Ninety-one year-old John Cullum never drops a stitch in this 80-minute, one man revue of his career. He may not hit all the notes and gestures like crazy, but presence is unmistakable, acting effective, monologue candid and engaging. “Since I was knee high to a grasshopper,” the actor begins with Tennessee roots apparent, “most roles have come to me by accident or luck.”
Cullum arrived in New York in 1956 admittedly wet behind the ears. “For a newcomer like me, there wasn’t much chance of an audition, but there were open calls.” It was a series of 16-bar, don’t call us, we’ll call you encounters. “I didn’t have much of a voice.” The nascent performer arrived with two letters of introduction, one to agent William Liebling who suggested he turn around and go home, and one to Norris Houghton, producing founder of The Phoenix Theater Company. At Phoenix, he was told he wasn’t tall enough for current casting of St. Joan.
The last to be there at the end of the day, however, Cullum was offered a lift by Houghton using taxi time to pelt his host with photos and background. Getting nowhere, he volunteered to work in the office without pay. Three weeks later, the company additionally cast him as a spear carrier in St. Joan. (Cliches come from somewhere.) Hearing some of the actors talk about auditioning for a production of Hamlet, Cullum scooted down to The Strand and bought a volume of The Collected Works of Shakespeare for one dollar. “I still have it and I still use it.”
He presented the Gravedigger speech, but was asked to cold read the role of Rosenkrantz, crediting success to his familiarity with the St. James Bible. “I gave a reading that sizzled like a slab of bacon on a hot grill.” Six weeks in the city and he had two paid acting jobs. “Every day was an eye busting revelation.” Cullum never took anything for granted. Excitement bubbles up in retelling. The young man lived in a six dollar a week Greenwich Village apartment = seventh heaven.
That summer Joe Papp produced three Shakespeare plays in the park. Cullum got a part in all three and understudied two leads. “Not bad for a Tennessee boy who’d never seen a Shakespeare play onstage…I chewed the scenery to bits; postured, posed and pontificated. It was a wonderful summer and I was fully prepared to do only Shakespeare my entire career, but I had an agent who insisted on sending me out for musicals.”
At a Camelot audition, he sang “There But for You Go I” in front of Moss Hart, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Lowe. “Maybe you know it?” he asked. (Lerner and Lowe wrote the song for Brigadoon.) Cullum was given the role of Sir Dinadan, understudying both Richard Burton and Roddy McDowell. He’d be in two more productions with Burton, establishing a lifelong friendship. (Oh, to have an anecdote about that!) The artist sings “Camelot” with longing he feels for the era and the experience. “That’s how I got into musical comedy where I pretty much stuck.”
Next came a misguided 1962 production of We Take the Town (Matt Dubey /Harold Karr) starring Robert Preston as Pancho Villa. “Bob had phenomenal power and charisma, but it was impossible to make the character likeable.” An excerpt from the song “I’ve Got a Girl” is sweetly written, sweetly delivered.
“I was back in my now seven dollar weekly room, when I heard Lerner was looking for a John Cullum type to play Montcrief.” Apparently the composer didn’t think the actor himself capable of humor. His story about who played the part, where, when, and why is sheer show biz. “I figured I could be the star of anything then. That’s a laugh.” The next few years were spent in regional theater.
Cullum’s Tony Award-winning role as Charlie Anderson in Shenandoah (Gary Geld/Peter Udell, based on the film with Jimmy Stewart) brought him back to Goodspeed Opera House, then Broadway. Though Jack Palance was scheduled for the part, Cullum immediately identified with it, a feeling that produced a performance that made the director reconsider. He sings an excerpt from three songs and does, in fact, inhabit them.
“I Rise Again” is from Cullum’s flamboyant turn as Oscar Jaffee (John Barrymore in the film) in 1978’s On the Twentieth Century (Betty Comden and Adolph Green/Cy Coleman). The musical garnered his second Tony Award. It suits the actor’s extravagant enthusiasm and the twinkle in his eye. Urinetown (Mark Hollmann/Greg Kotis) and The Scottsboro Boys (John Kander/Fred Ebb) go by quickly. “There was no happily ever after ending to The Scottsboro Boys. Maybe someday justice will be done and everything will turn out ok.”
A reprise of “Camelot” closes the show with nostalgia and gratitude.
Compliments for a terrific black and white preparation-for-show prologue.
All quotes are John Cullum
Photos by Carol Rosegg
John Cullum: An Accidental Star
Conceived by John Cullum and Jeff Berger
Written by David Thompson
Music supervision by Georgia Stitt
Music direction by Julie McBride
Directed by Lonny Price and Matt Cowart
John Cullum: An Accidental Star will be presented April 8-22, 2021. Streaming tickets are available now at the Vineyard Theatre.
