Video: Robin Lord Taylor and Brandon Flynn Are Taking on Theater Titans in KOWALSKI

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Greg Ostrand's new play, Kowalski, about the first meeting between playwright Tennessee Williams

and actor Marlon Brando has already been extended through February 23rd at the Duke Theater

And joining me here at the legendary Sardis are Kowalski's two stars, Brandon Flynn, who plays Marlon Brando

and Robin Lord Taylor, who plays Tennessee Williams. It's a thrill. Yeah, it's a lot of fun

I mean, it's terrifying in some aspects, but, Now that we're in it, it just feels fun to do

Yeah, it's definitely been a process of, you know, quelling the fears, you know, like putting the dark voices in the background

because it really is one of the most terrifying things I've ever done, and only because the character that I'm playing

the character that I don't mean to speak for you, but the character you're playing, they're icons of theater history, and, you know, it's just scary, but it's really fun

You know, so I want to talk to you about that. These are iconic people, Tennessee Williams

like the greatest American playwright. I mean, Marlon Brando, consider the greatest actor

And everybody knows these people from watching things or whatever. So when you first were approached to this

and be like, oh my gosh, would you play Tennessee Williams? Would you play Marlon Brando

Like, what went through your minds? Yeah, the director, Colin Hanlon called

And I was like, give me two days. And I sat and watched everything that I could possibly watch

And I decided, OK, I think I can do this. And then I called him back and was like, let's do it

And yeah slowly but surely started working on the voice and the physicality And yeah felt secure at some point I mean yeah for me it was the same

Colin Hanlon, the director called me. He's an old dear friend of mine for many years

And it's really, you know, I don't get a lot of offers. So it was extra daunting in some ways because he was like, will you do this

And it's like if I had auditioned, I would have at least had some sort of period

to even sort of see if I could do it. or if, you know, and then book the job from the audition

But no, this was just a straight offer. So it was extra like, okay

Then I just said, okay, immediately because it just, what a brilliant project

It's so wonderful to watch the two of you work together on stage. So what was it that unlocked these people

Because they all have characteristics. Tennessee had many of them and Brando does too, but were there specific ones that you were like

I think I'm getting closer. I think I'm getting closer. What was it for you for Brando? The voice

specifically. The voice was what I found most daunting about him and most specific about

him, especially because even for the time that he existed in what we're portraying in the play

his voice was unlike anyone else's that was speaking, and it still

kind of is unlike anyone else's. I actually just listened to him singing

Luck be a lady on guys and dolls, and I'm like, It's just, it's otherworldly

So that was, you know, the fine line of making a sort of caricature of it

speaking of Sardi a caricature of him but and not wanting to do that but make it really like a natural lived in voice And I just watched streetcar so many times and it kind of just slowly felt like I had the ease and grace of it

Was it easy to get? Nothing's easy. Nothing's easy. And, you know, it veered into like, old time talkie, you know

And then I just had to find that sweet spot where it was, you know, just more natural and light

and just existed that way. And then I thought it was so fun to do

For Tennessee, what unlocked him for you? The voice, sure. But really, for me, it was more of the physicality

I had done research. And specifically John Lars' book, Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh

which was just a brilliant read on its own, whether or not anyone's into Tennessee Williams

It's just riveting. But in that book, especially when talking about the earlier days and leading up to Streetcar

he mentions many times that Tennessee was in a volatile relationship, and that relationship

was the inspiration for Streetcar, and his lover was Stanley and Tennessee was Blanche

And so that unlocked something to me about the effervescence of him, and also just the unapologetically

queer aspect of him and that, you know, he was a man that was, you know, he was plagued by

bouts of depression, addiction, massive insecurity, massive, you know, just unsure of himself

and also equating his work to his value as a human being All of those things together but at the same time the one thing that he was fearless about and absolutely unapologetic about was the fact that he was a gay man And at that time that was absolutely it was not since had not been since Oscar Wilde

And so that, just hooking into that, you know, it happened, you know, probably right

before he went into previews. And it just was like a breakthrough for me

It was really, it was really magical. So finally, what are you enjoying the most

with doing Kowalski here in New York. I mean, if this is tried, I apologize

but it's the people in our show, specifically Brandon, because when you start a show

especially a show where your character has to have such intense scenes

with someone before it starts. One of the scariest thing can just be the fear of

is this person going to have my back? Is this person going to support me? Is this person going to care about me

Or is it just about them? And when I first met Brandon, it was so clear that that was not the case

and he's one of my best friends now. Yeah, I mean, there's one moment in the show at the very end

where we get to lock eyes before the sort of end epilogue

And it's such a small and monumental moment at the same time

and it's just like it's my favorite thing in the show. And I love working with Robin, and I love that the cast

the end of every show just puts ourselves in a little circle and we either go, uh, or we're like

, that was great. Sorry, I shouldn't. No, it's fine. Okay, yeah, , that was great

That's a brand hill, that's a brand that's a brand that was there we go