Will Kevin Kline win a Tony Award without campaigning?
Can you win a Tony Award without campaigning?
It looks as if Kevin Kline is going to try.
Kline, 69, was nominated this week for his portrayal of an aging matinee idol in “Present Laughter” at the St James. He’s up against some first-rate actors — Jefferson Mays (“Oslo”), Corey Hawkins (“Six Degrees of Separation”), Chris Cooper (“A Doll’s House, Part 2”) and Denis Arndt (“Heisenberg”) — but his part is flashy and he dominates Noel Coward’s 1942 comedy.
Kline easily could add a third Tony to his shelf if only he’d work a room or two full of Tony voters in the coming month.
But, friends say, he despises shmoozing, dislikes chatting with the press and finds the whole Tony rigmarole distasteful.
He agreed to do a dog-and-pony show for the press just before “Present Laughter” opened, but as one reporter told me, “You could tell it was the last place in the world he wanted to be.”
He attended the opening-night party for the show, “but stayed about five minutes,” a source says. And he was a no-show at the “Meet the Tony Nominees” cattle call Wednesday morning at the Sofitel New York Hotel. That can be an excruciating event, to be sure, but it’s considered an important stop on the Tony campaign trail. Only a sure-fire winner such as Bette Midler in “Hello, Dolly!” can duck it — and she did.
Another stop is the New York Times, which usually profiles the nominees with the best shot at winning. Kline agreed to be interviewed, which made his producers very happy — the publicity would probably sell some tickets.
The Times assigned Alexis Soloski to do the interview. As he waited at home for the car to pick him up, Kline, out of curiosity, Googled her name. Soloski also reviews Broadway shows for the Guardian in London, and her review of “Present Laughter” popped up on his screen.
Here’s what he read: “False starts and outmoded techniques make this [revival] seem dated, leaving its star with too much heavy lifting.”
Oops!
Kline called the driver and told him to turn around and go home. The interview was off.
Well, you can’t blame him. The Times should have been a little more sensitive. Why should he sit and chat with a critic who zinged his show? You’re not going to see Ben Brantley hanging out with the cast of “Amelie” — “it neither offends nor enthralls,” he wrote — anytime soon.
If Kline does decide to do a little press at some point (Mays is gaining ground!), I’d be delighted to interview him for this column, which is avidly read by all 800 Tony voters. (That sound you hear is me tooting my own horn.)
The Post is a fitting place for him, anyway. One of the first interviews Kline ever gave, as the breakout star of “On the Twentieth Century” in 1978, was to our legendary nightlife columnist, Earl Wilson.
They met in Wilson’s apartment at the Parc Vendome, and snuggled into a pair of comfortable leather chairs. The chairs may have been a little too comfortable because halfway through the interview, Wilson, then 70, fell asleep. Kline looked at his press agent, who cleared his throat until Wilson woke up.
You have my word, Kevin: If you do an interview with me, I won’t nod off.
And remember this: You did that interview with The Post on the eve of the 1978 Tony Awards — and you won.
Turner Classic Movies put together a fine tribute this week to Robert Osborne, who died March 6. Michael Feinstein brought down the house with “Hooray for Hollywood” and marvelous clips from some of Osborne’s favorite movies were shown — “Broadway Melody of 1940,” “Madame Bovary” and “Singin’ in the Rain.”
Osborne once gave me a list of his favorite movies about the theater, and so I pass them along to you today — “All About Eve,” of course, but also the more obscure “Critic’s Choice,” starring Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, and a real gem, “The Velvet Touch,” starring Rosalind Russell.
And let’s not forget the charming “Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,” with David Niven and Doris Day playing real-life theater couple Walter and Jean Kerr.