Miller Comes Full Circle With 'Dinner' Play
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By David [email protected]
Miller has been working at the Wagon Wheel on and off since his first show in Warsaw in 1991.
In Miller’s first year at the Wagon Wheel, which happened to be the last time the theater did “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” Miller played Mr. Stanley, with former Artistic Director Tom Roland playing Whiteside. Roland died in 2008. Now, 25 years later, Miller is playing Whiteside.
“So it’s kind of weird being in the chair rather than looking at it in this one,” Miller said in an interview Monday afternoon.
In the play, Whiteside ends up in a wheelchair after slipping on some ice as he entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley. He ends up staying at the home to heal for a long time, constantly upsetting Mr. Stanley.
“All these years later, I’m playing this, I’m going, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve become Tom Roland.’ I was once the new kid, and now I’m the oldest guy here. I think I’ve been here longer than anyone else,” Miller joked.
Wendy Robie came back as a guest star for the 1991 play at the Wagon Wheel, Miller recalled. She is best known for her role as Nadine Hurley in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” and also had roles in Wes Craven’s “The People Under the Stairs” and “Vampire in Brooklyn.” She also starred as Ms. Tebbit in “Were the World Mine,” which also had Wagon Wheel alum Alexander Aguilar in it as Taylor.
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” is at the Wagon Wheel through Aug. 6. Tickets are on sale at the box office, over the phone at 574-267-8041 and online at wagonwheelcenter.org. Prices range from $14 for children to $34 for adults.
The character of Whiteside is based on Alexander Humphreys Woollcott, an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker and a member of the Algonquin Round Table, Miller said. The Algonquin club members were the trend setters of their day.
“Every week — I think it was Fridays — they had lunch at the Algonquin Room in New York,” Miller said. “These were the elite, the smartest of the smart, the coolest of the cool. Basically, the George Clooneys of their era. And Woollcott was kind of like a grand master of ceremonies, so the play is kind of based on him.”
The play also takes a lot from Sir John Falstaff, a fictional character in William Shakespeare’s plays, Miller indicated.
“Because he’s a portly guy like me who’s very witty and kind of an S.O.B.,” Miller said, “He does what he does. Everything is about him, so it’s all about him manipulating everyone else, and as long as you’re doing what he wants you to do, you’re OK. But the minute you stand up and try to do something different, then he rains fire and brimstone.”
Whiteside is a very entertaining character, Miller said, noting that “The Man Who Came To Dinner” is all about the wit of that era. “He’s likeable, but he’s not,” he said.
The comedic play debuted on Oct. 16, 1939, in New York City, with a film adaptation starring Bette Davis, Billie Burke and Monty Woolley released in 1942.
Miller said, “That time period, if you think about it, was right after the Depression. It was very stylistic to make fun of the wealthy, because everyone was poor and the wealthy (weren’t). It was very easy and big in Hollywood ... to poke fun at the wealthy, which is what a lot of this play is, so it’s a comedy of manners and all that. I think he’s entertaining simply because he has an answer for everything. This guy is never dumbfounded. His mouth never stops.”
The Wagon Wheel company is having a lot of fun with the show, Miller said.
“The characters that come through are all based on stars of that time period,” he said. Whiteside’s best friend, Banjo, is based on Harpo Marx. Lorraine Sheldon is based on a big Broadway star of the day.
In the play, Whiteside is on a lecture tour and never goes to anyone’s home, but Mrs. Stanley is the head of her local women’s club and she talks him into coming to the Stanley home in the fictional town of Mesalia, Ohio, for dinner.
“This has all happened before the play actually starts. When he showed up, he slipped on ice on the front step and fell and broke his hip. So he’s now in their house because in that time period, ambulances were kind of rare, too, so they just put him up in the house and he’s trapped in this house until he heals and he hates it. He just hates it,” Miller explained.
Whiteside is used to being in New York and eating lobster, but now is stuck in the middle of Ohio. “That’s where all the humor comes from,” Miller said.
Besides being a play and not a musical, Miller said “The Man Who Came to Dinner” is a different kind of comedy than this season’s other two comedies, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Sister Act.”
“This is not slapstick either, but it has an element to it. It is like the ’30s comedies with the Marx Brothers and all that. It is that style of comedy that made Jimmy Stewart a star,” Miller said.
For the full interview with Miller, visit the free video section of the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com[[In-content Ad]]
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Miller has been working at the Wagon Wheel on and off since his first show in Warsaw in 1991.
In Miller’s first year at the Wagon Wheel, which happened to be the last time the theater did “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” Miller played Mr. Stanley, with former Artistic Director Tom Roland playing Whiteside. Roland died in 2008. Now, 25 years later, Miller is playing Whiteside.
“So it’s kind of weird being in the chair rather than looking at it in this one,” Miller said in an interview Monday afternoon.
In the play, Whiteside ends up in a wheelchair after slipping on some ice as he entered the home of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley. He ends up staying at the home to heal for a long time, constantly upsetting Mr. Stanley.
“All these years later, I’m playing this, I’m going, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve become Tom Roland.’ I was once the new kid, and now I’m the oldest guy here. I think I’ve been here longer than anyone else,” Miller joked.
Wendy Robie came back as a guest star for the 1991 play at the Wagon Wheel, Miller recalled. She is best known for her role as Nadine Hurley in David Lynch’s “Twin Peaks,” and also had roles in Wes Craven’s “The People Under the Stairs” and “Vampire in Brooklyn.” She also starred as Ms. Tebbit in “Were the World Mine,” which also had Wagon Wheel alum Alexander Aguilar in it as Taylor.
“The Man Who Came to Dinner” is at the Wagon Wheel through Aug. 6. Tickets are on sale at the box office, over the phone at 574-267-8041 and online at wagonwheelcenter.org. Prices range from $14 for children to $34 for adults.
The character of Whiteside is based on Alexander Humphreys Woollcott, an American critic and commentator for The New Yorker and a member of the Algonquin Round Table, Miller said. The Algonquin club members were the trend setters of their day.
“Every week — I think it was Fridays — they had lunch at the Algonquin Room in New York,” Miller said. “These were the elite, the smartest of the smart, the coolest of the cool. Basically, the George Clooneys of their era. And Woollcott was kind of like a grand master of ceremonies, so the play is kind of based on him.”
The play also takes a lot from Sir John Falstaff, a fictional character in William Shakespeare’s plays, Miller indicated.
“Because he’s a portly guy like me who’s very witty and kind of an S.O.B.,” Miller said, “He does what he does. Everything is about him, so it’s all about him manipulating everyone else, and as long as you’re doing what he wants you to do, you’re OK. But the minute you stand up and try to do something different, then he rains fire and brimstone.”
Whiteside is a very entertaining character, Miller said, noting that “The Man Who Came To Dinner” is all about the wit of that era. “He’s likeable, but he’s not,” he said.
The comedic play debuted on Oct. 16, 1939, in New York City, with a film adaptation starring Bette Davis, Billie Burke and Monty Woolley released in 1942.
Miller said, “That time period, if you think about it, was right after the Depression. It was very stylistic to make fun of the wealthy, because everyone was poor and the wealthy (weren’t). It was very easy and big in Hollywood ... to poke fun at the wealthy, which is what a lot of this play is, so it’s a comedy of manners and all that. I think he’s entertaining simply because he has an answer for everything. This guy is never dumbfounded. His mouth never stops.”
The Wagon Wheel company is having a lot of fun with the show, Miller said.
“The characters that come through are all based on stars of that time period,” he said. Whiteside’s best friend, Banjo, is based on Harpo Marx. Lorraine Sheldon is based on a big Broadway star of the day.
In the play, Whiteside is on a lecture tour and never goes to anyone’s home, but Mrs. Stanley is the head of her local women’s club and she talks him into coming to the Stanley home in the fictional town of Mesalia, Ohio, for dinner.
“This has all happened before the play actually starts. When he showed up, he slipped on ice on the front step and fell and broke his hip. So he’s now in their house because in that time period, ambulances were kind of rare, too, so they just put him up in the house and he’s trapped in this house until he heals and he hates it. He just hates it,” Miller explained.
Whiteside is used to being in New York and eating lobster, but now is stuck in the middle of Ohio. “That’s where all the humor comes from,” Miller said.
Besides being a play and not a musical, Miller said “The Man Who Came to Dinner” is a different kind of comedy than this season’s other two comedies, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Sister Act.”
“This is not slapstick either, but it has an element to it. It is like the ’30s comedies with the Marx Brothers and all that. It is that style of comedy that made Jimmy Stewart a star,” Miller said.
For the full interview with Miller, visit the free video section of the Times-Union website at www.timesuniononline.com[[In-content Ad]]
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