When Ray Liotta first worked on Broadway, he wasn't anywhere near the stage.
"I put the candy out, sold it before the show and during intermission, and then went home with $7 in my pocket," says the Hollywood veteran. "I used to do what that guy's doing," he says, motioning to a concession salesman in the Plymouth Theater, where, more than two decades after manning the M&Ms, Liotta is making his Broadway debut in Match.
"It was a great job to have, because you got to watch people on stage, and you learned," says Liotta, 48.
After growing up in New Jersey and graduating from the University of Miami in 1977, Liotta moved to New York to get started in acting. He spent three years on the NBC soap opera Another World, soon caught the attention of Hollywood and in 1985 had his breakout role in Jonathan Demme's Something Wild.
Leading roles in hit films followed. From Goodfellas and Field of Dreams to Hannibal, Liotta was too busy starring in movies to find time for Broadway. He considered and rejected various offers before finally falling for Stephen Belber's script for Match.
Set in an apartment, the play tells the story of a couple who show up for a routine interview with a choreographer (portrayed by Frank Langella), only to find their lives turned upside down by the day they spend with him. "To originate a role on Broadway, that was intriguing to me," Liotta says. He loved both the suspense of Belber's story and its characters.
As surprised as Liotta was to discover "how organized the chaos was" when he made his first studio films in Hollywood, he's been equally stunned at the goings-on backstage on Broadway. "There are things that happen that make you think, `This shouldn't be happening; this is Broadway,' " Liotta says. "It's definitely been a roller coaster."
One unusual development was the relatively late departure from the cast of Melora Walters, originally slated to play Liotta's wife in the three-actor drama. She's been replaced by Jane Adams. As with many new plays, the script was changed constantly throughout the preview period. The playwright, actors and director Nicholas Martin refined lines and sharpened the characters.
The result is a powerful drama with copious humor. The degree of laughter among some audiences has surprised Liotta. "Sometimes it's just out-and-out, they don't stop, and sometimes it's a slow roar, and sometimes it's more subtle," he says. "Each audience has its own flavor."
