Backstage @ New Rep

ACCORDING TO TIP

Ken Howard is the perfect actor to play Tip O'Neill. He's got the reputation, as a Tony and Emmy winner that gives the play instant credibility; he's got the right temperament and he's got the acting chops to make an unforgettable character come alive on stage.

When people ask how we managed to catch such a big fish, the simple answer is that we went fishing. How we found him is a little more complicated, though. When the script was in its early stages I brought it to Lenny Clarke. Lenny has been famous for years in this area as a stand-up comedian, but he has evolved into an outstanding television character actor. Michael Allosso and I worked with him for some months, but his television commitments kept getting in the way.

The next actor we talked to was Brian Dennehy who is, of course, an A-list Broadway icon. He was appearing on Broadway at the the time in Long Day's Journey into Night, for which he would win a Tony Award. He was more than happy to see us backstage and I was very heartened that he took my script as seriously as he did. After some weeks he decided to stay with recreating roles in classic productions (he has since been on Broadway in Inherit the Wind). So we went fishing again.

George Wendt, who won fame as Norm on Cheers, came to our attention. There was a certain amount of synergy there. It is not generally remembered, but Tip O'Neill was responsible for saving Cheers from being canceled. Early in its first season, the fall of 1981, the program was unable to draw an audience. It turned out, though, that the mother of the Cheers casting director was Delores Snow, Speaker O'Neill's longtime assistant. In a last ditch effort to improve the ratings Delores prevailed upon the speaker to make a cameo appearance on the program when he was going to be in California that January. At that point his epic battles with President Reagan were at their peak, making him the most well-known Democrat in the country.
NBC trumpeted the fact that he'd be on the show. When O'Neill showed up at the Cheers bar, sitting next to Norm in a hilarious scene, the ratings were huge. The program had found its audience and it never left. Anyhow, George had loved acting with Tip and wanted to do the play, but when it looked like we were going to launch a few years ago he had a TV pilot that was picked up and had to back off. George is currently starring on Broadway in Hairspray.

Rita Fucillo, who was then doing the producing, cast the net out once again and we got word that Ken Howard had read the script and loved it. I flew out to Los Angeles and had dinner with him and his wife Linda. I knew right away that we was the perfect guy to be Tip O'Neill. I loved the others to whom we had talked, and still do, but Ken Howard was, and is, The Man.

We shook hands on the deal that night.

Since then the project has been through some ups and downs but Ken has been right there with us, solid as a rock. In the process he and I have become real, honest-to-God, friends. In a stroke of luck, Ken happened to be in Boston last September and on the day he was to leave Paul Boghosian, now the producer, had set up a luncheon with Rick Lombardo at New Rep. I took Ken by and everyone hit it off. Rick showed the theatre to Ken, who fell in love with the venue. And here we are, less than two months away from show time.

Sometimes when you go fishing you catch the big one.