Jason Alexander rehearses a scene from “Judgment Day” at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel. Alexaner makes his Chicago stage debut in the world premiere comedy.
Liz Lauren
There’s no trace of neurotic George Costanza in Sammy Campo, the sleazy lawyer who Jason Alexander brings to the stage this month at Chicago Shakespeare Theater, where he’s starring in “Judgment Day,” a world premiere comedy from first-time playwright Rob Ulin.
In the play, directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Alexander (making his Chicago stage debut) stars an attorney who is motivated to shape up after a near-death experience reveals he’s not headed for heaven. He co-stars opposite Daniel Breaker (“Hamilton”) who portrays a troubled Catholic priest.
Ulin is steeped in TV as a former writer for shows like “Roseanne” and “Malcolm in the Middle.” Alexander has been attached to the show since a Zoom reading at the height of the pandemic. But even early on, its charm shined, said Alexander, who won a Tony Award for his role in “Jerome Robbins’ Broadway” in 1989, and more recently made his Broadway directorial debut with “The Cottage.”
WBEZ caught up with Alexander before a recent rehearsal. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q. What is it about this show that makes it so compelling to you?
A. Well, the No. 1 thing a comedy needs is to be funny. [And this show] is very funny. It is really funny. But it’s funny with a little something to chew on. The characters actually do have dimension. They are seeking answers to rather large questions and dealing with sort of real issues in their life, but it’s funny that it sits in juxtaposition with this enormous supernatural element of a guy who, you know, has had a near-death experience and is now well aware that there’s a heaven that he may not get into and how does he address that?
Q. You play the bad guy in the show, at least maybe initially, your character is described as a scumbag, corrupt lawyer. How have you approached playing this character?
A. I just get out of bed. That’s all I need to do. [Laughs]
Well, I don’t want to give too much away, but there is a real characterization that I play with for Sammy. There’s, it’s a different body, it’s a different rhythm. My voice sounds very different, so it’s a bit of a transformation that once I figured out who I thought he was physically and vocally, the rest of it started to come in a really interesting way. What I felt when I hit on what I’m doing was that I could do things that were crass and low and selfish, that still felt sort of vulnerable and potentially charming.
Q. There are still bus ads in Chicago that promote reruns of “Seinfeld” with all four of your faces on there. Is it ever hard to break outside of that character of George, when “Seinfeld” is still so much a part of our culture?
A. You know, I understand the question, but it presumes the desire to break. My life is much simpler than that. I can’t control what people do and I can’t control what people think. So George is a thing … he is still there, people still relate to him: That’s great. When you come to the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, you’re not going to meet George; I’m going to do this other thing. You can go: “Oh, that’s really different” or you can go: “I saw George in that,” and I don’t really care.
I have no desire to only do things that will dispel your image of me as George Costanza. I am well aware the day I die, if anybody notes it, they’ll go, “George Costanza died today.” That’s fine. You know, George was a gift to my life, and apparently is a gift to a lot of other people. And as they say, you don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Q. What does theater allow you to do that you can’t do on TV?
A. If you have the theater gene, it means that you enjoy the challenge, the magic trick, the danger of live performance because it can go wrong; it may not always work. When that curtain goes up, the director could have told us a thousand things, we could have a thousand things in our head … it’s ours. There’s no editor, nothing’s going to save us. So if you enjoy that — if you enjoy the immediacy of communicating with an audience in that way — then there’s nothing like it.
Q. Recently, you’ve been doing some directing, including “The Cottage” on Broadway. How are you feeling about being back on the acting side of a show?
A.: It’s fun. And I sleep much better at night, I only have to worry about one thing. You know, when the acting thing is fun, it’s glorious. Directing called to me, because a lot of times I was being offered roles as an actor that I thought, I’ve been there and done that … it’s just not terribly interesting, but directing it would be interesting. That’s not a problem with the show, or this role; it’s really fun to play with it and find it.
Q. What do you hope that audiences take away from this show?
A.: One of the things we present in the show is the possibility that the road to salvation and heaven is not who you are, it’s what you do. That you don’t have to be a good person … you do have to do good things. Interesting idea. I like stories that you have to go, “Huh, let’s discuss that.” Otherwise, it’s a wonderful aperitif, but it has no substance and I would love if this play has that kind of substance.