Danny DeVito previews his return to Broadway with daughter Lucy in “I Need That”
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More than five years after his Tony-nominated turn in Arthur Miller's The Price, Danny DeVito is heading back to Broadway.
The Emmy award-winning actor is set to star as Sam, a reclusive widower who is forced to reconcile with the clutter in his life or face eviction from his home in Theresa Rebeck's new play I Need That. The three-hander comedy, which begins performances Oct. 13 at the American Airlines Theatre, is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God) and sees DeVito team up with his daughter Lucy DeVito (who is making her Broadway debut as Sam's daughter Amelia) and Ray Anthony Thomas.
The father-daughter duo have very close ties to the material. The DeVitos, who have previously starred opposite one another on film and the animated series Little Demon, first met von Stuelpnagel as part of a Zoom benefit for a small theater company during the pandemic. After they expressed an interest in working with him again, von Stuelpnagel brought in Rebeck and, following several creative conversations amongst them all, I Need That soon all fell into place.
"This play is really wonderful," says DeVito. "We did a a four-day table read of it two years ago and then at the Dorset Theater Festival in a stage reading about a year ago... We've been waiting patiently for everybody's schedules to be right and now we're doing it."
Just days before rehearsals began, EW spoke with DeVito about I Need That, his experience stepping into Sam's complex headspace, and his excitement about watching his daughter's Broadway debut from right onstage beside her.
Daniel Bergeron Danny DeVito
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did I Need That come together?
DANNY DeVITO: My daughter Lucy came to me with a one-act play that we were going to do for a benefit for a small theater company. We did a Zoom of this scene, and it was directed by this guy, Moritz von Stuelpnagel. And we had such a good time doing it. We just did it online during the pandemic and it was a blast and, at the end of it, we said to Moritz: 'If you ever see anything that you want to talk about, give us a shout.' He came back with Theresa Rebeck and said, 'I floated it by Theresa and she'd love to talk with you.' We had a few conversations with Theresa, then she went away and came back with I Need That.
Basically, the conflict is a guy who likes to keep his stuff. People call people like that hoarders, but Sam is attached to his things, and the neighborhood doesn't like the fact that he doesn't mow his lawn. There's also a big conflict that Amelia, his daughter, is thrust into the middle of because she's trying to protect her dad and trying to live her life.
You get to a certain age — and I'm talking about me now — where you're kind of stubborn and you're stuck in your ways. [In the play,] I have a good friend [Ray Anthony Thomas] who comes to me and hangs out with me. He's the third character in the play. Ray and I have been friends for many years, and there are lots of wonderful things that Theresa's served up for us in this play.
What was your reaction to Theresa Rebeck writing a play specifically with you and Lucy in mind?
That was flattering and really great. That was really Moritz and Theresa — we just floated the idea that we'd love to work together. Lucy and I have never been on stage together before — she's done it and I've done it, we've watched each other do it, and we talk about it a lot — and this was a gift from Theresa. We responded to it in a big way. She gave us a lot of reasons to want to be up there together.
When you were reading I Need That for the first time, could you see any similarities in the dynamic between you and Lucy and Sam and Amelia?
If you have siblings or offspring, you know the conflicts of life — things that go on in your daily life, circumstances that are thrust on you — and in this case, the stakes are a little higher because Sam, like I am, is pushing 80 and Amelia is a young woman who wants to live her life. There are responsibilities that she feels, and there's an independence in Sam that he doesn't want to lose. This is a story that I imagine came from somewhere inside Theresa. I think it's very personal and we're thrilled to be part of it.
There is something about not wanting to part with objects or being afraid of losing your independence that seems to come from getting older. What is it like to tap into Sam's headspace each day?
I'm finding a lot of similarities to Sam and myself. It's going to be a great, interesting journey for me.
The cyclical way parents take care of their children and, later in life, children take care of their parents is such a fascinating dynamic to bring to life onstage. It must also be even more poignant doing so with Lucy.
The thing I always think about with this play is: thank goodness my character doesn't drive.
That's the charm of New York!
Yes! The East Coast version of this is that Sam stays in his house, basically, and he doesn't venture out. You don't have to worry about him being in a vehicle.
You previously starred on Broadway in Arthur Miller's The Price, another Roundabout Production, back in 2017. How does it feel to be getting ready to step back into theater mode once again?
I've been counting down to the 12th of September like a young guy waiting for his driver's license: marking the days off, looking forward to getting in the room with Ray and Lucy and Moritz and Theres, and starting the collaboration and getting into seeing the inner bones of the play. And it's appropriately titled I Need That, because there are many things that we need in life, and whether they're on the surface and we can see them right away... That's another story. We're in the journey now to find that.
The play not only serves as your return to Broadway, but also as Lucy's Broadway debut. How excited are you to be sharing that experience with her?
Very, very excited. She's a wonderful actress and a great kid and we have a good time together. We've been working together for a couple years now on things that we put together producing at [DeVito's production company] Jersey Films. We're developing a lot of things now.
Ray Anthony Thomas' character is Sam's friend rather than a family member. What does he bring to the play's dynamic?
There are intertwining stories: Ray and Sam and Amelia all have individual hurdles — we all have mountains to climb and rivers to cross, not to go total Jimmy Cliff. There are lots of things to be experienced with the relationships between the three.
Lucy is no stranger to the stage herself, having previously starred in multiple productions including the off-Broadway play Love, Loss, and What I Wore. Do you two share any sage stage tips with one another?
Oh yeah, we do. Lucy's very smart and has a good sense of herself and has a good sense of the stage and I, once in a while, pontificate, as dads tend to do. Sshe's open to everything, and I'm open to everything that she has to give me. We have a good relationship in that way, but we've never been up there [on stage together] which is a journey and an experiment in a wonderful place to be up on the stage with a wonderful play and relying on each other — Ray and Lucy and I — it's a three-hander.
What do you hope theatergoers take away from I Need That?
It's a comedy; we're going to have some fun. We're gonna see some extremes. I want them to go to dinner that night and go over the play in their mind and see if there's anything they can find that takes them to a brighter future.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
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