Variety’s Post

Audra McDonald and Jake Gyllenhaal are playing iconic villains on Broadway, and when the two actors meet up for Variety's Actors on Actors, they bond over their refusal to view their characters as purely evil. McDonald, a six-time Tony winner for “Carousel,” “Ragtime” and “A Raisin in the Sun,” is making history in the revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Gypsy.” She’s the first Black actor to portray the ultimate stage mother, Mama Rose. Gyllenhaal, who was on Broadway in the 2017 production of “Sunday in the Park With George” and scored a Tony nomination for the 2019 play “Sea Wall/A Life,” channels the scheming Iago in Shakespeare’s tragedy “Othello” opposite Denzel Washington. In their #ActorsOnActors conversation, the two stars compare notes on their theater superstitions, preserving their voices during lengthy runs and reacting when cellphones ring during performances. Read their full conversation here: https://lnkd.in/g8RzEM3N