“I didn’t mind slowing down, but the pandemic was the longest I’ve gone without acting in front of an audience,” Lithgow told Newsweek in an exclusive interview.
Lithgow’s solution to the hiatus was lending his voice talents to Broadway’s most famous fictitious playwright in the Audible Original audio drama, The Guilty. “I became a fixture at Bell Sound Studios in Hollywood for several days of recording,” he said.
Lithgow stars in the 9-chapter series as Osmond Box, “a very flamboyant auteur,” he said. “He’s a larger-than-life theatrical character, and God knows I’ve worked with my share of them.”
Osmond Box shows are the hottest ticket in town, and much of The Guilty unfolds during the premier of his latest theatre production. This time, the notoriously reclusive writer takes center stage in his own play with intentions that aren’t quite what they seem. Not long after the curtains go up, the play becomes a murder scene; and a pair of New York City homicide detectives have to figure out what’s real, what’s an act, and who to arrest in the end.
“It’s a play within an audio play,” Lithgow explained, “a true whodunnit murder mystery, all played out in the course of opening night inside a crowded theatre.”
The Guilty was written by James Patterson (his third release within Audible’s exclusive deal with the renowned storyteller) and boasts an all-star cast that includes Bryce Dallas Howard (Jurassic World, The Help), Peter Gallagher (American Beauty, The O.C.), Aldis Hodge (Hidden Figures, Die Hard with a Vengeance), Corey Stoll (Ant-Man, House of Cards), Marsha Stephanie Blake (Orange Is the New Black, How to Get Away with Murder), Julie White (Transformers, The Nanny Diaries), and Danny Burstein (Blackhat, Transamerica).
Lithgow said the opportunity to work with Patterson was “very much a part of what attracted me to the project,” and that he finds the audio version of Patterson’s work particularly compelling. “When Audible commissioned a series of James Patterson projects,” he noted, “I think it really unleashed him in a lot of ways.”
And while this was his first time working with Patterson, Lithgow said he admired his co-stars (“all of them are just wonderful people”) and that he knew a few of them personally before signing onto the project. “Peter Gallagher and Danny Burstein are two very good friends of mine,” he said. “In fact, I was the person who presented Danny with his first Tony award after seven nominations just a few weeks ago.” (Burstein finally nabbed the prize for his portrayal of Harold Zidler in Moulin Rouge! The Musical.)
Lithgow noted a particular respect for Dallas Howard: “She is a wonderful actress and I’m a big fan of her dad,” he said, referring to legendary film director Ron Howard.
Dallas Howard, Gallagher and Hodge’s characters spend much of The Guilty on stage with Lithgow’s character—each a major Hollywood or Broadway star in their own right—and each unaware of their roles in his play. “He springs on them a complete surprise - a play that has not been written yet, with actors who have no idea they have even been cast in it,” Lithgow explained. “He uses the play as a way of trotting out his own secret agenda.”
Lithgow said the other characters in the cast and his character have complicated relationships that are “shot through with theatre envy, jealousy, anger, resentment and betrayal.”
“All of that is in play before a live audience of theatre-goers. Bit by bit, the Broadway audience there and the listeners at home learn what’s really going on,” he teased. “It’s simply amazing how you can captivate a listening audience if you do it right.”
The Guilty is available exclusively from Audible on October 28, 2021.
