INTERVIEW: Ray Anthony Thomas on building a stage friendship in ‘I Need That’
Photo: I Need That stars, from left, Ray Anthony Thomas, Lucy DeVito and Danny DeVito. Photo courtesy of Marcus Middleton / Provided by Polk & Co. with permission.
This month, when audience members visit the American Airlines Theatre / Todd Haimes Theatre on Broadway, they will watch a seemingly real friendship on stage, one that dates back 30 years. That’s one of the central relationships in Theresa Rebeck’s new play I Need That, starring Danny DeVito and Ray Anthony Thomas as the two friends. In the Roundabout Theatre Company show, DeVito plays Sam, a man who is quickly being consumed by the material objects he’s brought into his house. Thomas plays Foster, his neighbor across the street, and Lucy DeVito plays the character of Amelia.
I Need That, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, continues through Dec. 30 on Broadway.
“When we were still on lockdown, I did a reading with Danny and Lucy,” Thomas said in a recent phone interview. “I’m not quite sure how they got my name. I’ve done some readings over at the Roundabout before, and after that reading, they decided they wanted me to stay with it. So two-and-a-half years later, here we are. The first time I read it, I really enjoyed the character. I liked him, and sometimes that’s all the difference with these things.”
Thomas said that the character of Foster has his own problems that are separate from Sam’s hoarding, but over the course of three decades, they have grown an affection for each other. To make this friendship feel authentic, Anthony draws on his own life experiences.
“That’s all an actor has is his own life experience, and also it helps if that relationship is written into the play,” he said. “If it’s not on the page, it’s not on the stage to begin with, but because Danny and I do genuinely like each other — I think he’s the greatest — I hope that shows on stage as well. We all seem to have a chemistry, and we’ve been working on it long enough that that thing has developed between us.”
During rehearsals, the cast and creative team talked about the serious issue of hoarding, which is when a person acquires a great number of items and stores them in a messy manner. “Theresa had researched a few things and imparted that knowledge onto us,” Thomas said. “We’re trying to say he’s not really a hoarder. He’s not a textbook hoarder. It’s something that is keeping his behavior the way it is, and so we just try to lay that on him a little bit.”
Helping the cast on their journey is von Stuelpnagel, a director well known to Roundabout audience members. He directed Bernhardt / Hamlet with Janet McTeer for the theater company a few years ago.
“He’s great,” Thomas said. “I hadn’t worked with him before. He’s very perceptive. He pretty much lets us go our own way, but if he sees something that will help us, he’ll let us know. Good directors are the ones that make you feel like you’re doing it without him feeding it to you. He’s one of those directors. I think he likes actors, so that’s great. He’s a good director, really good.”
Thomas, who has appeared on Broadway in American Buffalo, Trouble in Mind, Jitney, The Crucible and Race, still gets a thrill when he walks on stage every night. The joy of being a working actor in a hit new play is not lost on him.
“Every time I come into the theater, it’s always a thrill,” he said. “This is the epitome of theater, as far as I’m concerned, and it’s something that I always aimed for since I started acting. I do feel genuinely lucky to be in a Broadway show, especially one that I enjoy doing. It seems like the audience really, really enjoys it as well.”
Thomas added: “When you’re in school, you think, ‘Well, I’ll try it, but I doubt if there’s any longevity in it.’ When I first came to New York, I figured I’d try this for two or three years, and then I’ll get serious and go back home and get a real job. Over the years, every time I’m ready to go, they pull me back in, to quote a famous movie. I started acting in the sixth grade, to tell you the truth. I played the captain of the king’s men in a play about Robin Hood, and I thought I was the greatest thing to ever hoist a fake sword.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
I Need That, featuring Ray Anthony Thomas, continues through Dec. 30 at the American Airlines Theatre / Todd Haimes Theatre on 42nd Street. The Roundabout Theatre Company production also stars Danny DeVito and Lucy DeVito. Click here for more information and tickets.
