Hustle culture. Productivity porn. The business world has no shortage of stereotypes to describe the dangers of overwork, and probably for good reason.
But on the flip side, sometimes you just have to get stuff done , and few people are getting more done these days than Michael Arden.
At 44, the Tony Award-winning theater director has emerged as one of the busiest practitioners on Broadway, with a diverse portfolio of credits that includes A Christmas Carol , Parade , The Queen of Versailles , the smash hit Maybe Happy Ending , and this year’s crowd-pleaser The Lost Boys .
And those are just the ones from this decade.
Arden’s newest project, the Broadway revival of Aaron Sorkin’s A Few Good Men , opened at last month at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater.
First staged on Broadway in 1989, the fast-moving courtroom drama arrives with a timely message for a world grappling with the implications of warped leadership: When obeying orders is a matter of life or death, what happens when those orders are unethical—or just plain illegal?
If your only connection to the material is the 1992 movie starring Tom Cruise and directed by the late Rob Reiner, perhaps you count yourself among the untold scores of millennials and Gen Xers who grew up with it as a fixture of cable TV.
You might also be pleasantly surprised at how fresh the Reagan-era story feels on stage. Under Arden’s direction, scenes move briskly from one to the next, flashbacks seamlessly fill in the backstory, a winsome cast trades Sorkin’s crackling dialogue, and before you know it, you’re fully invested in the fate of two Marines on trial for murder.
Bradley Whitford, a Sorkin veteran who won an Emmy during his time on The West Wing , steps into the pivotal role of Nathan Jessep, the tongue-lashing Marine Corps colonel made famous by Jack Nicholson and his memorable line “You can’t handle the truth.”
Whitford brings a less menacing interpretation. Arden describes the actor “so damn likable,” a point that underscores his approach to letting A Few Good Men the play speak its own language.
“A lot of people don’t even realize it was a play before it was a film,” Arden tells Fast Company . “We’re doing a revival, but we’re really introducing lot of people to this play for the very first time.”
Laddering up
Arden got his start on Broadway more than two decades ago as an actor, starring as Tom Sawyer in the 2003 revival of Big River: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn .
He later turned to directing and also producing, and together with scenic designer Dane Laffrey and producer Mindy Baiada operates the production company At Rise Creative.
[Photo: Emilio Madrid]
With A Few Good Men , Arden is currently directing no fewer than three Broadway shows at the same time. ( Maybe Happy Ending and The Lost Boys are still going strong.)
As if that weren’t enough plate-spinning for one person, he also has multiple projects in various stages of development, including a musical version of the penguin-forward animated movie Happy Feet and another musical that catches up with the characters of Huckleberry Finn .
Fast Company recently caught up with Arden to discuss his latest production, what he does to stay productive, and how he juggles so many projects while still staying sane. (The interview was edited for length and clarity.)
What struck you about A Few Good Men that’s relevant for now?
I was really excited to find an American classic play that felt both timeless and timely, and something worthy of a stage the size of the Beaumont. There are a lot of great plays, but not necessarily all of them can really fill that space. It really felt like both the language and the content of the play could be something that would lend itself to sitting nicely within that cavern that is the Beaumont.
When I revisited the script, I felt, oh, this doesn’t feel dated. This feels timely in so much as we’re looking at the transparency of our government and especially the military. And just this year, we saw elected officials making videos urging troops and enlisted men and women to not obey illegal orders, and then being called treasonous for that.
My favorite type of theater isn’t necessarily theater that’s ripped from the headlines, but makes you recognize the headlines of today within the script of yesterday. Not only is this an entertaining great play that has great characters and a fun plot, but also, hopefully when you leave the theater, you think, oh gosh, we’re still dealing with reverberations of that same question. And to me, that’s exciting.
[Photo: Emilio Madrid]
How familiar were you with either the movie or the original stage version?
I had seen the film. My grandparents raised me, and my grandfather was a Navy veteran. And so all things military and Tom Cruise were on a constant loop in my living room. I think I’ve seen Top Gun more than anyone on earth.
So I knew the movie and had seen the play a long time ago, like a high school production or something like that. But, really, when I stumbled across it on a list of plays that hadn’t been revived, when I went back to the text, I was really rediscovering it for the first time.
I guess ‘iconic’ is a word to describe Jack Nicholson’s monologue at the end. It’s meme-level familiar. Even if you haven’t seen the movie, people know that scene. Were you at all concerned with how to approach that, or did you leave it up to the actor, Bradley Whitford?
I left it up to the actor. I felt like, listen, my job is to tell the story clearly and give the audience a space in which to form their own opinions about things. And that’s what I like to do with my actors as well. I want to choose the right people and see what they bring to it.
Bradley was the first person I thought of for this play. When it was approved by Aaron [Sorkin], he said, “Well, who do you want to cast?” And I was like, “Well, I’m not sure, but I’d love to go to Bradley Whitford for Jessep.” And he loved that idea.
When you work with a script like this that’s so, as you said, an American classic, and a writer like Aaron Sorkin, who’s still alive, are there a lot of restrictions about lines that can or can’t be changed?
He did a bit of a polish. He wanted to punch up some jokes and tidy up dialogue. He said, “Listen, it’s like having somebody publish your freshman journal from college.” He’s been incredibly open to, “Hey, could this change? This word here doesn’t feel right.” He’s been unbelievably collaborative and just a dream throughout this whole process and really let us do it. However, the play is so good that we really didn’t need to change much.
You worked with [scenic designer] Dane Laffery again. I noticed there’s really a lot of open space in this play. There’s this sort of bigness to [the sets]. Was that intentional?
Yeah, the visual metaphor was that the enormity of the military is always present. The play has something like 75 scenes. It has to go so quickly from one thing to the other that we knew we couldn’t be lumbering in transitions, bringing on new sets or doors even. It just had to be incredibly nimble. But we wanted to feel how much bigger this thing was than everyone.
[Photo: Emilio Madrid]
You have three shows currently on Broadway as director. What is your secret to productivity? Do you just never sleep?
I mean, necessity a little bit. Musicals especially, but plays too to some extent, take a really long time to get from inception to [Broadway]. Some things happen quicker than others, but on average, things take about between five and seven years from when we say, “Hey, here’s an idea for a show. Let’s do it.”
I kind of describe it as like I’m preparing a never-ending big meal at a restaurant, and I have different dishes on the stove. Some take longer to cook than others, but you have to be tending to them all. So I have to check in with the main course, and check in with what’s in the oven, check in with what’s on the stove, making sure it doesn’t burn or get overdeveloped.
All these things need to arrive on the table that is the theater—or marketplace—at different times, but you’re trying to pay attention to all of them. And so a great deal of multitasking comes in line, but I have to step into the project I’m working on fully for the amount of time I have allotted in my day to focus on it.
I know you’re working on a bunch of different upcoming projects, too. Is there anything that you’re really excited about that you want to talk about?
So many things, some of which I can’t talk about. I’m working on a new musical called The Interestings that I’m going to be doing in Berkeley this spring, based on Meg Wolitzer’s book. It’s a beautiful project, and one that I’m really excited about doing, and hopefully finds its way to New York.
And, of course, I’m working on Happy Feet , which I’m really excited to make something that is fun, and for adults and kids and everyone—and penguins.
I’m also developing a new musical that’s sort of a sequel to Huckleberry Finn that I’m really excited about called West , with an incredible writing team made up of both Native American and non-Native writers. It tells the story of Huck Finn becoming involved in the Lakota wars, which is a story that we have never seen on Broadway. So those are a couple things that I’m really excited about that are coming up.
With luck, maybe you’ll have six or seven things on Broadway at this time next year.
Oh, my gosh. I suddenly need to lay down.
