Joe Mantello
FameRank: 4

"Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play/Best Direction of a Play" 2003 Take Me Out (play)/Take Me Out"Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical/Best Direction of a Musical" 2004 Assassins (musical)/Assassins

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"Joseph Mantello" (born December 27, 1962) is an American actor and director best known for his work on Broadway productions of Wicked (musical)/Wicked, Take Me Out (play)/Take Me Out and Assassins (musical)/Assassins, as well as earlier in his career being one of the original Broadway cast of Angels in America. Mantello directed The Ritz (play)/The Ritz, his sixth production with playwright Terrence McNally, in 2007.

More Joe Mantello on Wikipedia.

There's this mythology about Nathan and Matthew, though they've just done one play together.

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I suppose if I chose to sit down and dwell on it, I'd be paralyzed, ... But at the end of the day, you have block as much of the noise out as possible and try to deliver a quality production. My responsibility is primarily to the actors.

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I don't see the script as just a springboard for my interpretation. You do your best to serve the vision writers have - not by removing yourself from the equation, but by trying to filter what they intended through your artistry.

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Because the show has such a high profile, people want to read too much into what I consider to be normal give and take. From my heart, this man has been my friend and he will continue to be my friend.

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She comes from the theater, so she has tons of experience. She has intelligence and the audience has an immediate sympathy for her.

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The gig is, when you're the director, you learn to accommodate the actor's process. I've been doing this long enough to learn to be patient, and I am extremely happy with Matthew's progress.

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The vultures who come to the first preview are not going to see a show that's in perfect shape. But we have four weeks of previews, and it's a question of how you make the best use of them. Of course the show has gotten better. I am confident in everybody in the cast, and audiences are loving it.

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I'm trying to stop working. Now I have to believe that I'm the best person for the job - or at least in the top three - and to really love the script. You must lead with passion, because actors are smart, and they can smell it when you don't.

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