Alan Rickman: “You can’t judge the character you’re playing, ever”

December 5, 2011 by Chris McKittrick

Alan Rickman doesn’t appear on the New York stage very often, so when he does it’s a cause to pay attention. One of the few great English actors who hasn’t gotten a well-deserved “Sir” in front of his name yet, Rickman has returned to the New York stage in Seminar, which also features Jerry O’Connell.

Though British, Rickman has a deep affinity for the Broadway stage than London’s West End. He explains, “I love working in New York theater. … It is very demanding, but it’s good to be in a city where you feel that theater is actually part of the life of the city. You know, London is so sprawling, and you can sometimes forget that anybody else is on a stage anywhere else. But here, it’s, you know, your friends and neighbors.”

So what does Rickman, who has appeared in dozens of movies, enjoy so much about acting for the stage? It’s all about the interplay between the actors, he says.

“I’m very aware that when one is acting in the theater, you do become kind of animal about it. And you’re reliant on instincts rather than tact a lot of the time. So the rehearsal room does become a bit of a marketplace, and new plays risk everybody’s sensibilities. That’s the whole point about them. But, you know, hopefully, ultimately, [Seminar playwright Theresa Rebeck is] happy because she knows we’re all there because we respect her writing so much.”

Daily Actor

Alan Rickman - Review of his Broadway play - "Seminar"

Alan Rickman is head of a talented class in 'Seminar'

By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAYNEW YORK –

 

In the first scene of Theresa Rebeck's new comedy, Seminar (* * * out of four), we're introduced to a group of aspiring young writers who represent a compendium of clichés.

Kate is a wry feminist from a wealthy family, living in a rent-controlled (by her parents) luxury apartment. Martin is her high school friend, less privileged and more dour, with a glaring chip on his shoulder. Douglas has enjoyed perks similar to Kate's and oozes a glib confidence. Izzy is Kate's foil, an up-by-her-bootstraps hottie who wields her sensuality with no apologies.

The four have been brought together, in Kate's vast bachelorette pad, by a chance to study with Leonard, a revered author and editor whose teaching methods suggest a sadistic military commander with an unexpectedly fluid vocabulary.

Characters turn out to be different than they appear on the surface, though in predictable ways. Yet Seminar, which opened Sunday at Broadway's Golden Theatre, is consistently clever and entertaining — and, under Sam Gold's briskly intelligent direction, a fine showcase for extraordinary actors.

They include the formidable Alan Rickman as Leonard, who returned to the role Friday night after an "acute respiratory infection" led to the cancellation of Thursday's preview (and the first missed performance of his career). If Rickman was feeling under the weather, it registered as part of Leonard's emotional malaise. Perhaps the most banal figure in Rebeck's play — a brilliant roué whose brutish behavior toward others masks his own regrets — this literary lion nonetheless has some delicious lines, and the actor serves them with robust elegance while suggesting a wounded humanity that transcends stereotype.

Rickman has a superb sparring partner in Hamish Linklater, whose Martin comes closest to his tutor in both ability and contentiousness. It's obvious from the start that Leonard will eventually see something of himself in this nerdy, contrary young man. But Linklater ensures that Martin is also his own person — tender beneath his hard shell, funny and heartbreakingly real.

Those qualities also apply to Lily Rabe's Kate, a Bennington alum who responds to Leonard's first shot of venom by stuffing her face with ice cream and chips. Rabe's most recent triumph was her luminous Portia in last season's revival of The Merchant of Venice; here, she approaches what is in essence a smartly written sitcom character with reserves of wit, insight and exuberance that few actresses twice her age could summon.

Jerry O'Connell is a hilarious Douglas, managing just the right willful cluelessness, while Hettienne Park captures Izzy's lack of self-consciousness and matter-of-fact sass without overplaying her carnality.

Thanks to these performances, Seminar proves an enriching study.

Rex Reed Review:Alan Rickman Teaches the Texas Chainsaw Massacre of Writers Workshops in Seminar

Theresa Rebeck’s misanthropic master class is saved by devastating performances

By Rex Reed 10:34am

Rickman, center.

I’ve never been a fan of Alan Rickman’s tight-lipped, prissy-mouthed acting style, but sometimes he picks a role that fits like a knee-high nylon sock, in a play that suits his nasal, slanty-eyed mannerisms with the sound of two hands clapping instead of one. The result in Theresa Rebeck’s Seminar, at the Golden, is a blessing. In fact, the entire cast of five is a marvel of well-oiled introspection, which is certainly a good thing, because without them, the enjoyable but often untidy and uneven play would be nothing more than a lot of clever one-liners.

Mr. Rickman plays Leonard, a sour, disillusioned, once-respected author who mysteriously gave up writing to take up copy editing at Random House. Impoverished and bitter, he now teaches writing workshops for pretentious young hopefuls with ambitions to write the great American novel. His current seminar is set in an $800-a-month rent-stabilized apartment on the Upper West Side with nine rooms and a river view belonging to one of the four students in the class who have shelled out $5,000 apiece to impress each other by dispensing earth-shattering undergraduate proclamations such as “Kerouac is a misogynist hack” and “Post-modernism has really fallen on hard times.”

The students are Kate (riveting Lily Rabe, who looks more like her mother, Jill Clayburgh, every time I see her), the wealthy, overeducated pseudointellectual Bennington graduate whose apartment serves as a makeshift classroom; Izzy (Hettienne Park), an Asian sexpot whose ambition is to write the kind of steamy stuff that will land her on the cover of New York magazine and bares her breasts to prove she’s ready for the task; Douglas (Jerry O’Connell), a preppie dude who learns to his horror that he’s cut out for nothing better than junky Hollywood screenplays; and Martin (Hamish Linklater), a skinny snob who annoys everyone by acting like a member of the semantics police (“Inigo! You said ‘Indigo Jones.’ It’s Inigo!”). Secretly, they all want to win the approval of their teacher, but what they get is humiliation, insults, discouragement and a torrent of colorful four-letter words that reduces them all to little more than literary larvae. Ms. Rebeck cusses more than David Mamet, but is more amusing than deadly.

Nothing they come up with discussing and dissecting each other’s work rouses the hooded eyelids of their pompous ass of a leader. He calls them whores, dismisses their stories as hollow and chides them for knowing nothing about what they are writing about—like, for instance, the world. He has traveled the globe rubbing elbows with HIV patients, Rwanda genocide survivors and “a Russian prostitute of indeterminate gender” who inspired him. Why can’t they experience life before they attempt to describe it in a “soul-sucking waste of words”? A story Kate has been working on for six years is trashed in one sentence for lack of relevance. (“I don’t have to go beyond the first five words, because I don’t give a shit!” he attacks.) While Leonard takes a two-week break from the 10-week seminar to inspect the damage in Somalia, the group begins to suspect maybe they’re being ripped off. Since no seminar I’ve ever attended in the craft of fiction writing (or anything else) has ever been taught by such a cruel, mean-spirited sadist, I began to suspect Ms. Rebeck’s plausibility quotient is lacking.

New York Observer

Alan Rickman illness: Broadway's Seminar Cancels November 17 Performance

By: Dan Bacalzo · Nov 17, 2011 · New York

Alan Rickman in Seminar (© Jeremy Daniel)

The Thursday, November 17 performance of Teresa Rebeck's Seminar, at Broadway's John Golden Theatre, has been canceled due to an illness suffered by star Alan Rickman. Performances will resume on Friday, November 18.

In a statement, producer Jeffrey Finn said, "On behalf of all the producers, we deeply regret having to cancel tonight's performance of Seminar due to Alan Rickman coming down with an acute respiratory infection. Mr. Rickman has never missed a stage performance in his entire career. He, the producers and the entire Company are deeply disappointed not to be able to deliver a show this evening. We all feel it's in the best interest for everyone to be as healthy as possible prior to our opening this coming Sunday."

The comedy centers on four young writers who are participating in a private seminar taught by the brilliant but unpredictable Leonard (Rickman), an international literary legend. But as Leonard deems some students more promising than others, tensions arise, sex is used as a weapon, and alliances are made and broken. Sam Gold directs, with the cast also featuring Hamish Linklater, Jerry O'Connell, Hettiene Park, and Lily Rabe.


Theater Mania

Alan Rickman Flashback! From Harry Potter to Sweeney Todd, the Seminar Star Sizzles on the Big Screen (videos)

Videos By Broadway.com Staff November 17, 2011 - 12:30PM

Alan Rickman in 'Harry Potter,' 'Galaxy Quest,' & 'Die Hard'

 

Alan Rickman shows off his range in six fabulous film performances.

 

It starts with the voice—a combination of purr and growl that can be sinister or suggestive, depending on the context. We’re talking about Alan Rickman, who is currently starring in the Broadway premiere of Seminar as a novelist who terrorizes four aspiring writers. Rickman is a masterful theater actor, with a pair of Tony nominations (for Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Private Lives) to show for it, as well as a critically acclaimed recent performance in John Gabriel Borkman at BAM. But he’s also a scene-stealing movie favorite whose films run the gamut of comedy, action, fantasy and romance. In honor of the star's November 20 opening night at Broadway’s Golden Theatre, we’ve gathered clips from six of our favorite Rickman film performances.

Hans Gruber in Die Hard
Rickman first attracted the attention of American moviegoers as a German terrorist who matches wits with Bruce Willis in this 1988 action hit. It takes Willis, an entire SWAT team and more to foil Hans’ plan to blow up a skyscraper and make off with $600 million. In the movie's official trailer, Rickman shows off his ability to put a unique spin on even the most prosaic lines due to his awesome powers of enunciation.


Jamie in Truly, Madly, Deeply
This 1990 British rom-com features a swoon-worthy performance by Rickman as a “ghost” who returns to his grief-stricken lover, Nina (Juliet Stevenson). Their star-crossed second-time-around romance includes this scene, in which Jamie counts the ways he loves Nina and then serenades her with “The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore” (by the Jersey Boys team of Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe!).


Colonel Christopher Brandon in Sense and Sensibility
The performance that spawned a dozen YouTube fan tributes: Rickman redefines the strong, silent type as the stalwart suitor of a young Kate Winslet in the beloved 1995 Jane Austen film adaptation. This brief clip shows everything you need to know about a man who is desperately in love but can’t bring himself to say so.


Alexander Dane in Galaxy Quest
In this irresistible 1999 comedy, Rickman joins Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Sam Rockwell and Tony Shalhoub as actors who can’t escape being identified with the roles they played in a Star Trek-type series. Vain Mr. Dane is especially peeved by his plight, until the crew is transported to a spaceship filled with real aliens. Broadway bonus: This clip compilation features Patrick Breen of Next Fall as Rickman’s biggest fan.


Severus Snape in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
“Our. New. Celebrity.” That’s how Rickman sarcastically welcomes (adorable) Daniel Radcliffe to Hogwarts during the 2001 launch of the blockbuster Harry Potter film series. As Professor Snape, Rickman brings an iconic authority figure to life, establishing from the beginning a relationship that matures and grows with each film.


Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd
Alan Rickman singing “Pretty Women” with Johnny Depp? Oh, yeah! As the nemesis of Sweeney Todd in Tim Burton’s 2007 film of Sondheim's masterpiece, Rickman adds a steely spine to the predatory judge, settling into Sweeney’s barber chair for the closest shave of his life. Though we know how this tale will turn out, Rickman, as always, keeps things interesting.



Broadway.com

Two Broadway stars put Potter and Snape behind them

November 9, 2011 | 3:35pm

 

Alan Rickman had a special visitor to his dressing room at the Golden Theatre Monday night: Daniel Radcliffe.

The actors from the Harry Potter movies — Rickman played Severus Snape and Radcliffe was Potter himself — are appearing on Broadway concurrently. Radcliffe spent his night off from the revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” taking in a preview of “Seminar,” the new Theresa Rebeck play in which Rickman plays a once-famous novelist who mercilessly baits and badgers a group of aspiring writers. "Seminar" opens Nov. 20; Radcliffe is with "How to Succeed" until Jan. 1.

Radcliffe found the production to be inspiring, Rickman said. “He told me, ‘This makes me want to do a play, I have to do a play,’ ” he recalled in his dressing room before a recent rehearsal. “And I told him, ‘Daniel, you have years ahead of you ….' And he not only has the time but the talent to accomplish much on the stage.”

In fact, Rickman had earlier seen Radcliffe as corporate climber J. Pierrepont Finch in “How to Succeed” and pronounced his singing and dancing in the role as “brilliant.”

What Radcliffe meant, of course, is that he yearned to get back to the nonmusical stage, having already made his Broadway debut in a 2008 revival of “Equus,” in which he played a disturbed young stable hand who in a psychosexual rage blinds six horses one night — a decided departure from his heroic young wizard on film.

Rickman says one reward of being in the movies made from J.K. Rowling’s seven-volume Harry Potter opus was the privilege of “watching three kids turn into three adults, imperceptibly it seems, over 10 years. And now being able to sit in a café in New York with Daniel, talking about something loosely called ‘process.’ ”


Though he is a person who guards his privacy closely, the actor says his anonymity has not been much compromised by the enormous popularity of the Harry Potter movies. “I don’t wander around in a black wig,” he said, deadpan.

RELATED:
Theater review: 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" on Broadway
Movie review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II

— Patrick Pacheco

Above: Daniel Radcliffe, left, stars on Broadway in the revival of 'How to Succeed Without Really Trying.' Alan Rickman, right, is about to open in the play 'Seminar.' Credits: Radcliffe, Cindy Ord/Getty Images. Rickman, Jemal Countess/Getty Images
Los Angeles Times

Daniel Radcliffe - How To Succeed In Business celebrates 250th performance

Saturday, November 5, 2011; Posted: 07:11 PM - by Walter McBride

Daniel Radcliffe, John Larroquette and the rest of the cast and crew of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING celebrated their 250th performance on Broadway at the Hirschfeld Theatre in New York City.

The cast includes: Daniel Radcliffe as J. Pierrepont Finch, 2011 Tony Award winner John Larroquette as J. B. Biggley, Rose Hemingway in her Broadway debut as Radcliffe's onstage romantic interest Rosemary Pilkington, Tammy Blanchard as Hedy La Rue,Christopher J. Hanke as Bud Frump, Rob Bartlett as Twimble/Wally Womper,Mary Faber as Smitty, Ellen Harvey as Miss Jones, 2011 Emmy Award winner Michael Park as Bert Bratt, and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning journalist Anderson Cooper making his Broadway debut as the voice of the narrator, in a cast of 30.

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Read more: http://broadwayworld.com/article/FREEZE-FRAME-HOW-TO-SUCCEED-Celebrates-250th-Performance-20111105#ixzz1cwHt0FDi

Daniel Radcliffe to join Broadway stars in Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade

The Guardian

Harry Potter actor set to dazzle New York alongside celebs of stage and song – and Sesame Street – in spectacle's 85th year

• Matt Trueman
• guardian.co.uk, Thursday 3 November 2011 09.16 EDT

I'll get my float ... Daniel Radcliffe and co-star John Larroquette in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Photograph: Ari Mintz/AP

 

Daniel Radcliffe will swap Broadway for Sixth Avenue when he takes part in this year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade in New York.

The Harry Potter actor, who has been starring in the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying since February, will join his fellow cast members on the famous parade in its 85th year.

Broadway shows are always well represented among participants. Cast members from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Sister Act and Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark will also take part. They will be joined by children from summer stage schools Camp Broadway and Stagedoor Manor, while the Radio City Rockettes, a precision dance company that has been a Christmas fixture on Broadway for 77 years, will also make their traditional appearance.

The parade is something of an American institution, perceived as the start of the holiday season. It features floats and giant helium balloons of popular cartoon characters including Bart Simpson and Shrek. This year's event, which starts at 9am local time on 24 November, will be broadcast live on television by NBC.

Also performing alongside Radcliffe will be pop stars Mary J Blige, Cee-Lo Green and Neil Diamond, as well as the cast and Muppets of Sesame Street.

Since its revision in 2009, the parade route starts at Central Park West and 77th Street, before turning on to Seventh Ave and, finally, Sixth Ave, continuing until it reaches Macy's store itself at Herald Square.