CBS Sunday Morning, a news-driven, topical-events show, is basically “performance television” for older people who aren’t that hip. The producers require their interviewers (or maybe the interviewers do this on their own volition) to pretend like they’re yeehaws from rural Arkansas, although without the yokel accents and wearing uptown apparel.
Watch the doofusy Jim Axelrod as Carrie Coon tells him that she’s become a hot Broadway ticket since costarring in The White Lotus. He leans forward and squints his eyes in skepticism if not astonishment, his voice adopting a “no, wait a minute…really?” quality.
Yes, Coon patiently explains. Her White Lotus performance led to her landing a starring role in Tracy Letts‘ Bug**, now playing at the Manhattan Theatre Club The wealthy suburban yahoos who know her are more eager to buy tickets for their day-long or weekend excursions into midtown Manhattan, etc.
HE to Axelrod: Has the “recognizable face and name upping ticket sales” equation ever not been true in the Broadway realm? Have you been living under a rock? No, you’re just pretending that you have.
** Yes, the same Bug that was adapted in to a 2006 feature by director William Friedkin. The lead roles were played by Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon.