Bostonia: Why is this play right for Broadway right now?

Fred Zollo: It’s been a very busy few months for the play. Joel Coen recently did a film with the great Frances McDormand and Denzel Washington, and that was terrific. And there was a revival with Saoirse Ronan at the Almeida in London. That’s three significant productions, including the one we’re doing. The timing just felt right. It’s a very modern production, and we have a wonderful, diverse cast. The casting transcends race and gender. I think it’s a production for its time. As many times as the play has been done, I don’t think it’s ever been done in this way. It’s sexy, it’s dangerous—it’s got sword fights. In the end, I think it’s a good moral story where evil is punished, and isn’t that refreshing, when evil is punished? I think it’s going to have a level of originality that is immensely exciting.

Bostonia: Tell us more about the play’s casting.

Fred Zollo: First of all, I think it’s time the theater and film industries get with the program and realize that there are all sorts of truly brilliant actors out there who can play any role. It’s taken us a very long time—way too long—but we are finally starting to see productions taking this view. We are finally accepting that, and having done this for a very long time, that’s so refreshing. Sam Gold did Othello with David Oyelowo and Daniel [Craig], and his casting was color-blind and included people with disabilities. Great actors come in all shapes, sizes, creeds, and colors. Sam also did a production of Glass Menagerie, and the actress who played Laura [Madison Ferris, who has muscular dystrophy] was in a wheelchair.

The fact that we’re opening the door to writers, actors, and artists from everywhere—it only enriches the theater. Sam shows a commitment to this sort of humanity, and isn’t that what the theater is supposed to be about? And in the end, isn’t that what this play really is about? It’s about the reclamation of humanity. It’s doing something to combat evil. I mean, we’re witnessing evil on the world stage. In this play, in the end, the Macbeths get their comeuppance, and thank goodness. I think it’s a great lesson for people.

Bostonia: You’ve been watching rehearsals. What’s the chemistry like between Daniel Craig and Ruth Negga?

Fred Zollo: Daniel is currently one of the world’s great actors, and he’s at the point in his career where he’ll probably go on to do even greater things. And Ruth is so extraordinary. To me, she harkens back to another time. She’s charming, funny, beautiful, and all the things that actors from another time, like Katharine Hepburn, were. You can’t take your eyes off her when she’s on stage. The fact that they’re paired together is so exciting. 

I’m old enough to come from a time where you could see these remarkable pairings in theater—Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, Florence Eldridge and Frederic March, Sir Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright, and I even saw Robert Ryan and Geraldine Fitzgerald in Long Day’s Journey. I think this gives that kind of opportunity—to not only see this whole amazing company, but also to see these two together at the height of their powers.

Bostonia: The production is partnering with local organizations to give free tickets to high school and college students. Why is this important?

Fred Zollo: We’re doing this wonderful thing called Macbeth 2022 that will give at least 2,022 tickets to students, with the goal of reaching students who are underrepresented on Broadway, including from BIPOC communities and those with disabilities. We want everyone who wants to see this production to have the opportunity to do so. We need to make theater more accessible. It’s something we’ve done on some of the other productions I’ve worked on, all the way back to Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom [in 1984]. We made tickets available to all communities who wanted to see it, many of which maybe felt they had not had the opportunity to see Broadway as much as possible. It’s not something that we’re taking credit for. This is the kind of thing that we should be doing.

Bostonia: You have won 7 Tony Awards and been nominated 20 times. Can you spot a Tony-winning play at this point in your career?

Fred Zollo: No. I mean, I never thought much about awards, whether it’s plays or films. Barbara [Broccoli] and I just finished a movie that I’ve been trying to make for 15 years, about the murder of Emmett Till. The brilliant Nigerian director Chinonye Chukwu directed it, and it comes out in October. Someone called me yesterday and said, “Oh, this is a big Oscar contender,” and I said, “I don’t know.” I mean, we only do what we want to do and what we feel is great, and that’s up to somebody else whether they think they’re going to give it a Tony Award or an Oscar. I’ve been incredibly lucky and blessed. But again, I’ve worked with the greats—David Rabe, David Mamet, Edward Albee [Hon.’10], Sam Shepard, Marsha Norman, August Wilson [Hon.’96]…so, it’s like, gee, you won some awards? Well, duh. There’s this expression, “to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable,” and I always thought that the role of the theater and film was to put something on the screen or on the stage that would do that. And if somebody likes it and wants to give it an award, well, that’s nice.