THE LEADING MEN: Burstein, Chase, Sieber, Creel, Steggert, Batt, Montalban and More
By Tom Nondorf
October 5, 2009
Chats with Will Chase, Christopher Sieber, Gavin Creel, Bryan Batt, Paolo Montalban and more.
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Due to the rain, our annual trek to the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Flea Market and Grand Auction in Shubert Alley made a slight detour to the friendly confines of Roseland Ballroom, where the organizers did not miss a beat, raising over $400,000. Head to www.broadwaycares.org to see the details and contribute if you weren't able to make it.
I had the pleasure of possibly saving Elizabeth Ashley's life when she missed a stair and fell right into my arms. The ironic part is, she was only coming down to chat with me in the first place, so I might have been to blame had I not caught this lovely legend. But it's Leading Men you come here for, so I chatted up quite a few at the event, everyone agreeing that Broadway Cares is a vital godsend to the Broadway community and beyond.
DANNY BOY
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| Danny Burstein |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: What does it mean to be at this event with your family by your side?
Danny Burstein: It means everything to me. When I grew up in the business, AIDS was ravaging our business and indeed, the entire world. I never forget all the good friends I lost. I do this in memory of all those people that meant so much to me, and still we are living with the disease today. Basically, my first friend in college was named George Bogeazis. I was 18 years old, and he was the first person I knew to die of AIDS. I always think of George when I do anything like this. I expose my kids to these kinds of things because I want them to know it is important to always give back.
Q: Still having fun with South Pacific?
Burstein: I love South Pacific. You know, I love doing longer runs because you hope that when people come back to see the show, if they've seen it earlier, they will think the show is even deeper and better and real and rich. That's what I work on all the time. I try not to get bored with it by really investing in the work.
Q: Some shows are easier to do that with than others?
Burstein: I guess so. I've been very lucky. With Drowsy Chaperone right before this, I just kept trying to find new things…Beth Leavel and I would just play endlessly to try and find new funny moments. With this show, I keep trying to do the same and there's so much to pull from.
[South Pacific plays the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, 150 West 65th Street. For more information go to www.lct.org.]
GLOVES ARE OFF
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| John Glover |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: What does this event say about the Broadway community?
John Glover: I'm finding as I get older and older, this is what it is all about, the community. I went out to Los Angeles for awhile, did a lot of film and stuff, but I've always been able to come back here. I started out here. I came to New York when I got out of school…It has always been a kind of family, but this organization has really heightened and deepened that feeling of family in theatre in New York. To be a part of it is to be a part of the family, which is what the play I am doing right now is about—it's about a theatre family.
Q: You worked with Mr. Burstein in The Drowsy Chaperone.
Glover: I've always wanted to be in a Broadway musical, but I don't sing, you see. So there was a part that was perfect for me. I only got to do it for four months because I had to go back to "Smallville," but it was one of the best four months of my life.
Q: You were also in the film version of "The Chocolate War," which I love.
Glover: I remember it very well. Keith Gordon, who is a wonderful actor, got that movie made himself. He adapted the book and got a budget of half a million dollars and made that movie on a shoestring out of passion and love, and he got an incredible group of actors together and we worked for peanuts. I remember I was doing the film "Scrooged" at the same time, and I wore a belt in "Scrooged" that cost more money than I made doing "The Chocolate War," but it was an incredible experience. Those are the best jobs, the ones you do for free, for love. [Sings] "What I did for love…!"
Q: Who said you don't sing?
Glover: [Laughs] I share a dressing room with Tony Roberts right now at The Royal Family, and he points out to me that I always sing off key. So at least I am consistent.
[The Royal Family opens on Oct. 8 at the Friedman, at 261 W. 47th Street. For tix, visit www.Telecharge.com or call (212) 239-6200. ]
CUT TO THE CHASE
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| Will Chase |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: You just dove into a pretty big show…
Will Chase: It feels so good to be in a big fat hit and one that I really enjoy being in. I'm in love with the people in the show. I don't sing a whole hell of a lot, but it is kind of fun to go out and chew some scenery—if Greg Jbara has left me any scenery to chew!
Q: How in awe are you of the kids in the show?
Chase: It's weird. I hadn't seen the show till I got asked to do it. I was blown away. It is like they are playing Lear every night, but with dancing! It is epic.
Q: I enjoyed The Story of My Life. What is your post-mortem?
Chase: It sucks to pour your life into something like that and then have it pulled out from under you. I don't know why we can't have a two-person musical. We have two-person plays. That said, Neil Bartram and Brian Hill, the writers, are not hurting, and that musical is going to be done everywhere on the planet. I just wish more Broadway audiences could have seen it because it was very special — an actor's dream.
[Billy Elliot is at The Imperial Theatre, 249 West 45th Street. Tickets are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.TeleCharge.com. For more information, go to billyelliotbroadway.com.]
SIEBER'S SOCKS
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| Christopher Sieber |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: You really seem to be having fun here.
Christopher Sieber: The Flea Market is a hoot. It makes me laugh every single time. It's so much fun because you get to come out and see Broadway fans, but you also get to sell some of your junk. People get to come and pick through our Broadway junk [laughs].
Q: Have you ever thought of selling something odd like one of your socks?
Sieber: People buy weird stuff. They will buy stickers and buttons. They will buy an old sock. If it was from a Broadway show, they'll buy a sock. And that's great. As long as you sign it, it's fantastic. The bottom line is it is all for a good cause. If you are buying a nasty old sock, that is money that is going to help people.
Q: Still loving Shrek?
Sieber: Yes. Like any long run, there are times when it is trying, but I am still having a blast.
[Tickets for Shrek The Musical at the Broadway Theatre are available by calling (212) 239-6200 or by visiting www.telecharge.com. Visit www.shrekthemusical.com for more information.]
THE CREEL DEAL
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| Gavin Creel |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: Your Broadway Impact organization has been a big part of organizing support for the march. Are you proud of the response?
Gavin Creel: It was Sutton Foster's idea. Jamie McGonnigal, Phillip Brock and Ryan Mayes have all taken the ball and run with it. I'm helping facilitate what I can with Broadway Impact and getting everyone there. I'm proud of us, I'm proud of the community. It's not about me. It's not about you, it's about all of us being together, and it is going to be so great to be standing [in D.C.] with hopefully hundreds of thousands of people shoulder-to-shoulder, all believing in the same thing. That's what I'm excited about.
Q: This many months into Hair, your fire still seems bright.
Creel: The more I do the show, the more inspired I get. The audiences come flooding up onto the stage, and they are jumping, grown men are crying. I realized it's not about the show, it is about people who want something to care about and believe in. It is neat to be in a show that does that. And our producers are total f*&&ing rockstars, cancelling a show so we can go down to D.C. and sing. We put up a huge banner during the dance party now, saying "National Equality March." Our tribe is not only doing 16 shows in a row, adding a show on Monday, not having a day off for two weeks, going down and marching, [but] they also raised $2,900 to pay for a bus. We are also sponsoring 56 marchers who couldn't afford to go. The band, the producers, the crew, everyone has pitched in.
Q: One would be hard-pressed to find a show where everyone involved was on the same page like that.
Creel: It's amazing. But look, an event like this Flea Market—Broadway Cares' executive director Tom Viola is the reason Broadway Impact is succeeding. Every step of the way BC/EFA has taken us under their wing. They basically put together the huge rally we did with the mayor, the governor…Tom Viola is not human, I think.
Q: It's like a new age of Broadway activism…
Creel: I want to be on the front line of that. You gotta watch out for Hair because when Gypsy of the Year happens and we start raising money, look out. We're coming after you, Rent tour!
[Hair is playing the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 W. 45th Street. For more information, go to www.hairbroadway.com. Check out www.broadwayimpact.com for more info on the march.]
STEG-MATISM
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| Bobby Steggert |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: You are a part of the new Ragtime. Congrats.
Bobby Steggert: Thanks. I am. We did it in D.C., and we did it without any intention of ever moving it anywhere. It was supposed to be kind of a sit-down production at the Kennedy Center. I think we did it right. And, because we focused on the story being told without thinking about its future, people responded the way they did, and now we can share it with New York audiences.
Q: Did you see the original Broadway production?
Steggert: I did, and it was beautiful. I remember driving in my car—I was a senior in high school—and just falling in love with the score on my CD player. I went to NYU, and I saw the show during my freshman year, and I really loved it. I think this production is just as good and a far departure from it — much more abstract and impressionistic. It really focuses on the actors onstage. The production value is grand and beautiful but at the same time, really focused and specific. I think audiences will really love it.
[Ragtime opens Oct. 23 at the Neil Simon, 250 W. 52nd. Call Ticketmaster: (212) 307-4100.]
RAPPING
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| Anthony Rapp |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: How long have you been attending the Broadway Flea Market?
Anthony Rapp: A number of years. I can't keep track of how many [laughs], but whenever they ask me, if I am in town, I'm happy to be a part of it. Broadway Cares is very famous in our community, but I think people don't realize how much they do across the country. They give grants and money to organizations that could otherwise hardly keep their doors open. It's great. We live in a very celebrity-driven culture, and it's great that we can use whatever celebrity we have to help make things happen.
Q: Do you enjoy meeting Rent devotees?
Rapp: I do come out after the show every night and say "hi" and sign stuff, so I have a fair amount of interaction with people, but it is amazing to get so many people gathered together to support this event every year. People are so passionate about it.
BATT MAN
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| Bryan Batt |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Question: What does this event mean to you?
Bryan Batt: I was at the first one, back when I was in Starlight Express. Jane Krakowski and I held down the fort at the Starlight Express booth, and I've been involved ever since. Whether it is — this, or the Gypsy of the Year, or Teddy Bear Auction — if everyone does what they can do, this world will be a better place. I live part-time in New Orleans and work with the NO/AIDS Taskforce down there, and after Katrina, Broadway Cares gave us an incredible boost.
Q: So you're not going to be leaving Broadway behind now that you are a TV superstar?
Batt: [Laughs] Oh please. In my own mind, maybe! No, I want to do a Broadway show on the next "Mad Men" hiatus. There is some talk going on that it would possibly be with my other castmates. Don't you think that would be kind of fun? The Mad Men on Broadway? We have these preliminary ideas trickling in. We were so busy filming this year, nobody even thought of hiatus, but we have a good six months, so we could have a nice limited run.
Q: Did you know "Mad Men" would be a phenomenon?
Batt: We knew it would be something special. At the first table read, I remember commenting, "There is something about this." But it is one thing to read a script. When I saw the pilot and saw Jon Hamm in the scene I did with him, he was so spot-on perfect in the role, I thought, if this thing goes, he is going to be a huge star, and I'm so glad that has happened because it couldn't happen to a nicer guy.
Q: The first thing I saw you in was Saturday Night Fever. Do you have pleasant memories of that show?
Batt: [Laughs] I do! Until my platform shoe broke, and I twisted my knee and tore the cartilage…But otherwise, it was the first time I was one of the older members of the cast. It was odd, being the sage of the cast. I got to improv a lot in rehearsals, and a lot was kept in the script, unlike "Mad Men" where you don't change a word. And in Fever, it was fun to lose myself in such a hideous character.
["Mad Men" airs on AMC.]
NO DOUBTING THOMAS
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| Thomas Sadoski |
| photo by Aubrey Reuben |
Q: Enjoying your experience at the Flea so far?
Sadoski: Oh yeah — anything to help out this organization. It's such an essential organization. You spend a long time working in this business to get to a point where you are invited to donate your time to something like this. It is really cool. I was in the other room signing posters and trying to squeeze my name in as neatly as I could underneath Rosemary Harris. That's a really cool thing.
Q: Do you miss Reasons To Be Pretty?
Sadoski: I spent a year working on that show, and it was an extraordinary experience. Working with Terry Kinney, I don't even have words to describe the quality of director and person he is. To work with Neil LaBute, easily one of the best playwrights of our generation. And to work with a dear friend like Marin Ireland who came up together with me doing readings at New Dramatists for free for decades before we ever got an opportunity, and Piper Perabo, who I've known for years and years—such a brave artist. It takes guts to do the stuff she did in that play. Steven Pasquale, the toughest guy on Broadway, great to work with him, we had a really extraordinary time. It was great to be with people who give a damn about the business and the art.
NEWMAN!
Had to catch up with Robert Newman since the final episode of "Guiding Light" has now aired. He is still playing the lead in Off-Broadway's Sessions.
Question: How goes Sessions?
Robert Newman: It's going great. I've extended with it through the end of the year. I love the people I'm working with. The audience seems to love the show. It's nice to be at this level of a show where it is still evolving, and we've become a good family onstage…We trust each other completely, and it is the kind of play that has a different flow to it at every performance. It is such an emotional piece for everybody.
Q: Do you have more clarity now on your post-"Guiding Light" existence?
Newman: I think I'm starting to get there. I'd be jumping the gun to say I am there. The last month was extremely emotional, a lot of roller-coaster ups and downs. It really is saying goodbye to something that has been a part of my life for a really long time. My own therapist talked about those four or five things that really throw us for a loop: death, divorce, moving, losing a job. Those are the four biggest things, and she was saying, for me, this thing with "Guiding Light" really encompasses all of those. I'm actually quite thankful for Sessions for giving me something to focus on through all this. Somewhere around next spring I'll start thinking about what I want to be when I grow up.
[Sessions is playing the Algonquin Theater, located at 123 East 24th Street, between Park Avenue South and Lexington Ave. Check out sessionsthemusical.com for info.]
WHATEVER MAN MONTALBAN
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| Paulo Montalbán |
Question: Tell us about Whatever Man.
Paolo Montalbán: It is kind of crazy. It is the funniest script I think I've read of a musical theatre show. It's about an everyday guy who has a very vivid imagination and trouble committing to his girlfriend. He gets put into this group therapy session and meets a superhero, and the superhero reveals to him that great evil is coming to the earth, and all these other superheroes show up, and hilarity ensues.
Q: You've done lots of TV work, but is theatre in your blood?
Montalbán: Absolutely, I started my professional career out of New York, and I've been away in L.A. for a long time. I feel like the new kid in town here, but I don't mind it.
Q: Now, I myself have never been named to any Most Beautiful lists—
Montalbán: It's not too late!
Q: I've not given up. But is that something you take great pride in?
Montalbán: It's something I get a lot of flack for from my friends, and to be quite honest with you, when I got the phone call, it was first from my manager, and he said the editors at "People" magazine wanted to talk to me. I thought it was for a piece on Whitney Houston or Brandy [both from "Cinderella"]. Oftentimes they ask fellow cast members about each other for articles. When I called them, they said, "You've been selected…" and I automatically thought I'd won some money or prize. Then they finished with the "Most Beautiful" thing, and I didn't quite believe it. I thought maybe somebody dropped out and they needed a last-minute replacement.
Q: What did the "Cinderella" film mean to your career?
Montalbán:It was a little bit of everything. I would consider it my second big break, my first being The King and I on Broadway. But I feel like the creative team on "Cinderella" had a mission statement that was greater than just putting together a piece of musical theatre on film. The message they brought out is that any girl can see herself as Cinderella.
Q: Is it a fact that you once were pre-med in psychology?
Montalbán: A definite fact. That is something I carry with more pride than to be "People" magazine's whatever. I actually wanted to go to school for pediatric cardiology. I wanted to sing over little baby hearts. At some point, I lost the passion for it. I moved to psychology, wanted to become a psychiatrist. Then an agent came down to see a show I was doing at Rutgers and the rest, as they say, is history.
[Whatever Man features book, music and lyrics by Benjamin Strouse. See www.nymf.org for show times and ticket details.]
HITHER AND YON
As mentioned last month, "The Leading Men IV" DVD was on sale at the Flea Market. Those who couldn't make it, note that you can get a copy through Applause Video at www.broadwaybeat.com for $35. Paulo Montalbán himself is on the disk singing "Close Upon the Hour" from The King of Hearts. Nick Adams does a stellar version of my fave Brigadoon number, "Come to Me, Bend to Me." Jack Donahue kills with "But Not For Me," and I don't want to spoil the other surprises, but it is a fun night and an excellent production with musical direction by our own Seth Rudetsky. You can order the past LM concerts as well through that site, so have at it…I was remiss in not remembering a great musician who passed away last month, maybe the man who appears on more records in my collection than anyone else, session pianist and member of Bread, Larry Knechtel. Look him up and be amazed at the sheer number of familiar songs and artists he was associated with, including playing piano on "Bridge Over Troubled Water," work on various Barbra Streisand albums and keyboards on the L.A. Rocky Horror Show cast album. One of the greats, truly…Ken Altman, Dan Grinko, Brian Haggerty, Jim Mullins and David Salyers make up the male cast of California Suite, the last show of the season at St. Bart's, 325 Park Ave. That's running Oct. 10-25. Go to www.stbartsplayers.org for more info… Okay, that was a lot. I'll rest up and be back next month!
Tom Nondorf can be reached at tnondorf@playbill.com.