and attended the Broadway opening night. When we were previewing on Broadway, Sutton sent us bagels every Saturday morning. I still get weak in the knees when I speak to her; I'm still star-struck.
"Gavin Creel [Foster's Millie leading man] is also a favorite. I love Frank Langella, and Tom Hulce [former actor and co-producer of Spring Awakening] who's now a friend and mentor. I have always looked to theatre stars as heroes."
As a teen, Groff worked as a ride operator at an amusement park, and was a counselor at a children's theatre camp. Right out of high school, he auditioned at an open call for a tour of The Sound of Music, and was cast as Rolf, touring for a year.
Then, he moved to New York. "All I wanted was to be a working actor. I got really lucky. Each play and role has come into my life at the perfect time — and has changed me. Each really spoke to me. I really believed in — and was passionate about — all the roles. Each challenged me, and set me up for the next."
Cast as the older son of a transsexual (played by Joseph Fiennes) in the pilot of "Pretty/Handsome," Groff spent a starry first night in L.A. at a dinner party at the home of the show's creator, Ryan Murphy ("Nip/Tuck") — in the company of the pilot's fellow players: Robert Wagner, Blythe Danner, Carrie Ann Moss and Jake Cherry. However, the pilot did not sell.
On "One Life to Live," he played Henry Mackler, whose story arc led to his shooting students in a school. However, the real-life Virginia Tech incident occurred, causing Groff's gun episodes to be abruptly scrapped, and forcing writers to quickly come up with an episode, in which Groff's character is killed off in a car crash.
In My Life, the Joseph Brooks musical, was Groff's first Broadway show. He understudied two roles, was a swing, and the show's dance captain.
Next came the role of Melchior Gabor in the Steven Sater-Duncan Sheik musical Spring Awakening, which played Off-Broadway (June-August 2006) and transferred to Broadway (December 2006-January 2009).
He and Lea Michele, who played Groff's love interest, are best friends. The show won eight of its 11 2007 Tony nominations, including Best Musical, and earned Groff a Theatre World Award and Tony/Drama League/Drama Desk nominations.
Hair in Central Park in 2008 followed, but Groff left early to film "Taking Woodstock." He chose not to reprise his Claude role for the Broadway transfer (a 2009 Tony Best Revival winner), and was succeeded by Creel.
Following were two Craig Lucas plays — Prayer for My Enemy (Playwrights Horizons) and The Singing Forest) (at the Public) — both of which earned Groff an Obie Award. "I didn't know I was getting one. Everyone kept it from me. When I got to the podium, I couldn't speak. People later asked me if I was drunk or high."
Through Aug. 30, Groff's back at the Delacorte, playing Dionysus in Euripides' The Bacchae, directed by ("gutsy and dangerous") JoAnne Akalaitis. Does he identify with the role? "It's far removed from who I am. I wear a blonde wig, boots and leather jacket that I'd never wear in real life, and I certainly don't lure women to the hills [as does Dionysus]. I'm excited to be doing it." Continued...
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2009 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|