George is Dead, but traveling the country

There was a time, not so very long ago, when Broadway-bound plays and musicals stopped briefly in Boston or Philadelphia on their way to New York. A month or six weeks out-of-town, a little retuning, and a show was ready for the Wintergarden or the Music Box. In 1943 a show went into Boston called Away We Go!, and came out a month later with a few small changes and a new title: Oklahoma!

The process is a lot more complicated now. It’s not unusual for a play to go through many incarnations before getting to New York, traveling a lot further afield than Bean Town. And that’s good news for Arizona. George is Dead, the new play by Elaine May (screen credits: The Birdcage, Heaven Can Wait) was originally one of a set of three one-act plays done in San Francisco in 2006. Several rewrites later, it’s arrived as a full-length comedy starring Marlo Thomas and Don Murray, presented by Arizona Theatre Company. After a run in Tucson, George is Dead comes to Phoenix.

“One way or the other, I’m going to see the United States,” jokes Julian Schlossberg about his peregrinations as Elaine May’s producer.

“Elaine is a very special writer. We’ve always felt this was a terrific play but it needed to be developed in a way that prepares it for Broadway. That’s the ultimate goal.”

Getting there may require taking the long route, Schlossberg says, but it’s worth it for the sheer quality of the journey:

“When you’re dealing with someone like Elaine, you just hope you don’t become too smart for the room. Some people dumb down (to get laughs). Elaine couldn’t do that if she wanted to. She’s funny but never moronic.”

Schlossberg, whose credits range from TV to movies to the stage, considers himself a producer in a sense of the word now fading from view:

“Producing has become a very strange credit. These days, if you can write a check, you’re a producer. Still, in every show there’s a lead producer, and if he does his job well he will find the property, the director and the cast, and he’ll work with the writer and director to make sure there’s a certain vision of what’s trying to be accomplished.”

It’s the lead producer’s job to watch the play like a hawk to make sure the vision is fulfilled.

“If we go awry, I as the producer will say ‘Wait a minute, we’re off task,’ and call a meeting.”

The number of straight (non-musical) plays being done in New York has increased over the last few years, and Schlossberg believes he knows why:

“Because there are more and more major stars willing to go on stage, and while they can’t sing or dance, they can act. Marlo Thomas had a major hit TV series (That Girl in the ‘60s and ‘70s) but she went back to study with Lee Strasberg,” the famed acting teacher.

“All the really smart TV and movie actors go back to the stage. Henry Fonda did it. Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman, too. Without appearing before a live audience, an actor can become a caricature.”