Street Level Stages
ewis Stadlen is taking humor
from the high-rise workroom
of collaborating comedy writ-
ers and bringing it down to
street-level stages.
The seasoned actor por-
trays one of the writers car-
icatured in Neil Simon's
latest touring production,
Laughter on the 23rd
Floor, a takeoff on the
playwright's zany expe-
riences creating scripts
for live TV in the '50s.
The play, running Jan. 10-29
at the Fisher Theatre, is based on
■
"Once I say that, I go on to
have one of the funniest parts in
the piece. My character listens to
what other people say, especial-
ly the endings of their sen-
tences, and then builds a
little joke on another person's
syntax.
"To me, the play is about the
amount of emotion it takes to cre-
ate a comedy show and the way
people become obsessed with one
thing, suddenly forget that ob-
session and move on to another
obsession.
"The characters are funny as
they interact to prepare for an
hour and a half show every week.
Along the way, the audience finds
out more about what humor is.
"It's irony, and it's
Lewis J.
anger.
It's also taking one
Stadlen:
"Lifting away person's pain and making
others laugh as they rec-
people's
ognize their own pain,
problems."
their own frustrations
and their own passions."
Mr. Stadlen reports
that being part of the show's first
touring company is very different
from being in the original New
York cast.
"We knew what this touring
play was going to be as we start-
ed rehearsals," said the actor, 47,
who appeared in original pro-
ductions of two other Neil Simon
hits — The Sunshine Boys and
The Odd Couple. "We have a play
from beginning to end, and there
are not going to be any rewrites.
"That was not the case when
we went to Broadway. There
were major revisions from the
very beginning of rehearsals.
"Neil's process is to cast the
play, listen to it, disappear dur-
ing the rehearsal day and come
back with new pages and new
jokes based on what he perceives
to be the strengths of the actors
he's placed in the roles. To a cer-
tain extent, each role takes on the
actor's vernacular.
"There's kind of an experi-
mental quality to a play that's go-
ing to be done on Broadway.
While you're rehearsing, it's like
you're in a laboratory seeing
what works and what doesn't."
While Mr. Stadlen feels very
comfortable performing in Neil
Simon's comedies, partly be-
cause their common Jewish
background is brought into the
dialogue, he also feels comfort-
able having Jerry Zaks as di-
rector for the second time.
The first was when Mr.
Stadlen came to Detroit as
Nathan Detroit in a 1992 version
repartee exchanged by those
putting together Sid Caesar's
popular TV series, now fictional-
ized by Mr. Simon into "The Max
Prince Show."
One-liners, wisecracks, sight
gags and double takes are as
much a part of the play as they
were the vintage comedy TV be-
ing recalled.
"I come on stage and basically
tell the Neil Simon character that
I am not as gifted as some of the
other characters," revealed Mr.
Stadlen, who introduced the role
of Milt on Broadway.
Lewis
Stadlen is
starring in
'Laughter on
the 23rd
Floor.'
SUZANNE CHESSLER
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
of Guys and Dolls staged at the
Fox Theatre.
"My career started in 1967,
when I was in the national com-
pany of Fiddler on the Roof," re-
called Mr. Stadlen, who went to
theater arts camp as a teen-ager
and studied drama with Stella
Adler.
"The job that put me on the
map was the role of Groucho
Marx in a musical based on the
lives of the Marx brothers, Min-
nie's Boys. Right after that, I did
The Sunshine Boys and then
Candide.
"For the past 28 years, I've
been in plays, movies and TV. I've
done 13 films including Serpico,
The Verdict and To Be or Not to
Be, and I was a regular in the
"Benson" TV series. For the last
decade, I've mostly been doing
theater, a lot regionally — The
Seagull, The Miser and Rough
Crossing."
Aside from his career, Mr.
Stadlen devotes considerable
time to politics and baseball. His
17-year-old daughter, who also
plans to make theater her pro-
fession, was given the middle
name Carter, after Jimmy
Carter. His 14-year-old son, Pe-
ter, shares an enthusiasm for the
national pastime.
"While I was doing Laughter
on the 23rd Floor in New York,
I took a week's vacation, which
consisted of going to see baseball
games in Buffalo, Cleveland, Mil-
waukee, Chicago and Detroit
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