One Play, Two Directors

An Interview with Cal McCrystal, Physical Comedy Director for One Man, Two Guvnors

[post 264]

Just two hours before yesterday's Broadway premiere of the London smash hit, One Man, Two Guvnors, Cal McCrystal sat down with Jim Moore (vaudevisuals.com) and myself for this interview about his work on the show. Significantly, Cal is listed not as an assistant or as a choreographer, but as its "Physical Comedy Director," his name immediately following that of overall director Nicholas Hytner in the program. Jim and I had already caught the show in previews and absolutely loved it, so when Hilary Chaplain offered to set up this interview, we jumped at the chance to talk shop.

First here's his short but impressive bio from the Playbill program:

Cal McCrystal is from Belfast. He trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and at École Philippe Gaulier. He is comedy director for the acclaimed clown routines in Cirque de Soleil’s Varekai and Zumanity. He has directed countless comedy shows  around the world, including the original Mighty Boosh shows, winning a Perrier Award. Cal has served as a physical comedy consultant to Sacha Baron Cohen on both Borat (presenting the MTV Awards) and the upcoming The Dictator. Cal is director for Giffords Circus and soon begins a new show at the Folies Bergère, Paris. His feature film, The Bubonic Plague, is in post-production.

And here's the interview, shot by Jim and also featured on this blog post on VaudeVisuals.com:




Click here for Cal's web site.

I'll have a lot more to say about the actual physical comedy in the show in a near-future post, but click here and here for my two previous posts about this production.

And some of this morning's reviews, hot off the press.
NY Times
NY Daily News
NY Post
Wall Street Journal