美国国家公共电台 NPR John Slattery Gushes About His Role In Revived Broadway Classic 'Front Page'

John Slattery Gushes¹ About His Role In Revived Broadway Classic 'Front Page'

play pause stop mute unmute max volume 00:0005:00repeat repeat off Update Required To play the media you will need to either update your browser² to a recent version or update your Flash plugin. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

One of the great American plays has been revived on Broadway with a great American cast. "The Front Page", the 1928 Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur play set in the pressroom of Chicago's criminal courts building on the night before a hanging, is back in all of its profane³ and swaggering glory. It stars Nathan Lane as the crusty editor, John Goodman as the blustery sheriff, Holland Taylor as the fusty mother-in-law to-be and as Hildy Johnson, the ink-and-gin-stained wretch⁴ in his last days on the beat - or so he thinks - is John Slattery, the actor and director so familiar from "Mad Men" and "Spotlight⁵." John Slattery joins us in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.

JOHN SLATTERY: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SIMON: I often ask people why did you want to take this role, but having seen the play...

SLATTERY: Who wouldn't?

SIMON: (Laughter) That's right.

SLATTERY: I mean, it's the fantastic part in a fantastic play.

SIMON: Yeah. So you've known the play for a number of years.

SLATTERY: Yeah, I was a movie nut when I was a kid, and I think I saw "His Girl Friday" when I was in high school probably, which remains⁶ kind of my favorite, well, film version of "The Front Page."

SIMON: This is the Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant...

SLATTERY: Rosalind Russell, Cary Grant - Rosalind - Hildy is played by Rosalind Russell. And she and Walter Burns are divorced and and she's coming back to tell him that she's getting married to someone else. So yeah, I was familiar with it.

SIMON: Any worry that some of the humor and other references might be offensive these days?

SLATTERY: Yeah, if it's offensive, it's meant to be offensive. I think there's - there are a lot of parallels to what's happening today. I mean, as you said, the - it takes place on the eve of an execution, and the man being executed was shot for killing⁷ a black police officer, a white man.

SIMON: And the mayor and the sheriff...

SLATTERY: And the mayor and everybody's in collusion in trying to hang this man on the eve of an election so that they get the black vote in Chicago. So, you know, there's a lot of relevant topics going on in the play.

SIMON: Does it help an audience understand what I have no problem in referring to as the absolutely appalling⁸ sense of humor in the news business?

SLATTERY: I think it does.

SIMON: Yeah.

SLATTERY: I think it does. I mean, there were seven daily newspapers in Chicago in 1928, and you had to scrap⁹ and fabricate and pull a lot of threads to put together a story, an original take on what was going on. And that's reflected in this play.

SIMON: Even if you had to make it up.

SLATTERY: Even if you had to make it up out of old (ph) cloth, yeah.

SIMON: Is it a reunion of some talents? You obviously - you've - you were with Robert Morse on "Mad Men." You and Nathan Lane were on stage together in - what was it? - "Laughter On The 24th Floor."

SLATTERY: Yeah, that was in '93 I think, and '89 in Terrence McNally's "The Lisbon Traviata" was my first job in New York. So yes, a reunion for Nathan and I. And I know he's worked with John Goodman, and I did a radio play with John. I've known a lot of these actors for a long time. Some of them, it's my first time, but, yeah, Nathan and I go back a ways. And it's great to - so it's just great to work with him.

SIMON: There's a moment in the performance I saw. Hildy Johnson, of course, is leaving the newspaper business to get married and go into his wife-to-be's - her father's advertising¹⁰ business. You deliver that line. Everybody laughs for the obvious reason, thinking of "Mad Men." An industry question, though - when you come off such a fabled¹¹ project as "Mad Men," are there a lot of people trying to get you to do the same thing all over again, one way or the other?

SLATTERY: Yeah. I mean, one way or another, but show business is like that. If you have some success playing a certain part, the next five things you're offered are parts of a similar nature. I mean, I've done a lot of period things I guess. But this is, you know, I actually bumped into Nathan on New Year's Eve, last New Year's Eve, and asked him what he was doing. And he said he was doing this play, and I had just read it because someone had told me this would be a good idea. You should check this play out. And I, you know, it stuck with me. It's just such a great play, and I said I should play that other guy, not remembering Hildy's name. And surprisingly, I got a call about a month later asking me to do it.

SIMON: John Slattery - "The Front Page" opens on Broadway October 20. Thanks so much for being with us.

SLATTERY: My pleasure, thank you.

1 gushes   

n.涌出，迸发( gush的名词复数 )v.喷，涌( gush的第三人称单数 )；滔滔不绝地说话

参考例句：

• The stream gushes forth from the rock. 一股小溪从岩石中涌出来。 来自辞典例句
• Fuel gushes into the combustion chamber. 燃料喷进燃烧室。 来自辞典例句

2 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

3 profane   

adj.亵神的，亵渎的；vt.亵渎，玷污

参考例句：

• He doesn't dare to profane the name of God.他不敢亵渎上帝之名。
• His profane language annoyed us.他亵渎的言语激怒了我们。

4 wretch   

n.可怜的人，不幸的人；卑鄙的人

参考例句：

• You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他，还埋怨他，真不知好歹。
• The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。

5 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

6 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 appalling   

adj.骇人听闻的，令人震惊的，可怕的

参考例句：

• The search was hampered by appalling weather conditions.恶劣的天气妨碍了搜寻工作。
• Nothing can extenuate such appalling behaviour.这种骇人听闻的行径罪无可恕。

9 scrap   

n.碎片；废料；v.废弃，报废

参考例句：

• A man comes round regularly collecting scrap.有个男人定时来收废品。
• Sell that car for scrap.把那辆汽车当残品卖了吧。

10 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

11 fabled   

adj.寓言中的，虚构的

参考例句：

• For the first week he never actually saw the fabled Jack. 第一周他实际上从没见到传说中的杰克。
• Aphrodite, the Greek goddness of love, is fabled to have been born of the foam of the sea. 希腊爱神阿美罗狄蒂据说是诞生于海浪泡沫之中。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》