Feature

John Cullum on How to Lead a Double Life

He’s doing two shows at once, playing the dad in August: Osage County and an old veteran in Heroes. What’s his night like?

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By Jesse Oxfeld
Published Mar 1, 2009

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(Photo: Joan Marcus, Theresa Squire)

6:05 p.m.
Music Box Theater, West 45th Street
CHECK-IN AT AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
“This is early,” says Cullum—it’s often at 6:45.

6:45
Dressing Room
IN COSTUME
The linen blazer and gingham shirt are on; he frets that he hasn’t had time to run his lines tonight.

7:05
Onstage
HIS ONE SCENE
Lights up; Cullum enters. “If it hits sixteen minutes,” he explains about his speech, “I get notes, and if it goes under fifteen, that’s too short.”

7:29
The Trek
ON 45TH STREET, WALKING WEST
“I’ve timed it,” Cullum says. “It’s eleven minutes.”

7:40
A Quick Bite
THE 99-CENT PIZZA STAND AT NINTH AVENUE AND 41ST STREET
And we do mean quick: He’s in the Clurman Theatre on West 42nd Street 90 seconds later.

8:30
Back Onstage
AT THE KEEN COMPANY’S HEROES
This time, he’s had a few minutes to run lines with castmates.

10:03
Onstage
FINAL BOWS
He could just squeak back to the Music Box for the Osage curtain call, but skips it: “I had it in my contract that I don’t have to.” He’s in a taxi headed home at 10:18.