(techno music)
- 'Flying Over Sunset' is clear for landing
on Broadway this November,
and it's going to be the trip of a lifetime.
'Flying Over Sunset' is a work of fiction,
but it's inspired by a trio of
incredible historical figures.
Diplomat Clare Boothe Luce,
writer Aldous Huxley,
and film icon Cary Grant,
all coming together at a crossroads in their lives
and all dropping acid.
That part is true.
Those three well-known people,
all experimented with LSD back in the 1950s.
Broadway.com correspondent,
Charlie Cooper caught up with the man who plays
Cary Grant, Tony Yazbeck.
- Tony Yazbeck is a Broadway leading man gearing up to play
another iconic leading man, Cary Grant.
I met up with Tony at the Vivian Beaumont Theater to discuss
Lincoln Center Theater's new musical
'Flying Over Sunset' and so much more.
So Tony, we of course,
are so excited to have you here.
What does it feel like right now,
like in this moment to be in front of Lincoln Center,
knowing that you'll be on stage very soon
for 'Flying Over Sunset'?
- Well, tickets are on sale right now for the show.
I just can't believe I've said that. So it's,
it's amazing just to be here.
I haven't even been at Lincoln Center in months and months,
even just to walk through,
but to remember what we were about to do that night and our
first preview of that got shut down.
We were having a blast
and it was what we were all born to do.
And I was working with this amazing cast and we were just
playing on stage and we were starting to change things and
fix things and make it even better than it was.
And now we get to go back and resume
and put on the show on in
front of a live audience for the first time
and that's just going to be thrilling.
- You tap dance and sing in the show, of course.
And I remember reading on your Instagram that tap dancing
throughout the pandemic was therapeutic for you.
- Oh yeah. - Talk about that.
- I mean, tap dancing for me has always been an art form
that's almost like a, just a, an essence of prayer.
And I say that a sense of anything I'm feeling that day.
I just can, I can stomp it out on the floor.
I can find some new rhythm, a new,
some new sonic heartbeat within it and just send it up
and then I can breathe again.
And it's a way to inhale and exhale as an artist.
And I'm just happy. I was gifted with,
with a little bit of tap and now I can even pass it onto my
son. And, but it, it is, it's a,
it's a therapeutic way for me to get through the day
sometimes. And so it's still,
it's still happening and it ebbs and flows with so many
different emotions, but that's
what's so beautiful about dance, but especially tap is,
is the way you can maneuver it through emotional qualities
through the story, through that character.
And you know,
that's what I get to do with 'Flying Over Sunset.'
- I have to ask, is your son into it? Or?
- He's, I mean,
he's probably a little more into like cars and trucks still,
but you know, I'm getting in there and he, you know,
he loves his favorite song right now is 'Stupid Love'
Lady Gaga. I mean, he's like,
he's like in it and he like really goes through.
So when this music slowly just like moving really slow and
he finds something and I'm like, "Ooh, nice."
Like, you know, interpreted modern movement.
And then all of a sudden the beat hits and he's just like
jamming on the floor, like hitting it.
And I'm like, "Yes, express yourself."
- Yeah. - So yeah, I hope he keeps going,
but I'm not gonna force it. Let's put it that way.
♪ (singing) They picked me up in the morning ♪
♪ And drive me to the set. ♪
♪ Groom me, wax me, dress me, like me ♪
♪ Every need is met. ♪
♪ Gorgeous women flirt with me ♪
♪ Sometimes men, and yet ♪
♪ None of it is real ♪
- [Charlie] So you of course play the legendary Cary Grant.
What's that like playing a real person?
Is there that extra pressure to get it right?
- Of course. I mean,
everybody knows who Cary Grant is and it's,
it's really tough because the guy, was this gentleman and he
was just like this really good-looking like role model of
what a Hollywood celeb back then was.
And he, he was his own thing
and he constantly reinvented himself on screen.
And so it was really difficult at first to figure out
how to do this.
'Cause I obviously didn't want to make a carbon copy,
but there is pressure to, to.
You know, anytime I hit a role that is a real character,
I want to invent something, but at the same time, it's like,
I want to be able to pay respects to what it was.
To what he was.
And so it's almost like if he's looking down, I can go,
"Is that okay with you? It is? Good.
Just so I have your blessing."
And so that's my constant attack on, on a role like that.
And, you know, to be able to, to play him,
to sing as Cary Grant, to dance as Cary Grant
is really, really exciting. Yeah. - Yeah.
Ultimate compliment, I imagine, right?
- I mean, I guess, I would not say, Cary Grant.
Like that's just not me. I don't go,
"Hey, I play Cary Grant."
That's just, yeah, that's not usually
how I approach that, but I was like,
"Okay, I'll try my best.
Here we go. Give me some good costuming."
And they do. -[Charlie] Yeah. - Woo.
- Okay, so of course, LSD is a psychedelic.
Do- does the audience get the chance
to kind of go through that
motion with you through the set design?
Do things change while they're watching it?
- Yes - Where it feels like their mind is
being changed a little bit?
- Oh yeah - The way that the drug would do?
- Oh, the creative team like went all out
and James Lapine has this vision like a painter.
So he sees things moving at all times.
You know, Beowulf Boritt just creates
this amazing set that moves and ebbs and flows.
The lights change as we sing.
And all of a sudden,
you think you're seeing one thing and five seconds later,
it's another.
- Talk about the music,
talk about working with James Lapine.
Of course we know him for so many classics. - Yeah.
James Lapine. For years, I mean,
'Sunday In The Park with George' has always been like my
favorite show and has changed my life so many times,
at different points in my life.
I've always wanted to work with the guy,
and to be able to go one-on-one and collaborate,
has been a dream.
(piano plays)
♪ - (singing) How I miss the shores of California ♪
♪ Strolling on the soft whites sands ♪
♪ Sliding off my bra ♪
♪ Panty-less in la la land ♪
- So Tom Kitt's music, the best score I've,
I've heard of his ever, in my opinion.
And I've been a fan of his for years.
'Next To Normal' was profound.
But he, he is really interesting in the way he works,
where every scene and every character has a new style.
And he uses different genres in the show.
And if he puts it together and it's all Tom Kitt.
It is just beautiful.
And Michael Corey adds impeccable lyrics to the point at
which you go, "Gosh, that's so cool.
I wish I could have thought of that."
And only he would've thought of that.
So we're just really proud of
how it's all coming together.
(piano music)