NR: Have you had any interesting experiences with the fans?

DC: I love these fans. They're really neat people. I sometimes question their commitment because it's so...At some point you say, "Get a life" and I actually say that to them and they say, "We do have a life, thank you very much."

NR: We have a very busy life in fact.

DC: Exactly, and it's really great.

NR: But after seeing the show several times, it's still funny, it's still enjoyable. It's certainly not boring.

DC: And I tell you, I think the Pimpys are the thing that kept the show alive last summer. I really do think so. I think Sal Italiano had an awful lot to do with us being here now. People don't really realize that. Sal was the one who said to me, "People don't think it's funny. People think it's kind of dusty historical crap." And the point of it is, it was funny. It's still funny, but it was a lot easier to take in terms of its humor. Its humor went all over the place in the old show, and nothing was taken seriously.

NR: Do you have any advice for a high school student who wants to perform on Broadway?

DC: Go to school. You'll find out. Try it, but you've got to learn the technique. You've got to learn the basics. You've got to learn the speech. You've got to learn to move. You've got to learn all these things about your body. You've got to learn all the technique. It's not easy, but if you set along the road of technique you're going to find out pretty soon whether you're cut out for it or not. It ain't all glitz and glamour. It's a lot of hard work, but it's a great, great profession too. And I would not not recommend it. I do recommend it. I think it's healthy. I think it's good for a person psychologically. I think it keeps you pretty well balanced, because you have to be. There's no room for "flakery" in this business, there really isn't. It's a "cut the mustard" business. If you don't cut the mustard you've got to find out how to cut it, and that's through technique. And go to school. Go to a good school. Ithaca College is a great school for that. It's small and yet very intensive, concentrated. There are many good, smaller schools out there. I would stay away from a bigger school - the Yales and things like that, unless you're post-graduate. High school students should go to a good four year intensive college and get training. There's a lot of them.

NR: What do you wish you had more time for in your life?

DC: Shakespeare. My kids' show. My "Play Around Shakespeare" which I wrote when I was at The Folger, which needs to be done. It needs to be in schools.

NR: Tell me about it.

DC: Well, it's a 50 minute in-school program. We did it in outreach for The Folger Theater when I was there for ten years, and it's five actors who go into a school to perform great moments from William Shakespeare and wind up boring the crap out of all the students, and that's the hook. Then we take off and we improvise. We do pretty much of a romp through Shakespearean clowns based on the Mechanicals. Every time the Mechanicals run into trouble introducing their "Pyramus and Thisbe" they illustrate the solution to that problem with a scene from another of Shakespeare's plays. So, we have three realities. We have actors and we have the Mechanicals and then we have the Mechanicals playing...like I used to play Romeo because nobody else was available to do it. It's just real "whiz-bang" theater and we need to do that again and I keep working on it but I don't have enough time. I've got to produce it myself and I don't have enough time to do that.

NR: What would you like to do in the future?

DC: More Shakespeare. Polonius. I hope it's with Doug.

NR: I hope so too, and I hope it's somewhere that we can see it. Thanks.

DC: You're welcome.

I have to admit that one of the things I do miss about the old show is seeing more of David on stage. I still enjoy his Prince of Wales immensely, but it was fun to watch his crazy Robespierre and his Fisherman character. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to see him and Douglas do Hamlet together at some point. I certainly hope so.

Questions suggested by:

Joanna Morton-Gary, Sara Starr, Linda Guenette, Colleen Rosati, Renee, Susan, Kathy Thurlow, Dani Biancolli, Susan Cassidy, Davvy Clardy, Laura, Gillian Girvin, Frank Boemio, Josie Smith, Lois Colpo, Shovelin', Anita Boksem, Jan Kolb, Cheryl Pryor

Interview conducted and photographs by Nancy Rosati.