Mizlansky/Zilinsky

by Jon Robin Baitz, Julie Kavner (Narrator), Nathan Lane (Narrator)

Italian shoes, a house in the hills, a gift for stretching the truth, and a petulant assistant to pick the scallions out of his Szechuan noodles – Hollywood producer Davis Mizlansky has it all. But he’s about to lose it to the IRS unless he can pull off one more deal. A stellar cast performs this hilarious send-up of modern-day Hollywood.

Genres: Plays

Audiobook

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Robbie Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to California, where he attended Beverly Hills High School.[1] After graduation, he worked as a bookstore clerk and assistant to two producers, and the experiences became the basis for his first play, a one-acter entitled Mizlansky/Zilinsky. He drew on his own background for his first two-act play, The Film Society, about the staff of a prep school in South Africa. Its 1987 success in L.A. led to an off-Broadway production with Nathan Lane the following year, which earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play. This was followed by The End of the Day starring Roger Rees, and The Substance of Fire with Ron Rifkin and Sarah Jessica Parker.
In 1991, Baitz wrote and directed the two-character play Three Hotels, based on his parents, for a presentation of PBS's "American Playhouse", then reworked the material for the stage, earning another Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding New Play for his efforts. In 1993, he co-scripted (with Howard A. Rodman) The Frightening Frammis, which was directed by Tom Cruise and aired as an episode of the Showtime anthology series Fallen Angels. Two years later, Henry Jaglom cast him as a gay playwright who achieves success at an early age - a character inspired by Baitz himself - in the film Last Summer in the Hamptons; the following year he appeared as Michelle Pfeiffer's business associate in the screen comedy One Fine Day. In 1996, he was one of the three finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for his semi-autobiographical play A Fair Country.
Subsequent stage works include Mizlansky/Zilinsky or "Schmucks", a revised version of Mizlansky/Zilinsky directed by Baitz's then-partner Joe Mantello (1998), a new adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (first at L.A.'s Geffen Playhouse with Annette Bening in 1999, then at Long Island's Bay Street Theater with Kate Burton in 2000, followed by a Broadway production with the same star the following year), Ten Unknowns (2001), starring Donald Sutherland and Juliana Margulies, and The Paris Letter (2005) with Ron Rifkin and John Glover. His screenplays include the adaptation of his own Substance of Fire (1996), with Tony Goldwyn and Timothy Hutton joining original cast members Rifkin and Parker, and People I Know (2003), which starred Al Pacino.
Baitz's occasional work writing for such television series as The West Wing and Alias led to his position as creator and executive producer of the ABC TV drama Brothers & Sisters, which premiered in September 2006 and ran for five seasons, ending in May 2011.
Baitz was the New School for Drama's artist in residence for the 2009-2010 school year.[2]
His play Other Desert Cities opened Off-Broadway at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater (Lincoln Center) in New York on January 13, 2011, starring Stockard Channing, Linda Lavin, Stacy Keach, Thomas Sadoski and Elizabeth Marvel. [3] The play was originally titled Love and Mercy.[4]. The production transferred to Broadway, opening at the Booth Theatre on November 3, 2011, with Judith Light replacing Lavin and Rachel Griffiths replacing Marvel.

Reviews

[Gil · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Mizlansky/Zilinsky”
By Jon Robin Baitz
Performed by: Nathan Lane, Paul Sand, Grant Shaud, Rob Morrow, Julie Kavner, Richard Masur, Harry Shearer, Kurtwood Smith, Robert Walden
Length: 1 hr and 46 mins
Produced by L.A. Theatre Works
Release date: 05-07-08

This time around in my play research, I'm looking for something a little light-hearted. Going to my reliable source for play productions I look at L.A. Theatre Works for something. LATW always comes through with some great plays with stellar casts and outsanding production that puts you right smack dab in the middle of the audience. So, knowing, this will be a play I want to hear I start looking. (I'm still reading a couple of plays in book form, so I needed something to fill those downtimes.)

The first thing that grabs me with this production is the cast. Two of the members of the cast are regular voice actors on “The Simpsons,” Julie Kavner and Harry Shearer, I already love Nathan Lane and Rob Morrow, so I think immediately this will be fun. And fun it is...actually fun is a bit of an understatement.

Nathan Lane plays Davis Mizlansky a Hollywood producer trying to avoid the IRS. He's now in the business of selling tax shelters in the form of Bible stories on tape. When a big Oklahoma money man, Horton De Vries, played by Kurtwood Smith (Red Forman from “That 70s Show”) has some potential buyers things get interesting, especially since Horton seems to be an anti-semite unknowingly working with the Mizlansky/Zilansky jewish duo.

That being the meat of the story in my opinion the funniest bits are between Davis and his assistant. Some funny stuff there. Check this out. Now if I can find a stage to perform this I think more laughs can be found.

[Carolyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mizlansky/Zilansky . This is raucous, bouncy comedy and Jon Robin Baitz is himself, one of today's Hollywood top writers. I met him 20 some years ago when he was quite young, already writing phenomenal plays like THREE HOTELS and then I was a loyal fan of his hit tv show BROTHERS AND SISTERS. He writes Jewish character with beautiful depth, realism and lyricism so naturally he can nail a comical stereotype and reach out of the confines, and he does and it's just a lot of fun. This was a fast read because it was so funny and it was wonderful to join up with JRB's mind again and be thoroughly entertained

[Saravanan Mani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent performances Ellen's elevate an uneven plot. There are some fast and clever bits of writing that evoke genuine laughs

[Hank Lin · Rating 2 out of 5]

A sharp playwright with a studied eye for dialogue overcompensates on an otherwise overpadded plot which makes its way to the climax like a grumpy parent rushing her child to the dentist, but I come off like an asshole for wording a review like this.

[David Quick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to audio recording of it. Nathan Lane is fabulous.

[Erika · Rating 4 out of 5]

A play about two pathetic Hollywood producers with venal values and high pretensions. Super fast-paced, the dialogue is hilarious and full of details.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caustic, funny play about a pair of shady, washed-up Hollywood producers.