E. G. MARSHALL IN “MASS APPEAL”
November 15 to 20, 1983
The next show I chose for a Paramount production was the two time Tony Winning Broadway play, Mass Appeal which originally starred Milo O’Shea (Best Actor) directed by Geraldine Fitzgerald (Best Director). The play also won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play.
This was yet another two character play with the same formula as we used in Deathtrap. The ability to attract legendary actors like E.G. Marshall was testament to the fact that we could, indeed, bring big name artists to Austin to add some muscle and national notoriety to the Paramount’s new quest of becoming a player in producing Broadway touring shows.
We were additionally blessed by garnering the attention of Austin Pendleton to direct the show. Austin – one of the most unique and mulch-faceted actors in the industry – had appeared in numerous films beyond his yeoman work in theatre including A Beautiful Mind, Amistad, the Front Page, and Searching for Bobby Fischer, My Cousin Vinny, Guarding Tess and the “Gurgle” in Finding Nemo. Now we had two heavyweights on the Paramount team. Round 2 was about to begin.
AUSTIN PENDLETON – ACTOR/DIRECTOR
I made a call to the original producers of the Broadway play – Nelle Nugent and Liz McCann – to see if we might rent the Broadway set. Remember those two names. They were integral to our 3rd show and two of the most celebrated producers on Broadway. Liz and Nelle were the first to produce a Broadway play in 1981 with a $100 top ticket price for the landmark Royal Shakespeare Company’s Nicholas Nickleby – an 8 hour romp through the world of Charles Dickens. It turned out that the Mass Appeal set was at the Burt Reynolds Theatre in Jupiter Florida. Charles Durning was starring in that production. I actually pitched Charles for the role of the older priest in our production but he was already committed to another project. However, the set was absolutely perfect and was available at one tenth the price of creating a new one. Locked and loaded. Let the games begin.
G. Marshall was perfect for the role of a priest who will go to any lengths not to upset the applecart and his security within the flock – no matter his convictions. In effect, he has no convictions until the young priest with pure faith detached from what the parishioners thought of him wakes the older priest and becomes his mirror and his moral compass. The show is very calm and subtle. No arguments, yelling or screaming or cursing owing to the setting. This was art imitating life. Mass Appeal is truly about the human condition and people luxuriated in the play.
We covered the costs, yet again, stepping up to a higher rung on the ladder of becoming a producer and not merely a one dimensional presenter. We were about the creative process – not just taking another producer’s fare, throwing it on stage and collecting ticket sales. However, it is absolutely true that we did not have anything approaching the resources – financial and human – needed to launch some new, untried play that had never seen a stage or audience anywhere. That kind of theatrical operation – like the Guthrie or Goodspeed – requires an annual budget of millions. Our annual operation budget when I left the Paramount in 1985 was $350,000 a year not counting the cost of presenting touring shows or launching productions like Deathtrap or Mass Appeal. By the way, the costs of these two productions were nominal – maybe $75K-$100K tops. I don’t think we toured Mass Appeal. I’m not sure why. It might have been E.G. Marshall’s schedule that prevented an extended engagement.
We had, though, begun the process of slowly building a budding production unit giving us the possibility of artistic freedom to create something rather than to be the proverbial consumer.
The Paramount was 2 for 2 and batting a 1000. We were on the way to a new destiny.
And then – financial Armageddon struck! What happened next would make the Crash of 1929 look like a sock hop in the perspective of the Paramount to its meager finances.
See separate story for “Dracula” starring Martin Landau.
