Matthew Broderick stars in 'Babbitt' — a play with plenty to say about 1922 and 2024

Author Sinclair Lewis won the Nobel Prize in literature a century ago in part for his novel “Babbitt.” He wrote it while he was in Washington D.C., and the play adaptation is now being performed at the Shakespeare Theater Company.

George Babbitt — a 1920s businessman who says ugly things about immigrants, socialists and the poor — is the main character. Matthew Broderick, best known for his roles in “Ferris Bueller's Day Off,” “Glory” and “The Producers,” plays Babbitt.

“He's known as [being in] the middle of everything,” Broderick says. “He's middle class and in an unimportant city in the Midwest. It's all the recipe for a boring person.”

Early in the play, George Babbitt is introduced by the other characters. How this fitting for his character?

“He's very concerned with how he appears to others, certainly. I think it was a challenge to try to make this book on stage because somebody described it as the only thing that's happened is after two years is, Babbitt is two years older. But I think he has all the trappings of somebody who's happy but doesn't quite feel happy.”

Can you talk about the cynicism behind Babbitt and the kind of speeches he gives?

“He says some things that are certainly by today's standards, really not good at all. The thing is, I don't think he has all that much convictions in a way. So it's an interesting story because you could look at it and then go, ‘This is the rise of some kind of fascist,’ but you start to realize he doesn't care that much about which side he's on. He just sort of wants to move ahead.”

He's xenophobic, he wants to be liked, he talks about foreigners in a pretty ugly way. Are we supposed to think about former President Donald Trump at a certain point in the show?

“It's impossible probably not to, but I don't quite think that's what it is. Your mind certainly goes there to see any self-serving business-oriented, liar rising.”

Is there some of us in Babbitt too? Especially the part of him that just wants to be liked?

“Of course you do. And then inside you have this Mr. Hyde who wants to take dance lessons at 2:00 a.m. and get drunk, and he has that too.”

I want to ask you about this rebellious detour that is a key moment on the stage. In the book Babbitt joins a group of bohemians and has an affair. Perhaps the biggest laugh is when your character, that middle-aged guy, tries to sit on the floor. Do you love that moment?

“It's like 40% of me and 60% exaggerated. As written it just happens, because she's bohemian, she puts out cushions, doesn’t have real furniture. I do have bad knees. So it does take me a little bit of a moment to get on the floor and get up.

“I did another play once where I had to kneel and pray and then get up, all of us had to be praying. And Jerry Seinfeld came to see the play and he said, ‘I like that scene because I like to watch how everybody gets up after they've been on their knees for that long.’”

James Perkins Mastromarino produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Catherine Welch. Welch also adapted it for the web.