Opening NightWatch Chris Evans Explain How to Make a Bad Guy Likable in Lobby HeroEvans, Michael Cera, Brian Tyree Henry, and more greet 半岛体育 LIVE on the opening night red carpet.
By
Ruthie Fierberg
March 27, 2018
Brian Tyree Henry, Bel Powley, Michael Cera, and Chris Evans
Joseph Marzullo/WENN
With the March 26 opening of Broadway鈥檚 Lobby Hero, Second Stage Theatre is officially in the business of Broadway. The Off-Broadway staple christened the Hayes Theatre with the opening of Kenneth Lonergan鈥檚 play starring Chris Evans, Michael Cera, Brian Tyree Henry, and Bel Powley.
The full cast, Lonergan, and director Trip Cullman stopped to chat with 半岛体育 LIVE on the opening night red carpet during the post-show celebration at Manhattan鈥檚 Bryant Park Grill.
Lobby Hero originally debuted Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in 2001, and the issues embedded in Lonergan鈥檚 writing resonate with the #BlackLivesMatter and #MeToo movements of today. 鈥淚 know his story. It鈥檚 also about allies. This play is so relevant to have been written 20 years ago,鈥� said Henry, who makes his return to Broadway after debuting as the original General in The Book of Mormon in 2011. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like when are we gonna have the conversation where we don鈥檛 have to feel that anymore? We need to find our allies and we need to tell these stories and we need to tell them to each other and that鈥檚 why I love that [this play] is about us being in a lobby, this small confinement where you have nowhere to run. So let鈥檚 just talk about it.鈥�
Of course, his performance and that of his co-stars elevates the material鈥攎aking even the most unlikable people (in Evans鈥� character鈥檚 case) sympathetic. 鈥淭hat's in the writing,鈥� says Evans, making his Broadway debut in the play. 鈥淎ll of Kenny鈥檚 characters, there鈥檚 no hero there鈥檚 no villain. There a lot of indictment on institutions but a lot of sympathy towards the characters so even though I play a bad guy he has layers and I think he's relatable.鈥�
鈥淲hat I was so struck with Kenneth Lonergan鈥檚 writing,鈥� adds Cullman, 鈥測ou don鈥檛 think these are actors acting in roles that somebody has written, you literally think you are a fly on the wall and these are human beings who are having their lives broken and made in front of your eyes. So that was the brief that I set to myself getting to do Lobby Hero. I want these characters to feel, for an audience, that you're just observing these human beings rather than these actors playing these characters.鈥�
