Chronologically, we’re up to the episode of The Romanaffs that Andrew Rannells starred in. Since I’ve already posted my review from that, I’ll look instead today at his overall live-action work on television. On the whole, I’d probably rank Rannells’s TV career as close to equal with his Broadway career. On the one hand, his TV work involves less singing (obviously) and fewer lead roles. However, both venues have provided space for him to give some great performances, and the full series he’s been a part of have given us the chance to see him explore a lot of range within those individual characterizations.
Before I get into the “big ones,” Rannells’s regular roles on shows, I’ll quickly touch on his various guest-star shots. Rannells has played one-shot characters or had short recurring roles on a number of series. Even though he frequently plays characters within a similar wheelhouse and has a general performance style that’s recognizably his own, I think he typically does a fine job matching the tone and feel of the show he’s on. That’s the common denominator I see in my favorite guest-star appearances of his – How I Met Your Mother, Another Period, Drunk History, and Will & Grace. Whether I went into these Book of Rannells reviews familiar with the show or not (in the case of the above, How I Met Your Mother was the only one I’d ever watched regularly,) I was struck watching each that Rannells felt like he fit in. Though each has a different comedic sensibility, Rannells never feels out of place or out of step.
Not that I’d call all of
his guest appearances winners. I have no
great love for Rannells’s appearances on Comedy
Bang! Bang!, Glee, or The Knick, but I’d say that’s because
his parts there are so insubstantial.
Even on The Knick, where he
pops up in several episodes over the course of the season, his character
matters so little to the overall scheme of things that he makes very little
impression. (Comedy Bang! Bang! is early
enough in his TV career that I suppose I can see why he took it, and his appearance
on Glee is a cameo for a showrunner
he’d worked with before, but The Knick admittedly
feels like a bit of an odd one out to have such a nothing role. That said, it’s certainly the most dramatic
piece that Rannells has been a part of, onstage or onscreen, so maybe, just as
an actor needs to work their way back up when they enter a new medium, they
often do the same when they move from comedy to drama?) The main exception here is The Romanoffs; he has a sizable role and does his job well, I just wasn't a fan of that episode and so wasn't find invested in it, and that's beyond the extra unpleasantness involved.
But enough of that! Let’s get to the stars of today’s post, Rannells’s regular roles on TV shows. To date, he’s only had one full-on starring role on TV, as co-lead on The New Normal, short-lived at only one season. He also has top-shelf supporting-character game, though, as seen across all six seasons of Girls (which, as I’ve said, was originally intended to be a one-off role, but Lena Dunham kept bringing him back until he became a regular) and now Black Monday, where he’s definitely secondary to Don Cheadle and Regina Hall but is still a crucial part of the series. It doesn’t surprise me that Rannells’s high-profile TV work would tend more toward supporting characters, since I imagine he’s probably viewed by the industry as a character actor (i.e., he’s not seen as a leading-man type, due in no small part to the fact that very few TV writers are writing the sort of leading men that jibes with what he does best.) Either way, whether he’s anchoring a show or just adding to it in support, I love watching him onscreen.
Because a regular gig on a TV series offers two major things: accessibility and time. Rannells’s tendency to take replacement roles on Broadway means very little of his stage work has been captured in a cast recording – it kills me that there’s no official record of his Hedwig – and only Falsettos has been preserved in its full glory via its Live from Lincoln Center filmed recording, while The Boys in the Band received a film adaptation, a similar animal that nonetheless makes for a different performance/experience. With TV, though, I can come to it anytime (I didn’t start Girls until the series had already wrapped) and revisit it whenever I want through streaming/DVD/etc., reliving whatever moments of these performances are my favorites.
And goodness gracious, I do enjoy having entire seasons of Rannells’s work at my disposal. Episode upon episode of his dynamite delivery, priceless reaction shots, and, even though Black Monday, Girls and The New Normal are all primarily comedic, dramatic chops – on any of these shows, only one in ten, or even one in twenty, of Rannells’s scenes might be dramatic, but he still tears them up, proving time and again that he absolutely has what it takes to handle a more serious role. I like seeing these characters change to different extents over the course of their respective series, and I like the various ups and downs we see within single episodes. These roles give Rannells the chance to being hilarious, moving, heartbreaking, relatable, unlikable, and memorable, bringing different dynamics to interactions with different characters.
It’s why, ultimately, I can’t blame Rannells’s TV work too much for the time constraints it’s placed on his Broadway career. I’d love to have more cast recordings with his voice on them, of course. But scenes like Bryan figuring out how to parent a boy his way, Elijah asking Pal to be more respectful of him, or Blair transforming from an investment geek into a wolf of Wall St.? They’re just so worth it.
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