Danny DeVito plays a hoarder in ‘I Need That’, a play set in NJ
If my life weren’t so busy as a single dad and I had more free time there’s a play I heard about that I’d love to see. It’s set in New Jersey and stars a true Jersey icon.
Danny DeVito.
The show is called “I Need That” and DeVito plays a hoarder whose daughter is trying to talk him into changing his ways. Has a hoarding theme like this ever been done before?
What sounds fantastic is the humanity I’m reading DeVito brings to the character. It shows hoarding not just through the eyes of a disorder but through the heart of one who still feels connected to their life.
The play by Theresa Rebeck recently had its world premiere and is running until December 30 at the American Airlines Theater on Broadway.
Danny DeVito plays Sam, a guy getting on in years who doesn’t go out much anymore and lives with his things, things that connect him to his past. He’s being threatened by the town with eviction if he doesn’t clean up the property. His daughter Amelia, played by real-life daughter Lucy DeVito, tries to convince him.
Their on-stage love is said to be palpable, but a father-daughter blowup over the untenable situation still must happen.
Towards the end, desperate to make Amelia understand, Sam says, “I don’t want to disappear. Do you see? Do you see it now? These things, the things you can touch. They keep the world from disappearing. And then you don’t disappear.”
Danny DeVito has had an amazing career with TV shows like “Taxi” and “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and movies like “One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Hoffa.”
“I Need That” isn’t his first time on Broadway. He starred in the Arthur Miller play “The Price” as Gregory Solomon, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. At 78, he just keeps getting better.
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