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<\/p>\nSTAR POWER: The two comic actors have an onstage repartee about their respective upbringings, their shared friendship, their separate Hollywood careers and paths to fame. The audience hang on their every word. (Photo by Ryan Morrill)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jason Alexander couldn\u2019t have given a more flattering introduction of Tony Shalhoub when they appeared together on the Surflight Theatre stage on Friday afternoon, June 12.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a treat for me,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cI\u2019ve known this gentleman for a very long time, but this will probably be the longest conversation we\u2019ve ever had where I get to ask him all kinds of things that I would be embarrassed to ask him otherwise. \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cHis brilliant career is making my career look paltry; that\u2019s what it is. Just so you understand who we\u2019re dealing with, this is a career that spans 40 years \u2013 that\u2019s no small thing \u2013 in every medium we could name, including voiceover and recordings and all that. I\u2019m going to try to remember this: He has five Emmy Awards; he has six Screen Actor Guild Awards; he has a Tony Award; he has a Golden Globe Award; and he was nominated for a Grammy \u2013 I don\u2019t know who beat him out, maybe, you know, Whitney Houston, I have no idea. He\u2019s one of the most highly decorated actors that I know, and he\u2019s very, he\u2019s very \u2013 it\u2019s so interesting because when you know Tony, he\u2019s the most unassuming guy, you know, just a guy, just a sweet, lovely family guy who does his job, doesn\u2019t make no big hoopla, right, and he\u2019s one of the most highly accomplished and decorated actors, artists, that I know.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I think you\u2019re in for a treat. Let\u2019s bring him out and have a conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shalhoub entered the stage to a huge round of applause.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m interested in people\u2019s journey\u2019s and how they kind of got to where they are,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cSo, you\u2019re one of nine siblings, is that correct?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m one of 10 children,\u201d Shalhoub answered.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, you have nine siblings and grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin,\u201d said Alexander.<\/p>\n
Shalhoub said he had a sister who got into theater before he did, going off to the Pittsburgh Playhouse at the age of 18. His parents, especially his father, weren\u2019t exactly thrilled with that decision.<\/p>\n
He told the audience she\u2019d done a lot of things, including being in \u201cStranger Things\u201d for a number of years, and still does a lot of theater. But \u2026<\/p>\n
\u201cBy the time I came along \u2013 I\u2019m the second youngest of 10 \u2013 so by the time I was coming up, my parents were so tired of child rearing, they said, \u2018Do whatever you want; get a job; cook for yourself.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Alexander asked when Shalhoub had his first experience with acting. It turned out that same sister, 10 years older than Tony, had been in a production of \u201cThe King and I\u201d in high school, and they needed little kids. Tony was 6 at that time, and his sister recruited him.<\/p>\n
\u201cA quick story,\u201d said Shalhoub. \u201cThis probably started my long and crazy journey. It\u2019s the dress rehearsal of \u2018The King and I.\u2019 There\u2019s a musical number that ends the first act; all the children are onstage in a circle around Miss Anna or whatever. So the song ends, the act ends, the curtain comes down and I\u2019m in the farthest downstage position \u2013 that\u2019s the one that\u2019s closest to the audience \u2013 and the curtain comes down and I\u2019m the only one on the outside. Of course, I burst into tears. I couldn\u2019t find the slit in the curtain. I\u2019m 6 years old, but somewhere in the back, in the deepest recesses of my brain \u2013 \u2018I got laughter.\u2019 Maybe the hook was set; it\u2019s been one humiliation after another.\u201d<\/p>\n
By the time he got to high school, Shalhoub would be in theater productions, and he enjoyed being noticed. After all, in his huge family it was difficult to get noticed \u2013 \u201cI\u2019m over here.\u201d
Shalhoub said he had been a middling student in high school. When he graduated, his father said, \u201cYou can go to work or you can go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I went to college because I didn\u2019t want to get a job.\u201d<\/p>\n
He took an acting class or two \u2013 \u201cIt\u2019s an easy A\u201d \u2013 and appeared in plays. But he still couldn\u2019t imagine being a professional actor. He didn\u2019t have what Alexander said was \u201ca moment,\u201d like when Alexander saw a production of \u201cPippin\u201d on Broadway when he was a young teen and saw Ben Vereen get on stage. \u201cFrom that moment on my fantasy was a life as an actor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shalhoub did have sort of a \u201cthat-moment lite\u201d when he was a freshman in college in Green Bay and a professional troupe came into town, either from the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis or the Milwaukee Rep; he couldn\u2019t remember which one. It wasn\u2019t kids acting, it was trained adults who were devoted and \u201call in.\u201d Green Bay had only community theater. He hadn\u2019t realized adults could make a living on stage. \u201cI was just knocked out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, he didn\u2019t declare a theater major until his junior year after he had transferred to the University of Southern Maine.<\/p>\n
In his senior year, he didn\u2019t have a clue as to what he would do next. But a young woman who had graduated the year before had been accepted at the Yale Drama School, a graduate school, and loved it there. She told her boyfriend, who was a classmate of Shalhoub, that she thought it would be perfect for Shalhoub as well. That boyfriend pushed and pushed and pushed Shalhoub to apply.<\/p>\n
Now, Shalhoub said it was a long story, but the audience wanted to hear it. It was indeed a long story, but he did audition and got accepted at Yale, and that made all the difference.<\/p>\n
Shalhoub talked at length about his experience at Yale.<\/p>\n
Robert Brustein had been dean of the Yale School of Drama when Shalhoub was there. He moved on to Harvard and launched the American Repertory Theater, which still exists today. Shalhoub was hired for the company and spent four years there. He had become like the pros he saw in Green Bay \u2013 a dedicated, all-in professional actor. As Alexander said, \u201cIt was the jump from student to \u2018I\u2019m a working professional.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cThat jump, it was a huge gift, right?\u201d asked Alexander.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a gift,\u2019 answered Shalhoub, \u201cbecause the truth is some of my classmates wanted to go right to New York, and they did go. I couldn\u2019t go right to New York. First off, I had no money. I was in debt from school \u2013 not like today\u2019s debt (which leaves graduates struggling for years) \u2013 but it was a lot, undergrad and graduate school debt. I was being offered a 10-month job in regional theater by the guy who had brought me up, so it was kind of a continuation of the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe brought designers and directors and playwrights, actors that I was familiar with, and now instead of paying to do it, I get a small paycheck. It was 1980, so I started at 300 bucks a week, and I was like yes!<\/em> I fainted.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re actually giving me a paycheck. Plus, I\u2019m working with great people, world-class directors. You know, The New York Times<\/em> came out to view the things, New York actors were brought in to work with the company, so that meant that agents were coming up to see their plays, which meant they were seeing me.\u201d<\/p>\n Shalhoub eventually graduated to films and TV. He and Alexander basically broke out at the same time, and they busted each other\u2019s chops about losing auditions to each other.<\/p>\n \u201cJason got that, oh great, I\u2019m so happy for him,\u201d said Shalhoub sarcastically, to Alexander\u2019s delight.<\/p>\n Alexander\u2019s significant break toward film and TV came when a role in \u201cPretty Woman\u201d fell into his lap. He asked Shalhoub what he did that made him realize he had a solid entree into the world of cameras.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have to say that was \u2018Barton Fink.\u2019 Not because \u2018Barton Fink\u2019 was a big commercial success. I don\u2019t really know those numbers (it wasn\u2019t; it lost money), but it went to Cannes, and it won the Palme d\u2019Or, you know. I only knew the Coen Brothers. A couple years before I had seen \u201cBlood Simple,\u201d and I said, \u201cOh my God, these guys are really changing the landscape, and I would love to get in there. When I was doing that movie, I knew they were poised to become rock stars. That was a big deal.<\/p>\n \u201cBut \u2018Big Night\u2019 (which had been screened at Surflight immediately before their conversation) was the one that really shifted things. Before \u2018Big Night,\u2019 I auditioned.\u201d<\/p>\n After \u201cBig Night,\u201d filmmakers came to him.<\/p>\n The talk was scheduled for an hour, so there wasn\u2019t enough time to talk about all of Shalhoub\u2019s successes. When Alexander asked about them, Shalhoub had time only to give thumbnail responses. But there was one verbal exchange that must be mentioned.<\/p>\n \u201cSo Tony\u2019s of Lebanese-American heritage,\u201d said Alexander. \u201cIn \u2018Big Night\u2019 he played an Italian; in \u2018Wings\u2019 he played an Italian, he played a Jew. You\u2019ve crossed ethnicities; your wonderful face allows you to really convey a lot of ethnicities. I\u2019m going to preface this by going I don\u2019t have an issue with this, but there is a thing now in our industry where actors can\u2019t play anything they\u2019re not. \u2026 So what is your response to it, your feeling about it?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just like everything with political correctness,\u201d Shalhoub said. \u201cYou know it starts out with the germ of a good idea, but then it is just taken to the extreme. \u2026 I\u2019ll give you the broadest possible example: Mickey Rooney doing the Asian in \u2018Breakfast at Tiffany\u2019s.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cI get it. In the past it was stereotypes, it was mockery\u2026 but now you\u2019re slicing the damn ham real thin. \u2026 I get it; I don\u2019t want to see someone playing \u2018the lazy Mexican\u2019 \u2013 that I can\u2019t have. But I was trained to do characters. \u2026 I would have had no career. I\u2019d have to play a Lebanese kid from Green Bay, Wisconsin.\u201d<\/p>\n That one got perhaps the biggest laugh of the afternoon.<\/p>\n