Taye Diggs interview in NYT

[bwayfan3]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:06pm

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/13/theater/newsandfeatures/13ogun.html

As much as I love Taye, that last comment is really stupid.

Here's another thing I've noticed, this author, Lola Ogunnake has interviewed Idina, Rosario and now Taye. She is like the official RENT interviewer.


Does it not open up? It may not because you're supposed to be a member. I'll copy and paste below:

Why Is Taye Diggs Getting His Groove On?

By LOLA OGUNNAIKE
Published: November 13, 2005

THE foot traffic in Midtown Manhattan didn't come to a complete standstill as Taye Diggs strolled up Ninth Avenue, but the actor still managed to turn a few heads on a brisk weekday afternoon. "Just recently white people are starting to notice who I am," said Mr. Diggs, as he walked past a pair of middle-aged white women, both of whom did double takes. "In the black community of actors that's the gauge of how big you are, your real crossover appeal."

Since appearing in the Broadway phenomenon "Rent" nearly a decade ago, Mr. Diggs, 33, has moved easily between films ("The Best Man," "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"), stage ("Carousel," "Chicago") and television ("Ally McBeal," "Kevin Hill").

Audiences will be seeing even more of the genre-hopping actor in the near future. He's currently starring in the revival of "A Soldier's Play," Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about a murder at a Louisiana Army base during World War II. And he is again playing the role of Benny, the slumlord, in the film adaptation of "Rent," which opens on Nov. 23. Four more films are already in the can.

As if that weren't enough, he recently helped found a modern dance troupe called dre.dance, in which he is the principal choreographer - a fact that is sure to surprise many of his fans.

"Nobody knows that between singing, acting and dancing, I enjoy dance the most," he said, beaming, while sitting in a lounge at the Second Street Theater (where "A Soldier's Play" is running) a few hours before he was due at dance rehearsal.

Mr. Diggs said he discovered a love of dance as a teenager at the Performing Arts High School in Rochester and had continued to take classes over the years, studying with the likes of Timothy Traper and the Garth Fagen dancers.

Until his movie career took off, he was quite serious about dance, said Andrew Palermo, a choreographer and high school buddy, the other founder of the troupe, which now has seven members and is being financed by the Dance Theater Workshop.

Mr. Diggs is choreographing what he called a "modern ballet" scheduled to run at Alvin Ailey early next year. The show will deal with "suicide, murder, lust and jealousy, and it's told backwards, solely through dance," said Mr. Diggs, who spent the latter part of the afternoon at an Ailey rehearsal space, passionately shimmying and gliding barefoot across the shiny hardwood floors.

It's not only in the world of dance where Mr. Diggs continues to challenge himself. He was drawn to "A Soldier's Play" in part because he has never appeared in a straight play professionally - only in musicals. And, he added, "I think it's one of the greatest pieces of literature dealing with African-American men."

As Capt. Richard Davenport, a cocky, self-assured lawyer, he is called upon to investigate the murder of a black sergeant amid resistance from the base's white commanding officers. "Davenport has to stay one step ahead of the white people so he'll be seen as equal," Mr. Diggs explained, "and he has all this pressure from the African-American community because he's the one who broke through; he represents the race."

It is a feeling with which Mr. Diggs is all too familiar. While he was growing up in Rochester as the eldest of five, his parents often told him that he would have to work twice as hard as his white peers to be viewed as an equal. "People are going to look at you and assume you're not as good," the actor recalled his mother saying.

Nevertheless, the role of Captain Davenport has not come easily to Mr. Diggs. He spent the first week of rehearsal "petrified," he said, second-guessing himself and his decision. The challenge, said Steven Pasquale, a friend of Mr. Diggs for nearly a decade and a member of the play's ensemble, is that "he'd never tackled a piece of text this thick. It was a very intimidating process to commit all of it to memory."

The reviews have been generally positive, although "Entertainment Weekly" said he "seems to strut through most scenes as if on his own personal runway." Ben Brantley in The New York Times, however, called Mr. Diggs, "a lucid and commanding center of attention."

Mr. Diggs got his big break in 1995 when he was cast in "Rent," where he met his future wife, Idina Menzel, whom he married three years ago. At the moment, Ms. Menzel, who won a Tony Award last year for "Wicked," is starring in Michael John LaChiusa's "See What I Wanna See" at the Public Theater.

His career hasn't been one straight shot, though. Earlier this year, UPN canceled his heavily promoted series "Kevin Hill," about a playboy who finds himself saddled with raising an infant. It ran only one season. "When I agreed to do the show, I thought it was a brilliant premise," Mr. Diggs said, "but it turned out to be a fixer-upper. By the end, I was beat down. It takes a lot of energy fixing and upping.

Mr. Diggs's face lighted up when asked about the movie version of "Rent," in which all but two from the original cast again appear. "It was the best kind of reunion," he said. "It was like meeting up with all of your favorite homies from summer camp."

Initially, he wasn't sure a "Rent" film was a great idea. "It's dated," he recalled thinking at the time. "All of our fans are older and jaded and probably don't want to see the movie because they've seen the show."

But he has since changed his tune, saying he expects "Rent" to be a hit again. "Every day I pray that there won't be a terrorist attack or a flood," he said, "because I think it would take something like that for it not to be a hit."

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 04:06 PM

[musicnmath]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:11pm

yeah....last comment is just...weird.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:11pm

hmm... yeah. twisted way to look at it.

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 04:11 PM

[bwayfan3]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:12pm

No...no...his comment about terrorist attacks and floods being the only thing that might prevent RENT from striking box office gold. Just kind of tacky.

[theatrebabe]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:16pm

I guess it was supposed to be funny. But, it kinda turned out....strange. I liked the rest of the article though, very informative.

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:18pm

*thread jack*

you should all go see him in soldiers play before it closes on the 27th. I just saw it last week and was blown away by the entire cast and the great production. $10 student tickets 30 minutes before the show and 4th row center! you know you wanna...

*thread jack over*

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:37pm

*snorfle* I read this earlier and definitely related to that last comment. Just last week I was telling someone that I was concerned about getting struck by lightning, just because I didn't want to miss the Rent movie. Death can wait until after November 22nd.

I thought it was a very good article. It brought up a lot of stuff that's beyond the standard "How Stella Got Her Groove Back"/ Black Cary Grant interviews they always publish on him. And I would love to see him dance.

LittleWing, I've wanted to see A Soldier's Play, but the student discounts aren't available on the weekend- which is the only time I could get into the city!

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:45pm

orange, what on earth is a *snorfle*. sounds amazing.

i was not aware of the no student rush on weekends! maybe if you try the last day, because its the last day you can do it. I went the second to the last show of Lennon and got 5, count em, 5 student tickets AND didn't pay cash. clearly the moons and planets aligned in the galaxy and the stars were on my side. worth a shot.

[kas]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:54pm

oh, taye. yuk.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 4:56pm

snorfle: snort/laugh/choke

More commonly used on the OT board, but it was appropriate in this situation, because I actually did do it.

Thanks for the tip, but I just can't. I'm only going to be in the city for 1 day between now and then and I'm already doing something that night. And I definitely can't make it all the way back there just for the closing day- I have to go back to school. I've just accepted the fact that I won't be able to see it. :/

Updated On: 11/13/05 at 04:56 PM

[Jess1483]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 5:00pm

About student rush tickets to Soldier's Play: I know the website says they're not available on weekends, but they are. I called the box office, and tried to do rush last weekend. (They were nearly sold out, so I caved and payed full price because he said it wasn't likely to work out for me, and that was my only chance to see it.) Either way, moral of the story is they do have weekend rush tickets, but they'll sell them full-price first.
Definitely worth trying though. The matinee is easier to get than evening.
Okay, just now read your last response, orangeskittles, but thought I'd still post so that others could see if they were interested.

[ellenoshalom]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 6:57pm

if Taye wasn't married nor me...I think I would stalk him..hahahaha ...so handsome.

[bunchamuncha]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 9:34pm

"Just recently white people are starting to notice who I am,"


I thought that was the stupid comment along with Rent being "dated" and the last comment...the man sounds positively disgruntled.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 10:00pm

Except he has every right in the world to be disgruntled about that. Why shouldn't he be annoyed? He's like a sex-god among black movie-going audiences, but white women clutch their purses when he walks by them on the street. I'm exaggerating a bit, but I remember reading some interview with Idina where she said that he still has problems hailing cabs. You would never have the same problem for a white actor with success equivilant to him. That's why he talks about having to work twice as hard to be equal to white actors, the statement makes sense in context of the article. I'm white and I've liked his work for years. I didn't take it too personally because I know there's truth to that statement.

And regarding his comment about Rent being dated, I read someone's post on CB today that basically said the same thing, so it's not "stupid."

[xM3L24x]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 10:08pm

thats interesting.. i feel like i've always known who Taye Diggs was. I share the whole RENT/death feeling. In August I went to florida and i'm deadly afraid of planes and i kept on thinking oh god please dont crash, kill me after rent.. not now.

[bwayfan3]

Posted: 11/13/05 at 10:08pm

I recently read someone's writing about the stage show which said how RENT has become a period piece before our very eyes...and I couldn't agree more. (but in a good way)

[bunchamuncha]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 12:09am

I meant that he sounds disgruntled in general. His show failed, he doesn't get white women noticing who he is.
Gimme a break, you do movies like Brown Sugar, The Wood, The Best Man and even How Stella Got her Groove Back...they're targeted for a black audience! I know who he is and I only saw 1 of those movies and never saw Rent. And I've never clutched my purse near anyone of different race/ethnicity. It's the whole CRASH film...you only have sterotypes if you create them and live them...
Cabs are sometimes hard to get for anyone! Danny Glover had an incident that gained press about a racist cab driver, guy wouldn't let him sit in the front seat and the driver was black.
I think most people, regardless of color, don't know who Taye Diggs is because he's not an A List actor and hasn't been in many leading roles.

[BroadwayGirl107]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 12:15am

bunchamuncha, I think I see where Taye's coming from. You have to see it from the perspective of...a good looking white man who is of equal or lesser talent than Mr. Diggs has probably found more success much more easily than Taye has. And yes, he starred in films made by and made for the black population but why? How many roles are out there for black actors and actress?

[.LittleWing. 0224]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 12:37am

holy crap BG, that quote just made my night.

[bunchamuncha]

Posted: 11/14/05 at 12:38am

I understand where he's coming from, but I think it's hard to accept him saying white women don't know who he is because of his crossover appeal. It's the generalizations I have an issue with. I can almost guarantee that 50 Cent has no idea who Bree Sharp is, doesn't make her any less successful, but if you're judging your success on who knows you because of their skin color, that's just sad.
It's just where do you stop? Are there enough roles for women? Women over a certain age? Men over a certain age? Kids?
It's endless...