A new musical springs from the Atlantic Theater

Volume 1, Number 35 | The Weekly Newspaper of Chelsea | May 18 - 24, 2007

Chelsea: arts&lifestyles

Traci Goudie
Clockwise from left, the cast of Keith Bunin’s “Ten Million Miles:” Matthew Morrison, Mare Winningham, Skip Sudduth, and Irene Molloy, with composer/folk star Patty Griffin.

By Beth Herstein

Playwright Keith Bunin is acutely conscious of the struggle to realize the American Dream. He grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, a place he describes as “this mix of a blue collar and white collar town. My father was at IBM [there] for many years. His father was a salesman, and my mother’s father worked at Sunshine Biscuits. He ran the Fig Newton machine for 40 years.”

Says Bunin, “I wanted to write something that celebrated and investigated what it was like to get these things that we’re told are very simple.”

The result is “Ten Million Miles,” now in previews at Chelsea’s Atlantic Theater Company. Founded by David Mamet and William H. Macy in 1983, the Atlantic has premiered plays by respected writers including Mamet, Martin McDonagh and Woody Allen. Until last year, however, it had never produced a musical. That changed with “Spring Awakening,” which opened to widespread acclaim, transferred to Broadway, and garnered 11 Tony nominations. The theater is now betting on another success with “10 Million Miles,” a winning, energetic work by Bunin and Grammy-nominated folk-rock artist Patty Griffin. The show, which opens officially on June 14, features Mare Winningham and Skip Sudduth playing multiple roles, and Matthew Morrison and Irene Molloy as the romantic leads, who, months after their one night stand, travel by Chevy truck from Florida to New York, searching for better lives.

Before this show, Bunin hadn’t imagined he’d write a musical. As his project gestated, however, he wondered, “Wouldn’t it be great to write a musical that had the feel of a concert at the Bowery Ballroom?” Around that time, he also discovered and became a fan of Patty Griffin. When actor-turned-producer Tom Hulce approached him about working together, Bunin mentioned this project and his dream of collaborating with Griffin. Hulce arranged a meeting, and a fruitful collaboration was born: Griffin agreed to write a few new songs, and make her recorded and unrecorded songs available to Bunin.

“The album she was working on, ‘Impossible Dream,’ seemed to directly relate to the story I had in my head,” Bunin explains. “I would get songs from her, and it was as though we’d had a conversation [about the show] and she’d written a song.” One challenge was writing a script that worked on its own. “The emotional peak of each scene is the song, but the scene doesn’t merely tee off the song.”

Bunin’s last three New York shows were at Playwrights Horizons. He loves Playwrights, but is glad that “10 Million Miles” is at the Atlantic — recently rechristened The Linda Gross Theater — with director Michael Mayer, who directed Bunin’s “The Credeaux Canvas” in 2001; and Artistic Director Neil Pepe, who directed Bunin’s first New York reading in 1993. Bunin also loves the converted church on West 20th Street which houses Atlantic Theater productions. “Funnily enough, I’d always imagined it here. There is something incredibly beautiful about the space of the theater.” He also appreciates the surrounding neighborhood, which provides a nice change of pace from the bustle of 42nd Street.

A Space to Breathe

Matthew Morrison likes the feel of Chelsea as well. “I love getting out of the show after I’m done and not having that huge rush of everyone getting out of the shows,” said the young actor. Though only 28, Morrison has already been in five Broadway shows, including “Hairspray” and “Light on the Piazza,” which earned him a Tony nomination. He considers himself lucky because of his early opportunities but has never taken them for granted. “Whenever I show up, I always put the most work I can into it. That’s what got me where I am now.”

Now Morrison is working, along with everyone else, to “put the pieces together and come out with the best product we can.” Along with his work ethic, Morrison brings a relaxed approach to this process. “I feel like [‘Piazza’] was the hardest thing I’ll ever have to do. I used to be very strict about no talking, no drinking, no extra curricular stuff that will tire my voice out. I’ve realized that I was being too hard on myself. It’s good to be in this show and feel like I can have a life outside of it.”

Like Bunin, Morrison also appreciates the Atlantic’s intimate setting. “You can really reach everyone in the audience. It’s tougher to reach the back of a big Broadway house without feeling like you’re overacting in a sense.”

As for his fellow performers, says Morrison, “Everyone is so great.” Winningham and Sudduth, he says, are “amazing experienced actors with great careers.” And Irene Molloy “has so many great ideas,” he says.

Digging Chelsea

His co-star, Mare Winningham concurs. The group, she says, was “tight from day one. We had a week of roundtable music rehearsals, singing Patty’s songs. We got to know one another learning our harmonies, learning our parts.”

Winningham, still remembered for “St. Elmo’s Fire,” has enjoyed a rich career. She’s won two Emmy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in “Georgia.” Recently, she completed a stint on “Grey’s Anatomy.” She’s also a recording artist — she’ll be performing songs from her CD, “Refuge Rock Sublime” (Refugerocksublime.com), at Joe’s Pub on June 17 — and she’s done stage work in Los Angeles.

“Ten Million Miles” marks Winningham’s New York debut, however. “What actor hasn’t dreamed of coming to New York to do a play?” she asks. “And to have it be a musical and then to have it be Patty Griffin? I was nervous at my audition, because I wanted it so much.”

Winningham is enjoying her work on the show and life in her Chelsea sublet. “The few times that I’ve [worked] in New York, it’s been for a movie or TV shoot,” she says. “You’re usually put up in a hotel with a per diem. This is a brand new experience for me. I feel a part of this little village. I’m getting to know the restaurants, where I get the paper and where the coffee. I should consider myself a Chelsea regular by the time this is done.”

“10 Million Miles” is currently scheduled to run through July 1 at the Atlantic Theater Company, 336 West 20th Street, (212) 279-4200.