Welcome to the 9th Annual Monte Cristo Award honoring Kevin Spacey. (Applause) My Name is Preston Whiteway. I have the honor of serving as Executive Director here at the O'Neill, and I would like to thank our sponsors for making this evening possible. First, our premier sponsor, The Nederlander Organization. Thank you. (applause) And also our sponsors, Michael Douglas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, The Fusco Corporation, Lynn Fusco, Ruth and Stephan Hendel, Heather Henson, Roz and Jerry Meyer, The Shubert Organization, Spot-co, Tom Viertel, and the William Morris Agency. Thank you all. (applause) Finally, I'd like ask everyone to please enjoy their dinners and we will be back after dessert is on the table. Thank you. [DINNER] [PRESTON WHITEWAY- STATE OF THE O'NEILL] [READINGS - The Iceman Cometh; Moon for the Misbegotten; The Philadelphia Story] [MUSIC - Matt Alber and Juilliard Band Play Bobby Darin] [TOM VIERTEL - INTRO OF BRIAN DENNHEY] "...the great Brian Dennehy:" (applause) Kevin Spacey addresses the audience during the 2009 Monte Cristo Award. Eve Best and Kevin Spacey at the 2009 Monte Cristo Award. Kevin Spacey accepts the 2009 Monte Cristo Award. Preston Whiteway, Executive Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, greets guests at the 2009 Monte Cristo Award Brian Dennehy introduces Kevin Spacey at the 2009 Monte Cristo Award. Eve Best and Kevin Spacey dance to Matt Alber's musical tribute to Bobby Darin. Brian Dennehy introduces Kevin Spacey at the 2009 Monte Cristo Award. BRIAN DENNEHY'S REMARKS AND AWARD PRESENTATION I'm such a whore (laughter). That's what he means by the TV, and the movies, (laughter) and I'll do anything, supermarket opening, gas station (laughter)! Say what you mean. And by the way, there are tickets available (laughter). Almost any night, okay (laughter)? ... Ôcause I'm standing outside going (waves arms in the air). Kevin Spacey, Lester Burnham, Verbal Kint, Mel Profitt, Jack Vincennes, Hickey and Mickey. How many people know where Mickey's from? He does (pointing at Kevin). Jamie Tyrone. All the male leads in Hurly Burly (laughter). Am I right? Yeah. The list is impressive, and endless. It's all Kevin Spacey and it couldn't be anyone else. Kevin Spacey has created iconic characters that powerfully resonate in our pop culture. How's that for a Vanity Fair sentence, eh (laughter)? Well, I wrote it. And of course, he has. He's also taken on some of the most difficult classical roles. I saw him play Richard II at the Old Vic. No, not Richard III , Richard II. Infinitely harder. In fact, I saw it twice, and it was pretty great. And of course, the reason we're all here tonight, because of when Kevin has focused his laser like energy on several roles by our Shakespeare, Eugene O'Neill. Well, who is this guy? Why is he there, so often? Right there at the edge of our consciousness, with his knowing, amused eyes. And that slight, sardonic grin and the powerful sense that he sees it clearly. He understands, and accepts it all. He finds it kind of amusing. And ultimately, to those eyes, it really doesn't make a hell of a lot of difference, does it? Where's that come from? Well, he was born in South Orange, New Jersey, and brought up in Chatsworth, California, and I guess that explains a hell of a lot of it right there. (laughter) He went to Juilliard and dropped out, from what I understand. Is that true? Yeah, that's one problem with the Goddamned net. Man, there's no secrets anymore (laughter). Worked with Joe Papp, Mike Nichols, Jonathan Miller, Trevor Nunn, Trevor Griffiths, and a whole bunch of other British Trevor's (laughter). And there are gangs of them over there, too (laughter). If you're stuck for a name, just say, "Trevor, Trevor" (laughter). He was friends with Jason Robards, Jack Lemmon. He developed a fixation for Bobby Darin. And the names and the influences go on, and on. And they have all helped to produce a powerful and unique American artist: Kevin Spacey. (Applause) No, I'm not done yet. You're not getting off that easy, okay (laughter)? I know you're trying, but forget about it (laughter). Took me twenty minutes to write this Goddamned thing, and I'm saying it (laughter). I can't learn lines anymore, so forget about learning it. I can barely read the damn thing (laughter). In LA Confidential, when detective Jack Vincennes walks into a room, so does cynical, self-satisfaction. He's attractive, funny, manipulative, and slightly amoral. I wonder if you can be slightly amoral. Anyway, it seemed to work together then. But there is something else there. Some flawed part of Vincennes' character which cannot overlook the casual brutality and corruption of his fellow police officers. This goodness, if I may use that very uncool word, is frustrating to Vincennes, because it makes him do things that the hustler in him knows will be troublesome. But he does them. And they get him killed. A hero? Well, it's complicated of course. So, of course, only Kevin Spacey could play him. Lester Burnham in the extraordinary American Beauty is falling apart. His family, his work, his mind. Everything is slipping away. But Lester gets the joke, the cosmic joke. Of course it slips away. Everything slips away, sooner or later. Or crashes and burns or blows up, or stops breathing, or just stops. And that's funny, right? After all the worry, and effort, and time, and energy, and caring, it all just stops. And Lester gets the joke, and Kevin gets Lester, and the Academy Award. The cosmic joke, the banana peel, the kick in the ass. Well, that brings us to O'Neill, doesn't it (laughter)? Hickey in Iceman Cometh has discovered the secret of happiness. Happiness... Eugene O'Neill... (tsk) well maybe not (laughter). But in Kevin's brilliant performance, Hickey is happy. Because he's figured it out, he's found the formula, the magic pill. He knows now, how to make life worth living and, well, happy. And because he's a great salesman, he has to peddle his discovery to the least prospective prospects in the world. The denizens of Harry Hopes Saloon. Enter Kevin Spacey. Spacey? The hip avatar of cynicism and irony? Spacey? O'Neill? Why? Well, because like Everest, it's there. And it's important. And it's difficult. And it needs to be done Spacey's way. So it's fast. It's graceful. ItÔs Fred Astaire, always moving, always ahead of the audience. But there's something dark in the attitude. Something in the eyes or behind them. Something not quite so sure about Hickey's product, or himself. And the apocalypse, the real truth, the real secret approaches, and overwhelms him. It's Eugene O'Neill and it's Kevin Spacey, and it works. It's modern, it's authentic, it's powerful. And the new generation of young theater goers have discovered Eugene O'Neill because of Kevin Spacey. Moon for the Misbegotten, Jamie's dead, he's not buried yet. He's still walking around, making faint gestures at life, going through the ghostly motions, but he's dead. Nothing left but wise ass remarks and half hearted flirtations and a desperate need for an end to it all. And Spacey is extraordinary. Because of course the play is the inevitable conclusion to the wise guy life that Jamie O'Neill, Eugene's brother, lived. And Spacey, with his microscopic understanding of Jamie's destructive self-loathing, plays it with a facile, worn out patter that dissolves in mute exhaustion. Leaving us to stare down at the crumpled figure in the abyss. His figure, and ours, of course. Kevin Spacey and Eugene O'Neill. An extraordinary relationship which has brought so much to all of us over the years. And of course Kevin's still here, still reporting back provoking us, making us think, and laugh, and cry, and we're lucky to have him. And the years of intelligence and passion and grace that he will give us in the future. Grace. Grace. Grace. That's a great word and a word that has never been used in the same sentence with the words Brian Dennehy (laughter). My final line is, the reports of Kevin suffering from mercury poisoning are very exaggerated (laughter). But I saw him eating sushi just the other day... (laughter). It is my great honor to present to Kevin the Monte Cristo Award for excellence and in the effort to explain, and to perform, and to do, all of our... the man who inspires us all so much, Eugene O'Neill. Kevin. Don't try to lift that thing without a truss (pointing to award). (applause) KEVIN SPACEY'S ACCEPTANCE OF THE MONTE CRISTO AWARD Given by THE EUGENE O'NEILL THEATER CENTER, Waterford CT South Street Seaport, New York City April 26, 2009 First, of course, want to thank Graydon Carter for having introduced me (laughter). Uh, I don't mind your Vanity Fair comment. I don't mind a damn thing you said. That took you a hell of a lot longer than twenty minutes, though didn't it, to write that? I'm very appreciative to Brian, for having come out tonight. Partly because I know how he must be feeling after having done a 3 o'clock matinee this afternoon. What he said meant a lot. Tonight has meant a lot. As I watched these performers read and act quite beautifully, all of you. These scenes from these plays that have intertwined my life, I began to think about the connections that have happened in my life as a result of being introduced to the great Eugene O'Neill when I was just in high school. I thought about Colleen Dewhurst. I never got to do O'Neill with her, but I did Chekhov. And because of her, we were down in Washington D.C. doing Peter Sellars' directed production of A Seagull, which is what he called it (laughter). It just so happened that the show that was in the Eisenhower Theater before we were about to go in and create our disaster, was Iceman Cometh, with Jason. Now, I knew at this point that I was going to be doing Long Days Journey in January of the next year. And Colleen said it was the closing night of Iceman and she wanted me to come along to the party so that she could introduce me to Jason, and I said "No. Absolutely not. I don't want to meet him. Terrifies me." (laughter) And she said, "No, you've got to come." So we went to this little party in a ballroom after their last performance of Iceman which at this point I had seen about fifteen times. And I remember seeing Jason on the other side of the room, at a table like this. And at one point in the evening, late in the evening, he got up, and I saw him coming across the room. And I got more and more nervous as I felt him coming around behind me. And then I felt a hand on my shoulder. And I looked up. And like an athlete passing a torch, he looked at me and said, "Be good to him. He was very good to me." He knew I was about to do Jamie, as he had done on Broadway, and he became a great friend. And I always remember, he used to give me this great piece of advice. I said "What do you do, in O'Neill, when you don't know what the hell to do?" He said, "Listen kid, just lean back, and you'll feel a hand on the small of your back. And that's Eugene, and he'll carry you along." I of course think of Jack Lemmon. I think of Peter Gallagher. I think of Emily Best. I think of Howard Davies, our great director in Iceman and in Moon. I think of the odd fact that Jason Robards and I share the same birthday. I used to call him every year and sing, "Happy Birthday to us!" (laughter). Now, I still have to annually pinch myself, to fully accept that this kid from South Orange, New Jersey, has found himself as the Artistic Director of one of the most famous and beloved theaters in British history. It's an extraordinary opportunity that I have found in London. I love it there. And I'm often asked how is it that I've ended up working down around London's Waterloo station for the past six years instead of lounging around some kidney shaped swimming pool in Beverly Hills, sipping cocktails, and collecting residual checks. Well, a lot of the reasons have to do with some pretty sage advice that my mother passed on to me when I was quite young. She felt that in order to have a successful life, it was important to try to become rich in all the ways that have value. I was very encouraged tonight to hear about all that the O'Neill Center is doing toward education, and particularly for young kids, and for teenagers, because that's where it all started for me. It started with opportunity and education. When I was just thirteen years old, I attended a theater workshop that was being run by my idol, Jack Lemmon. I will never forget what it meant to me after I finished a scene from a play, and Jack Lemmon saddled over to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "That was a touch of terrific, kid." (laughter). "No, I mean this kid has got talent. You oughta think about being an actor. What the hell was that?" Well, of course I was thinking about becoming an actor, and that moment in my life, that second, when someone of his stature said that to me, that was the beginning of my confidence. That was the beginning of finding a sense of self esteem that maybe I could do it. And twelve years later I found myself auditioning for, and ultimately getting, the role of Jamie Tyrone, in that production with Jack Lemmon. We spent the next year together, on Broadway, in London, at the Habima Theater in Tel Aviv. He became a great mentor, he became a father figure. He was a remarkable man, because he never let Hollywood glory go to his head. He had enormous generosity, and he taught me more than any book I could have ever read. We ending up working three other times together, ending with our work in Glengary Glenn Ross, which he liked to call Gene Barry, Glenn Close (laughter). Now, Preston mentioned earlier about my feelings about how I feel about arts and culture. There is no doubt that with all the talk about the recession and the downturn, the doomsters and gloomsters say that there's going to be less money for arts and culture. That certainly we can do without these luxury items when times are tough. Well, I could not disagree more. (applause) The arts uplift, they challenge, they stimulate, they enter our conversations, they're part of our debates, they remain in our hearts. And I do not believe they are a luxury item, I do believe they are a necessity. (applause) And I think that those of us who are in a position to make an argument for supporting the arts are not doing a good enough job making the economic impact of arts and culture as a centerpiece to our argument. I mean, let's face it. Arts and culture bring an enormous amount to the economy. You look at any cultural center, any arts institution, any place where people gather, and the restaurants the hotels, the transportation, the newspaper stands- everything is affected by where people gather. Broadway is the single largest tourist attraction in the United States. Most people don't know that. That happens to be true. I personally don't want to see another major property development plan that doesn't have arts and culture at the heart of its offer. Because otherwise we're ignoring the very soul of our society and focusing only on the bricks and mortar. (applause) I have to say, I was very encouraged to see that President Obama's stimulus package had $50 million set aside for investment in the arts. Despite the fact that many were trying to get that entire amount taken out of the bill before it went to the Senate. Now, come on. You got to really hate culture to want to take out a measly $50 million from an over $750 billion stimulus bill (applause). But it passed. Why? Because even in the time when economics are dominating and some people are trying to frame culture as less important, even the President of the United States only needed to see the successes that we've achieved to say that culture should not suffer. So, the question is not what can the economy do for our arts, but what do the arts do for our economy? And the answer is: a lot. (applause) If more cultural centers face a threatened economic future, if more of our rural theaters close, if more of our arts institutions face lack of funding, our society will suffer. I believe in arts and culture. I believe in kids. Because I know the difference it can make for a young person to stand on a stage in a school program, or a workshop, or a seminar, because that's how I started. You know, Jack Lemmon used to have a great saying, and I've adapted it as my own. He used to say that if you've done well in the business that you want to do well in, then it is your obligation to spend a good portion of your time sending the elevator back down. I always liked that phrase, "sending the elevator back down," because we can all send the elevator back down. It doesn't matter what floor you're on, because, in life, there's always someone just below waiting to be invited up. Our job's to make sure the floors we live on are not so high that we can no longer hear the voices of young people begging for opportunity to make a better life for themselves. (applause) And while I realize that having a positive attitude won't solve all our problems, it might just annoy enough cynical people along the way to make the effort worthwhile. (laughter & applause) I want to thank George White (applause), and Tom Viertel (applause), Matt, who did an extraordinary job singing all that music (applause), and all those musicians from Julliard, fantastic work all of you, you brought back a lot of memories (applause). I want to thank my business partner, who has been with me for a very long time, Frank Selvaggi (applause). My producer on Long Days Journey into Night, my producer on Lost in Yonkers, my producer on Iceman Cometh, my great friend Manny Azenberg, thank you for being here tonight (applause). When I was listening The Philadelphia Story, which I enjoyed very much you guys, I turned to Jerry Zaks, who directed me in that production at the Old Vic, and I thought, "what a great time we had," and I'm glad you're here tonight Jerry. Thank you so much. With all that great music from Beyond the Sea, I could not help but remember the unbelievable difficult job that Rob Ashford had in trying to teach me how to dance (laughter). It was hell. It was hell for me because I was learning the dances while I was shooting the movie at 9 o'clock at night, and he was like a little storm trooper. Rob Ashford, thank you for that (applause). Some one who's been with me as a friend since I was a Julliard student, and then as my manager, just along the road of Long Days Journey, about mid-way through that experience. A woman who has been my manager from the very beginning whom, we've been together twenty-four years? Yeah, and there's not a piece of paper between us. Joanne Horowitz, thank you for having led the way (applause). I want to thank all of those at the Old Vic, who I have a great, incredible job working with. I think what always made the Old Vic great was the people who worked there. And it's no different today than it was at any time its heyday. None of them are with us tonight, but they are always in my heart and I celebrate them and I celebrate the opening of Norman Conquests last week on Broadway with a remarkable company and tickets are available (laughter & applause). Um, the Old Vic is truly the most remarkable theater I've ever worked in. It's magical, it has a soul, history, but I think its greatest asset is its future. So I am honored to be its current custodian. And I want to just leave you with a little story, because, you know, sometimes people can forget that you can have a hell of a lot of fun doing O'Neill. When we were doing Long Days Journey into Night Jack Lemmon, as you all know, can talk very fast, and he came out on stage, every night for about one hundred performances. And he had a line in the scene when Peter Gallagher and I walk on to the stage and something has happened. We don't know, uh, we haven't told him, um he walks in and he sees that we're both quite depressed. And his first line in the scene is, "Hey, what's going on? There's a gloom in the air you can cut with a knife." And Jack came out on stage for about a hundred performances and said this line perfectly right, and then one night he walked onstage and he said, "Hey, what's going on? There's a doom in this room you can shake with a stick" (laughter). Peter and I, of course, had to turn upstage because we lost it. I got backstage and I said, uh, "Jack." He said, "Uh-huh?" I said, "What's your first line in the scene we just did together?" He said, "Oh, There's a gloom in the air you can cut with a knife." I said, "That's not what you said." He said, "Yes I did." I said, "No, you said 'There's a doom in this room you can shake with a stick.'" He said, "No, I didn't." I said, "Yes you did." He said, "Well, it's the same thing, go fuck yourself" (laughter & applause). I'm hugely, hugely honored that you took the time to come out on a Sunday night, that everyone involved in the O'Neill Center put this lovely evening together. It's a great thrill for me, um, and the weird thing is, I feel like I'm just getting started. Thank you very much (applause). [Standing Ovation].