Interview: TV Collaborators Marco Pennette and Thomas Middleditch Reunite A Block Away on Broadway

In the early days of the pandemic, television creator Marco Pennette and actor Thomas Middleditch worked together on the CBS sitcom B Positive. In the series, Middleditch played a loose stand-in for Pennette, a man experiencing renal failure and in need of a new kidney. As their paths crossed over the process, they were both admirers of each other’s work — Middleditch on Silicon Valley; Pennette as a writer and producer of hits like Mom and Ugly Betty — but they didn’t expect they’d be on Broadway at the same time just a few years later. Pennette is the book writer of the new musical comedy Death Becomes Her, while Middleditch is starring one block over in Jonathan Spector’s vaccine debate comedy Eureka Day. We recently put them together on Zoom to discuss their experiences.

This conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. 

Thomas Middleditch: Were you working on Death Becomes Her while we were doing B Positive?

Marco Pennette: Oh yeah. And all the years I was on Mom. I was on Mom for eight years and I was boring those writers. I’m like “And then we’re gonna do a reading of it,” and they’re all staring at me like, “Good luck.” I didn’t realize the time commitment. They’d say to me “Marco, we’d love this scene by March. And I’d be like “Oh, I thought you’d want it on, like, Tuesday.”

Musicals take a long time. Kristin Chenoweth told me Wicked was like nine years. In TV, there is that saying, “You don’t shoot it because it’s ready, you shoot it because it’s Friday.”

I just wanted to do a musical. I’ve wanted to do a musical since I was five. Universal gave me their catalogue, and it was every movie they had made. Marc Platt, who produced Wicked and can now buy Italy, said “Pick an imperfect movie. Don’t pick one of those movies that everyone knows every line to.” I thought that was Death Becomes Her. It’s not a perfect movie. It’s a good movie and a fun movie, and it lends itself to a musical, for sure.

I love that I’m talking about this show about two women that drink a potion and Thomas is doing this heady, intellectual play. With the new administration coming in and more and more anti-vaxxers in the world, are you worried about the vibe of the play changing at all?

Thomas: No. Honestly, I’m assuming that here in New York, we’re gonna get a pretty unified crowd leaning in a particular way. It is my understanding that, maybe at some point down the road, it’s going to have a small run in D.C. and I’m very curious if it will be differently received. But one thing that the play does well and was a big reason of me even doing it, is that it humanizes the opposing side. It doesn’t just look down its nose. No one is a villain, even if they have views where you’re like “I don’t understand how you can think that.” Everybody means well, even if their justifications may seem a little bit wacky.

Marco: Man, I know that world so well. I was part of that whole LA private school world for 18 years.

Thomas: It will trigger you.

Marco: Have you done the Broadway traditions?

Thomas: I was really hoping for more traditions. The only Broadway-ism I’ve done is that I’ve gone to the one restaurant staple. I was telling my friends, “I think I’m at this Sardi’s place,” and they’re like “This Sardi’s place? It’s an institution, sir.”

Marco: Are you loving the schedule?

Thomas: The schedule is cool, but to be honest, I’ve so very much enjoyed working with Anna D. Shapiro. It feels kind of stupid to be like “It’s so good to work with this great director” because it’s like “Of course you like acting opposite Tom Hanks or something. No shit Sherlock.” But she is so good at her craft and breaking things down and succinctly summarizing what needs to occur without just saying “Hey, you need to do this.” This is also revealing how bad an actor I am; for the first week, we sat around the table and read it and reread it and analyzed it and talked about character motivations and unpacked histories. I haven’t done that level of script analysis since I was in college. Most of my roles have are like “You go in there and say boner at the right time.” And that’s fine. I’m not complaining in any way, but it’s been refreshing to shake the rust off.

By far, the most impactful moment was the first night of previews. I was nervous and I just started crying. There was some time a few years ago where things got a little crazy for me and there was so much sadness and shame and embarrassment, and now it’s like “The fire isn’t gone yet.” I keep calling it Chapter Two because I’ve done some reinvention and you have to change with a big moment in time that changes you. I have Anna and company to thank, I have you and company to thank for being there. It’s impacted a human life to an incredible degree.

Marco: I’ve just always been so infatuated with your talent. When we were working on B Positive, you’d already done Silicon Valley, but single camera is so different than a sitcom.

Thomas: That’s what I realized when we first started doing it. I was like “Oh man, it’s like we’re doing theater again.”

Marco: I don’t know if you remember this, we were the only pilot that had an audience because it was shot on the day Covid blew up. I remember going to [costar] Annaleigh [Ashford] and saying “Listen, as a series, we’re not gonna have an audience,” and without missing a beat, she was like “It’s ok. I’ll just pretend it’s a Wednesday matinee.” So you have that theater experience now.

Thomas: And I will say, I’ve so thoroughly enjoyed it. And if Broadway ever wants to have me again, I’d do it. I don’t know about a musical. I can’t sing. Unless it can be a little character piece where I can say the talky line in the song.

Marco: Do you do the whole stage door thing? When I was a kid and went to see Broadway shows, there were always like me and two homeless people waiting for Bernadette Peters, and now there are huge crowds. Have you been dealing with any of that stuff yet?

Thomas: Plays aren’t as splashy as these huge musicals, but some people do wait. There’s a little waiting area and it’s sweet. But it’s winter and super cold and rainy, so I don’t blame anyone. I try to never take that stuff for granted. I always remember having met a couple celebrities and the nerves you have to have to go up to them and say “I like you.” It’s scary. I also try to remember, as preposterous as it is, that doctors and EMT drivers don’t get stopped by people saying “Thank you for saving a bunch of lives. Can I get your autograph?” That doesn’t happen.

What about you? Was there a moment in your process so far that was so special in any way?

Marco: This was the dream. I was that kid lip-syncing to Dreamgirls in my bedroom when I was five, and TV sucked me in a bit. It’s so hard to explain because all my friends go “Are you loving it.” And I’m like “Yeah, it’s good.” Maybe it’s that I’m not 23. Everyone goes “You wrote a Broadway musical!” and I’m like “I know, maybe I’m dead inside.” I feel joy, but I’m waiting for that one moment. We had an ad in the New York Times with all the reviews and that gave me a lump in my throat.

We did the show the night after the election and these people were not there to laugh at all. Slowly, the actors got them laughing, and by the end, they were cheering and standing up. I feel like a dork for saying it, but you feel like “If I played a small role in that…”