NORM CLARKE'S VEGAS DIARY

View Original

BRYAN CRANSTON IN TALKS TO PLAY THE DEVIL IN 'DAMN YANKEES' BROADWAY REVIVAL

Bryan Cranston back on Broadway? The devil, you say. Cranston, who played a mean Walter White in “Breaking Bad,” isn’t saying when but he’s not denying a report that he’s been offered the role Mr. Applegate, who plays the devil in disguise in “Damn Yankees.”

“Yeah, I’ll be back on Broadway at some point,” Cranston said Friday at the Bellagio after a red carpet appearance at the Canon USA benefit marking the 20th year of sponsoring the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

But, he said, story that broke last week "was a little bit of a leak. I don’t know if that’s going to happen or not. We had a conversation but there has been nothing set. So I’m still working on my schedule for ’18. My schedule for this year is already set. It’s a possibility, ’18 or ’19, pushing it out to then.”

He welcomes the idea of returning to Broadway. “I’m looking forward to it. I like the idea of putting myself in a position that frightens me. I think everyone should put themselves in a position of fear from time to time.”

Did playing Walter White frighten him? “Yeah,” he said. “Didn’t he frighten you?”

Then Cranston reversed roles and asked the interviewer, “Could you kill another human being? Scares you a little bit just receiving that question, doesn’t it? You know what I mean?

“So as an adult, I think putting yourself in a position of being a beginner at anything, that’s a good thing. So as we get older we have a tendency to say ‘this is what I do and this is what I don’t do.’ So I want to keep putting myself in a new position where I keep trying new things. Ultimately there are things that scare you and that’s why you don’t do them.

Three years ago, Cranston won a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Lead Role with his portrayal of U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson in “All the Way,” which won a Tony for Best Play.

The original “Damn Yankees” had a run of 1,019 performances, starting in 1955 with Gwen Verdon as Lola and Ray Walston as Mr. Applegate.

Cranston, who turns 61 on March 7, was nominated for a best actor in a leading role at the 2016 Academy Award for his role in “Trumbo.” He played Dalton Trumbo, Hollywood’s top screenwriter in the 1940s and 1950s before he was jailed and blacklisted for his political beliefs.