Bess Wohl’s “Small Mouth Sounds” Broadwaybound? — Page 2

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "I’m not prepared to call him a sexist but it is true that he worked most frequently with male directors and writers.

He was mean to everyone, but his treatment of Angelina Jolie, Megan Ellison, and Amy Pascal in the Sony hack emails felt particularly pointed. I don’t know that he’d refer to an equivalent male star as a “minimally talented spoiled brat” and a “camp act”.

Just noting that heworked with both Deborah Warner and Pam Mackinnon on Broadway, and multiple projects with Lila N including The Wolves. On the film side he produced films by Greta Gerwig, Amy Heckerling, Kelly Reichhardt, and Jodie Foster. And I’m sure there are more examples on the theatre and film side. The collabs were rare but they did exist.

I never saw SMS the first time so I look forward to seeing it."

Thanks for the evidence that at least provides a foundation for the claim.

I had the opportunity to see the play at Signature (twice,which is something I don't do very often) and I loved it and fell in love with Bess Wohl's writing.

Regarding the down-thread stuff about her choice of Rudin vis-a-vis others, again, I'd ask: is there evidence suggesting that anyone else was wanting to produce it or nurturing a relationship with her for that matter? When we make claims off the top of our head, we undermine them.

That production of Salesman was woeful. Lane was lightweight and on the verge of tears the entire play and Metcalf got away with the same performance she’s been giving for 30 years. Didn’t need a younger version of the sons running around, the crash at the end was a bore. John Lithgow was giving a better Willy Loman in Giant.

I enjoyed Small Mouth Sounds when I saw it a few years ago in San Francisco. Mantello is Rudin’s go-to director and I don’t know if Chavkin was necessarily interested.

As for Chavkin, she reminded me for her abilities as a director of musicals with The Lunchbox at the Berkeley Rep earlier this year. The show wasn’t perfect but her staging was excellent. The musical sold very well too.

Even with Julia Roberts rumoured, a play where no one talks is going to be a hard sell with no guarantee of profit. And who is to say that another producer could get as big a name? With no name stars this would never be commercially viable, thus no other producer attempting it.

I think people might be framing this wrong when they’re saying Bess Wohl’s “choice” of Rudin as a producer here.



I don’t think what happened here is that Bess Wohl saw the success of Liberation, decided she wanted to bring Small Mouth Sounds to Broadway, looked at a list of producers and thought “I’ll choose Rudin over all of them”.

What’s more likely is that her agent saw the opportunity and has been pitching to producers and Rudin is the only one who was interested—or perhaps Rudin himself had the idea and existing relationship with Wohl’s team at CAA.



Just because Daryl Roth, Rachel Sussman, Eva Price, and Jenny Gersten just worked with her to much critical and awards season success (and likely lost money doing so) doesn’t mean they have the ability to do so again one season later, or that any of them is able to call up some A lister to star in the show to make the production a viable sell to investors.



Playwrights make money by having their work produced and they don’t exactly get a say in who wants to do that—it’s why I’m not sure I hold it against Sam Hunter either that Rudin worked with him.


I admit I’m conflicted here as an audience member. I love Wohl getting another Broadway credit and I’d love to see this but I’m not a fan of how easily Rudin has come back into the scene with no real protections in place.

Updated On: 9/8/26 at 07:58 AM

inception said: "Not too many offices have landline telephones anymore, so nowadays it's much harder to beat up your PA with just a little iphone"

Tell that to Naomi Campbell’s housekeeper.

In all seriousness, Rudin’s back. Period. The shock and outrage that people still want to work with him feels performative at this point. Theatre artists know he’s the best of the best at what he does. As long as he continues to keep his head down and not make waves, I say let him. Being on thin ice seems to be keeping him in check.

Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, Sarah Paulson and Isaac Powell. This is going to be the hottest ticket in years.

Interestingly enough, when Julia Roberts first appeared on Broadway in Three Days of Rain (also with Paul Rudd and directed by Joe Mantello) 20 years ago, her performance was not well received. It should be interesting to see how she’ll fare this time.

inception said:
I acknowledge that this comment is invery poor taste, and makes light of workplace violence, which I acknowledge is a real and awful thing to deal with. But... here goes anyways...

Not too many offices have landline telephones anymore, so nowadays it's much harder to beat up your PA with just a little iphone"



And yet you powered through to deliver... nothing worthwhile.

"Rudin’s expectation is that demand for “Small Mouth Sounds” will be high, given the celebrity of the cast, and he is hoping to leverage that interest to bolster “Downstate,” which will likely be a tougher sell. He is trying an unorthodox marketing move: On Thursday, when tickets for “Downstate” go on sale starting at $150, those who purchase the first 15 percent of the seats will qualify to buy a prime seat at “Small Mouth Sounds” for $250."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/theater/small-mouth-sounds-downstate-broadway.html

(Rudin's all over this NYT article.)

Updated On: 9/8/26 at 10:26 AM

Jordan Catalano said: "Julia Roberts, Paul Rudd, Martin Freeman, Greta Lee, Sarah Paulson and Isaac Powell. This is going to be the hottest ticket in years."

You know yesterday I had this thought of “Well surely Julia will do an ensemble show if the entire ensemble is stars” and it’s crazy that my instinct was right.

I do wonder how audiences will respond to such a starry cast who barely speaks. Will people complain they’re not getting their money’s worth?

MemorableUserName said: ""Rudin’s expectation is that demand for “Small Mouth Sounds” will be high, given the celebrity of the cast, and he is hoping to leverage that interest to bolster “Downstate,” which will likely be a tougher sell. He is trying an unorthodox marketing move: On Thursday, when tickets for “Downstate” go on sale starting at $150, those who purchase the first 15 percent of the seats will qualify to buy a prime seat at “Small Mouth Sounds” for $250."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/theater/small-mouth-sounds-downstate-broadway.html

(Rudin's all over thisNYT article.)

"

Downstate tickets starting at $150 would be insane. I assume that's actually just the price point when you can start doing the bundle?