While at the University of Washington, Lunney was cast in many productions, but his favorite was the role of Gottleib in Bruce Jay Friedman's STEAMBATH. "Gottleib might have five lines, I don't know, it was a sort of Harpo-type part. I loved doing it. I always wanted the big part and this certainly wasn't it. This was virtually a silent part -- in fact, I think it WAS silent -- it was a series of bits. I didn't know you could get that sort of laughter out of an audience! It was a lot of fun!"
Coming to New York, Lunney's first professional job was understudying Eric Roberts in Bill C. Davis' MASS APPEAL. It was in that production that the actor met Milo O'Shea, "who was absolutely terrific to me. He got me my first agent and became a very good friend. He really helped me out." When Eric Roberts left the cast, the role of the young seminarian was taken over by the playwright. "That was...unfortunate from my point of view," says Lunney. Really, what understudy wouldn't desire to move up to the role when the original star leaves the cast?
More recently, Lunney was seen in Terrence McNally's DEUCE; the play that starred Angela Lansbury and Marian Seldes as a pair of retired tennis pros. Lunney once again was hired as an understudy-this time for the two male roles in the play. One of the roles was essayed by Michael Mulheren, who had a filming commitment during the rehearsal period. "That meant I had a full week of rehearsals, which was great for me. We were still in the rehearsal room and Michael Blakemore, a director I absolutely adore, didn't care one bit about what Michael Mulheren had done -- Mulheren was great -- but I was the guy in the room and he encouraged me to bring my own interpretation to the part. I was free to create my own performance. Angela and Marian were terrific about that."
The actor has nothing but admiration for the Missus Lansbury and Seldes. "These two women had to sit throughout virtually the entire performance. I don't know many actors who can learn their lines without moving around. Often you end up getting rid of the movements. But first you get the physicality into your body, and then it gets into your head and, finally you can stand perfectly still and deliver the lines. These ladies didn't have that luxury. They had to sit, and most times they couldn't even relate to each other, they were watching an imaginary tennis game out front. I think that is a Herculean task for any actor."
The stage adaptation of THE GRADUATE provided Lunney with his longest run on Broadway, although DANCING AT LUGHNASA was a close second. He shared the stage with Kathleen Turner, who was followed by Linda Gray. By the time Lorraine Bracco took over, Lunney had left the cast for other projects. "I thought the play wasn't very good. Terry Johnson, who wrote and directed it, is terrifically talented but I think he may have written it to set himself up financially. We played in Baltimore, Toronto and Boston before we came into town. We had a good group of actors and we all liked each other very much. In each place we played, we'd get roars during the Curtain Call, with audiences standing and cheering. Some of us would say, ‘This isn't that good, is it?' Then we started thinking maybe it was. When we got to New York they weren't doing that anymore. But, it ran for a long time. I think the people came because they wanted to see a famous person take her clothes off."
In 1987 Lunney did a play called NO END OF BLAME by Howard Barker at the Potomac Theater Project, which once was known as the New York Theater Studio; however they re-located to Washington DC. "I had never read any Howard Barker and my friend David Purdham was supposed to play this role. David, however, took a job up in Williamstown and had to bail on these people and recommended me for the part. The director, Richard Romagnoli, called me, I read the play and I realized I'd never come across anything like it before. I was thrilled by it. The writing is phenomenal. It's angry, sexy, dirty, driving and very, very political, but highly theatrical and funny. I did NO END OF BLAME and two years later Jan and I went back and did Barker's THE CASTLE again with Romagnoli directing." When Lunney and his wife returned to New York they wondered why Barker's works hadn't been done in the Big Apple, but with casts of 30 or more, the practicalities of such productions are prohibitive. As a result, they've done staged readings of Howard Barker plays. Thus, "The Barker Project" was born and continues sporadically today. PTP is once again based in New York City and this summer Lunney will be doing THE EUROPEANS for them.
In joining the cast of PERFECT CRIME, Lunney becomes a part of theater history. The whodunit has been running since April of 1987, first at the Courtyard Playhouse and now at the Snapple Theater Center. It is now New York's longest running play and there's no end in sight for it.
What's it like to join the cast of a play that has been running this long? "It was pretty unique," responded the actor. "I got together with the stage manager Brian Meister and Andrea Leigh, who understudies leading lady Catherine Russell. It was the first time I'd had my lines down before starting rehearsals. It was great to come in off-book. I rehearsed with them and watched the show. I loved what Patrick Ryan Sullivan was doing in the role I was taking over and when he took a day off I got to see understudy Don Noble do a different great job in the part. Not hearing the same exact rhythms to the lines helped me bring more of my own thing to the character. I also had one rehearsal with Richard Shoberg and on the night of my first performance I had a put-in rehearsal with Catherine a couple of hours before the show. One day in the middle of last week I realized that this is the strangest job I've ever had. I didn't get to build the character and yet I go out and ‘do it' every night. I've never done anything like this before! My role is great. In fact, all the roles are great."
Lunney has nothing but praise for his cast-mates. "Richard Shoberg is terrific. I love being on stage with him. He listens and we play off each other. Michael Brian Dunn is doing a wonderful job as Lionel and that may be the most difficult role in the piece. To play with Catherine Russell is incredible. I figured that she wouldn't be coming up with anything fresh after playing the role for all these years and there'd be nothing I could do to change her take on my character. That's not true at all. I don't know how she can do that after playing the role for 21 years! They're all terrific people!"
Perhaps it's because of the wholly professional cast. Perhaps it's because of Manzi's clever script. Perhaps it's because theater-goers are in dire need of material that will get them to concentrate on something other than the financial woes we are all experiencing in these trying times. Perhaps it's a combination of all of these things, but the audience enjoys PERFECT CRIME very much. As they left the theater that afternoon and walked out into the sunshine on a balmy October day, the conversation was about the play. It wasn't about where they should have dinner or how they could buy souvenir merchandise with the play's logo emblazoned on it. Nor were they expressing their amazement at falling chandeliers or huge animal puppets. They were discussing Manzi's play. Quite obviously the crowd had been so engrossed in the plot and the cast's skilled characterizations in it that they forgot about the more mundane aspects of theater-going. Undoubtedly, PERFECT CRIME is a play that will also provide Robert Emmet Lunney a longer run than any he's had before.
PERFECT CRIME is being presented at the SNAPPLE THEATER CENTER located at 210 W 50th Street. Tickets are available at www.Ticketmaster.com
