Viewing page 21 of 27

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

Talkin' Baseball

Ben Gazzara hits one out of the park, starring as the legendary Yogi Berra in Nobody Don't Like Yogi

by Roger Maxwell

Lawrence Peter Berra's lifetime batting average, all of it as a New York Yankee, was .285, and he hit 358 home runs. In 1951, 1954 and 1955 free-swinging catcher Berra was the American League's Most Valuable Player. Biagio Anthony Gazzara's lifetime batting average hasn't been figured up yet, but at the moment he's batting something like .999 in the title role, and only role, of Nobody Don't Like Yogi, a play by Thomas Lysaght about the life and times of America's most-quoted living phrasemaker - uniform No. 8 in the pantheon out there in center field alongside 3 (Ruth), 4 (Gehrig) and 5 (DiMaggio).

[[image]]  Ben Gazzara as Yogi Berra in Nobody Don't Like Yogi 
[[credit]] ALEX OTTAVIANO [[/credit]]

Yes, it's déjà vu all over again at the Lamb's Theatre on West 44th Street, but behind Ben Gazzara's warm and gallant (post-oral cancer) embodiment of Yogi Berra lies a drama of two women. One is Elke Stuckmann Gazzara, the wife who said to her actor husband: "You'll do this play of I'll divorce you; don't be afraid, get a vocal coach." The other is Carmen Short Berra.

Yogi didn't want to hear much about the piece when Gazzara and Lysaght went down to see him a year ago at the Berra museum in Montclair, New Jersey. He preferred to talk about his idol, Mr. Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox.

"So," says Gazzara, "I asked him was there a pitch he called for when Williams was at bat. Did Williams have a weakness? Yogi said, 'Oh, Ted hit everything.' Of course, Yogi hit everything, too. He asked me about my childhood, here in New York, and I told him that I was a Yankee fan before I was born; that I'd dreamed, lived and died Joe DiMaggio. He started showing me photos - Yogi jumping all over Don Larsen after the perfect game, Jackie Robinson being called safe at home on a slide where Yogi still thinks he was out - and I thought: Ahh, we've got him."

Then Mrs. Berra entered the room and said, "We don't want to go to Broadway, Ben." She may have been concerned about the script's mention of their son Dale's youthful errors; perhaps also about the play's emphasis on her husband's 14-year cold-shouldering of the George Steinbrenner who had fired him 16 games into the 1985 season.

Berra gave an awkward laugh and hugged Gazzara "so hard, I thought he'd crack my ribs." Actor and playwright returned to New York. They would go ahead without the blessing of the Berras, who have a standing invitation to come see the show - a sweet, short 90 minutes. It gets late early on 44th Street.

www.playbill.com

[[/advertisement]]
GO BACKSTAGE WITH THE ON-LINE
PLAYBILLTHEATRE CLUB® 
© 2003 Playbill, Inc.
PLAYBILL® Serving the Theatre Since 1884

Over 410,000 theatre-lovers are already enjoying special access to out year-round selection of:
☆ Theatre tickets
☆ Travel packages
☆ Theatrical memorabilia
☆ And much more...

All at substantial savings!

[[image]]

JOIN TODAY
PLAYBILL.COM
AOL Keyword: Playbill
[[advertisement]]

Transcription Notes:
Removed left page, right page notation - per transcription guidelines