John Benjamin Hickey and Allison Janney were first married 20 years ago鈥攚ell, in the casting sense of the word. 鈥淲hen we were doing Blue Window Off-Broadway, we were both cast as a married couple in The First Wives Club,鈥� explains Hickey. After 12 hours of waiting inside a Winnebago to shoot their scene, 鈥渟omebody knocked on our door at 6 PM and said, 鈥楪oldie [Hawn] has decided that she doesn鈥檛 want to do this scene.鈥欌� 鈥淲e still get residuals,鈥� adds Janney. Hickey chimes in, 鈥淥nce every few years I call Allison to be like, 鈥業 got a check for $17.鈥欌�
Now Hickey and Janney reunite in the revival of John Guare鈥檚 Six Degrees of Separation, which opened April 25 at Broadway鈥檚 Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Janney and Hickey play Ouisa and Flan Kittredge, a Central Park West couple swindled into taking in a young man who claims that he knows their children from Harvard and needs a place to stay before meeting up with his father, Sidney Poitier. Struck by the possible brush with fame, the couple falls for the con. 鈥淗e does it live and in person, he catfishes them,鈥� says Hickey, 鈥渕akes them sort of see what鈥檚 fraudulent in their own life.鈥�
To purchase tickets to Six Degrees of Separation, . For discount tickets on select performances, !
The play begins moments after their well-to-do bubble pops, but lurches back in time thanks to Guare鈥檚 nonlinear structure.
If it sounds like a lot to wrap your brain around, Janney and Hickey feel the same. 鈥淚 looked at Hickey [in rehearsal] and I was like, 鈥榃e鈥檙e going to be out there, we can鈥檛 [cut]!鈥欌� says Janney, who currently stars on CBS鈥� Mom and is perhaps best known for her Emmy-winning turn as C.J. Cregg on The West Wing. 鈥淚鈥檓 trying to get baseball signals to him and saying, 鈥極h my God, I鈥檓 drowning!鈥欌� But if Janney feels daunted by the task of returning to Broadway for the first time in seven years, she also feels excited and comforted by her safety net: Hickey.
鈥淭his is where I began my whole career, with this gentleman,鈥� she says.
Since 1996鈥檚 Blue Window and First Wives Club, the two have worked together in movies (The Ice Storm) and onstage (Williamstown Theatre Festival), and built a friendship that has lasted nearly 30 years.
鈥淲e鈥檝e seen each other at our best and at our worst and [when] we look at each other we know what the other one has been through,鈥� says Hickey. 鈥淚t鈥檚 easy for me to see [Six Degrees] as a play of a marriage because I have that with the person I鈥檓 doing this play with.鈥�
Whether laughing at old memories or trying to trade their interview answers for each other鈥檚鈥斺淭hat鈥檚 a better answer, go with his,鈥� 鈥淯se hers!,鈥� 鈥淭he one he said!鈥濃攊t鈥檚 easy to see their affection for each other; it makes for a more stable marriage onstage, too.
鈥淚n the theatre, you鈥檙e always getting to revisit,鈥� says Hickey. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e always revisiting moments.鈥� And for Hickey and Janney, they also get to revisit each other.
