Joe Mantello鈥檚 hideaway at the Belasco Theatre looks like someplace you鈥檇 keep a hostage. The walls are bare and, as to furniture, there are only two uncomfortable chairs and a cot that resembles a hospital stretcher. While it鈥檚 unusual for a Broadway director to have a dressing room at all, Mantello is in an unusual position, directing two plays on Broadway simultaneously, Blackbird and The Humans.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been thrilling and invigorating,鈥� says Mantello, his voice rising from the gravel pit where it customarily lives. 鈥淚鈥檓 really aware of how fortunate I am. For me to come in and whine about my long day would just be pathetic.鈥� So despite just completing an insane two-week period in which both shows were in previews (hence the need for the cot), Mantello鈥檚 wide, dark eyes shine. 鈥淚鈥檓 from Rockford, Illinois,鈥� he explains, 鈥渁nd to have two plays on the same street on Broadway鈥攖hat sense of awe has not left.鈥�
Mantello began his theatrical career doing two things at once. Starting off as an actor at the North Carolina School of the Arts, his ambition to direct came not from watching the work of directors, but for his admiration of playwrights. 鈥淚 was always the person in our class who was fascinated by new plays,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 would go to the library all the time as new plays would come out.鈥�
Those passions converged in a major way when, in 1994, he went from acting in the original Broadway run of Tony Kushner鈥檚 Angels in America鈥攆or which he received his first Tony nomination鈥攖o directing Terrence McNally鈥檚 Love! Valour! Compassion! The latter was the first of seven collaborations with McNally, including the 1997 film version of Love! Valour! Compassion!
Within five years, Mantello grew restless. 鈥淚 was no longer frightened to walk into a room to rehearse a new play; I had a pretty good idea of what it was going to take,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚 had to do something that I didn鈥檛 know how to do. I had to figure something out to recharge.鈥�
So he took on his first musical, a revival of Stephen Sondheim鈥檚 Assassins, in part because he felt it was 鈥渃loser to a play than a musical.鈥� But in the wake of 9/11, the show was postponed. Instead, his first musical was a new鈥攁nd a much bigger鈥攐ne: Wicked.
鈥淚 was really na茂ve, blindly jumping into it.鈥�
As you may have heard, Wicked worked out okay. This past March the megamusical, currently in its 12th year on Broadway, surpassed the billion-dollar mark at the box office.
Indeed, 2003 proved to be another annus mirabilis for him, with Wicked opening less than six months after Mantello won the Tony for his direction of Richard Greenberg鈥檚 Take Me Out. The following season he picked up another Tony for finally directing Asssasins.
Another five years and Mantello once again grew dissatisfied. After a string of commercial failures, including Dolly Parton鈥檚 9 to 5, he 鈥渇elt something slipping away鈥� I wasn鈥檛 at my best, solving challenges by throwing money from the budget at it.
鈥淸I] made a conscious choice to go back to where I started, which is Off-Broadway in little theatres, where you sort of have more restrictions, to see if I could get back in touch with something.鈥�
Mantello also returned to acting, earning another Tony nomination for his performance as Ned Weeks in The Normal Heart, an experience he found 鈥渓iberating.鈥� He revisited the play for the 2014 HBO film adaptation.
In the five seasons since then, Mantello has directed nine shows on Broadway, bringing his total to 25. To put that in context, consider the 21 shows directed by Mike Nichols, the variety of whose career Mantello鈥檚 resembles.
This season Mantello has once again challenged himself鈥攁nd his actors鈥攖o dig deeper in both David Harrower鈥檚 Blackbird, a disturbing examination of sexual molestation, and with the psychological realism of the everyday in Stephen Karam鈥檚 The Humans.
Mantello first directed Blackbird in 2007 at Manhattan Theatre Club, starring Jeff Daniels and Alison Pill. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one of the only plays I鈥檝e ever directed that I didn鈥檛 feel I was finished with,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 kept thinking about it. I wanted another crack at it.鈥�
Daniels feels the same way. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 go far enough,鈥� the Emmy winner for The Newsroom says. 鈥淔rom the first page on, Joe and I just turned up the volume on everything鈥攔aising the stakes.鈥�
That approach continues nightly as Daniels leaves co-star Michelle Williams onstage alone and engages in an offstage scene for which his understudy, Tony Ward, comes up with a different improvisation every performance.
Mantello was equally demanding of the cast of The Humans. 鈥淗e鈥檚 unrelenting,鈥� says Reed Birney, 鈥減rodding in that Italian way of his.鈥�
鈥淚 do have a side of me that鈥檚 like a terrier,鈥� Mantello admits.
When An Act of God returns to Broadway later this month, Mantello will have four shows running simultaneously on Broadway. He ties director Casey Nicholaw with this feat, the first of its kind since Susan Stroman did it in 2001.
Still, the prolific Mantello has no plans once God is open. In fact, it鈥檚 been five years since his last 鈥渢ime out.鈥� It鈥檚 not very surprising when he says, 鈥淚 want to do something very surprising next. I don鈥檛 know what that is; something that has a high degree of risk.鈥�
Would he act again? 鈥淪ure,鈥� he says. 鈥淚f something terrifying came along.鈥�
How about directing another film? As it turns out, he has been talking with author Hanya Yanagihara about developing A Little Life, her bestselling novel, as a miniseries or a film. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the one thing that鈥檚 piqued my interest,鈥� he says. 鈥淭alk about harrowing鈥� talk about truthful.鈥�
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