Noah Haidle, a playwright, makes his Broadway debut. But time was not on Haidle’s side when the pandemic closed in.
His career was overtaken by the end of rehearsals for “Birthday Candles”, which were taking place in the second week of March 2020. He had to be Zen.
It became a private pleasure. He says that any outward validation is very useful, but it doesn’t matter.
People finally see “Birthday Candles” as a way to celebrate their births and are cheering for its cosmic look at memory, time, ritual, and memory. It is a play that links baking a cake with “atoms leftover” from creation.
As she grows from a rebellious teenager to a great-grandmother at 107 years old, the play revisits and visits one woman. Debra Messing, Emmy Award winner, stars in the play.
It was created in Detroit in 2018 and finished just days before opening this month. Haidle recalls that an early version of the play had 190 pages and a “tragically poor” third section. Now the script is a more economical 100 pages. It even contains a recipe for a cake that can be made on stage.
The playwright, who is 43 years old, graduated from Princeton University and The Juilliard School. He can quote Noam Chomsky or Buffalo Bill from “The Silence of the Lambs”, with equal force.
Haidle was a terrible college student. He hated writing essays about the meaning of a work. Haidle isn’t too fussy about his art.
Noah Haidle the writer
Remember John Daly, the golfer? “Remember John Daly, the golfer?
Haidle and Haidle have a one-year-old son. He took his first steps outside right before “Birthday Candles.” He wrote a play about parenthood, which he did before becoming a father. He says, “I could envision.” That’s the essence of playwrighting. It’s all about making stuff up.”
Haidle’s work is studded with hints of the things that intrigue him. One of my favorite passages from King Lear is in “Birthday Candles.” The name of Atman, an onstage goldfish, comes from Arthur Schopenhauer’s beloved poodle.
Director Vivienne Benesch says that “He has the highest degree of philosophy and scholarship, and just the most vulnerable heart,” “His ability to combine these things makes him an extraordinary writer to me.”
Haidle also wrote for TV, including “Kidding”, starring Jim Carrey, and “Stand Up Guys,” starring Al Pacino and Christopher Walken. It is rated by Haidle as “a solid B minus, C-plus.”
Haidle is more well-known in Germany than in America, for reasons that he doesn’t know. Haidle says that he has had two different playwriting careers — one bifurcated. He jokes that he tries to use this every time he talks to someone.
His “Mr. Marmalade, which was set in New York and featured a child’s imaginary friend who does cocaine and is violent, was bombed. However, it was loved in Germany. His 10th German play, “Birthday Candles”, will be performed this fall.
“American playwriting? He says that he has done well. “Over there I’m the most well-known American playwright.” A review in a German newspaper featured the headline “Chekhov Beckett Haidle.”
Haidle is a playwright who doesn’t just deliver a script, but also takes the time to listen and learn from his other plays like “Saturn Returns” or “Smokefall.” Haidle enjoys working with actors and directors to create the play. He also likes to listen to the audience.
He says, “I believe a playwright that believes a production should be an execution or their vision is in for trouble.” It’s not supposed that it be what you think it is once it’s been put in real-time and with real people.
Haidle continued to tweak the script until the very end, changing lines and adding dialogue for actors that now had to cross the large stage at the Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre.
“I believe that if an actor repeats a line twice, it might not be necessary. I don’t mind if things sound a little sloppy in their mouths. If they make mistakes, malapropisms, that are better than my original writing, I’m all for it.
Haidle was drafted as an actor in his own play to understudy rehearsal after COVID-19 rates rose again this spring.
“I’m a terrible actor. He laughs and says “Awful.” It wasn’t my play. I thought, “Come on, give me more lines, man.” “My part could have been way better.”
