Joe Mantello received an Emmy nomination for his performance in HBO’s The Normal Heart, and what makes that particularly extraordinary is that it was Mantello’s first TV role since a 1998 appearance on Law & Order. In fact, besides appearing in the Broadway production of The Normal Heart in 2011, Mantello hasn’t had any other acting roles in over fifteen years. So what makes Mantello an authority on acting? It just so happens that he is also a Tony Award-winning director, having directed such notable production as Take Me Out, Wicked, Assassins, the 2005 version of The Odd Couple, Three Days of Rain, 9 to 5, Other Desert Cities, and many others. While Mantello might act infrequently, he is still an expert on effectively staging a play or musical.
His latest production as is Sting‘s The Last Ship, which begins previews on September 29. Last month, Mantello sat with Mark Peikert, the Executive Editor of Backstage to speak about acting and directing in a conversation presented by the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, Backstage, and The New School for Drama. Check it out above!
