F. Murray Abraham and Nina White Think THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES Is Perfect For Today

What’s in a dream? Is it a pink marquis at the St. James? 

Academy Award Winner F. Murray Abraham and Theatrely31 alum Nina White sat down with me to talk all things Queen of Versailles — from their love for the company, to their love of their Boston bar, to capitalism and collaboration with Michael Arden.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Theatrely: I'm actually in Boston right now, blocks from the Emerson Colonial as we speak. As you start up down there in New York, what do you remember most about your time up here. 

Abraham: We really love Boston. Boston treated us so well.

White: Oh my gosh, it was so much fun to be there. And there was so much stuff to do on any time we had off, there were some many exciting historic sites to go to, as well as to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Abraham: The Common is so terrific. I mean, I wish Central Park had that same feeling, you know? It was great. And the theatre was wonderful. You know, we set records there.

Did you have any favorite Boston spots? 

White: Oh, The Fourth Wall, they really treated us well, I'll tell you that. Just about everyone, crew, creatives, stage management, cast, would go because it was literally across from the stage door. I also went to the Boston Public Library, that was so beautiful. The inner courtyard area was so peaceful.  

Abraham: That's a great library. I think it's the first public library in America, isn't it?

I know you are deep in rehearsals right now, but how were your summers?

White: This summer, I really was laying low kind of spiritually. We knew that we were transferring in starting in the late summer for so long that I think and I knew that once we started, the schedule is very intense. I knew that my priorities were going to shift in terms of work taking precedence in my day to day. I was really relaxed. I was seeing my friends as much as humanly possible, babysitting, because the rent needs to be paid. Just trying to like embrace that I had very little going on. Before we were starting, because then I knew I was gonna have a lot going on. I felt lucky that that was possible, you know what I mean? I was like, that is such a privilege that right now there's very little on my plate. I just needed to embrace that and I did.

Abraham: Well, I'm just the opposite. At this stage in my life, and I've always felt this way, I have to work when the work is there. I just do, I am impulsive that way. I did a movie in Latvia with a great, outrageous director named Albert Serra. And I played the owner of a Russian circus. We had lions and tigers, we had panthers and leopards, and we had a wonderful time. That was extraordinary. And that's what I did in the summer. And I'm glad to be back. This is one of the, I don't know how you feel Nina, but it's probably the biggest company I've ever worked with in my life. There's gotta be over 20 people, including the standbys, and everybody likes each other. Everyone is really a superior talent. I haven't had this kind of feeling for a bunch of people since Chorus Line. That's how strongly I feel about it. But I think that when people hear you [White] do your two big numbers, they're going to just be blown away, darling. She is so, so good. You can't quite believe it, right, Nina? I don't say that kind of thing easily, by the way.

White: And I believe that about you, but that's very kind. I remember when Murray first joined the company. I had done one little workshop and then it was the second time I was ever working on the show when Murray joined. Working with you has been so, I mean, it's surreal in many ways. That's probably funny to hear. But it is. Murray is incredible in the show and your focus and your work ethic is so beautiful to me. You and Kristin both, I just feel like I have two truly shining examples of dedication to the show, dedication to making...

Tell me more about the dynamic in the company. What has it been like working with everyone?

Abraham: Well Nina, my take is that everyone likes each other. (laughs)

White: No, I think you're totally right, which is remarkable. I've never done, I mean, this is my second Broadway show ever. And the first one that I did only had, including swings, there were maybe 14 people. There are only nine people on stage every night. That was an amazing cohesive company, but it's been so fun and joyous to be in a huge company. Every single time, every developmental step, casting and the creative team managed to assemble a group of people who are so skilled and also really wonderful to be around. 

Abraham: It's fun to be able to talk about it this way because it just doesn't happen that often, unfortunately. What we're talking about, I think it's really an important piece of work, aside from being entertaining. It really says something. We talk about the danger of worshiping the golden calf. It's really, it is essentially what America is looking at right now, not just America. But the danger of worshiping money and the allure and the adventure. And finally, just simply the emptiness. But at the same time, it's really entertaining. It's funny. But you know, look at who wrote this show. I mean Wicked has been running for 22 years. There's a very good reason for that. It's because it's a beautiful piece of work. Michael Arden, the director, has won two Tonys and deservedly…

How has it been working with Stephen [Schwartz] and Michael [Arden]? 

Abraham: I love it. I've known Stephen for 50 years. He and his wife and I did children's theater 50 years ago.

White: I did not know that!

Abraham: $10 a show. He played the piano. And Michael is my neighbor and everybody is a family. What do you think?

White: It's been amazing. I feel like something about Michael's direction that I think lends itself so beautifully to this show and the creation of the show, I feel he has had such a clear hand in its creation as the director. He has an incredible talent for seeing the way, the big picture way, things are moving on stage that I am so in awe of every day in rehearsal. The way that he is able to synthesize all of these moving parts, like literally, there's tons of set pieces. Also it’s just a behemoth musical. And the way he is from the outside, effortlessly able to orchestrate what needs to go where and what needs happen when.

Abraham: But he also personalizes it so much. How do you feel about the way he starts each day?

White: I love the way he starts each day. We start with a circle, everyone together, and if you have something that you'd like to share in any capacity, you have the time to do it, which is, that's Michael's leading. I love that. I love that.

Abraham: And then we warm up together.

White: I love a group warmup, I'm very partial to a group warmup.

I'm curious if there were any big takeaways from either of you from the Boston run — anything from that run that you're really looking to take into Broadway?

White: I feel like in Boston, our run was pretty short. But I feel like we all learned so much about the show in that short time. Personally, I was just learning what it felt like to do the material every night. It’s a new experience for me to have been involved with a show developmentally for so long. I was learning a lot in Boston about how different it felt to do the material in a fully realized performance context, in which I had lived with the material for over a year by then, but always at music stands. Learning the technical elements and the design is really fun in this show in particular. The design elements assist you as an actor because the show is so much about things. They're surrounded by things.

Murray, earlier you were speaking a little bit to the importance of this show, people chasing money and those themes. I'm curious if you can each speak a little more to why it’s important to be telling this story now.

Abraham: I think we're on a precipice — we're facing a terrific danger that no one seems, at least no one in the Congress seems to really be attempting to figure out or solve. That's this enormous disparity between the wealthy and the rest of the country. I mean, all this money is concentrated. We know this. We always are told this, concentrated in the hands of a few people, a few families. And it continues to widen. They talk about the value of the family — oh people are not having children now as they used to. Well, it's a society in which no one wants to have any children because there's no support for having children. There's no childcare. It should be free. Families should not have to have two jobs with no one at home to take care of the kids. I mean, they talk about that, but nothing is being done. 

This, I think, addresses that. I even have a line as the character that I'm playing, which is based in fact, where I suggest that I helped George W. Become president, “but I'm not gonna talk about it because it's probably illegal.” I actually say that because he said it. That's another thing: people are bold enough to brag about breaking the law and getting away with it because they're rich and they can afford to hide. It seems to me that revolution is in the air. I'm being a little radical in my thinking, but I think it's just wrong and it should be addressed. And our play does that but it’s also really entertaining

White: It's really entertaining and it gets at all of the things that you were just talking about, Murray. It is unbelievably relevant. Ripped from the headlines relevant, for all the reasons that Murray just said. Money is running politics. Money runs our personal lives, which is so much of what the show is about. I think the focus on this individual family, these individual relationships in the show, gives a window into something that none of us are immune to, even if we are not the ultra rich, Money can really distance us from one another.

When you think about what you want audiences to take away, maybe specifically young people, to take when they come to see your show, what comes to mind? 

Abraham: I'll let Nina speak to that, but I will remind you that there are probably four generations represented on the stage, so there's something for everyone. But I think that the two youngest people, one of them is Nina, of these giant talents, and I think these people will identify with those two people. 

White: I hope that they, my hope is that they identify with them. Speaking about my character specifically, I really hope that young people feel seen or represented on stage. My character is dealing with body image issues, mental health issues, in a very acute fashion. Especially the body image part of the conversation, I don't know that that's something that's been represented or portrayed much in particularly Broadway musicals. I hope that young people will feel less alone when they see our show. Speaking for people of my generation and below, growing up in this increasingly technological landscape, and this landscape that is increasingly dominated by money and wealth disparity, I think it's something that we have all grown up knowing from an incredibly young age. I don't know if that's different from older generations. It feels like it might be, but I don't know if it's true. There's so much kind of doom and complication in growing up when you're so aware certain structural cards are stacked against you. And I hope in the show, maybe young people come and they find it's cathartic. 

Abraham: And I represent the other end of the spectrum. I'll be 86 years old in a month and I represent the possibility of going on and on and don't give up. Just because you're 80, don't give up. There's plenty of spirit left, keep on punching. I believe in that sincerely.

If you guys have any notion of a day off, is there anything on or off-broadway this season that you're looking forward to seeing?

Abraham: That's the problem with working, you know, you don't get to see all the stuff you'd like to see. There's a lot of things popping up here and there. Have you seen Oh, Mary! I haven’t seen it yet. That’s one I’d like to see.

White: I haven’t yet, I’d like to see it. I'm planning, I don't have tickets, but I will, I plan to see Roadkills Off-Broadway. I am really looking forward to seeing that. I also didn't see Liberation when it was off-Broadway, so I'm excited that it's transferring, and hopefully we will have a day off that aligns, because I really wanna see Liberation.

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