Podcast Summary

All Of It with Alison Stewart, WNYC

Episode: "'I Can Get It For You Wholesale' Finds New Life at Classic Stage Company"

Date: November 16, 2023

Episode Overview

This episode dives into the revival of the 1962 musical I Can Get It For You Wholesale at Classic Stage Company, foregrounding its updated book by John Weidman and starring Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn. The conversation unpacks why this moment is ripe for a new staging, explores the dark, complex heart of its story about ambition within the 1930s New York garment district, and considers the musical’s resonance with contemporary audiences and themes like capitalism, ambition, and community.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Genesis & Motivation for the Revival

• Initiation by Producer Jeffrey Richards: John Weidman, whose father wrote the original source novel and musical book, was approached to bring a new vision for the show—one truer to the rough edges and unvarnished tone of the novel, which was softened in the original 1962 Broadway adaptation.

  • "The novel was...a very rough, raw, unfiltered portrait of a bad guy behaving badly and, frankly, getting away with it. The musical...sanded the edges off...to accommodate a 1962 musical theater audience." (John Weidman, 03:31)

• Modern Resonance: The story’s themes of survival and moral compromise are especially prescient given current labor struggles and cultural conversations around ambition and success.

  • "This year alone, how many strikes have we seen...across the country? I think it's so prescient that we're telling a story about people trying to survive in a system that really isn't looking out for them..." (Santino Fontana, 05:28)

2. Humanizing the Antihero: Harry Bogan

• Empathy and Moral Complexity: Santino Fontana discusses finding empathy for Harry—a son driven to questionable means after family trauma, operating within a system stacked against him.
  • "A boy who's lost his father...was beat up on the street...If you don't like that person, there's something wrong with you, because that person needs us...Now, he makes decisions that I do not like, that I would not make. But, you know, that's the fun of being in the theater." (Santino Fontana, 07:02)
  • On the fun of antiheroes: "Do you like Madea? I don't. And yet I want to see her. You know what I mean?" (Santino Fontana, 07:43)

3. Mother-Son Relationship & Generational Ambition

• Judy Kuhn on Family Dynamics
  • "There's a desperation there...she is forced to send her 11 year old son out on the streets to work...he gets beat up, but she has to send him back out...we have different expectations of parenting these days..." (Judy Kuhn, 08:03)
  • On what the mother sees: "I think she sees something that she recognizes in herself, which is a certain kind of drive and ambition...She sees the dangers in going too far with that..." (Judy Kuhn, 20:28)

4. Structural and Narrative Changes in the Revival

• Opening with Childhood Trauma & Anti-Semitism:

  • The updated version opens with a prologue showing Harry as a boy, enduring violence and anti-Semitism, contextualizing but not excusing his later actions.
  • "To see him as a child sent out into the streets...to shine the harshest and most shocking possible light...which is meant to shock the audience, but it was the intention...to start the story in a place that would allow people to lean towards Harry as opposed to leaning away from him." (John Weidman, 09:41)

• Harry as Narrator and Manipulator:

  • New approach lets Harry break the fourth wall and interact with the audience—mirroring his manipulation of characters within the story.
  • "If we put Harry on stage and let him talk to the audience, he could charm them, he could explain himself, and he could manipulate the audience the way he's manipulating people in the story..." (John Weidman, 11:12)

5. Staging, Performance, and Audience Connection

• The Intimacy of Classic Stage Company’s Space:
  • Fontana describes how immediate and interactive the performance can be in such a space:
    • "The audience is surrounding you on three sides...I watch them gasp when my character is punched...lean in and laugh...and then I feel...people around them betray them because they're judging them, and then they strike out against them...Yesterday...a kid in the audience said, 'that's cold.' And my next lyric was, 'life's a cold cash situation.' I just pointed at him, and he kind of recoiled." (Santino Fontana, 13:16)
• Adaptive, Evolving Performance:
  • With the audience lit and close, each night can be different—lines and energy shift responsively.
    • "I'm still figuring that out in a great, fun way...It's endlessly surprising..." (Santino Fontana, 24:07)

6. Musical Style: Klezmer Meets Showtunes

• Judy Kuhn:
  • "I would say three or four musical moments. The style...is very different...one is this very klezmery song...one is a beautiful...traditional music theater ballad...They each sort of fit the moment so well." (Judy Kuhn, 16:26)
• Santino Fontana:
  • "Harold Rome did very smartly...the family music, those klezmer moments are there. But as soon as you leave, it's gone...He was really writing so specifically for each situation...Gemini in Capricorn...is a charm song...The Sound of Money...sounds like a club song..." (Santino Fontana, 17:36)
  • Notably praises the abundance of strong, empowered female roles created in the new version (18:57).

7. Community vs. Individualism

• On Giving Every Character a Moment
  • "The opposite idea to what Harry comes to represent...is the idea of community and of people supporting each other as opposed to turning on each other...the affirmation of the relationship among all those characters...to have real power requires that we have an investment in each of them..." (John Weidman, 26:46)

8. Reflecting on Legacy and Relevance

• Working on His Father's Story
  • "This was not me deciding my dad's work needed to be fixed...It was like pulling more of him on stage. And I enjoyed doing that." (John Weidman, 27:49)
• The Show’s Central Question
  • "How willing are we to compromise our values in order to get what we want? It's easy to look at Harry Bogan and say, oh, he's terrible. I would never do that. But is that true, really?” (Judy Kuhn, 28:48)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I need them to turn on me eventually or it won’t work.” (Santino Fontana, 15:13)
• “The longer they can lean towards Harry, the better. And that’s what really drove the initial decision.” (John Weidman, 10:00)
• “I just can’t think of another musical where there are this many empowered, strong women who are having none of it... Would not have been written in 1937, would not have been written in 1962, and it is written today in 2023.” (Santino Fontana, 18:57)
• “She pushes him forward, she’s also trying to rein him in... I think the painful thing for me about her story is that at the end, she recognizes her own...complicity. And I think there’s a lot of grief in that, and I think there’s a lot of rage at him.” (Judy Kuhn, 20:28)
• “I want to do John’s story justice and Trip’s direction. The audience needs to—I need them to turn on me eventually or it won’t work.” (Santino Fontana, 15:13)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Show & Guest Introductions: 01:32 – 03:15
• Genesis of Revival - John Weidman: 03:31 – 05:17
• Playing Harry, Empathy & Modern Parallels - Santino Fontana: 05:17 – 07:39
• Harry & Mother Dynamic - Judy Kuhn: 07:58 – 09:17
• Adding Prologue & Structural Changes - John Weidman: 09:17 – 12:41
• Audience Interaction & Performance Evolution - Santino Fontana: 13:16 – 15:30, 24:07 – 25:50
• Musical Style & Role of Women - Judy Kuhn & Santino Fontana: 16:26 – 18:57
• Community Theme - John Weidman: 26:46 – 27:49
• Reflections on Legacy & Compromise - Judy Kuhn & John Weidman: 27:49 – 29:31

Tone and Style

• The conversation is insightful, warm, and candid, with occasional humor (Fontana’s unexpected “Do you like Medea?” moment at 07:39) and a shared sense of creative pride among the guests.
• The discussion stays grounded in the gritty realism of the show but is invited to connect to larger issues—capitalism, morality, and the ever-relevant pressures of New York.

For First-Time Listeners

This episode provides a rich exploration of how classic material can find new life—and new resonance—when returned to its roots and reimagined for modern sensibilities. You’ll learn about theatrical adaptation, performance choices, thematic updating, and the unique energy of live theater, especially as experienced in an intimate NYC space. If you’re interested in theater, culture, or the human price of ambition, this is an episode not to miss.