Family Summer Vocation: Debbie Gravitte and Sam Gravitte on Starring in Two Musicals Just Blocks Apart

The Tony Award winner and her son discuss their relationship and their respective roles in Just In Time and A Walk on the Moon

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Debbie Gravitte and her son Sam Gravitte have impeccable timing—and not just as celebrated stage performers. This summer they’ve managed to book theatre gigs within blocks of each other in NYC, and they’re thrilled to be so close, literally and figuratively.

After a two-decade absence, Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte has returned to Broadway in the Bobby Darin bio-musical Just In Time as Polly Walden, his lovably over-the-top mother. Meanwhile at Off Broadway’s Laura Pels Theatre, Sam Gravitte plays a hippie who falls for a Jewish housewife in the new musical A Walk on the Moon, based on the movie of the same name and set against the backdrop of Apollo 11 and Woodstock.

TDF Stages chatted with this charming pair about getting into character, cheering each other on and why Mom will be paying for all their meals in between shows.

Raven Snook: I assume you didn’t plan to perform in NYC at the same time. When did you find out it would be happening?

Sam Gravitte: I’ve been part of the development of A Walk on the Moon since last October and that’s when they floated these dates. I’ve worked with the director, Sheryl Kaller, a handful of times, so I think I had more notice. Mom, how much notice did you have going into Just In Time?

Debbie Gravitte: Not that long. It’s just this incredible happenstance of circumstance, and it’s pretty fantastic. I could go on forever about how great it is that Sam and I are both within four blocks of each other in the world of theatre.

Sam: Also, my Dad [Beau Gravitte], famously my Mom’s husband, he’s leading the tour of The Notebook as Older Noah. It’s so exciting and fun to be working so close to Mom, but there’s also something so thrilling about the idea that when we walk onstage every night during our shows, there are three Gravittes in three different places in the United States performing, which has never happened before. That’s really special.

Snook: That’s amazing! I take it your two siblings are not performers?

Sam: No. My twin sister is a filmmaker, and my brother is a football coach—he’s sort of the black sheep of the family in that he’s not in the entertainment business in any capacity.

Snook: Have your respective schedules allowed you to see each other’s shows?

Debbie: Sam was at my very first show, which was thrilling and crazy. I had no idea what I was doing, but I was so happy he was there. I’m going to Sam’s opening. My husband is on a break from his show, so he’ll be joining. Our whole family will be there.

Snook: Sam, I saw your mother in her Tony-winning turn in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway back when she was known as Debbie Shapiro. So, I’ve got to ask: What’s a nice Jewish boy like you doing playing a goy who doesn’t know what shtup means? 

Sam: Listen, the nice Jewish boy that I am knows very much what shtup means! But Walker is the gentile in the show. He has a lot to learn about the tribe.

Snook: Debbie, are you ready to watch your son play a hippie hunk?

Debbie: I’ve seen the movie, so all I keep thinking is, oh my god, my son is going to be a very, very sexy man in this. I don’t know if it’s going to be weird for me or not.

Snook: Tell me a bit about your journeys with your respective shows.

Sam: I came mostly blind to the first workshop I did. I watched the movie only once because I didn’t want to do a Viggo Mortensen impression, as brilliant as he is in the film. The show has changed a ton [since its world premiere in San Francisco]. There’s a new composer, AnnMarie Milazzo, who’s done extraordinary work. The music in the show captures both the time period of the ’60s and also a contemporary voice. The book has been rewritten a lot; we’ve done a lot of work.

Debbie: I saw Just In Time right before I auditioned—they graciously let me come and see the show.

Debbie, Just In Time has no fourth wall—you and Jeremy Jordan, who’s currently playing Bobby Darin, often speak directly to the audience. Did you have any trepidation about that?

Debbie: Absolutely zero, none. It makes me so happy! The more I can interact with humans, the better. It’s a big part of the show—much more for Jeremy because he’s on every second. But it’s really an interesting part of the show, and I absolutely love it.

Snook: And I assume playing a performer as well as a devoted mother to a talented son isn’t a stretch?

Debbie: To be really honest, there’s nothing I have to reach for. To be singing my favorite song, “That’s All,” and to do these lines where I’m singing and talking about how much I love and adore my son, I was like, “I got this.”

Sam: I’ll slip you the $20 later!

Snook: Both of these shows are period pieces, so I’m curious if you did any research.

Debbie: For me, no. It’s a little before my time, but Polly was quote, unquote a vaudeville star. Again, not a reach. Vaudeville is just an extension of what we do in the theatre.

Sam: I did a fair amount of research. I wanted to get a sense of how Walker might move and dress. I was lucky to have designers who were really open to collaboration—our costume designer, Ricky Lurie, and our hair designer Matthew Armentrout—folks who I could bring ideas and mood boards to. Walker is the outsider in this community in the show, so making sure that there was a real sort of physical sense of his being outside of the norm of this world. I’ve always been really curious about the ’60s, especially as cognate to our time with so much political change and upheaval. There was Vietnam and you had all of these young folks who took culture by the horns and steered it in a way that was really surprising and new in post-war America. It’s a time period that’s so rich in terms of how many different threads you can pull on.

Debbie: Can you tell my son went to Princeton?

Snook: Debbie, we’ve already talked about how your role in Just In Time feels meant to be. Another indication it was bashert: Eydie Gormé, a famous vocalist you’ve portrayed multiple times, is name-checked.

Debbie: Yes, she dwells within me! I played her in Broadway ’68 and in a film, Isn’t She Great, opposite her son David Lawrence as his dad, Steve Lawrence. And I’ve done concerts as Eydie, so she’s a part of me.

Sam: I just want to say, the last time Mom was on Broadway was 22 years ago in Chicago, so I was just a kid. I used to come and hang out backstage, and I learned to play cards with the stagehands. Now that I’m a fully formed human, it’s been so wonderful to see her back on Broadway and to be able to appreciate that she’s a luminous and radiant performer and that she’s also my Mom. It’s not lost on me how unique and special it is. And I’ve been so glad to see the community reembrace her in the way that it has, because I think she’s so worthy of celebration.

Snook: Doing eight shows a week doesn’t leave a lot of free time. But are you working on other things? Sam, I know you’re also a playwright.

Sam: There’s a couple of projects I’m excited about that I’m developing with friends: a play with Michael Herwitz, who directedJOB on Broadway. He’s wonderful and has a great dramaturgical mind. I’m also developing a play with Ibi Owolabi, we met working on the Pride Plays together. He’s just a wonderful human, and such a smart and incisive director. And then, you know, we’re actors, so we’re always auditioning. Hopefully, we’ll have some fun news that we’re able to share sooner rather than later, but for now I think it’s definitely exciting to be four blocks from each other. I can’t wait for her to buy dinners for us on Wednesdays and Saturdays between shows.

Snook: No after-show drinks?

Sam: At that point, it’s time to leave Mom behind.

Debbie: Yeah, past 10 p.m. we’re on our own. He can do whatever he does.

Snook: Where can fans find you dining? Any favorite restaurants?

Debbie: Well, it will be a different place every week.

Sam: We’re very mysterious, but we do like sushi!

Debbie, sounds like you’ll be paying. Is that because you’re the parent or because you’re making Broadway money?

Debbie: I think it’s a little bit of both, but it’s also my pleasure. Sam deserves every dinner I give him because of how much pleasure he gives me. How lucky am I?

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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Both shows are frequently available at our TKTS Discount Booths.