The Stage Life Of A Hollywood Star

For Al Pacino, before "Dog Day Afternoon," "Serpico," "Scarface," "Scent of a Woman" and, of course, "The Godfather," there was a life in the theater. And there still is.

The actor is one of the few film superstars of his generation who began on stage and still returns - not as often as he would like, but more frequently than Dustin Hoffman or Meryl Streep, both of whom have roots in the theater, too.

In fact, Pacino has more Tonys - two - than Academy Awards (he won an Oscar in 1992 for "Scent of a Woman"). And this season alone, he has appeared twice in major New York revivals.

Last fall, he starred as the dictatorial Chicago gangster in the National Actors Theater's commanding, kinetic production of Bertolt Brecht's "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" at Pace University near City Hall. And now, Pacino is on Broadway in a reading of "Salome," Oscar Wilde's perfumed, idiosyncratic take on the biblical tale in which the actor plays King Herod.

He has done Shakespeare - "Julius Caesar" at the Public Theater, "Richard III" on Broadway - and well-received revivals of David Mamet's "American Buffalo" and David Rabe's Vietnam War drama, "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel."

"Sometimes I wonder why I come back," Pacino says as he relaxes on a sofa in the living room of his high-rise Manhattan office with its cinemascopic view of Central Park. "I think I would be doing a lot more theater around the country if I didn't have kids (he has 2-year-old twins with actress Beverly D'Angelo). I guess I'm more comfortable in the theater since I started there."

Pacino, dressed entirely in black, ruminates quietly, thinking aloud about what he will be doing in the next couple of hours on stage at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre, where "Salome" is playing. The thick black hair is shaggy and a bit unruly; the voice low but not raspy, with only a trace of the tough-guy talk that has marked many of his roles.

"You get to go on the high wire and just walk it," he says. "It may take you two hours to get across it and some nights you fall and break your arm. But taking that kind of chance in that kind of environment does something to you psychologically, bio-chemically, it does something to your very Adrenalin. In a way, it's a kind of addiction."

This production of "Salome" grew out of a series of readings put together by Pacino and some of his pals from the Actors Studio, that famed citadel of method acting where he has been a member since 1966.

In "Salome," Marisa Tomei portrays the title character who does the infamous dance of the seven veils. Other cast members include Dianne Wiest and David Strathairn, and the director is Estelle Parsons (an Oscar winner for "Bonnie and Clyde"). According to Parsons, Pacino is the guiding force behind the project.

"He loves great dramatic literature, and that's all he really wants to do with his life. Of course, none of us can really just do that and maintain a position in the profession," she says. "But because of him, we've been able to attract an extraordinary group of people. He's completely disciplined and dedicated to the work. There are no egos bouncing around at all. We're all dedicated, but it starts from him.

"We don't have a name. I want to name it the Al Pacino Company, but, of course, he won't let me."

For those used to the witty, genteel manner of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" or "An Ideal Husband," "Salome" can be something of a shock. Wilde originally wrote the play in French, in hopes of enticing the legendary Sarah Bernhardt to star in a production. The dialogue is flowery; the action melodramatic and the ending violent.

The plot? King Herod, smitten by his stepdaughter, Salome, agrees to give her anything she wants if she will dance for him. The price? The head of John the Baptist.

Pacino says he became intoxicated by "Salome" - he knew the Richard Strauss opera but not the play - when he first saw it years ago in England. In 1992, he did a full production at Broadway's Circle in the Square with Sheryl Lee of "Twin Peaks" as Salome.

"Everything that happens in life happens in this play," Pacino says. "And the language carries it into another dimension."

Pacino says this new "Salome" is a full production done in the style of a reading. "We found that this way of approaching it got us closer to what we feel is the play," he explains. The company is composed of actors who enjoy discovering a play together, according to the star, a three-year discovery process that has taken the troupe from the Actors Studio to various other venues including performances in off-Broadway spaces, St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn and to Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

"What has been most interesting for me is watching these pieces develop," Parsons says. "Because, over the course of time, the actors just get better and better. We don't grow up doing classics like they do in England. So this kind of opportunity, taking a long gestation period, which we always do ... gives the actors the opportunity to become incredible."

In some respects, Pacino on stage is like Pacino in the movies. He doesn't hold back. In that off-Broadway revival of "American Buffalo," Pacino paced the stage as if he were a panther, striding in front of the audience as if he were in a cage. "What I felt like at the end of the week was that I wanted to go into a big dark room and just stand there for about four days," he says now with a laugh.

"You've got to put yourself out there," he continues. "If you feel as though you are presenting something to an audience that you feel good about, it takes a little bit of the edge off the fear. You want to communicate this play to them. Serving the play becomes the thing that bails you out of any real stage fright."

The actor won his first Tony Award in 1969 in a now forgotten drama called "Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?" by Don Petersen. The play about an English teacher who tries to salvage the lives of juvenile drug addicts barely lasted a month. But Pacino's blistering performance as one of the junkies (his Broadway debut) was remembered at Tony time.

By the time he won his second Tony - in 1977 for portraying the title character in that revival of "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" - Pacino already was a movie star.

"At that point, I was at the highest point of my film career, and I remember that brought audiences in," Pacino says. "I was so happy about that because they got to see this great play. 'Pavlo Hummel' is a masterpiece, and I am waiting for it to be done again. In the end, that's what they talked about afterward.

"I hope the same thing is true of 'Salome.' I may be the reason they get there, but when they come away, I hope they are thinking of the play."

Still, Pacino says he would love to do a new play, not a revival.

"That's the trouble," he says with a sigh. "I am never sent new work. The original 'American Buffalo' was sent to me, but I never got to read it. My agent never gave it to me. I found out way later. One wonders how many others I may have been offered that I never got to read.

"And I wonder if there are any now."

By Michael Kuchwara
By Michael Kuchwara