By Michael Buckley
17 Dec 2006

In 2001, she appeared with Lou Rawls in Me and Mrs. Jones at the Prince Music Theatre in Philadelphia. "That was supposed to go to Broadway, but it didn't. The cast was very upset. But that show was there to make friends. They're still my very, very good friends. Sometimes, things take you higher in life, but not necessarily on your resume. That's fulfilling, too."

Between the Public Theater production of Caroline, or Change and its Broadway transfer, Rose played Nettie (Celie's sister) in the first workshop of The Color Purple with La Chanze, Jesse L. Martin, and Adriane Lenox (playing Shug Avery). "La Chanze was just electric! I knew she'd win the Tony. She's a wonderful person — so sweet and bubbly and open."

Three years were spent creating Caroline. "Every six or eight months, there would be something else added. It was really a very collaborative piece of work between Tony [Kushner, book and lyrics], Jeanine [Tesori, music], the actors, and George [C. Wolfe, who directed]. I'd never been able to do something from page to stage. By the time it was done, the music was written to our voices.

"But I honestly didn't think it was the thing that was going to give me a Tony. That's always the case. Whenever you think something's going to be it, no, it's not. It's the time that you're not thinking about it at all."

Playing Emmie Thibodeaux in Caroline also earned Rose Theatre World, Lucille Lortel, and Clarence Derwent Awards. She recalls the moment her name was announced as a Tony winner as "just awesome — the full sense of the word. I felt extraordinarily blessed. After 'Anika,' I didn't hear anything. I didn't notice if they pronounced my name correctly." For the record, it's AH-neek-ah (which means goodness) No-nee (gift of God).

Among other credits are playing Cindy Lou in a Musicals in Mufti production of Carmen Jones and Lutiebelle in Purlie at Encores! Following "Dreamgirls," Rose filmed "One Part Sugar" (with Danny DeVito), "isn't quite finished" with a TV miniseries "Starter Wife" (with Debra Messing, filmed in Australia), and is set to make "Razor," starring Danny Glover. "It's a beautiful script.

"Things are moving along. Right now, it's films and a little bit of TV, but I'm coming back to Broadway. That's my love, and the thing that keeps me true as a performer."

I mention that I also interviewed Henry Krieger for the column. "How dear is he; such a sweet, sweet man. If you ever get to meet him, you'll see that he truly is a really beautiful spirit." So is Anika Noni Rose.

***

David Warren is very pleased with the latest play he's directed, The Voysey Inheritance, which was just extended until Jan. 21 at Off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company. And, he tells me, he's happily helming his second episode of "Desperate Housewives." Are there connections? But of course.

Voysey was adapted from Harley Granville-Barker's early 20th-century drama by David Mamet. Mamet is a co-founder (with William H. Macy) of the Atlantic, a working company and acting school. "Housewives" star Felicity Huffman (Mrs. William H. Macy) is a founding member of the Atlantic, where she frequently acted. (Incidentally, her only Broadway credit, to date, occurred in Mamet's Speed the Plow, when she succeeded Madonna.). A member of the Atlantic faculty, Warren has been friends with "Desperate Housewives" creator Marc Cherry since they worked together back in the days when Cherry was an actor.

Recalls Warren, "I gave Marc his first professional acting job — at the La Jolla Playhouse, 20 years ago, when we were both 24. It was one of my first directing jobs. Des McAnuff hired me to do a children's musical that he'd written, Silent Edward. It was a TYA tour — Theater for Young Audiences — where you get in a van and go to a grade school at 10 in the morning and another one at noon. I was happy to get the job, as was Marc, who got his Equity card. Things have come full circle."

Warren's first "Housewives" episode, entitled "Nice She Ain't" (fifth show this season), aired Oct. 22. His latest entry, the 14th, which will be seen in six weeks, is as yet untitled. Since he wants to stay friends with Cherry, Warren can't divulge any plot developments. "But in the latest version of my script, something really shocking happens that involves a very complicated stunt."

Is there a difference in directing for television as compared to the stage? "Honestly, I'm just beginning to figure it out. The delightful surprise is that there are more similarities than I expected.

"The first thing you do is stage the scene. You have in mind how you want to shoot it, but you're staging it with actors. [The actors] barely know their lines. Once you've set the marks, they go away and you play with camera and lights for an hour until they come back and actually do it.

"Staging a scene [the first time] seemed so familiar and comfortable to me that I felt 'I know exactly how to do this. I know how to talk to the actors.' I'm very lucky, because there are really great actors on this show. They're actors with whom I was excited to work, and I think they were excited to have a director who can communicate with them.

"Then comes the giant difference. That's been on-the-job training. You have to think in little pieces when you're shooting. You don't think about the whole scene. You're shooting 360 degrees. Onstage, you do something from one angle. This is so counter-intuitive. Two actors sort of close each other off by talking to each other. You shoot your master, then you shoot over one character's shoulder and you're in the other character's face. It's Filmmaking 101, but for me it required shattering the architecture of a lot of my instincts.

"In television, you plan everything with your assistant director and your director of photography. Once you start to stage it, you have to be flexible. When you have a brilliant actress like Felicity Huffman, she starts to work and suddenly a scene makes a new kind of sense. It's staging differently than you expected. 'Oh, Felicity wants to do that at the table, and boy it works great over there. Back to the drawing board. Let's shoot it from here and here and here.' You plan the shots, and sometimes the plan has to be in stone because something is very complicated, but other times you just say, 'There go those ideas.'

"My key collaborator is the director of photography, the DP. There are two fantastic DPs on 'Desperate Housewives.' They're so good at what they do; they're so supportive and so encouraging. They've managed to both lead and follow in exactly the right proportions.

"Sometimes, I'll be staging the scene and in my peripheral vision I can see the DP suddenly going bug-eyed, which is his way of saying, 'We'll never be able to light it over there. Don't do that, please.' It's a really exciting collaboration.

"Another huge difference is that, in theatre, you spend rehearsals finding out what [the piece] is, and then freezing it — or at least freezing it as much as you can freeze a living thing. Actors continue to explore through the run. The stage manager might put in the report, 'This is playing a little differently.' Or he'll call me. I might go watch [a performance] and say, 'Here's what I like about it; here's what I don't like.' Basically, [the play at that point] has been created and finished.

"When you're shooting television, it's the opposite. When you rehearse, you're basically staging; you talk through what the beats are in the scene. When you're shooting, the last thing you want is for everything to be the same. Each take is a different interpretation of the scene. You want a lot of options in the editing room."

Switching focus to The Voysey Inheritance, Warren observes, "I'm very proud of the show. It was a completely charmed experience — from the first day of rehearsal to opening night. The cast could not be stronger."

The New York Times review noted that it was "fluently directed by David Warren," and that it featured "a cast without a weak member." Comments Warren, "Michael [Stuhlbarg] and Fritz [Weaver] are such sublime actors. They raise the bar very high. I adore Michael. He's a great actor and a consummate gentleman — kind and generous. Fritz was planning to retire and I said, 'Not yet. One more, please!'

"And Samantha Soule, who plays Alice, is a huge theatre-star-in-the-making. She's an extraordinarily skillful actress — with real comic timing, deep emotional reserves, and real chops. Theatre ingénues are sort of a dying breed. Most young women who are as brilliant and as pretty as Sam get out of Juilliard or NYU and move to Los Angeles and try to do television and movies. Who can blame them? J. Smith Cameron and Kathryn Meisle are two of my favorite actresses; they were classical ingénues who became great leading ladies. It's a thrill to have found Sam. She's someone with whom I hope to work again and again."

A native New Yorker, Warren has an older brother ("who's a psychiatrist") and younger sister ("a commercial-director rep"). Warren directed two plays in high school, "although I thought I was going to be an actor. When I got to college, I took a directing class — and I've never looked back." Warren's partner is actor Peter Frechette. "We've been together for 18 years."

Broadway credits include revivals of Holiday, Summer and Smoke, and Misalliance. He's worked extensively Off-Broadway and regionally. Is there a play that has given Warren the most satisfaction? "That's like asking, 'Which kid do you like the most?' "I've been very lucky and have had numerous extraordinary experiences. The ones that come to mind are Voysey Inheritance Nicky Silver's Raising Captivity and Pterodactyls; Holiday; Richard Greenberg's The Dazzle; Rope; Tom Donaghy's Minutes from the Blue Route; Hobson's Choice.... There are so many."

As for the immediate future, he tells me, "Looks like I'm going to direct an episode of another series, but the contract's not signed yet." Concerning theatre, he's "just turned down a bunch of things for the spring, because I want to stay here [in L.A.]. I'm considering committing to something in theatre for the late spring, once the TV shows go on hiatus. My hope is to go back and forth." Adds Warren, "I'm very excited by this career change. But it's not permanent, because I love theatre too much."