I like musicals that look more like plays.
I think we live in an era without a predictable career path. Everybodys doing more, doing more at the same time, doing more faster. As such, individual projects can have wildly different developmental trajectories.
I think the things that I enjoy most about directing theater, or works that are really visceral in terms of comedy and have a sort of rock and roll aesthetic.
Some people eat the tuna, some people roll it up into a ball. Also, the sort of disgusting texture and smell, I think, adds something to the experience.
People like to play with the tuna, sometimes.
I've worked on other shows where the sense is like, "Well, don't change it too much," you know? But on this one [ Too Much Tuna], Nick [Kroll] and John [Mulaney] - beyond being amazing performers - are also writers, and wanted to keep improving upon the show, particularly the play within a play. I think the writing just got funnier and funnier.
The show [ Too Much Tuna] changed a lot, actually, which is risky when you get positive critical feedback.
When I was thinking about what we could do in terms of what production values of Broadway might be able to add to the show, I had this thought that it would be really cool if we had a coup de théâtre. What would they want? And then I was like, an amazing, enormous tuna puppet that was like 30 by 40 feet would be pretty incredible. So I called up Basil Twist, and he got really excited immediately and started sketching out his idea, and I think it's a real highlight of the show.
I think it all started with the tuna sandwich, and then, on the road, gearing up for New York, Nick [Kroll] and John [Mulaney] had the idea of having a tuna puppet, which became Tony Tuna, and their friend Cammi Upton designed that and did a great job.
I worked on it [ Too Much Tuna] for a little bit downtown and it was a great experience. I couldn't believe how enthusiastic the audience was for it. It was just extraordinary. It felt like you were at a rock concert, which was just unusual for shows at Cherry Lane, which are usually intimate plays about big ideas, you know.
I got an email from Nick [Kroll] that he and John [Mulaney] were looking to put on the stage show with two of their characters from Kroll Show and could I help at all. And they were doing it [off-Broadway] at the Cherry Lane and they had been performing it at UCB, just sort of testing it out. I worked on it for a little bit downtown and it was a great experience.
I'm not sure if the audience can smell tuna but the special guest each show definitely can.
So much of the show [ Too Much Tuna] is improvisation, and I think that Nick [Kroll] and John [Mulaney] kind of catch each other at times, surprise each other. I think that really makes it a fun, sort of live, unique experience.
