I Stole Patti LuPone’s Trombone
An American Buffalo/ David Mamet origin story
Two shows from this past Broadway season touched me personally.
Fortunately, I did not see either of these productions.
Just jump down the rabbit hole with me.
This season, Dave Mamet’s American Buffalo completed its 16-week limited engagement.
Unknown to most theater historians: my critical contribution to the New York premiere’s success.
In 1975, Larry Goosens and Jeff Wachtel ran the prestigious Off-Broadway Theatre at St Clement’s. They asked me to read the American Buffalo script for my opinion. They did not care if I liked the script. They wanted to know if I could build it for under $500.
Well, of course, I could. I had the key to The Acting Company’s warehouse in Hoboken, NJ. Mamet needed a junk shop. And I had the phone number for Man with a Van.
The scenic designer, Akira “Leo” Yoshimura, a young Yalie, just landed a job at this new TV show called Saturday Night Live. Yoshimura specified cheap, corrugated cardboard walls. Once staple-gunned onto a frame, Leo transformed the cardboard into corroded steel with a Hudson paint sprayer. When I asked what junk he wanted from the theatrical warehouse, he said, “surprise me, “ or at least that’s how I remember it…
Stage Manager Victoria Paul began as a young NYU scenic student. Vicki has gone on to huge success in television and film with My Cousin Vinny, The Band Played On, A League of Their Own, and NCIS: New Orleans. She rode shotgun with Man with a Van and me in his 16' battered, white bread truck.
In Hoboken, we packed that baby up so full, the roll-top door got stuck.
In the Lincoln Tunnel, we broke down.
To this day, I can recall the Van/Man’s helpful words, “Ummm. This never happened before.”
After a Port Authority Police tow, we arrived at St. Clement’s Church. Leo, Vicki, and I artfully placed Mary Joan Negro’s samovar and Kevin Kline’s The Beggar’s Opera kegs. From the grid, we suspended Patti LuPone’s trombone from Behan’s The Hostage. The cardboard walls could only support the weight of a girlie, insurance calendar. The remainder of the truckload: props and old costumes we piled into islands and aisles of Donny’s shop.
After we stuffed a theatre warehouse into St Clements church, the director Greg Mosher came in with an epiphany.
Generally, when a director has an epiphany, it’s bad for the tech people.
“Get this shit out of here. Donny is a failure. It’s a storefront with some random crap lying around. He’s got a display case where he used to keep jewelry when he had jewelry. This whole coin thing is just another fantasy scam for these characters living their failed American dream. ‘Savages around some vicious campfire.’
In fairness, Greg is a gentle, soft-spoken, thoughtful director. I do not specifically recall if he said “shit.” I added that for dramatic effect. Vicki and I lugged 90% of that shit out of the church and back to Hoboken. I picked up two remaindered rolls of checkered linoleum from Cannick Flooring on Ninth Ave. Yoshimura shredded it, distressed it, and glued down random pieces. The incomplete squares defined a perimeter for the empty void where American Buffalo takes place.
DRAMATIC PAUSE IN THIS STORY:
All subsequent productions of American Buffalo let loose its scenic designers to smother the stage with junk. Rows of tires, crates of liquor, paintings, bicycles, furniture, sports equipment, and even old theatre props. These recklessly decorated junk shops become easy eye candy for the audience. The raw, unconnected debris creates distracting backstories that take the audience away from the script and the actors. (I wonder where they found that toaster…. I sold one just like it at a yard sale… should a’ kep’ it).
Our stripped-down stage became an added character in the sparse Mamet script. American Buffalo opened to rave reviews and won a shitload of Off-B’way awards.
“Mamet is a young man to watch and encourage,” wrote the NY Times.
Aside from the memories, I have three souvenirs from this production. The mimeo’d program, the receipt for the last-minute linoleum that put me over budget by $78.40. I never got reimbursed.
So, I kept Patti LuPone’s trombone.
Sorry, this went on too long…
Next up, The Music Man, and finally, the answer to the burning question:
Exactly what musical instrument do I play? (No, it’s not the trombone).
Originally published at https://douglasg.substack.com on January 5, 2023.
