As It Is Set to Return, Claybourne Elder Talks Being Part of 'The Gilded Age'

About year ago, EDGE sat down with actor Claybourne Elder, the actor best known from HBO's "The Gilded Age" as well as the recent gender-bent revival of "Company" on Broadway, with his husband, Eric Rosen. Just a few months earlier, Eric was named the artistic director of the legendary Cape Cod Playhouse, and the couple was prepared for their move to Dennis, MA for the summer, along with their nearly 7-year-old son, Bo. At that moment, Elder was also about to start filming the third season of "The Gilded Age," while also putting finishing touches on the solo show he would be performing in Provincetown.

Fast forward one year: The family was getting ready for their return to the Playhouse for their second season. Rosen recently announced the Playhouse's summer lineup, Elder opened the season with his solo show, and Bo is now looking forward to camp and summer on the Cape. And that eagerly awaited Season Three of "The Gilded Age?" It premieres on June 22.

On the show, Elder plays John Adams IV, a fictional great-grandson of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States. John Adams has found his niche in upper-class Manhattan society in the 1880s. He was introduced on the show as a potential suitor for Marian Brook (Louisa Jacobson), the down-on-her-heels niece to Agnes Brook van Rhijn (Christine Baranski) and Ada Brook Forte (Cynthia Nixon) who has come to live with them. Agnes arranged a meeting between Marian and John, but his lack of interest put an end to the matchmaking scheme.

That indifference comes from John being gay and already being involved with Agnes's son, Oscar van Rhijn (Blake Ritson), who himself is seeking a wife to please his mother and shield his queerness from the world. Oscar and John meet in what appears to be an 1880 equivalent of a queer bar, at which Oscar keeps John abreast of his attempts to find a suitable wife who could act as his beard as they continue their affair, but John strikes back by pursuing potential wives of his own. At the end of last season, Oscar revealed he had been financially duped by Maud Beaton (Nicole Brydon Bloom), a beautiful heiress he was pursuing for marriage, and the huge investment he made in a new railroad was a sham. His misadventure led to the loss of the van Rhijn fortune, as well as Agnes's palpable anger. In his shame, he turned to John for comfort.

EDGE recently had the chance to catch up with the affable Mr. Elder to discuss summer on the Cape, his upcoming concert, and summer camp. We also got a bit of an insider's look at the filming of "The Gilded Age," but he, sadly, remained tight-lipped when it came to spilling any spoilers.

EDGE: How was your first family summer on the Cape?

Claybourne Elder: Really nice. It was so fun to watch Bo run around and play, be outside. The Playhouse is such an interesting historical place, and one that I have no experience in. So, to get to spend time there was really lovely.

EDGE: Your husband [Eric Rosen] said it's like summer camp for theater people. Did it feel that way for you?

Claybourne Elder: Yes, it definitely did. I had so many friends come through to do shows. And it's so fast. I've done those kind of shows before. You get a week or two to put it together. That kind of work works a different part of your brain. It's fun to do.

EDGE: Did you do anything there?

Claybourne Elder: No, I didn't. No, I was shooting "The Gilded Age." And I wasn't sure what my schedule would be. It varies so much that I knew I shouldn't schedule anything just in case.

EDGE: How about this season?

Claybourne Elder: Not this season. I just did my solo show there at the very start of the season. But I'm not in any of the shows.

EDGE: What is your solo show?

Claybourne Elder: I've been touring it around for over a year and a half now. It's a kind of half stand-up comedy, half cabaret show. I think there's more talking in it than a cabaret show, and more singing in it than a stand-up show. There'd be no singing in a standup show.

EDGE: What was it like doing your show in Provincetown last summer?

Claybourne Elder: It was so much fun just to play that space in front. I had so many friends come to town to see it. It was really magical.

EDGE: Do you feel like you're part of the Cape community after your first summer?

Claybourne Elder: Yeah. The thing about it is, because we were showing up to be part of this institution, all of these people immediately threw their arms open and were like, "You're a part of us, come to this thing, come to our house for dinner." That was really nice. And having Provincetown just up the road, there were many friends that stopped on their way there or their way home. A lot of people came to see shows at the Playhouse, and I don't know if they have done that in the past.

EDGE: Dennis is very different from Provincetown.

Claybourne Elder: Very different. Dennis is such a cute little town. It feels to me, as a kid who grew up in Utah, like a movie about an East Coast town. There are just no little towns like that in Utah. The day camp Bo goes to is like out of a movie. We didn't have anything like that when I was growing up.

EDGE: Do you think he'll want to go back to the Cape every year?

Claybourne Elder: I hope so. He'll be eight this summer, so I think some of his camp friends will be going back. When the board president at the Playhouse was talking to us, he said he spent his summers there and was still, 40 years later, great friends with his summer camp friends. There's a kind of camp bonding thing, and I wonder if that's what it'll be like for him, if this will be where he knows that summer happens.

EDGE: Did you go to summer camp?

Claybourne Elder: I went to theater camp at BYU [Brigham Young University], the Mormon camp. It was only a two-week camp, but I will say I met one of my oldest friends, Elna Baker – who used to work at "This American Life," but now has a podcast with Johnny Knoxville – when I was 14 at BYU summer camp. She's one of my best and oldest friends because of that camp, but I didn't have the same camp experience as Bo is having. We weren't rowing canoes, we were making masks, doing Shakespeare and nerdy theater camp things. I feel lucky to have someone who knew me back then in my life today. It's a beautiful thing.

EDGE: Let's get to "The Gilded Age." It's coming back in a few weeks. Finally! I can't wait.

Claybourne Elder: There's been quite a bit of time between seasons for different reasons. One is the writer's strike, and then COVID put us on pause for a while. It's been part of my life for five years, and it's three seasons. We've all known each other for a long time now.

EDGE: Will there be a Season Four?

Claybourne Elder: I don't know. We have no idea.

EDGE: I can't imagine being part of that massive ensemble. Are there people in it you've never seen?

Claybourne Elder: Oh, absolutely. Our first read-through of a script was in early 2020. We got together in person at an old club in Midtown. The whole cast sat around a giant table. We read through one or two episodes, I think. It was so thrilling. And it's the only in-person read throughs we've had, because the world changed. Everything's been virtual.

I'm friendly with Audra McDonald, and technically we're on the same show, but we never see each other. Some of my favorite people play people in the kitchen, like Celia Keenan-Bolger and Doug Sills, and we've never been on set together. When we're shooting on location we get together and have dinner and stuff, but we're never on set together because it's such a massive ensemble. When we do get together, it's like a big family reunion for all these theater people. We're all connected somehow.

EDGE: It must've been a huge reunion for the finale of Season One. Where was that?

Claybourne Elder: That was at the Breakers in Newport, RI.

EDGE: That ballroom is a real thing?

Claybourne Elder: Yeah, and it's not even the grand ballroom of the Breakers. That was much more grand. We shot that during the pandemic, which meant that you had to test and isolate for a week before you could even show up. We were in a little bubble once we got to Rhode Island; we were allowed to interact with each other, but no one else. We could hang out together in public spaces of the hotel, but that was it. We got to spend a lot of time together when we were shooting that scene with all the dancing and everybody in it. I think that's my favorite memory so far of the three seasons, because it took so many days to film. All the dancers were theater people. My dance partner was a theater person I love, and we got to spend three days hanging out.

EDGE: I didn't think you could create the beautiful ballroom in a studio.

Claybourne Elder: No. There are too many little details in the room, and things. We do have a back lot and interior sets in a studio, but they try to shoot as much as they can in historic buildings. They have a character about them that would be hard to reproduce.

EDGE: Speaking of authenticity, your character, John Adams, holds his cigarette in the most incredibly flamboyant way. Were you directed to do that?

Claybourne Elder: [Laughs] No, it was just me. You start building a physical world for a character and what they're like. It's hard in a period piece, because you have all these rules you need to follow. And there's a lot of time you're spending worrying about those rules and other little things. At dinner, you're not allowed to put the spoon on a teacup or a plate, you need to know which forks to use, what glasses to use, when you're allowed to sit, when you stand up. A man takes his hat off when he goes into a room and puts it under his chair. They give us etiquette lessons on all of this. I think some of the physical world just comes out of the restraints on what you can do.

EDGE: Let's talk Christine Baranski. Is she incredible?

Claybourne Elder: I love her so much. She's so clear about what she does, and so decided. It's funny, we've only been on set together a couple of days, but it's always immediately hugs, and she asks, 'Jow's Bo?' She knows everything about me.

Even though we don't work together that often, I do have a good Christine story. On my very first day on set, my first scene of the whole show, I had this line in a very long scene that was a setup for Christine. It was before the vaccine came out, and I had tested false positive once, so they had already cancelled a full day of filming because of me. I was already so freaked out to be on set, and we would rehearse with masks on. The only time you would take it off was to do the takes. It was the first time you saw anybody's face or felt like you were submerged into that world. It was hard to put yourself there looking at someone in a period costume with a mask on. I kept forgetting that one line. She just kept cueing me. It happened three or four times, but she was so sweet and kind, not at all making me feel bad about it. I'm sure for an actor, especially of her status who's been acting as long as she has, it could be annoying. But she gently guided me through it, never making me feel bad about it. For that, I will always love her.

EDGE: Her character's niece, Marian, is played by Louisa Jacobson, Meryl Streep's daughter. Did you get to work with her much?

Claybourne Elder: I love her so much. I have very big brotherly feelings about her, because we got very close during that first season. And when she came out last year, I'd already had this bond with her and sharing the bond of being in the LGBTQ+ world together was another level of friendship.

EDGE: What's the wardrobe department like?

Claybourne Elder: Massive. It's a whole warehouse in Brooklyn. They make all the dresses, even most of the extras have custom dresses. Our costume designer (Kasia Walicka-Maimone) is a genius. I love her so much. She designs all these beautiful gowns from these mood boards she makes with inspirations she gets from things like flowers, birds, patterns on couches. She's amazing.

EDGE: One more "The Gilded Age" question. What's it like when you watch something you're in?

Claybourne Elder: Oh, I almost never watch things I'm in. When I watch "The Gilded Age," I skip my scenes for sure. But I love watching what everybody else has been up to. I hear them read their scenes in the table read, but to see how it actually comes together is fun for me. It's my friends. I want to see their work.

EDGE: Any chance you get tell us anything about John and Oscar's secret gay relationship? Anyone getting outed? Coming out?

Claybourne Elder: No. [Sly, yet completely unrevealing smile on his face.]

EDGE: Are you sure?

Claybourne Elder: You'll have to watch.