Larry David’s “Fish In The Dark” Is A Broadway Hit Before It Opens
Larry David has made his mark in television with “Seinfeld” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and now he’s ready to conquer the Great White Way. After weeks of previews, the new play “Fish in the Dark” written by and starring Larry David has its opening on Thursday, March 5th at Broadway’s Cort Theatre.
In the new stage comedy, Larry plays Norman Drexel, a character described as being very much like Larry David himself. Although there aren’t a lot of specific details about the show, we do know that the play is about the Drexel family whose patriarch, Norman’s father, is dying. The family works its way through the process of grief from the hospital to sitting Shiva to the funeral. “Fish in the Dark” co-stars Rita Wilson, Rosie Perez, Ben Shenkman, Jerry Adler, Lewis J. Stadlen and Jayne Houdyshell.
The Larry David comedy is one of the most anticipated shows coming to Broadway in years. Before opening night, the play is already setting Broadway box office records. Newsweek reported that advanced ticket sales for the estimated 110 shows that will be performed through its scheduled June 7th run have already brought in over $14.5 million. The average ticket price on the secondary market (if you can find them) is $300.
A “Fish in the Dark” ticket has become such a hot item that even people you would consider “connected” can’t get hooked up with a seat in the audience. Larry David’s “Seinfeld” alter ego George Costanza hasn’t been able to get tickets. Jason Alexander put out a tweet saying how hard it is to get in to see the play.
Larry David's play Fish in the Dark is so sold out, even I can't get a ticket. You know what this means — worlds cannot collide.
— jason alexander (@IJasonAlexander) February 12, 2015
Rita Wilson’s husband Tom Hanks also wasn’t able to get in to see previews. He complained about this to David Letterman, who thinks it’s more of a personal thing than just ticket availability.
Larry David said he was inspired to write the play after the father of his friend Lloyd Braun passed away. He told the Associated Press, “I just started, and then I just kept going. Things would occur to me as I was writing — I thought, ‘Oh, boy that’s a good idea.’ I didn’t plan it out the way I had to plan out a ‘Curb’ episode. I just starting writing the dialogue, and things fell into place.”
When he started writing “Fish in the Dark”, Larry had no plans on starring in it. He told the New York Times about who he was considering for the role. He said, “Anyone but me. That was the problem. I didn’t have anyone in mind and if I did, the character might have sounded different than me. The character sounds just like me, so it wasn’t a stretch for the producer Scott Rudin to go, ‘You should do this.'”
And even though he hasn’t acted on stage since he was in the eighth grade, Larry is making the commitment to the run of shows. That’s something that made him really uncomfortable thinking about. He told NPR, “Who wants to do this thing? It’s insane! It’s Groundhog Day! I’m living Groundhog Day. I don’t even want to go to bed at night because I know when I wake up in the morning, it’s going to be the same day again. … It’s taxing. I mean, it’s not driving a cab or doing construction, but for me — for my delicate world — yeah, it’s hard.”
He is getting some help getting acclimated to his upcoming Broadway run. “Fish in the Dark” is directed by veteran stage director Anna D. Shapiro. She’s made it a specialty of hers to direct Broadway first-timers in their stage debut starring roles including James Franco in “Of Mice and Men”, Michael Cera in “This Is Our Youth” and Chris Rock in “The Motherfucker with the Hat”.
For a few more plot details, watch Rita Wilson gives as much as anyone is going to get about “Fish in the Dark” on the Today Show. She also talks about working with Larry David, the actor and now the playwright.
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Even though he’s thrilled with the record breaking ticket sales, Larry David is approaching his opening night with his own trademark brand of optimism. He said, “…it could be a totally humiliating experience. I don’t know. I hope not.” Talking to AP, he added, “But I’m waiting for the moment where I’m going to completely implode.” He says he is ready for a disaster. “Somebody came up to me on the street and said, `Oh, I can’t wait for your play. I’m so excited!’ I go, `No, no, no, don’t be so excited!’ I hate to have people come with any expectations.”
“Fish in the Dark” written by and starring Larry David opens at the Cort Theatre on Thursday, March 5th. You can see a schedule of shows and try your best to get tickets at FishInTheDark.com
Here’s just a few of the publicity images floating the internet to give you a little tease of the show you probably won’t be able to see.
