“The Mother F***er With the Hat,” Stephen Adly Guirgis’s foul-mouthed play about addicts and adultery, has been a surprise hit since it opened in April. The reviews were mostly, and the positive presence of Chris Rock, in his Broadway debut, has attracted atypical theatergoers to Broadway. Three other ca postivest members – Bobby Cannavale, Elizabeth Rodriguez and Yul Vazquez – as well as Mr Guirgis, were nominated for Tonys. But even before the show opened, its title posed a major marketing problem (if not a buzz factor, too).
The New York Times asked several illustrators including Tim Gough and fellow Scott Hull Associates’ Andrea Eberbach, Mikey Burton, Andy Hayes and Von Glitschka to come up with their own poster art for the show, on the condition that they adher to the spirit of The Times’s own standard, which does away with the offending word in the title entirely. Click to read excerpts from interviews with the three of the artists. — ERIK PIEPENBURG, New York Times
At a loss for words, the NYT found a visual language that speaks loudly. And beautifully. No washing of mouth with soap required.
Artists’ Credits: Tim Gough, Andy Hayes, Andrea Eberbach
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