On Broadway

Ever one to capitalize on controversy, Michael Macquarie decided to exploit the tabloid-media coverage of Brian Beckett and Taryn McCormack's leaked love scene for all it was worth. Brian and Taryn just wanted to lay low and let the TMZ frenzy blow over, but Michael had other ideas.

On a blazing-hot Australia Day, January 26, Michael called up an old friend, Graham Noonan, at his home in Randwick. Graham had been one of the country's most celebrated dramatists, but he hadn't written a play since John Howard was Prime Minister. Graham was happy to hear from Michael, as always, but he had never heard such energy in Michael's voice.

"I need a favor."

"Sure, Mike, whatever you need. We've always taken care of each other."

"All right. You got any old stuff we can use? Just two characters, a guy and a girl."

"Uh...well...sure. I have something, but I put it away right after I wrote it. I thought it was kind of...well...too much, you know?"

"No, I don't know," smiled Michael. "What's it about?"

"Nuclear war."

"Oh."

"I wrote it back in '84 when I thought the world would blow up, you know? But I put it away. It made me sad."

"Well, do you think you can make it a little...modern?"

"Why, what do you mean?"

"I might want to use it. You know Taryn McCormack, right?"

"Yeah, she's the sexy girl on that show, right?"

"That show? It's my show, mate!"

"I know, but I don't watch it. I've heard of her, though."

Michael chuckled. "Well, if you can fix it up, I want to produce it, and I want her to star in it."

"Really? For the Wharf Theatre?"

"No, mate. Broadway."

"Broadway? Get the fuck out of here!"

Michael burst out laughing. "We can make it happen. You might have to change the guy a bit, though..."

--

"So, my dear, what do you think?"

Michael was back in Taryn's Darling Point home, trying to keep a mischievous look from his face.

Taryn sighed. "It is what I've been working for...I just wish the circumstances were a bit different."

"Well, there's never a perfect moment to get the perfect opportunity."

"I guess you're right. Graham is such a great writer...but I do have one question."

"OK."

"Do we really have to do that thing at the end? I mean...everybody's seen the video. Isn't that enough? I mean...I really don't want to be objectified."

"Objectified."

"Yes, Mike. Objectified. I want to be remembered as an artist, not as a fantasy girl."

"OK. What do you think of Nicole Kidman?"

"I love Nicole Kidman. She's my idol."

"OK. Have you ever heard of 'The Blue Room'?"

Taryn was puzzled.

"It was probably a bit before your time. She did a play on Broadway back in the '90s. 'The Blue Room.' David Hare wrote it--he was every bit as good as Graham, if not better. It was very sexy, very passionate. And every night, Nicole showed her arse on stage."

"Really?"

"Yes, just for a brief moment. It was a cute arse, too--and just for the chance to see Nicole's arse, just for a little glimpse of it, they sold out every fucking night for every fucking show."

"Wow."

"Now, I have to ask you...do you think Nicole Kidman was objectified?"

Taryn didn't know how to answer.

"Do you think she would have done it if it wasn't for the sake of art?"

Taryn shook her head.

"Now, answer me this: you're not willing to do for art what Nicole Kidman did?"

Taryn pursed her lips.

"OK..." she paused. "OK, Mike, I'll do it. I'll do it."

Mike smiled. "I bet you'll get a Tony out of it."

"I hope so. I don't want to die with only a fucking Logie."

"Hey, what's wrong with a Logie? You've heard of EGOT winners, right? Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony? By the time you're done, you'll be an ELGOT--Emmy, Logie, Grammy, Oscar and Tony!"

Taryn laughed. "So, what does Brian think of all this?"

"Well, I'm flying over to Florida next week to talk to him about it."

__

Brian looked out at the window as the clouds rolled over South Beach. He wasn't quite sure what to think.

"I know this is a big ask," Michael said quietly, putting his hand on Brian's shoulder. "But you'd be doing me a favor, and you'll be doing her a favor too."

"I know...I know."

"You'll get top billing in the ads! I mean, isn't that OK?"

"It is...but...it really seems like...it seems like she's going to benefit the most from all this."

"Both of you will benefit. I promise you. Trust me on this. By helping her, you'll help yourself."

Brian sighed. "I really hope this works out for all of us."

"I'm sure it will. I'm sure of it."

Brian walked back to his couch. "Top billing in the ads."

"Yes. Remember, you're the American star."

"I'm the draw?"

"Well, one of them."

They both laughed. "C'mon, mate," said Michael, sitting down next to Brian. "Let's make some magic together."

--

The rehearsals for Graham Noonan's play "The Fallout Shelter" went on for several weeks, as Brian, Taryn, Michael and veteran stage director Hamish Egan worked to make things as flawless as possible. Hamish was stunned by Brian and Taryn's chemistry, at one point telling Michael, "Never mind that video--they seem even sexier together when they have their clothes on!"

The updated version of "The Fallout Shelter" was set in the near future, after a nuclear conflict between the United States and Russia results in the obliteration of all human life on Earth except for two people: Keith Stafford (played by Brian), a bitter and cynical New York Mets first baseman, and Maryellen Thorne (played by Taryn), a young, serious-minded schoolteacher. Keith is an atheist who believes humanity is better off simply dying off; Maryellen is a devout

Catholic who believes that, in the aftermath of the nuclear blast, humanity has a chance to start over. During the course of the play, Maryellen gradually convinces Keith that humanity is worth saving--and that they have a moral obligation to reproduce and create a better world.

In the play's final scene, Keith and Maryellen prepare to make love; the scene ends just after Keith removes Maryellen's panties, exposing her ass to the audience for a brief moment before the house lights turn off. Taryn was still a bit nervous at first about showing her ass on stage, but she remembered what Michael had said about how Nicole Kidman did it for the sake of art.

By opening night, Brian and Taryn were more than ready. Ticket sales were indeed very strong. As it turned out, the passion between the two leads was even stronger.

The play ran one hour and forty-five minutes, and Brian and Taryn were feeding off each other's energy as never before. At the end of the last scene, after Keith removed Maryellen's panties and the house lights shut off, the audience roared with sustained applause. Yet, when everyone expected the house lights to come back up, the Neil Simon Theatre remained dark. The audience fell quiet as they heard moans and gasps behind the curtain. No one quite knew what to do as the unmistakable sounds echoed through the theatre. Footsteps rushed onto the stage, and a male voice yelled out. "Oh my God!" before rushing back out. Some audience members began to laugh and cheer and whoop. After fifteen more minutes of frenzied commotion and passionate yelps from behind the curtain, there was silence.

And a standing ovation.

--

Word quickly spread on social media about what had happened after the panties and the curtain dropped. There were calls for the Manhattan District Attorney to immediately prosecute Brian and Taryn. The New York Post's front page lambasted "The Porn Play on Broadway." The two leads were denounced in Congress, attacked in op-ed pages, ridiculed by late-night talk shows.

Yet every subsequent performance of "The Fallout Shelter" sold out. Even the Post acknowledged that the play was "the biggest thing to hit Broadway since 'Hamilton.'"

Brian and Taryn managed to keep their passion under control during those follow-up performances; only by buying a ticket to their bedrooms would anyone be able to see what was hidden behind the curtain on opening night.

At that year's Tony Awards, "The Fallout Shelter" did not win Best Play or Best Direction, but Taryn and Brian did win Best Actress and Best Actor. They couldn't help citing the controversy of opening night in their acceptance speeches. Brian tried to be subtle, jokingly making reference to the "long, hard process" of rehearsing and starring in the play. Taryn took the opposite approach, telling the Gershwin Theatre and a nationally televised audience:

"You know, this is a pretty big deal for a little girl from New South Wales...to move to the big city, to star in a big show, to be on a big Broadway stage with the biggest co-star, in so many ways, that I've ever had...Brian, I love you, and it's a big love that I have for you, and I know it's a really big love that you have for me...oh, and if all of you could have only had a chance to peek behind the curtain!"