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Video: Michael Urie, Hannah Cruz & Dan Brown Break Down the Secrets of THE DA VINCI CODE
May 17, 2024
Thrills and chills have arrived a bit early this season in Ogunquit, Maine. That's because the ultimate thriller, Dan Brown's bestselling mystery novel The Da Vinci Code, is being presented for the first time onstage in the US at Ogunquit Playhouse. In this video, watch as Dan Brown, Michael Urie and Hannah Cruz chat all about the premiere.
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0:00
Welcome to backstage with Richard Ridge. Dan Brown's best selling mystery novel
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The Da Vinci Code, which has sold over 100 million copies worldwide and is one of the most successful film franchises of all time has
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been turned into a play by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel. And it will have its American premiere at the Algonquin Playhouse from August 24th
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to September 23rd and I am joined by author Dan Brown and two of the show's stars Michael Yi and Hannah Cruz
0:37
I am so thrilled that this has been turned into a play. So Dan I'd like to start with you
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How thrilling is it for you when you found out that your incredible best selling novel was being turned into a play
0:49
It was thrilling and terrifying, I thought. Well, well, that's impossible. There's 100 and 60,000 intricate uh words
0:56
Uh how do you turn this into a stage play uh with, you know, with, with basically one point of view that being the audiences
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And uh fortunately, you know, Rachel Wagstaff and, and Duncan, they, they've done just this phenomenal job on the script
1:08
It's, it's so tight, it's so fun. Uh And I really, you know
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it, it's, it's, it's a thrill and also an honor to, to have a story that you've created reimagined and re retold in
1:20
in a new medium. And uh it's, uh I, I'm really excited for people to see it
1:25
So, for Michael and Hannah, when you first got the play and you read it
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what made you each say, yes, I have to be a part of this. Well
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the play is, is, is a page turner just like the book I had read the book
1:38
Um I actually, once, uh I was, I was reading the book once
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I don't think I've told you this, but I was reading the book uh in an airport and I missed a flight
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I actually missed my flight because I was so, and, and I, and I looked up and I
1:54
and I thought, why haven't they called my flight yet? And they had, and I just was not because I was so the
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and the play when I read the play, it was as, it was as exciting um to
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to, to, to burn through as the movie. And I was, you know
2:08
like I've never been on Law and Order. I'm the only actor in New York who's never been on Law and Order
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And I've always wanted to play a character that's like solving something that
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that, that I, I think thinking as an actor is the most fun thing
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you can do. Um, and there's so much thinking and, and, and this and
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and what's, what's really exciting about having all the source material is you can go and look and see what were they thinking
2:32
What were they, what, what did Dan say they were thinking? Um, so I read it and I was
2:37
I love the property. I was just so excited about, uh, uh, getting to
2:41
to play a thinker and fulfill my law and order dreams. And um I was
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I was very, very game. Yeah, I, I mean, I've been wanting to do a play for a very long time and uh when this
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came in my email, I was on vacation, I think when I was reading it and I remember uh my fiance was trying to talk
3:02
to me and I was like, hold on Monday and I blew through the scripts like faster than I've ever gone through any script
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Um And I was very, very, very intrigued by it. I think
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like I, I have said this a couple of times but like my brain hasn't gotten a chance to work like this in quite a
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while. And I love doing new projects that make my brain work in a different way because then you walk away and it's like your
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toolbox has grown bigger, which is, which is all you can ask for
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Um So, yeah, I was very excited about it. So, Dan, for you watching your words all over again come to life by
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these two and this remarkable cast, what has that been like for you
3:45
Well, you know, it's funny. I, um we ha I have not yet seen this version of the play
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Um So I'm as excited as everybody else. Uh Certainly I'm familiar uh with Michael Hanna's work
3:57
uh and know how talented they are. And I also put a lot of faith in the, in the opinion of the uh director and
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and producer and all the people who said, trust me, these guys are perfect. Um So
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you know, I'm, I'm as excited as everybody else. Well, we'll, we'll see what it is. But I
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I happen to know that uh that those people who've been in rehearsals uh are very excited
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I should mention I have chosen not to be in rehearsals, not because I'm lazy or disinterested
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I just uh try to stay out of the way and leave. Let the pros do what the pros do and I'll
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I'll be a, a tourist on opening night is probably the best way for me to interact at this point
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Oh, so this is gonna be really exciting for you to sort of just watch the curtain go up and watch this magic happen at
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the Algonquin Playhouse. It's gonna be terrific. In fact, I just now met Mike Hanna for the first time just now
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So, OK, so Michael and Hannah, let's talk about these roles. I mean
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talk about falling in love with, um, with Sophie and Robert. What it's been like for you
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I mean, Hannah, I'll start with you. What's it been like living in her world
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It's been, I, I honestly feel like I've gotten more intelligent just by playing her through osmosis
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I, I haven't, like, like I said, I haven't accessed these things since
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like, I was in school, which was like, I didn't go to college, so that was a long time ago
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And I love, I love how anxious she, she is to solve things
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She's like very impatient, which is like fun to play. And I've loved
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I mean, I've loved working with Michael, like, just adored it. And our scenes together is like
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it's like the happiest as an actor. I've been. So it's, yeah
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I wish I could say the same. There's, there's the comedian all over now
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There he goes, we laugh a lot, we laugh a lot. We have
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we have so we are having a really wonderful time and I think there's something I think that is in part because there's so much
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that it, it, the play is very serious at times and, and we have to kind of like
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you know, um let the, let the air out of the room. But um it's also fun
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It's a fun story. The story is fun. So we're having fun figuring it out and there's so many discovery
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there's so many moments where, you know, we say something like I've got it
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which is like, you know, fun and, and we, we get to surprise each other and
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um, but as far as playing Robert Langdon, who is such a cool character and has so much source material because he's in a lot
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of the books, uh, a lot of dance books. Um, I have
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uh, there was, you know, they're big shoes because everybody has their idea of what he's like from reading the book
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Of course, we have Tom hanks' version to, to, to look to um and uh the guy from the TV show
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uh whose name I can't think of but Ashley Zuckerman. Yes. Yes
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Uh Who is all who is great and different, which I was, you know
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he's very different than Tom, which is really cool. Um To see that, that you can inhabit um different
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Um you can inhabit the role differently but go having the material
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ha having the, the, the kinds of discoveries, you know, we have a scene where I walk into the Louver and there's no one there
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It's, it, it, it's closed and in the, in the play we just walk in
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But in the book, there are all these wonderful descriptions about what he's thinking as he's walking through the Louver
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And so I only have a moment to play them, but I've got all of that brain stuff from the book and there's
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and then there's the other books like there's a moment in angels and demons where Langdon sees
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I'm starting to, I sound like a nerd. I'm, I'm a geek now. I'm sounding like a, I'm a
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I'm a dan brown geek. But, um, he sees the illuminati symbol for the first time and
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and he's, there's this in, you know, the influx of feelings for seeing it
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He's, you know, he's a symbol. He's a, he's a, he's a religious symbologist and so many of these things are hypothetical to him and
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then they're real. And this book, uh this, this story is filled with those
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So, so sometimes I can tap into what Langton goes through in the other books in our story
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Um which is, which is really cool. I mean, you know, sometimes
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sometimes you get a lot of material in a play, sometimes you get a lot of history in a play and sometimes you just get
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what's on the page. You just, you just, you have to, you have to come up with everything based on what they've given you
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And this has a whole host of um ooooo of material to reach back to
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It's great. You know, you realize there are so many worldwide fans
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I mean, Dan, I mean, this book alone has sold over 100 million copies
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Everybody loves the film. People are gonna like flood to the Algonquin Playhouse to see this come to life on stage
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Dan, tell me what it means to you to have this, the American premiere happening at the Algonquin and on the sea coast
8:56
What that means to you? It's funny. I mean, it, it feels like a tradition
8:59
I'm, I'm thrilled. I couldn't, couldn't imagine it anywhere else. When Da Vinci Code came out as a novel
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uh my publisher already knew it was going to debut at number one. The presales were very
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very high and they said we want to have your opening event uh at the Union Square
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Barnes and Noble, biggest Barnes and Noble in the world in New York City. So that, well, that's not gonna happen. Uh It's gonna be
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at my local, it gonna be by my local bookseller um who had stood by me for four books that sold 10 copies total
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Um And so we did it there and we also did premier for the three Ron Howard films in Exeter New Hampshire
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Portsmouth, New Hampshire. And it just feels perfect like it was destiny to have the North American premiere of this
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you know, stage play De Men right here on the sea coast. Uh I couldn't be happier
9:45
Yeah. And for, for Michael and Hannah having the premiere of the Algonquin Playhouse and just being back on stage again
9:51
we had the pandemic for such a long time and all of a sudden you're doing live theater and this is such a special piece
9:57
what it means to both of you. I love a i it was actually my first job back after the pandemic was a playoffs
10:06
in 2021. We did Young Frankenstein here like outside in a tent
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um because we couldn't be in the theater yet. So this is my first show actually in the playhouse
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So that's really exciting. Um But I love it here at this time of year is beautiful
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It's like so bucolic and, and, and lush and lovely and the food is amazing
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And um, just to be able to like, it's just kind of ideal
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right? Because like to get a break from the city, which we all know can be a bit much and to be able to like
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go home at night in a beautiful, beautiful surroundings and then go do a play and come
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it's just like, it's like an ideal way of life that we don't get to access a lot
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Um So I'm just happy to be here. This is my first time here
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I, I arrived last night. So I'm, I'm, I'm soaking it all in, but I
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I've always loved going to the working at theaters that have a dedicated audience
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Um I've been in lots of shows where we have to find an audience, hunt for an audience in New York or wherever
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And that's great too. And, and when a show finds an audience, there's nothing
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there's nothing better but having a dedicated audience like the Ogunquit has is
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um, it's, it's, it's a very special thing because you know that these
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these are the people who are helping keep the theater alive and they're coming to hear a story and they
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they don't have, they don't come with a bunch of preconceived ideas and it's not like I heard this was good
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Now, show me like what you get sometimes off Broadway or on Broadway
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Um, they are, they are dedicated. They are enthusiastic and I mean
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I've al, I've been here 10 hours and I've already had conversations I've already had
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I already had two different people ask me for tickets. Yes. Some guy asked me for six tickets
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He was like, I need 66 tickets any day, any Saturday, uh any Saturday
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And I'm like, oh, ok. I'll, I'll see what I can do, but it's sweet like that means people wanna go
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People are people in town are, they know about it. They wanna go, they're, they're dedicated. Uh
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and I'm gonna try to get him those tickets. I'm gonna, I'm gonna get those tickets for you bill
12:11
You know, I love that. Talk about your director, please. What? It's been like being
12:16
how do you pronounce Lee's last name? Tony. Ok. So I wasn't sure like fabulous
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I was like, what did you say? What is it like being in the rehearsal room and creating with this person
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Tony's Lee Lee to me is very, very cool. We really, I
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I like Lee so much. I drove here with her. I was willing to spend five hours in a car with her
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That's how much I like her. I jumped in the ocean with her this morning. A big family
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Lovely. She's like, she's so easy to talk to and I love
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like having little moments apart with her just to like, just to talk about like how the show is
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like settling in our bones and all this. Like, I, I feel so comfortable with her and I also trust her opinion
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uh and implicitly. So I, I really enjoyed working with ditto and she knows the play and set it out
13:09
She worked on it and uh when it was done in the UK before, so she has all of that information and um she
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she, I now know everything about her because we spent five hours in a car together. She started her career working with um young people
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uh and, and uh underprivileged people making theater. And so when we've
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when we've got to rehearsal, she was like, all right, everybody in a circle, we're gonna play a game and
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and, and for actors, when somebody says that usually you're like, oh no
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like it's like, it's like the kiss of death. Like we, no, no, no games. But these games have been the best
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They're so fun and the play is kind of a game. So like we
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we like, find ourselves. It, it, it, it, it didn't, it energizes the play in a way and that's not just a warm up and
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it's not just like getting to know each other and being comfortable with each other. It really energizes the discoveries in the play
14:00
Um And, and, and the games are great. Like, sometimes you'll play a game and it's like winner or loser game
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These aren't winner or loser games. These are just like, these are just games. There's just us all as a company
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um coming together and, and laughing and having fun and, and making discoveries and
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and it, it's infused in the play and I think people when they come see the play will feel a sense of play because of
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it. Now, just let's talk about the look of the show, this projections and the set like when that was all described to both
14:32
of you, like what went through your mind? Well, we haven't seen it yet
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so we're really excited today is our first day of tech. So after we finish with you guys
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we're gonna go see what it actually looks like. But um Lee has described for us a lot of what it's gonna look like
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Um But I think it's gonna inform quite a bit totally doing in music
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So there's a lot of music underscoring and stuff like that and it's you
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you need it because it's literally globe trotting like we, we go all over the place in this
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So, so we have, and sometimes we're like, now we gotta go to this room and we run like things change
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And so it's uh it's gonna be, it's gonna be really vital to the
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to the show. And apparently it's stunning. I mean, the, it's a lot of the people who did Life of pi um and so there's
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like Tony award winners and uh Olivier Award winners and stuff. So, you know
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these are, these are good people. See this is great though. So you go to tech today
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you're gonna walk into the Algonquin and all of a sudden more magic, you know, that
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that almost that final bit before the audience comes in, you're gonna see all the projections and all the lighting and all the set pieces
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moving in front of you. That's gonna be really great. So dad, you're not gonna go up until opening night or the first
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I'll be, I'll be there on Thursday for the uh for the initial performance
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Uh I mean, I'll be there, I'll be there certainly on opening night, but I'll, I'll see it a bunch of times before
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before opening night. So let's just talk about the fan base of this incredible book and these films like Dan
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have you, have you been able to like sit over the years and figure out like everyone
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millions and millions of people have fallen in love with the books and have fallen in love with the films
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What do you think it is? What do you think, you know that connection is between your books and the audience
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I, I think Hannah sort of touched on it earlier. She said she, she feels smarter and we all love to learn
16:18
And, uh, I, the, the nicest compliment I ever got was this whole woman said, you know what I like about your books
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I'm getting my vegetables but it tastes like ice cream. I thought there it is
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there, it is like that's that, uh, it's funny you try to make it feel effortless
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Uh It's very, very difficult to, uh you know, a as an actor could tell you just to
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to simplify uh enormous amounts of information down into a kernel that's digestible and understandable
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But I really think that's what these books do and that's what I set out to do is to
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uh, you know, obviously tell a story and entertain, but also get people thinking about big ideas and
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and, you know, may maybe reminded of, of things that they thought. Well, I studied that once. But what was that all about
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And how is it relevant to, to the real world? I think that's what people react to and I'm sure that's part of what they'll
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react to in the play as well. Yeah, for Hannah and Michael
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the same thing for you like Michael, you read the book at an airport, you missed, you missed your flight
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you know, but it's like what attract, what do you think is the attraction where you can't put these books down
17:21
I think the, I mean, I don't, I'm not a writer so I, but I
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so I don't know how Dan does it but, like, the, like, every chapter is
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like, right now I'm reading, I can't remember the, but I'm reading one of your books right now
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I'm reading, reading Digital Fortress right now and I can't stop. It's just like every chapter they're short and then they end on
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like, such a cliffhanger that it's like, ok, well, I have time for another chapter. So and then you just keep going and going and
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going and that's how the script fell to me when I read it. Um And just everything is a new discovery
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And so when you get new information, you can help but think like, well, what more is there to this
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And there's always questions with the information. So it's like you're getting a reward
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you're getting a dopamine hit from the new information, but there's still more to learn. So there's still like that anticipation
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It's, it's like a drug. It's really, it's great. And this one specifically the Da Vinci code specifically that it deals with such
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massive uh uh global phenomenons like the Mona Lisa or Leonardo da Vinci and the church
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Like these are big old topics that everyone, everyone has a, a an opinion about every
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you know, whether you love the Mona Lisa or don't get the Mona Lisa, you have an opinion about the Mona Lisa and same with
18:41
the church. And uh so I think AAA narrative woven through these
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these um sort of household topics uh is, is exciting for, for anyone to
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to, to, to, to put themselves in the adventure. Well, listen, I thank you all for dropping by with me today for Broadway World
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I want to tell our audience once again, the Da Vinci Code will have its US premiere at the Algonquin Playhouse from August 24th till
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September 23rd. And for tickets go to Algonquin playhouse.org. Have the best time
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I hope to take a car ride up there and see you all up there. Have the best time
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Thanks for dropping by everyone. Thank you. Come see you take care
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