What was the appeal of Pal Joey?
They came to me about two years ago to do it, and at that time in my life I had no desire to come back to New York or back to the stage. The original plan had been for a big commercial production at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, and I just had other things on my mind. But I read the play and I thought, “Man, this is really good.” [Book re-writer] Richard Greenberg’s script was amazing. People think they know Pal Joey, but they really can’t, because there aren’t many productions of it. Every time I met with [director] Joe Mantello after that, things fell further into place. Then the commercial production fell apart while I was in London doing Awake and Sing, and I realized I was heartbroken! Joe and I e-mailed back and forth; he said Roundabout wanted to do Pal Joey, not right away, but in a year. And I was thrilled. I’d fallen in love with the production and didn’t even realize it. Have you ever been with anyone like Joey Evans before? You mean have I ever dated a much younger man, and
