The More Things Stay the Same

While I was rehearsing Nice Work If You Can Get It at the Gateway, I received an interesting and unexpected offer: to take on a role in a workshop of a new musical at the highly respected Powerhouse Theater festival produced by Vassar College and New York Stage and Film.  For over thirty years, this summer 'incubator' on the Vassar campus has brought together artists to collaborate and develop new works for the theatre.  Some important and successful plays and musicals have found their genesis there, including two works that are slated for the upcoming Broadway season, Bright Star and the wildly acclaimed Hamilton.

So of course I am thrilled to be a part of Loving v. Virginia, a musical by Marcus Gardley with music by Justin Ellington, conceived and directed by Patricia McGregor. The piece had a first workshop at Williamstown Theatre Festival and will have its next incarnation at Vassar.  And the true story it is based upon, its themes and message, could not be more timely in 2015.

Mildred Jeter Loving and Richard Loving in 1958

The historic Supreme Court case of Mildred and Richard Loving--an interracial couple married legally in the District of Columbia in the late 1950s--against the State of Virginia essentially made interracial marriage legal in every state in the U.S.  The couple, Virginia natives who returned to Caroline County to live and raise their family, were awakened one morning in 1958 by Sheriff R. Garnett Brooks and his deputies, intent on enforcing their state's law against interracial marriage.  They arrested the couple, dismissing their DC marriage certificate, separated them, and imprisoned them. They were tried and convicted to a year in jail by a circuit county judge.  The judge offered them a deal, however: that they stay out of the state of Virginia for the next 25 years.  Eventually this courageous couple challenged Virginia's statute, and the Supreme Court's unanimous decision struck the last remaining racist anti-miscegenation laws off the country's books.  Marriage Equality.  Sound familiar?

Anti-Marriage Equality protesters, 2015

Anti-Interracial Marriage protesters, 1968

An astonishing story that I knew nothing about until being invited to work on this piece.  And how incredibly relevant and important it is today for 2015, on so many levels.  The very recent Supreme Court ruling which has made same sex marriage legal in all states, despite protest and threatened resistance by several states (predictably mainly Southern ones) could not have happened without the Loving case.  

With a distinctly virulent rise in our country of racism and Southern white conservative backlash, including a wave of blatant, racially motivated police brutality events; a movement to preserve the Confederate flag; and conservative southern states fighting to uphold states' rights regarding the retention of discriminatory laws, cloaking their motives in religious liberty arguments... all these themes are represented in the Loving's story and in the musical Loving v. Virginia, a provocative moment to show how far we have come as a country and how so much is mired in the same bigotry the Lovings faced.

R. Garnett Brooks, late in life

My challenge is perhaps one of the biggest I have faced as an actor, undertaking the role of R. Garnett Brooks, the bigoted sheriff who chose to enforce the law and to  humiliate and bring to heel this interracial couple he felt deserved punishment.  Brooks, both in his life and as depicted in the play, is the epitome of the narrow minded, racist, small town redneck local despot, who uses his authority to perpetrate his persecution of African-Americans.  Appallingly, but perhaps not unpredictably, Brooks defended until the day he died the justness of his actions and his belief that races shouldn't mix and that black people are an inferior race undeserving of equality with whites. 

My work as an actor has long been chameleonic, if you will; I have sought out every opportunity to transform myself as an actor, immersing myself in a wild variety of characters, stretching my physical and imaginative limits.  Sheriff Brooks could not be further from who I am, my beliefs, and my background.  I'm an openly gay man, raised Jewish in an interfaith household in the northeast, by parents whose views and beliefs were liberal and progressive.  My adopted sister is interracial, and she and I dealt with our own experience of persecution in our Massachusetts community in the 1970s. I staunchly support equality for all people, I believe in the diversity of American culture, and I passionately repudiate racism, bigotry and persecution, especially where it is enforced by law.  So to play this man who is the polar opposite of all I stand for will be an incredible opportunity to find what humanity he has, to get into his head, and to play him with commitment as I join with the creators of this piece and everyone at Powerhouse Theater bringing this new work to life.  For information and tickets, visit the festival website.  I head up to Vassar next week, and am excited to get to work!

A Question of Character

We are into our second week of rehearsals out here at the Gateway, whipping "Nice Work If You Can Get It" together in true summer stock style.  I can't deny I am having a ball playing the comic lead, bootlegger-turned-butler Cookie McGee, in this bubble of a musical comedy. The show hearkens back to the classic Broadway farce musicals of the 1920s and 30s and calls to mind the great performers of the stage of that time, many of whom came from vaudeville, and who also found their way into motion pictures.

Being the classic cinema fanatic that I am, when faced with bringing to life a character like the wise cracking Cookie, I go looking at the performances of the great Hollywood character actors.  Since these actors had illustrious Broadway careers, their film performances give a taste of what the style might have been in those early stage musicals.  For Cookie, my two inspirations have been Sam Levene and Victor Moore.

Victor Moore actually played the role of 'Shorty' McGee in the Gershwin musical "Oh, Kay!" upon which "Nice Work If You Can Get It" is based.  He was also the original Moonface Martin in Cole Porter's classic "Anything Goes," and appeared in 21 Broadway shows before embarking on a fruitful silent film career with such directors as Cecil B. DeMille, and then a sound film career that included Astaire/Rogers vehicles like "Swing Time," and perhaps his most memorable film role, that of a lovable hobo in "It Happened on 5th Avenue."  Moore was known for his cuddly but easily riled characters and his strident vocal quality.  There is more than a little of him still alive and well in Shorty McGee's kissing cousin, Cookie.  You can get a taste of Moore's genius in this comedy short he made with Edward Arnold.

Sam Levene is best known as the original Nathan Detroit in "Guys and Dolls," a role with which his name will forever be associated.  It is, in my opinion, a tragedy that he wasn't allowed to recreate his performance in the film (sadly Frank Sinatra was miscast in this great comedic character part); how I wish I could step back in time and see his Nathan!  Nevertheless, he did have a film career, recreating his stage role in "Three Men on a Horse" and going on to play smart talking New York City types like detectives and cab drivers in films like "Shadow of the Thin Man" and "Golden Boy."  To me, he epitomized that street smart, savvy New York Jewish comic type... and his Nathan Detroit crystallized the concept of the lovable comic gangster.  I am even growing a little Sam Levene mustache for Cookie, in tribute.  Levene's persona comes through in this trailer for "Three Men on a Horse."

So, if Nathan Detroit and Moonface Martin had a love child, I think it would be Cookie McGee.  Like Moonface, the low level gangster disguised, absurdly, as a clergyman, Cookie is the low level bootlegger trying to pass himself off as a butler in a Long Island mansion.  This makes for all kinds of fabulous Victor Moore-esque anxiety and befuddlement.  Like Nathan Detroit, Cookie is street smart, a guy who works the angles, and who isn't afraid to express himself with a stinging wisecrack.  But underneath the tough exterior, he's got a heart of gold and is really a big softie.  These influences from yesteryear help me immeasurably to bring authenticity to my performance which I hope will help sweep the audience away into the improbable, fast-paced, Charleston-high-kicking world of "Nice Work If You Can Get It."  

Our show opens at The Gateway on June 10 and plays through June 27, and after a brief hiatus, reopens at Ogunquit Playhouse July 22 and runs through August 15.  I am beyond honored and delighted to be playing opposite television and Broadway star Sally Struthers, who is bringing her brilliant comedic gifts to the role of Temperance crusader Duchess Estonia Dulworth!  We are having a ball together and our duet of "By Strauss" and "Sweet and Lowdown" in the second act is not to be missed.  Grab your tickets now!

Shades of Gray

To dye, or not to dye?  That is the question...

Nothing heralds the transition from youth to middle age and beyond than the appearance of those first gray hairs.  Unless of course you are one of us who are genetically predisposed to premature gray.  It is a Beaman trait amongst the males of the family, and my own father was graying by the time he was in his late 20s; I don't remember him without silver hair.  I was a late bloomer, actually, and didn't begin to really see the salt mix in with the pepper until I was in my early 40s.  I look at photos of myself when I came out of grad school in 2004, and I still had dark hair and beard.  The change really began shortly thereafter.

Head shot with dyed locks, 2005

Having a somewhat youthful face and knowing the connotations that gray hair has to those casting roles in show business, I chose to start coloring my hair.  Dark brown dye covered those telltale grays and, I thought, kept me in that late 30s-early 40s market; having gone to graduate school later in life I wanted to maximize my castability.  The color was never quite my natural shade; always looked a little too dark, but it seemed the right thing to do.  I didn't stop with the hair color for a few years... until I was on a lengthy tour with Spamalot and was being wigged in the show.  It seemed silly to keep up with the hair dye so I let it go and let the gray grow in.  The response from people was rapturous.  Apparently salt and pepper hair on a man is sexy, dignified, irresistible.  The names of all the leading silver foxes--Clooney, Cooper, Slattery-- got bandied about me.  I thought, hey, maybe I am on to something here!

At 22, playing Ebenezer Scrooge

And thus began my journey as a silver fox.  As the years have passed, and I approach 50, the salt has begun to overwhelm the pepper and the politics of THE GRAY have changed.  Show business is a vehicle for cultural and societal views and attitudes, particularly in a youth obsessed culture such as ours.  And as 'hot' as many may consider graying temples, nevertheless they are the heralds of age.  And in show business an actor who chooses not to dye his silvering locks (irregardless of the fact that there are such things as wigs and hair color) can see the door close on an array of roles, while another opens. You are just seen differently. This brings with it mixed emotions.  I still have a fairly youthful face and spirit, am still in pretty decent shape and can pass for a youngish dad in his early 40s.  But suddenly I find myself in the over 50 group (I ain't there quite yet!), and it can be a little depressing at times, even though some of the roles are pretty fantastic.  I was a character actor even at the tender age of 21 (when I looked 16) and would plaster my face with painted on wrinkles and spray the silver into my hair in college to play almost always middle aged and old men.  Now that I have arrived into my career 'sweet spot'--I often say "my best years as an actor are ahead of me"--it still brings a rather powerful sense that not only am I cresting 'over that hill' but I can see it in my rear view mirror!

Imagine how we'd think about Tom Cruise if he stopped dying his hair?  Would he still be an action hero? Tom Hanks would be playing grandfathers if he stopped artificially extending middle age.  We consider George Clooney and Richard Gere still sexy and desirable, and they are handsome, virile guys.  If we saw them in a role where they dyed their hair dark it might actually make them suddenly appear older, wouldn't it?  Oh, the politics of gray hair are complex... they are rooted (pardon the pun) in a societal fear of aging, they signal a passage from which one never can return.  What's the answer?  For most women it has rarely been a question--you keep on dying that hair, avoiding the feelings of looking 'washed out' and old.  For men, it's trickier.  Women can balance an artificial hair color with makeup, bringing the whole thing together.  For men, well... look at James Lipton.  I rest my case.  Let it go, Mr. Lipton.

New head shot, 2015

Why do I muse at such length on this subject of the connotations of letting the gray grow?  I think I still look good and I have a great full head of hair (which my balding brethren admonish me not to complain about), and I am told all the time how sexy and elegant my silver is on me.  And of course, the choice being made to go natural, it is my job to own it and revel in my silver foxiness.  Life is about adjusting to change, isn't it?  Show business magnifies this because it forces us actors to think about ourselves in terms of new archetypes and traditional roles.  Nevertheless, I still think my best years are ahead of me. And the most attractive thing about a person is that they own themselves.  Nothing is quite as powerful as someone who is comfortable in his or her own skin.

Fascinatin' Rhythm

Every audition season is different.  Last season, I was run off my feet with auditions and callbacks, and blessed with the enviable task of juggling multiple offers, deciding which great parts I wanted to play...which generally translated as: how many of these offers could I accept that wouldn't overlap with each other?  The summer season is all too short, and it can be a real challenge to line up work, and maximize the opportunities to perform; the kind of problem all of us actors wish for!

I faced such a dilemma this season as I tried to stay on with a brief remounting of the superb production of Peter and the Starcatcher that I was in last fall at Pioneer Theatre Company.  We were given a chance to reunite for one week of performances at the Victoria Theatre in Dayton, OH, taking over dates that had been abandoned by the national tour of the show which closed before being able to fulfill them.  Alas, it proved a real battle to reserve these dates in June and still find work that would sustain me through the summer season.  And so, I won't be joining my fellow starcatchers in Dayton, and I will miss making magic with them again.  If you are in the Dayton area, run, don't walk, to the Victoria Theatre to experience this splendid production!

My summer will be spent in the roaring 20's world of Nice Work If You Can Get It to the tunes of George and Ira Gershwin.  This rollicking musical comedy played on Broadway with stars Matthew Broderick and Kelli O'Hara, and is a reworking of an early Gershwin musical called Oh, Kay!.  I will be playing Cookie McGee, a bootlegger who disguises himself as a butler in order to hide 400 cases of hooch in a swanky mansion.  The role was created by Michael McGrath, who won the Tony Award for his performance.

Nice Work If You Can Get It will be a co-production of The Gateway in lovely Bellport, NY and Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, one of my favorite summer spots, where I appeared previously in Buddy (also a co-production with Gateway) and as Albin in La Cage Aux Folles.  I will also have the pleasure and privilege of playing opposite Sally Struthers, who has become the first lady of Ogunquit Playhouse, and a real audience favorite.  I am excited to work with this veteran comedienne!  The show will be directed by Larry Raben, and choreographed by Peggy Hickey, whose work can be seen in the Tony winning Best Musical, A Gentleman's Guide To Love and Murder.

The Gateway dates are June 10-June 27, and at Ogunquit Playhouse July 22-August 15.  

A Letter To Isobel

My talented niece, Isobel, is in the thick of auditioning for college theatre programs and conservatories.  She has been the star of her high school, demonstrating guts, showmanship and above all, confidence, as she has nurtured her love of performing.

As Izzy's closest relative in the business, and also someone who has coached dozens of young hopefuls for their college auditions as a private coach, and in my capacity as leader of the Goodspeed Musicals Audition Intensive, I have sort of stood silently in the wings, available to help when called upon.  Isobel is aided of course by the support of her family, especially her Mom, Patricia, who trained as a performer at one of the nation's top schools, Boston Conservatory.  It's moving to see this girl embark on her journey in the theatre, and watching this unfold has made me contemplate what I might offer her in the way of insight as I celebrate my 25th year as a professional actor.  So, here it is.

________________________________________________________________________

Dear Isobel,

I think I understand, as well as anyone, the dreams and desires that have brought you to this moment of embarkation, this stepping into the world as you await the decision of where to train as an actor and musical theater performer.  You've accomplished so much in your hometown, where people have truly accepted you for who you are--a real original--and where you have been given the chance to stretch and grow with each terrific part you have undertaken.  You also have had a preview of what it will be like to train alongside other young talents as a participant in the Emerson College summer program.  I have no doubt at all that you have brought heart and vibrancy to your auditions for the colleges and conservatories you have targeted and that they have recognized your unique personality and gifts.

I also know that at your tender age nothing anyone could say would dissuade you from your chosen path.  Nor should it.  It's not an easy path, the path of an actor, and it takes courage, stubbornness and devotion to pursue.  So I am not going to be one of those who try to intimidate you with horror stories of the harsh realities of show business.  But I am going to be honest.

In this business, rejection is the norm.  Being out of work, not getting the job--these are the norm.  It's something to accept, a reality to try and use as a spur rather than crumble beneath.  The work of an actor is mostly the work of stepping up time and again and putting oneself out there for the next job.  Even the most beautiful, the most effortlessly talented, spend more time not working than working.  You must believe in yourself, try not to personalize the vagaries of the business, nor get tangled in stories about why someone else is luckier or more fortunate than you, harboring resentments and hurts at how unfair it all is.  Show business is not a meritocracy.  Being good isn't a guarantee.  It often makes absolutely no sense.  But if you want it, you have to simply keep showing up.

Part of what enables you to do that is getting to know who you are and what you love to do and what you do best.  I know you enough to know that you already have a huge leg up in this department.  You know who Isobel is.  This will be enormously useful to you as you begin your serious training as a performer.  I want you to enjoy college!  I didn't enjoy undergrad that much, mainly because I spent the whole time feeling I had to compete--for approval, for good parts, for acknowledgment.  I had the gift of going to grad school when I was almost 40, and discovering the joy of just showing up each day curious to learn, and immersing myself in craft.  Stay in the moment of training and discovery.  These years will never come again.  The world and the business will all too soon demand things of you.  This is the time to revel in the art of what you do and to find your voice.

Let's talk backup plan.  It's a crappy subject, but it's one worth thinking about.  When I was your age I thought even contemplating a back up plan or the development of skills for that dreaded day job, or parallel career, meant admitting defeat.  Jumping without a parachute to me meant full commitment, full belief in my potential.  But the business being what it is, even the best have to support themselves and can't always do it performing.  Nurture whatever interests or skills you have that might be parlayed into money making opportunities, especially ones that will also allow you some freedom to pursue the business.  Don't wait until you are trying to survive in New York and start scrambling for a day job.  Think about it now and have a plan.  If you play an instrument, keep playing it!  Get good at it.  It's a reality of the way shows are created these days that actors often are asked to play music as well.

And now, the tough love portion of this letter.  I know I will come across as a judgy, over the hill, out of touch old crank.  But I do, in fact, live in 2015 and do observe your generation with a certain amount of perspective.  Never before have young people had such unfettered access to information and free education--via the internet, and that little phone you hold in your hand, you can tap into everything you need to steep yourself in your craft and the traditions of theatre.  And yet you guys are so damn lazy about digging around in there, so lacking in curiosity!  If this is the work you love, if this is the career you are willing to sacrifice stability for, to pursue despite all the odds, then you need to make it your mission to know all you can about it and revel in the discoveries you can make about it.

Yes, I know this is the era where a teenager can record a bunch of videos of himself singing in his room, post them to youtube, go viral, and become a major recording star.  I know it comes so easy to those lucky flashes in the pan.  But aren't those the rare freak successes, and aren't they short-lived? Don't you want more?  Aren't you investing the next four years of your life in training so you can create a foundation for a lifelong career?  So read every play you can get your hands on, from the classics to the latest hit on Broadway.  Listen to every original cast album.  If you love musical theatre, then watch every single musical movie ever made.  Know what shows are being produced now, and know who wrote them.  Regularly visit sites like Playbill.com and BroadwayWorld.com, where the latest news on the current work in theatre is available to you. Pursue knowledge like it's your job.  Training in a structured theatre program is a great experience, but you are responsible for your education for life.  And an actor's career is a self-directed career.  Even with the best agent or manager you still have to know what's going on and who's doing the hiring; you have to get yourself out of bed in the morning and stand in line at open calls; you have to show up at the audition and be prepared and ready and on your game.  That self direction never, ever ends.  And I guarantee you, no matter how gusty, or talented, or cute you are, there is no substitute for education, knowledge and preparation.  Start now.  If you are lucky enough to meet a veteran actor, buy her a coffee, draw her out, have her tell you her stories.  Theatre is a received tradition.  Learn from those who came before, and steal their best stuff!

Finally, I just want to say that I am so proud of you.  I am proud of you for nurturing your gifts and pursuing your dreams.  It moves me that you share my Dad's birthday.  I feel his loss so keenly... and I embrace, more and more each day, the knowledge that his artistry and pursuit of excellence in theatre helped shape the artist I am today.  He gave me so much and I know he would have been proud to watch you blossom as an actor and a creative artist.  I am always here for you, and I look forward to watching you grow.  You are just beginning.  Pursue it with determination, with joy, with discipline and with dignity.

With love,

Uncle Jamie

Transitions

Usually this space is chock full of news about the latest gig I am working on, or the one about to begin.  I love sharing my creative process and my excitement about being a working actor.  I thought I would muse a bit this time on that familiar place all actors come back to--that period of uncertainty and anxiety between jobs, where we don't yet have the next thing lined up and must do the familiar hustle to find it.

I returned from beautiful, WARM Vero Beach, Florida just under three weeks ago, having had a treat of a time playing Bela Zangler in "Crazy For You" with as lovely a group of creative people as one could wish for.  Not only were the subzero temperatures in New York a shock to my system, but along with them came the slap in the face of reality!  I returned just as audition season was getting cooking and had to start thinking about booking work between now and the end of the summer season.

There are two major audition seasons in New York for theatre work.  The first comes around the end of January through the end of March and is when producers are hiring for projects that will happen between May and end of August--sometimes even beyond that into early fall.  The second audition season happens between end of August and early October, and is for work that will happen around the holidays and into the beginning of the next year.  There is a third push that happens around December and is mainly for shows that will be mounted in the early months of the following year--February, March.  But I think the first audition season of the year proves to be the most hectic and the most crucial, especially for actors who do musical theatre, as summer is when the most jobs are happening.

So of course, upon returning to the city I surveyed the audition notices, the season announcements, and began setting my sights on the productions and roles that I feel are 'in my wheelhouse' as an actor.  Along with the excitement of possibility there is also the overwhelming feeling that much has to happen in a very brief space of time before the audition season is over and everything is cast.  I am fortunate to have a good agent who knows my work well, and to have some strong relationships with casting directors with whom I have proven myself.  I also have some good connections with directors who work a great deal and this helps me get into the room and strut my stuff.  I am in an interesting passage in my career; I am established enough that certain theaters do not hesitate to bring me in for key roles in their seasons.  But I am also, having not yet done a Broadway show, still banging on the door of those upper echelon opportunities where I have not yet proven my value; sometimes even getting an audition appointment at all is an uphill battle.  After 25 years in the profession this can be disheartening, but it's par for the course.

What I discovered this year, as I attempted to hit the frozen ground of New York running, is the need to step back a little, rest and recuperate from my recent endeavors.  The break between "Peter and the Starcatcher" in Salt Lake City and "Crazy For You" was literally a matter of days.

 As anxious as I might be to snatch up more work and make sure I am seen during audition season, I also feel the need to recenter, regroup and rest a bit.  So I am spending this time doing things like investing in new head shots, reconnecting with friends and colleagues, leaning on my agent a bit and letting him shop me around for the available jobs, and cultivating a little peace and quiet.  I find it hard to allow myself this space, so eager I am to keep booking work and anxious about earning my living in this precarious of all professions.  But sometimes I think, in the midst of the maelstrom of this city and this industry, the healthiest and most productive thing I can do is to take a step back and breathe, trusting that there will be a next thing.

Zangler's Follies

That's me, center, as Zangler with the company in the Act One Finale, "I Got Rhythm"

As of this writing, we are closing out the first week of our run of "Crazy For You" at Riverside Theatre in lovely Vero Beach, Florida.  I can't tell you what a tonic it has been to spend the first weeks of the new year in a warm and sunny place and in such a warm and sunny show! Click here for a look at a great montage of moments from this sparkling production!

I knew "Crazy For You" would be fun--it's a bubble of a show, a real love letter to the classic musicals of the 1930s;  but nothing prepared me for the rapturous response of the audience!  Our opening was as electric as any I have experienced.  Our production is based on the original as brought to life by Susan Stroman-- a tried and true formula made fresh and heartfelt by the expert work of our choreographer Deanna Dys and our director, the great Jimmy Brennan.  I saw Jimmy play Bobby Child on Broadway 20 years ago, and he and Deanna were both a part of that original Tony-winning production. Their history with the piece combined with their own creative gifts breathe beautiful new life into it.   We are blessed to have extraordinary dancers tapping up a storm, and Drew Nellessen and Abby Church, two triple threat performers, playing the lead roles of Bobby and Polly.  Reviews are ecstatic, audiences are on their feet every performance, and the show is rapidly selling out.

"Crazy For You" is also especially delightful for me because not only does it hearken back to the frothy fare of Depression-era Broadway, but it also evokes those amazing musical films of the 30s, art deco extravaganzas starring the likes of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.  Being a die-hard classic movie fan, I couldn't help looking for inspiration from those films as I created my characterization of Broadway impresario Bela Zangler, a sweet treat of a part.

Adolphe Menjou

Zangler is clearly based on Flo Ziegfeld, a great showman who perfected the follies revue, dripping with glamour and gorgeous showgirls.  He also has about him the qualities of those womanizing Broadway producers of early 1930's backstage musicals; mature roués cheating on their wives, plying pretty young ladies with champagne and promises of stardom.  In this respect, my Zangler owes a little to the suave Adolphe Menjou, who played a number of these roles, most notably in the classic "Stage Door." 

Erik Rhodes

Zangler also has the qualities of the 'continental' second man who figured so often in Astaire/Rogers vehicles-- a handsome, European type who we know will never get the leading lady.  Often these characters had exaggerated accents and were given fun comic business as the wool is pulled over their eyes by the leading man so he can covertly woo the starlet.  In the Astaire/Rogers films, often this second man was played by handsome and funny Erik Rhodes.  He played an Italian gigolo, Rodolfo Tonetti, in "The Gay Divorcee" and an Italian fashion designer, Alberto Beddini, in "Top Hat."  In crafting my flamboyant Hungarian Mr. Zangler, I found Rhodes's rolled 'r's and animated flourishes a great inspiration.

I'm just having a ball playing this guy, who disappears for most of Act One, but returns in Act Two to be given one of the best scenes and numbers in the show-- the drunken mirror act with Bobby, "What Causes That?".  It's a show stopper, and I am so happy to have a talent like Drew Nellessen as my partner in crime.  Shows like "Crazy For You" put us directly in touch with the spirit of those old films and fluffy Broadway shows where pretty girls, great Gershwin songs, and high energy tap dancing diverted audiences from the Great Depression and into a world of fantasy.  I can't deny that being in warm and easy Vero Beach while the Northeast is shivering through a polar vortex feels equally like a world of fantasy.  But I am not complaining!