Escola was excited to catch up on New York theater and see one performance in particular: Laurie Metcalf, currently starring as Linda Loman in a celebrated Death of a Salesman revival. “I saw her twice in Doll’s House Part Two, and in Three Tall Women,” says Escola. “I think she’s my favorite stage performer working right now.” Which doesn’t mean they aren’t head over heels with Maya Rudolph, who currently stars in Escola’s hit play Oh Mary, and Meg Stalter, who will take over the role next on Broadway. “I just keep thinking that, well, now no one will want to do it,” said Escola, since each Mary has been so strong. “Every person that does it, I’m like, well now people don’t want to do it.” Clearly, Escola is wrong.
Although the mood at the Moss was light and amiable, Giant’s subject matter is rather heavy, speaking directly toward ongoing strife in the Middle East—even though it takes place more than 40 years ago. “It’s simply incredible how immediate the subject is, how urgent the subject is, and how eloquently the play deals with it, with all the different arguments, all of them energized by emotion,” said Lithgow.
During his remarks, Vanity Fair Global Editorial Director Guiducci highlighted this, calling Giant a Rorschach test that “exposes and challenges the preconceptions of everyone who sees it.” “The play resists easy answers, pushing audiences to hold contradiction,” he continued, before turning his attention to Lithgow’s fearless performance. “In his long and decorated career, Lithgow has masterfully rendered everyone from King Lear to Lord Farquaad. I can’t think of anyone else so totally equipped to play Rudy Giuliani, Roger Ailes, and Roald Dahl.”
John Lithgow and Mark GuiducciPOUPAY JUTHARAT
Playing someone both beloved and despicable didn’t scare Lithgow off: it intrigued him. “It’s that duality of him that I find fascinating—his humanity and inhumanity,” said Lithgow. “Hopefully, the play gives people new ways of thinking about these issues. I mean, from my own mind, Roald Dahl, to the extent that he was a poor bigoted man, I feel so much of that comes out of the damage he has suffered himself.” And with that, Lithgow was off to prep for that night’s performance of Giant.