At its 2014 Winter Gala, long-running show incubator New York Stage and Film celebrated one of Broadway’s most high-profile press agents, Rick Miramontez, with Spidey and tales told out of school.
After a musical number that recounted the many productions he’s represented (“Kinky Boots,” “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder,” “Beautiful”) and featured “Kinky Boots” star Billy Porter repeating various defenses that Miramontez issued on behalf of the infamously troubled production of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” Thomas Schumacher, president of Disney Theatrical Group, praised Miramontez’s tireless energy in “doing God’s work,” and then told a possibly apocryphal story about the time the press agent vomited on a Broadway legend in the back of a limo. “Who else but Rick?” he asked.
Juliana Margulies, New York Stage and Film alumni Josh Radnor (who credited the organization for helping him become the actor he is today) and Jon Hamm and Jennifer Westfeldt were among the crowd at the Nov. 16 gala, held at the Plaza Hotel. Variety asked Hamm if, now that “Mad Man” has finished filming, he might consider taking a crack at Broadway.
“Maybe,” he said. “I’m looking into a couple of projects, but it’s daunting. There’s a lot of other people with more of a track record and box office pull than I have in that world, so I don’t know,” he said. “It depends on the project, it depends on who’s attached to it, it depends on so many things. But you never know. It could be something fun.”
Popular on Variety
That night New York Stage and Film also honored director Michael Mayer, best known for “Spring Awakening, “American Idiot” and the current production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.” Mayer credited his time working at New York Stage and Film’s Vassar College workshop with helping him figure out the dramatic structure of both “Spring Awakening” and “American Idiot,” and said that he’s currently working with the organization on a new producer initiative.
After a musical performance including “The Bitch of Living” from “Spring Awakening” and Green Day’s “Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)” (from “American Idiot”), Mayer was feted in a speech by Tom Hulce, a frequent producer of Mayer’s work.
The director, currently at work on a musical called “Brooklynite” about young superheroes who live in the titular New York borough, wanted to make it clear that he had no intention of resting on his laurels any time soon.
“Oh my god, I’m not nearly done!” he promised.