INTERVIEW: ‘Our Brother’s Son’ centers on a medical crisis that impacts family ties
Photo: Our Brother’s Son stars, from left, Harrison Chad, LeeAnne Hutchison and Liz Larsen. Photo courtesy of Russ Rowland / Provided by JT Public Relations with permission.
Liz Larsen, the Tony-nominated performer known for Broadway’s Beautiful and Hairspray, is currently starring in the new play Our Brother’s Son, written by Charles Gluck and directed by David Alpert. Performances continue through June 24 at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City.
Our Brother’s Son focuses on a family dealing with a medical crisis. Each member of the family needs to make an “unimaginable personal choice,” according to press notes. Larsen plays the role of Mindy, and she is joined on stage by Harrison Chad, LeeAnne Hutchison, Allen McCullough, Midori Nakamura and Dan Sharkey.
Larsen is a well-known presence on New York stages. In addition to Beautiful and Hairspray, she has appeared in The Rocky Horror Show, Damn Yankees, Smell of the Kill, A Little Night Music and Annie. She was Tony nominated for Most Happy Fella. She is also a frequent actor on TV shows, including everything from Law & Order: SVU to The Sopranos, according to her official biography.
Recently Larsen exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox about her role in Our Brother’s Son. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What attracted you to this show and this particular role?
I love playing people who say what we are all thinking but are afraid to express. She is way braver and funnier than I am, and that is a fun person to be every night! Also the circumstances change so rapidly in this play that it is exciting and challenging to negotiate these twists emotionally and behaviorally.
The medical crisis at the heart of the play is a heavy subject matter. How do you approach the difficulties and personal choices that the characters have to face?
I look at this as a morality play. What would I decide? How would I behave if faced with these decisions? What would this bring out in me? Would I do the “right” thing, and what is the “right” thing in the face of these circumstances?
How have performances been going since April?
The entire cast and artistic team has had family medical tragedies we’ve had to face in our lives, so this subject matter has been somewhat excruciating to manage in rehearsals. Yet ultimately it has been hugely cathartic to work on together. This process has bonded us so that the intimacy we feel on stage is quite organic and natural. It is a joy to share the stage every night with my fellow storytellers!
What’s it like to bring Charles Gluck’s words to life?
Chuck is such a clever writer. These people and their predicament remains hilarious and relatable even while they are facing shocking and scary circumstances. This is my favorite kind of playwright.
Is it difficult to be an actor right now during an ongoing pandemic?
The pandemic has been harrowing, but with vigilance we are working through it. We test every other day, sometimes every day and are not allowed in the building until our test comes back negative. We all are living on higher alert right now because testing positive means you are out for 10 days, and in a limited run that is a good chunk of this run.
The prevailing feeling however is gratitude. After two years of not knowing whether I would ever stand on a stage again, I feel completely giddy walking through the door of Signature and climbing the stairs to tell this story with my family of artists. Just by the act of leaving my apartment and going to work I am reminded every day how very lucky I am.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Our Brother’s Son, featuring Liz Larsen, continues through June 24 at the Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at the Pershing Square Signature Center in New York City. Click here for more information and tickets.
