The powerhouse duo of actor Toby Yatso and director Ron May have joined up for Phoenix Theatre's upcoming production of Buyer & Cellar. Jonathan Tolins' one man play tells the story of an out of work actor named Alex who stumbles upon a job working in the basement shops of Barbra Streisand's Malibu barn. Streisand really built herself a series of shops in her basement to showcase her vast collection of collectibles, from antique dolls to costumes from her films. She talked about this in her design book called My Passion for Design. Tolins wondered what it would be like to be the guy working in Streisand's "shops," and the idea for the comedy was born. In the play, which opens at Phoenix Theatre on April 15th, Streisand needs someone to man her "mall" and talk to on those rare occasions when she descends to view her items, as she doesn't like to be alone. Tolins' play is very funny yet also very touching. And yes, Streisand herself is a character in the comedy. Yatso and May took a break from their busy schedules a few week back, right before rehearsals started, to answer some questions for my upcoming article in AZ Lifestyle magazine's April issue (to be published next week.) They had a lot to say, as below is the part of the conversation that didn't make it into my article!
Why do you think this show was so successful Off Broadway, on tour and now in regional theatres?
Toby Yatso: It's cheap to produce! Haha. Ok, other than that... there seems to have been a trend in live theatre lately, a tilt back to pieces which conceptually are love letters to live theatre itself — celebrating the experience of what a live person in front of you can do beyond the literal and realism, an almost full entertainment-pendulum swing away from the CGI world of cinema. Pieces like 39 Steps, War Horse, Peter and the Starcatcher, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder all come to mind. People who are inclined to come to the theatre seem to be appreciating the abstract non-spoon-fed imagination pieces lately. So, lucky us!!
The show is a bit of a love letter to Streisand but also takes a few dings at her crazy, eccentric ways– how do you think Streisand fans in Phoenix will respond?
Yatso: I was immediately struck by how balanced this play is. Kudos to Mr. Tolins. It manages to satisfy both extremes of haters and worshippers. Are both sides asked to look at the other? Yes. But does it require you to change your opinion to the opposing? No. I picture either side of any potential Barbra argument leaving the theater exclaiming "SEE?!". The perk of this script is everyone getting to enjoy the ride.
The play centers on Alex, an out of work actor who gets a job as the sole person “working” in the mall in Barbra’s basement. Are there any jobs you’ve had that compare to the one Alex takes?
Ron May: Alex is one person doing the job of a mall full of people. i work in non-profit theatre. anyone who works in non-profit ANYthing will tell you that you wear a zillion more hats than you ever anticipated wearing. so there's that, I guess. I also worked for a megalomaniacal asshole back in college who thought he had the stature of Barbra Streisand - but he categorically did not, which is stretching the similarities, but...it's there.
Yatso: I've had some odd jobs here and there. Nothing to that degree of loneliness and eccentricity as Alex's job in the play. I did a little retail-type work in the context of an optometrist office and optical...the majority of my job was about being a technician and assisting the doctors, but eventually there crept in a need and desired ability to sell services and products to the patients. Apparently, I was pretty decent at that aspect, and I had no idea I would be. I suppose that does make sense in my world of performing and teaching...I had a director tell me once "you could sell ice to an Eskimo" [that's not a politically correct term for that population of northern people, so please remember that the director said that, not me!]. I imagine Alex would feel similarly -- accidentally successful in pleasing costumers.
May: HELL yes. i'm not a star-f'er by any stretch of the imagination. but come ON. I think you'd be crazy not to leap at an opportunity like that.
Yatso: If I needed the income and work the way Alex does, absolutely yes. If I was busy performing or working in the arts, most likely no. Not even for Barbra.
Besides the fact that this is a comedy, so audiences will find a lot of humor in it, what do you think playwright Jonathan Tolins intended to be the main themes or takeaways of the play?
May: For me, at least, there's a super sweet thematic undercurrent of a kind of...I guess for lack of a better word, loneliness.
Yatso: See, Ron is brilliant, and that's why he is the illustrious director I am so fortunate to have in my life. Yes, what strikes me is the loneliness, the isolation paired with the desire to connect on a meaningful level; the utopia and utopian tendencies in all of us, famous or not; and also our quest for beauty and relative definitions of beauty.
On the Streisand fan scale, where would you put yourself?
May: I'm actually probably like...a four? I'm a fan of her film work and i enjoy her music but i don't, like, KNOW her catalogue. nor have I been to a concert. though I was obsessed with The Broadway Album and I bought one of her other pop albums in the 80's called Emotion and i remember listening to it - kind of loudly I guess - and my mom overheard it and thought she was singing ABORTION. so my mom was like, "WHY the hell is Barbra Streisand singing "I need an abortion..."?!
Yatso: I absolutely had an obsessive phase in high school, I will admit it. I ordered the Just For the Record gayer-than-the-day-is-long pink 4-CD box set from Columbia House (remember that?!), after I got the 2-CD live The Concert album from 1994 for Christmas. Those CDs were on repeat for many months. During that time, I watched her in Hello, Dolly! more times than I can count...if I were to ever do a drag number -- which I will most likely never do, unless a play calls for it -- I might even go to her version of "So Long Dearie" from that film because I know it so well. I remember the obsession continuing on into the Back to Broadway album, geeking out over the absurd version of "Luck Be a Lady", and the music theory nerd in me completely respecting her harmonization to "Music of the Night" with Michael Crawford. I get goosebumps when I think of her ridiculously long-held notes at the ends of "Piece of Sky" and "Before the Parade Passes By", even still to this day. But then eventually the obsession waned to a healthy admiration and respect by the time I was in college. I still encourage my music theatre students to study her earlier work, particularly for inspiration on how to make a choice and how to interpret and get under the meaning of a lyric.
May: If you're a celebrity, and you value your privacy like Streisand does, it's not like you can just hop on over to the Scottsdale Fashion Square. She'd never be left alone. I can't imagine what being in the public eye that CONSTANTLY would be like - but just wanting to "do the things everyone else does" - hell yes, put a mall in the basement.
Yatso: I think it would be insane to have a collection of something and not supply some kind of effective way of displaying or sharing it or providing some way of interacting with it. At least the mall design justifies a reason for having all that stuff. Otherwise it's an episode of Hoarders!
If you had a “mall” in your basement, what “shops” would you have?
May: I hate malls. hate, hate, hate malls. but...I'd have a movie theatre. and an arcade with 80s stand up video games. and a candy store, stocked with every kind of gummi candy known to man. And a Paradise Bakery. because those are always in malls. outside of that...no idea. ABSOLUTELY NO CHILDREN OR PEOPLE WHO WALK SUPER SLOWLY WOULD BE ALLOWED.
Yatso: Haha! I also happen to loathe malls. The moment I walk into one, I am immediately overcome with the desire and need to nap. So yeah, I would build a theater if I had that much space, or a "Toby-sized" gymnastics course where I could climb and jump and flip with Chad (my fiancé) and not hurt myself....and ok, fine, you got me, I would probably have a "shop" that was basically a gift shop / library of theatre nerd stuff (soundtracks, books, posters, scripts, scores, etc.). And maybe a series of catwalks and ramps and tunnels for my cats.
Have you ever done a one man show before?
Yatso: No, I have not. Here we go! So so so glad I have Ron. :)
One of the reasons Alex excels in this strange job is his acting skills in improvisation that allows him to react to some of the zingers that Streisand throws him, which, we find out, she actually appreciates. The scene when she pulls out a “coupon” to get a better deal on an antique doll, and the way that Alex responds to that, is a personal highlight of mine. What experience will you draw upon to help in those improvisational themed situations in the play?
Yatso: I'm a teacher of theatre arts and musical theatre at ASU whenever I'm not on stage or rehearsing, so I have dozens of "bosses" (aka students) I'm improvising with for hours on end. I do enjoy the fact that Alex is not necessarily great at it (he admits he took "a class", not many classes), or at least he is not fully aware of how well his improv will land but he goes for it anyway -- I totally dig and relate to that idea: commitment leading to a sort of accidental success. Also, Alex is from Wisconsin and so am I! What does that have to do with this question?! Very little. But it makes me feel like I know him better.
What type of research have you done?
Yatso: Actually, all this studying-up has been fun and plentiful. I look to my copy of My Passion for Design a lot, and I've had to look up a lot of Hollywood references so that they are fresher in my head and memory. I've watched some Streisand film clips I had never seen yet prior to working on this play.
Ron, you obviously have a very recent experience of appearing in a one may play just last summer when you reprised your role in The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs at Actors Theatre, how does directing one differ from acting in one?
May: Ha. Don't know yet. I've never directed a one-man show. I'm hoping it's like directing a play with more than one person - it's just...consolidation of responsibility for EVERYTHING in the show falls on that one person's shoulders.
May: Toby is a wildly resourceful actor. He can play drama. He can play comedy. He's as good a leading man as he is a character actor, which is really what this show calls for. Like Rupaul says..."don't...fuck it up." Not really. I've worked with him before. This is actually, I think, just going to be a stupid amount of fun. I tend to traffic so often in darker material that getting to play in a room for a few weeks with one of my favorite artists on a script that's just THIS much unbridled fun - is something I'm really, really looking forward to. so I guess if, "let's have fun" is advice...there it is.
Yatso: Wow, thank you, Ron!
In the Off Broadway production of the play, the set was fairly minimal, with just the use of projections to portray the various locales. For this production, is there any creative way that you plan to portray the Mall?
May: We're going to actually build a mall on stage. Not really! We're still in the primitive stages of exploring visually what all is and isn't going to be on stage but what I've seen from the preliminary sketches, it's going to be pretty sweet.
It seems to me the main hurdle to get over in directing this piece is to finely balance the line between realism, caricature and parody without letting your actor be too campy, mean-spirited or silly and still being able to portray Streisand as a human being with feelings like the rest of us Earthlings. As a director, how do you plan to do that?
May: It's always hard to "unpack" what I do in a rehearsal hall. I'm sure if you ask 5 different people, you'll get five different answers. In my head, though, finding the right tone for any piece is usually the biggest hurdle. Toby has terrific instincts. and is always willing to try anything or scrap anything. it'll be a lot of trial and error - and as absurd as the set up may be, there's a fine line to walk tonally so it doesn't fall into cheap caricature. The ultimate hope is that aside from having a damn good time, audiences actually believe everything is happening from one moment to the next. That's all i can really hope for.
Yatso: I'm in the best hands!
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