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Suzy Menkes on the fashion designer L'Wren Scott
e A Times selection of noteworthy cultural events in New York City and beyond
e Net-a-Porter means "ready to party"
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The first day of rehearsal for “Macbeth,” Alec Baldwin sat down next to me. “Who do you play?” he asked. My
voice quivered: “Ummm, I play Fleance and Young Seward.” He paused. “Oh — so I kill you twice.” Each
night, as he drove his broadsword through my heart, I thought, “I’ve made it!”
In the sixth season of “Scrubs,” the show’s creator, Bill Lawrence (also a major fan of musical comedy),
decided to do a musical episode. It was the first time I had done musical comedy since I was at camp, and it
instantly reminded me how much I loved it. My favorite song from the episode was called “Guy Love.” In it,
Donald Faison (my best friend in real life and on the show) and I sang about how our homoerotic love for each
other was nothing to apologize for. (“It’s guy love, that’s all it is.””) The experience replanted the seed, and I
made a promise to myself: One day I would sing on Broadway.
Zach Braff, left, and Donald Faison on “Scrubs,” which had a musical episode in its sixth season. Credit ABC
I’d be curled in the fetal position spooning a pillow right now, though, if it weren’t for my current director,
Susan Stroman. Directing and choreographing a musical is the most epic undertaking for one human being, yet
Susan (or Stro, as the cool Broadway kids call her) handles it with aplomb.
And she’s not just choreographing the actors and dancers, but also the magnificent set designed by Santo
Loquasto, which moves in ways I didn’t know scenery could move. It’s a dance of men and women and
machines and winches and elevators and lights. The wings of the St. James are very narrow, so when a giant
piece of scenery disappears from the audience’s view, the most elaborate game of Tetris begins, as the
outstanding stage crew turns and lifts and twists; not an inch is wasted. The second the orchestra strikes the first
note of the overture, no one stops moving until the final curtain hits the deck.
During “Manhattan Murder Mystery,” I had every word of my lines memorized down to the punctuation mark.
I’ll never forget: The first thing Woody said to me was, “We’re probably not going to say exactly what’s on the
page so ... you know ... just try to keep up. ...”” While we’ve been in previews on “Bullets,” he and Stro have
been giving us notes each day on the previous night’s performance. One night, I dropped a great joke by
accident. He said to me with a smile, “You’ll probably get a bigger laugh if you actually say it onstage.”
All the people on Broadway are the best at what they do. All dancers want to work with Stro, so she gets the
best dancers in New York City. Is there an oboist in the orchestra? You can guarantee he’s the best oboist on the
island of Manhattan. Need to recreate the look of 1929? The six-time Tony winner William Ivey Long is here to
design the costumes. And the voices! I am in awe. There has yet to be a time when I don’t get goose bumps
when Betsy Wolfe, who plays my girlfriend, belts out the final notes of our duet, “I Found a New Baby.”
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