Podcast Summary: All Of It — Michael Urie is ‘Richard II’

Host: Alison Stewart (WNYC)
Guests: Michael Urie (Richard II), Grantham Coleman (Henry Bolingbroke)
Date: November 20, 2025
Episode Theme:
A deep dive into the off-Broadway production of Shakespeare’s Richard II, reimagined in 1980s Manhattan. The episode features candid conversation about the play’s themes, the actors’ Shakespearean training, the significance of its unique setting, and the intersections of identity, power, and performance.

1. Introduction & Setting the Stage

• Alison Stewart sets the context: the play brings Shakespeare’s Richard II to 1980s Manhattan, leaning into pastel colors, big hair, and boxy suits—while keeping the original text.
• The central conflict is between the vain King Richard (Michael Urie) and his cousin Henry Bolingbroke (Grantham Coleman), as power and succession come to a head.
• The show runs at Astor Place Theatre through December 14.

2. First Encounters with Richard II

[01:53]

• Michael Urie’s Introduction: Saw Richard II performed by Lee Pace at Juilliard, which inspired a long-held desire to play the role:

  “I’ve seen a great actor play, especially a Shakespeare role, and it cracks it open for me and I say, oh, I see it and I want it. And I’m gonna steal and then I’m gonna make it my own. And it took 20 years, but... I finally talked someone into doing it.”

• Grantham Coleman’s Introduction: Read the play only a few months before auditioning.

  “Growing up, I was like a Hamlet guy... The histories were kind of foreign to me... Every time I would see a history play, I would have that immediate response of like, oh, we’re gonna do this medieval style... Richard II that we’re doing, I love because... it’s more accessible, and we’re having a blast.”

3. Juilliard Training & Shakespearean Acting

[03:47]

• Both guests are Juilliard grads; Shakespearean rigor is core to their training.
• Michael Urie:

  “The bulk of the training is to do Shakespeare. The theory being that if you can do Shakespeare, you can do anything.”
  “Shakespeare works best when it’s embodied physically. It’s not meant to be read. It’s meant to be acted.”
  [04:23]

• Robert Neff Williams’ Influence:
  Michael recalls how Williams had him physically mime “boring through the castle wall” during a monologue.

  “I do everything he... and I think of him every night. It’s a very special memory.” [05:50]

• Grantham Coleman:

  “I would just boil it down to dexterity... there was definitely something to be beaten into us of... This is the right way to say this word... Practicing schwas for half an hour with a compact mirror in front of your mouth.”
  [06:03]

• Importance of having options and inhabiting the words physically, “which is why I love seeing American actors do Shakespeare.”

4. Table Work & Building Ensemble Understanding

[07:14]

• Michael Urie:

  “It’s so vital to spend time together with the text at a table... sometimes really, really complicated... If ever any of us were even a little bit unclear about what we were saying or what someone else was saying, [director] Craig Baldwin would know.”

• Understanding not only lines, but how other characters receive them, is crucial for clarity for both cast and audience.

5. The 1980s Manhattan Reimagining

[08:51]

• Grantham describes the challenges and creativity in mapping monarchy and “courts” onto 1980s NYC:

  “We don’t have kings in 1980s New York, but we kind of do. We have the equivalent... trying to make the extrapolations.”
  [08:51]

• Inspiration for Bolingbroke’s look:

  “You look like Billy Dee Williams in your suit.”
  “That is who I went for... the wig is supposed to be Billy Dee.”
  [09:57]

• Exploration of what Black royalty means in the context of the 1980s, influenced by real-life figures like Billy Dee Williams and Eddie Murphy.

6. Thematic Resonances: Greed, Power, and Queerness

[11:10]

• Michael Urie:

  “The ’80s in many ways was the beginning of ‘Greed is good’... Richard II is the beginning of the War of the Roses... [Director] Craig really liked the idea of putting it at the beginning of our War of the Roses.”
  [11:24]

• The play’s queer energy:

  “Our production is very queer, and our King Richard is a very queer character... He’s created this inner circle... of flatterers, hangers-on... In our play, they’re very queer, and the rest of the court does not like them.”
  [12:45]

• Our era’s echoes: “The rest of the kingdom doesn’t like the way they’re running things.”
  [13:55]

7. Sexuality & Character Dynamics

[13:55]

• Alison calls it “a pretty sexy play.”
• Michael:

  “It was very important to all of us... that this is a man who doesn’t fear anyone... If anyone is going to explore their sexuality, it’s a king. And he does.” “It’s not explicit in Shakespeare’s text that he is lovers with this character of Omerle... but that’s the kind of thing you say to a lover.”
  [14:03]

8. High Stakes: Power, Betrayal, and the Personal

[15:32]

• Grantham explains Bolingbroke’s motivations in the opening:

  “The person that I am accusing is complicit, but through accusing that person, I am also accusing the king... So there’s a lot of high stakes gambling going on.” “It was a very hard thing to wrap my head around because today’s deposition is very much different than... what it means to depose someone back then as a king.”
  [15:46]

• Discussion about the historical subtext and how dangerous it was for Shakespeare to depict regicide and deposition.

9. Structural Choices: The Memory Play Framing

[17:50]

• Michael discusses the decision to begin the play with Richard in prison (a device not in Shakespeare’s original).

  “He doesn’t go to jail until Act 5. But in our play, that’s where we meet him... It’s become a memory play. He’s remembering everything that happened to him.” “My first line is, ‘I have been studying how I may compare this prison where I live unto the world’... There’s this beautiful idea of becoming nothing... you will never be a settled spirit and your soul will never settle.”
  [18:14–20:32]

10. Stamina, Ensemble, and On-Stage Dynamics

[20:33]

• Grantham:

  “It’s always a fun challenge as an actor to do a play... but, in terms of how I keep the stamina, I gather a lot of it from the people on stage... When you go out and you see Michael and he’s just giving you the business... it reinvigorates every single cell in my body.”
  [21:15]

• Michael:

  “It’s tricky because I can’t drink a lot of water... But it is, it’s the other people. This is a really good cast... To have a foil like Grantham... We both really love Shakespeare.”
  [22:28]

11. Crossing Worlds: TV and Stage

[23:24]

• Alison: “When I was there, one of your co-workers from Shrinking was in the audience…”
• Michael:

  “I was really glad someone from Shrinking saw the show because I’m so proud of what we’ve done... It’s so different... and he’ll go tell everyone that we did a good job.”
  [23:45]

12. Looking Forward: Dream Shakespeare Roles

[25:04]

• Grantham: “I’ve always thought I have a Henry 5 in me.”
• Michael: “I had a plan to pitch Grantham on doing Othello and Iago together, but then I found out Grantham wants to play Iago.”
  [25:29]
• Michael’s dream roles: Benedick in Much Ado, Bottom in Midsummer, Leontes in Winter’s Tale, Hamlet again, old Mercutio.

  “Whenever I’m doing Shakespeare, I think this is all I want to do.”
  [25:44]

13. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Michael Urie [01:59]:

  “I want to do that. I think a lot of, you know, I don’t. I have. This happened to me a few times where I’ve seen a great actor play, especially a Shakespeare role, and it cracks it open for me and I say, oh, I see it and I want it.”

• Grantham Coleman [06:41]:

  “We tend to inhabit the words, like, physically and literally, in a way that is definitely my cup of tea.”

• Michael Urie [13:55]:

  “The AIDS crisis, obviously, which we do not address in our play, but that was a point where suddenly queer people who had been enjoying many freedoms lost them. And I think a lot of influential queer people… his bubble burst. And I think that where we meet Richard and his court, it’s the end of this little paradise that they’ve created.”

• Michael Urie [18:14]:

  “There’s this beautiful idea of being. Of becoming nothing… once you are no longer a king, you’re not anything.”

• Grantham Coleman [21:15]:

  “You go out and you see Michael and he’s just giving you the business, making you feel like the worst guy ever. And then you realize, wait a minute. You did this to me… you basically killed my dad. And then now you’re sad that I’m here.”

14. Conclusion

• The episode offers a dynamic exploration of how tradition and reinvention can coexist on stage, drawing parallels between 14th-century England and 1980s New York.
• The conversation illuminates not only the demands of acting Shakespeare, but also how identity—racial, sexual, cultural—uniquely shapes each performance.
• Both actors express a love of the Shakespearean canon and a desire to bring new life and perspectives to classic roles.

For newcomers and Shakespeare fans alike, this discussion is a lively, insightful look at how classics can reflect our own society when performed with passion and contemporary relevance.