By Michael Gioia
19 Dec 2011
 |
 |
| David Turner |
*
Tony Award-winning Spring Awakening director Michael Mayer has revised and reinvented the 1965 Burton Lane-Alan Jay Lerner cult-classic On a Clear Day You Can See Forever for a Broadway revival. New to the story is David Gamble, a chain-smoking gay florist — originated here by David Turner (In My Life, Arcadia) — who seeks help from Dr. Mark Bruckner (Harry Connick, Jr.) when his bad habits (smoking, not committing fully) get in the way of his relationship with Warren Smith (Drew Gehling). David is a reinvention of the original Clear Day's Daisy Gamble, whose past life (Melinda) is conjured when Mark puts her under hypnosis. Barbara Harrris played both Daisy and Melinda 45 years ago; Barbra Streisand played the roles on film. New book writer Peter Parnell and conceiver Mayer spread the roles among two actors — Turner as Bruckner's patient and Broadway newcomer Jessie Mueller as Melinda Wells, now revised as a 1940s jazz singer.
On opening night at Broadway's St. James Theatre, we caught a few minutes with Turner, who discussed the new character of Davey, and the challenges of Clear Day.
|
|
 |
|
| Turner in On a Clear Day. | ||
| photo by Paul Kolnik |
David Turner: There's a lot of talk about the comparison of the way the show used to be when it was Daisy and the way it is now when it's Davey. The boring truth is that I've had to completely ignore that because I know in my heart there is no way that I could ever fill Barbara Harris' shoes. There is obviously no way that I could fill Barbra Streisand's shoes — although I'd love to see her shoes and her shoe collection — so all I have to do is be Davey. I read a script. I got an audition. I did my best, and they picked me, and that's a very humbling thing. I could name five of my friends who I think can do it better, but they picked me. I just have to trust that there's something in my spirit that was congruent with that character of Davey. I plan to enjoy it as long as I can.
Davey is a character filled with conflict. What do you think his biggest struggle is?
DT: Without a doubt, Davey's biggest problem is his diffidence — his lack of belief in himself. From that emanates every other dramatic problem that occurs in the plot — his inability to commit to his boyfriend because of his lack of belief in himself [and] that he might not be worthy of love. [He experiences] all of the problems that we have in real life and the same reasons why we fall in love with people who are unavailable. I know people complain and say, "Why would he fall for an unavailable doctor?" Because we do stupid things in life. Look at A Midsummer Night's Dream. Human behavior has been depicted and made fun of, and our foibles exalted, since the beginning of dramatic literature. I would put Daisy, whether it's Daisy or Davey, in the same line of those characters — people who make mistakes because of who they are.
