Review Fix chats with Playwright David Lally, who discusses his new production “Mr. Melville’s Playhouse,†which is set for a run at this year’s Midtown International Theatre Festival.
MR. MELVILLE’S PLAYHOUSE by David Lally, directed by David Lally; starring Trent Carson, Rachel Palmer Jones, Steven Lally, Ignacyo Matynia, Bob Leeds*, Amy L. Smith*, and Timothy Weinert*. Let the fun begin! Mr. Melville’s so excited ’cause all his friends have been invited to go wacky, at Mr. Melville’s Playhouse! Sounds like a children’s show but…  Presented under an Actors Equity Agreement. Wed 7/27 @ 7:15pm; Fri 7/29 @ 9:00pm; Sun 7/31 @ 4:00pm.
For more on this production, click here.

Review Fix: What was the inspiration for this project?
David Lally: The Metropolitan Playhouse in the East Village does an annual author festival each year. In 2009, they did a Herman Melville festival called Melvillapalooza. I had a successful play the year before in the Nathanial Hawthorne festival and wanted to submit again. But I didn’t like Herman Meville! What to do? I decided to skip Moby Dick and read Melville’s other works. Somehow I got the strange notion to take Pee Wee Herman’s show, Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and mash it up with Herman Melville characters. What if all these characters crossed paths? From Captain Ahab in Moby Dick to Lucy Tartan from Pierre to Billy Budd and Bartleby, the Scriviner. Hence, Mr. Melville’s Playhouse was born.
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Review Fix: What’s your creative process like?
Lally: I usually like to write for people I know, or at least have an actor in mind as I write the parts. This process was a little easier for this show because the Melville characters had to correspond or at least match up with chracters from Pee Wee’s show, so they would be instantly recognizable, whether or not you knew the source material. As a result, Captain Carl became Captain Ahab, Miss Yvonne became Miss Lucy, etc.
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Review Fix: What makes this different or special?
Lally: It’s a fun show and it has inspired a few people to explore some of Herman Melville’s lesser works.
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Review Fix: What did you learn about yourself through this process?
Lally: Through this process, I learned to love an author I previously despised. I also made Herman Melville fun, which isn’t an easy thing to do!
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Review Fix: How does it feel to be a part of something like this?
Lally: I have done several “historical” plays since I first wrote Mr. Melville’s Playhouse and I love giving these plays a modern twist to make it fun and accessible to today’s audiences.
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Review Fix: What are your ultimate goals for this production and for the future?
Lally: The ultimate goal is to re-examine a work I did several years ago (some updating had to be done) and still make it fun. I enjoy any opportunity to get my work out there and seen (after all, isn’t that the goal of every playwright?).
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Review Fix: What do you think your audiences will enjoy the most?
Lally: It’s a fun half hour where you don’t have to think. Some plays can be so heavy and I think we’re living in a time where entertainment has to come first. This show will bring a smile to your face.
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Review Fix: What’s next?
Lally: I primarily work in television these days, but I always love the opportunity to return to the stage. Right now I am working on a new play with a former NBC sitcom star, titled Turtles All The Way Down. It’s an exciting, dark, twists galore play, very misoginistic and very much out of my comfort zone, which I love to explore.
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