jtrent238 test blog: Theater Update: Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s exit interview

February 8, 2023

Dear Theater Fans,

This week Sarah Bahr spoke with Jesse Tyler Ferguson, one of the stars of "Take Me Out," about bidding farewell (again) to the role that won him a Tony Award last spring.

"It's definitely the most personal role of my career," Ferguson said about portraying Mason Marzac, a fanboy business manager for a player who comes out as gay.

While on the subject of return engagements, a few critically-acclaimed Off Broadway shows are onstage again — including Jill Sobule's queer musical memoir "F*ck7thGrade," which is wrapping up an encore run at Wild Project this weekend. And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Hansol Jung's "Wolf Play," about the bungled adoption of a South Korean boy (who is represented onstage by a puppet made of wood, cardboard and papier-mâché), is at MCC Theater after a run last year at Soho Rep. Currently in previews, the show, which Naveen Kumar called a "probing and playful exploration of family," runs through March 19.

Carl Cofield's production of "Twelfth Night" for the Classical Theater of Harlem, which the critic Laura Collins-Hughes called "delectable," "fizzy" and "fun" in her review last summer, will be at N.Y.U. Skirball from Feb. 11-19. Kara Young is back as Viola, and, Laura wrote, she's "as fascinatingly natural in Shakespeare as she has been in any of the contemporary stage roles that have established her as one of New York's most exciting actors."

Also on the horizon: "The Jungle," which Ben Brantley described as "the thrilling drama" that puts "the audience at the teeming center of a colony of displaced people and provisional stores, houses and churches," at St. Ann's Warehouse from Feb. 18-March 19; "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," reviewed by Juan A. Ramírez last summer, returns to the Theater at St. Clements starting on Feb. 24; "Mama I Want to Sing!," celebrating its 40th anniversary, will play at El Museo's El Teatro starting Feb. 23; and "The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show," Jonathan Rockefeller's puppet adaptation of Eric Carle's children's classic, begins performances Saturday at DR2 Theater.

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Did you see that the Grammy Award for best musical theater album went to the 2022 Broadway cast recording of "Into the Woods"? The Broadway revival had a rotating cast, but the album features Sara Bareilles, Brian d'Arcy James, Patina Miller and Phillipa Soo. (The show, meanwhile, continues its post-Broadway tour across the country.)

Kathryn Louise, a stage manager and lighting designer in Seattle, recently wrote that "Into the Woods" "has always been a go-to when I need a musical fix, but especially the new revival recording." She also listed a couple of other Sondheim shows as cast-album staples: "Company" and "Assassins."

Before we hit the road, why not linger a bit longer in the woods? Here's Sara Bareilles and Brian d'Arcy James recording "It Takes Two" for the cast album, and Phillipa Soo in "On the Steps of the Palace."

Please reach out to me at theaterfeedback@nytimes.com with suggestions for stories or to offer your thoughts on what you've read.

Have a wonderful week,

Nicole Herrington

Theater Editor

(@nikkih04)

George Etheredge for The New York Times

EXIT INTERVIEW

Jesse Tyler Ferguson Tips His Cap to 'Take Me Out'

The actor, who won a Tony Award for playing a baseball star's business manager in the Broadway revival of Richard Greenberg's 2002 play, called the role the most personal of his career.

By Sarah Bahr

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