Its quite exciting to have Malina making his English debut, said the shows director,Patrick Marber.
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And, theyre eager for the production to have more life after London.
Off Broadway, Broadway subsidized doesnt matter, Marber pleaded.
Joshua MalinaManfred Baumann
We just want to see how it goes and whether people like it, he told me.
Its about two couples sitting at a kitchen table in Florida.
Its big, he sighed.
Allison Janney and Joshua Malina in ‘The West Wing’ (NBCUniversal)Paul Drinkwater/NBCU Photo Bank
He admitted that the plays like a tinder box.
Laughing, he told me: Itll take some brave actors and brave producers to front it up.
Its what theatre should be.
It will annoy some people and upset some people, and hopefully get people talking.
Englander just puts it all out there, every side of the argument, Marber said.
These two couples go to war with each other, and they say everything that is unsayable.
And each scene is its own little war, though the work does have some kind of peaceful resolution.
The two couples are darkly hilarious.
Debbie and Lauren are old school friends from Queens.
Debbie married Phil, who Marber kept referring to as Florida Phil.
Lauren married Mark, and they now reside in Israel with their seven daughters.
They have become ultra-Orthodox Jews.
However, Lauren and Mark reveal a merry side in between the launching of verbal missiles.
He was chased out of the auditorium.
Malina played White House counsel Will Bailey in the later seasons ofThe West Wing.
Marber said that every now and again he rewatches and rewatches the entire seven seasons of the series.
Every once in a while, I do the same.
Marber was quick to point out that he has watched Malinas other TV work, includingScandal.
Casting for the shows three other roles is ongoing.
Creatives on board so far include design by Anna Fleischle and sound design by David Gregory.
