鈥淗ello? . . . Hello?鈥� The first voice to penetrate the darkness of the August Wilson Theatre at the Edward Albee memorial December 6 was arch, authoritarian, unmistakable.
After its cellphone shutdown came the candy wrappers. 鈥淕et 鈥榚m unwrapped now, and, if you want to cough, don鈥檛 do it during the show. Do it now. Everybody cough! One, two, three. We hope you enjoy the show, and we want those people around you to enjoy the show, too. Thank you. . . . Oh, I almost forgot: I鈥檓 Edward Albee.鈥�
In a way it was unexpected鈥攁nd in another way inevitable鈥攖hat Albee, who frequently directed his own plays, would be calling the shots for his final act.
He got off the first word in this event and, two hours and 23 minutes later, the last word, too鈥攁 recording of him in some pastoral scene, drinking it all in, relishing it. 鈥淭his is good,鈥� he says. 鈥淏eautiful. Participate fully all the time, in case this is all there is. Don鈥檛 miss anything. Don鈥檛 close down. Listen to the bird sounds.鈥�
That鈥檚 the way he lived it and wrote it. Theatre lovers鈥攆riends, fans, colleagues鈥� packed the Broadway house to pay tribute to the life that ended September 18 at age 88, one that included more than 30 plays, including three Pulitzer Prize winners (A Delicate Balance, Seascape, and Three Tall Women). Judges actually voted him a fourth鈥攆or his Tony- and Oscar-winning masterwork, Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf?鈥攂ut the prudes in charge of the Pulitzers that year objected to the four-letter way George and Martha walked what was left of their wits and chose instead to present no Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1963.
There were 16 testimonials delivered from the stage, plus recorded anecdotes and praises from the late James Houghton (who gave Albee his season at Signature Theatre) and Marian Seldes (a Delicate Balance Tony winner and Albee鈥檚 favorite leading lady).
And of course there was beaucoup television footage of Albee, allowing him to speak for himself. One had him recalling Thornton Wilder鈥檚 review of his first stabs at poetry: 鈥淗ave you thought about plays?鈥�
Several speakers pointed up Albee鈥檚 two radically different faces. 鈥淎s you can tell when you tell Edward stories,鈥� said Bill Irwin, one of Virginia Woolf鈥檚 three Tony-winning Georges, 鈥測ou ricochet and you rebound between the scary Edward鈥攖he rapier wit took no prisoners鈥攁nd the really, truly, tender and generous Edward.
鈥淗e loved to tell the story of being flown to Stockholm to see the opening-night production of the Swedish National Theatre鈥檚 Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf? in which they had decided it would really be better to have one intermission instead of the two for the three acts he had written. He built inexorably toward the end of the story when he said, 鈥楢nd they performed it that way. Once.鈥欌赌�
Two playwrights stepped forth with very moving and insightful testimonies鈥擶ill Eno, a relatively new writer that Albee took under his wing (as was his wont), and Tony winner Terrence McNally, who became a lover.
Albee and McNally met February 21, 1960, at the opening night party for the revival of Marc Blitzstein鈥檚 The Cradle Will Rock at New York City Opera. They shared a taxi to the Village, and Albee offered a nightcap. 鈥淥h, I鈥檇 love to, but I wouldn鈥檛 want to bother your wife or your family.鈥� Albee explained he didn鈥檛 have either and told the driver this would be the last stop. 鈥淭he word 鈥榞aydar鈥� wasn鈥檛 in use in 1960. Whatever we called it, mine was certainly out of whack the first night I met Edward.
鈥淭o this day, Edward Albee is the straightest gay man I鈥檝e ever met. Edward and I lived together for four years. Marriage, of course, wasn鈥檛 permitted then, but we had a famous gay divorce. We were the Off-Broadway version of the Burtons.鈥�
Charter members of The Edward Albee Stock Company executed various bits of Albee business on the program. Jordan Baker (Three Tall Women) created an hysterical listical of memos Albee never got, like 鈥滵on鈥檛 experiment.鈥� Maureen Anderman (Seascape, The Lady From Dubuque) read a message from his frequent producer Liz McCann. Rosemary Harris (All Over, A Delicate Balance) recited a poem Albee wrote in the voice of his dog that had passed on, Samantha. Richard Thomas (Everything in the Garden) delivered Albee鈥檚 famous 鈥淎rt & Democracy鈥� essay and co-starred with Jane Alexander and Peter Francis James in the final scene from The Lady From Dubuque. Brian Murray (Me, Myself and I) presented a monologue he originally did in The Play About the Baby and remembered a very young Albee with flowing, shoulder-length hair, 鈥渓ooking like an irritable Jesus Christ,鈥� crossing swords and wits with N枚el Coward.
David Esbjornson, who directed the memorial and some of Albee鈥檚 later plays, admitted it was often a tightrope walk working with the playwright. 鈥淣othing was as highly charged or more complex than being an interpreter of his writing,鈥� he understated. 鈥淲hen Edward decided on you as a director, you felt like you had won some prize or honored position that might have been too hastily bestowed on you and could potentially be taken away at any moment. He believed that there was one way to do his plays鈥攈is way. Now there鈥檚 an irony in that comment because anything that you might do to successfully present the work would become his way, and he relished the double-edged position that he put you in.鈥�
After staging the New York premiere of The Play About the Baby, Esbjornson got Albee鈥檚 OK to direct a Who鈥檚 Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Guthrie Theatre, and the playwright went to Minneapolis to inspect the results. 鈥淲e met for breakfast to discuss the production he鈥檇 seen the night before, and I expected a lengthy session, but he seemed genuinely pleased and very mysterious. And he pushed a manuscript across the table. 鈥楾his is my next play. If you like it, I want you to direct it. It鈥檚 about a man who has fallen in love with a goat.鈥� In a time of perverse hubris, we decided not to try the play out regionally but instead, develop it on Broadway.
鈥淣othing could have prepared us for the roller-coaster ride we went on. The first preview of The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was like a rock concert. I sat with the audience, instead of the back of the house as usual. As we moved toward the end of the play, every audience reaction was on display鈥攕hock, anger, laughter, tears. Some people stood and applauded, their hands over their heads. Others just sat there stunned or walked out in disgust. It鈥檚 one of the happiest moments I鈥檝e ever had in the theatre.鈥�
Bill Pullman and Mercedes Ruehl got award nominations for the play鈥攁nd death threats.
鈥淥ne night when Edward had come to visit鈥攖his was several weeks after we had opened the play鈥擨 was leaving the theatre with him and I mentioned something about the death threats,鈥� Ruehl says. 鈥淚 said, 鈥楧o you realize that every night we actors risk our lives in the service of your play?鈥� and, without missing a beat, he said, 鈥楧o you realize that every night I risk my play in the service of you actors?鈥欌€�
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? was Albee鈥檚 last hurrah. It got him the Tony Award and a nomination for that elusive fourth Pulitzer Prize. It gave his life a great third act.
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e always respected about Edward was his need to provoke, his sense of adventure, his unwavering courage and his loyalty in battle,鈥� director Esbjornson said with some wistful affection. 鈥淓dward鈥檚 greatest gesture of love was to slide that next play across the table to you. Nothing mattered more to him than his work.鈥�
