Advertisement

WITH AN EYE ON . . . : Malcolm Gets makes an impressive stage exit for ‘Caroline in the City’

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITER

Wait a minute. That can’t be the right guy. That guy with the wildly tousled blond hair, no glasses, wrinkly green plaid shirt and jeans can’t be “Caroline in the City’s” fastidious, acerbic, cynical, black-clad Richard Karinsky.

But when Malcolm Gets, late of Moliere, Sartre, Shakespeare and Sondheim, politely stands up to shake hands and laughs, it’s clear that’s exactly who he is. “I’ve always thought of myself as a character actor, even though I’ve played some leading-man roles,” he says.

In fact, the Yale Drama School grad has an impressive theater resume.

Earlier this year, Gets received an Obie Award and a Drama Desk nomination as best actor in a musical for a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” Also this year he won the St. Clair Bayfield Award for his leading role in Delacorte Theater’s “Two Gentlemen of Verona” in Central Park. Gets’ most recent part, as the lead in “The Moliere Comedies” at Broadway’s Roundabout Theater, ended on a Sunday. That Monday the New York actor headed to L.A. and his new NBC series, which premiered last week and has the enviable slot right after “Seinfeld.”

Advertisement

“I just loved the script,” Gets says of “Caroline” during a lunch of Chinese chicken salad in a Downtown Los Angeles restaurant. “It was so sharp and funny. But I worried I wasn’t right for Richard,” assistant to cartoonist Caroline, played by Lea Thompson. Initially, Gets explains, Richard was a Generation X-er, brooding, dark and about 20.

“Jokes referred to how young he was, like that Julia, his great love, was ‘an older woman. Twenty-five.’ ” But once Gets, 31, showed them his Richard, “They tossed out those references. I was astonished. It was just great!”

The age boost might even make Richard more credible. “The producers envisioned him looking like the lead guy in the Cranberries, but Richard’s supposed to have this vast experience. It makes sense, with his past, that he be older.”

In a later phone interview, executive producer and co-creator Marco Pennette says they saw more than 60 actors. “Caroline and Richard needed to have boundaries, stumbling blocks. When Malcolm came in, he brought this great natural apprehensive attitude. We didn’t need the age difference. We see the walls.”

Pennette says he “put on glasses and became Richard. It was one of those magical moments. You can write on a page a list of qualities, but it’s so rare when someone comes in and nails him 100%.”

Now, the quiet triangle of Caroline, Richard and Caroline’s boss and lover Del (Eric Lutes) “works very interestingly,” says Gets. “Richard wanted a job where he could just do his work and not get involved socially with anyone.”

So much for the best-laid plans. As last week’s debut episode demonstrated, on his first day Richard ends up embroiled in Caroline’s deception--she needs a date since Del has one--and Richard ends up kissing Caroline passionately in front of her errant beau.

Advertisement

“It’s pretty much an undercurrent, this crush he has on her,” Gets explains. “I see it like in high school, Del was the popular guy and Richard was, well, not.”

Ideally, Gets suggests, Caroline needs a guy who’s a good combination of the two men. “We’ll just have to see where this takes us. I think there are a lot of possibilities.”

The Gainesville, Fla., native attended his hometown University of Florida before heading to New York. The classically trained pianist--he once aspired to that as a career--landed a job as a dancer-singer-puppeteer at Radio City Music Hall. A good thing, too, because he only had $100 in his pocket.

“I did a lot of musical theater,” Gets recalls.

And he dabbled in TV. He had a role in NBC’s 1993 “South Beach” and in the BBC’s “Jackadory” series with his one-man performance of “Monkey Island.” “I’m almost glad that series didn’t go,” he says of the NBC drama. “I really needed the time in-between to get the right experience.”

Gets also took on the role of F. Scott Fitzgerald in Alan Rudolph’s critically acclaimed feature “Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle” last year.

“Now I’m ready to tackle TV, and what a great show to be doing it on!” says Gets, who’s somewhat settled in Los Angeles. “I’m really enjoying this and so focused on the show. I can’t wait to see what happens with it.”

Advertisement

“Caroline in the City” airs Thursdays at 9:30 p.m. on NBC.

Advertisement