|
 |
THE LEADING MEN: Chad Kimball, Brian Childers and Abe Vigoda
By Tom Nondorf
04 Nov 2009
 |
|
Chad Kimball
|
Chad Kimball of Broadway's Memphis and Brian Childers of Off-Broadway's Danny and Sylvia are November's Leading Men. We also have a special visit with the great Abe Vigoda.
*
KIMBALL'S CRAZY LITTLE HUEY
In the "Broadway Musicals Named After Cities Associated with the Blues" category, Chicago has now been joined by Memphis, and as Huey Calhoun, the bold and brash denizen of Beale Street, Chad Kimball has been blowing people away with his electric performance and unforgettable drawl. As the "cracker" who sees the dawn of a new music called rock 'n' roll happening in his midst, the Seattle-born Kimball is playing the role he felt was right for him from the moment he read it. Kimball first milked his time on Broadway as the cow in Into the Woods. He was in both Lennon and Good Vibrations in 2005. Now he is ruling the Shubert Theatre alongside leading lady Montego Glover.
Q: Congratulations on opening Memphis on Broadway. Has it been pretty exciting for you so far?
Chad Kimball: It's so exciting. Probably the most exciting thing is to see the way the audience reacts. A lot of people don't know what the show is about, and they find themselves pretty smitten, I think.
Q: Give me an insider's point of view. What's it like in those last moments on the stage during the curtain calls? Is your top emotion unbridled joy or relief of making it through the show?
Kimball: [Laughs] I'd say it's more along the lines of unbridled joy. Then I take the long walk upstairs. Then I get to fall over [Laughs]. But honestly, to see the reaction of the audience, the joy that comes from that is why most of us got into theatre.
Q: You've said you felt a kinship with the role from the very beginning.
Kimball: Yeah. Without any hubris, when I first read it, I had a sense of it, and after winning the role, I flew home to Seattle for a week to visit my family, and I read through the entire script and I thought, "How am I going to do this?" When we started rehearsing, it just kind of came out, it fell onto the stage, and for some reason I felt like I knew who Huey was — one of those kismet moments for me.
Q: What do you think makes Huey so brave? I mean, he has a lot of cojones to do some of the crazy stunts he pulls off in pursuit of his dreams.
Kimball: [Laughs] I don't know if it is so much bravery as a real part of his genetic makeup, which is all about going for it. He's mastered the American spirit of knowing you can go and do anything you want, and he doesn't see the obstacles that other people see. That's the lovely part about him. He is either ignorant or chooses to be ignorant to the racial boundaries, the societal boundaries… He's poor, but that doesn't stop him. His love of the music really drives him. He is singular in that sense. Gosh, if we could all be that way! Find a passion and just go for it with abandon.
Q: You've been involved with this show for years now. How have you seen Huey evolve over that time?
Kimball: Looking back, [there was a great] advantage of being able to come to a production six years ago, and then leave it for a year, then come back to another production of it, then leave for two years and come back and always have the character in the back of your mind while involved in other endeavors… Montego and myself, we grew up as people and were able to bring that growth and the lessons we learned to the stage. That kind of process and advantage is really fantastic, to be able to marinate in the roles for so long and get them as juicy as possible [Laughs].
|  | |
Chad Kimball in Memphis
|
| photo by Joan Marcus |
Q: Describe the moment when you first knew the show was coming to Broadway.
Kimball: It was when [director] Chris Ashley called me on a Sunday morning, and he was in New York and I was in Los Angeles, and I rolled out of bed and saw that I had missed a phone call at 8 AM. And I thought, "Who is calling at 8 AM?" And I called him back, and he said, "We're going full steam with the show, and we want you to be a part of it." And that's when I thought that this thing is going to happen. You try and protect yourself a little bit, because you never know in theatre. And also the fact that they stuck with Montego and I all the way to Broadway when so many shows are going to film and TV stars. To do the old-school trick of casting people who originated the roles is really, really something.
Q: Did you have to do any research or were you into early rock 'n' roll and soul from that time period?
Kimball: I was. Probably not as much as I am now. But talk about fun research! This music is great, and you can feel the burgeoning of that city in the music of the time that was being played around Memphis. The research was fun. We actually went to Memphis a month before rehearsals and got to do some "research" on Beale Street late at night.
Q: I think the sets really add to the whole show experience.
Kimball: The great part about the set is that…every aspect of the show complements every other aspect of the show, which is to say that [scenic designer] David Gallo has given [lighting designer] Howell Binkley a playground, and Howell has given Chris a playground, and everybody is giving the other creative departments room to play, and that is so important. I don't think the set overwhelms anybody, but it is seamless, and it's fluid, and it moves, and I would love to see it in action [laughs]. I can't usually see it, but it is gorgeous with deep, rich colors that really evoke an emotion for that time. It's a pleasure to be working on that set every night.
Q: I never thought about that, how you are really too close to the set to see it in full.
Kimball: Sometimes I don't even know what I'm wearing!
|  | |
Montego Glover with Chad Kimball in Memphis
|
| photo by Joan Marcus |
Q: Is it cool to have a catchphrase?
Kimball: You mean, "Hockadoo"? Yeah, it is! It's a lot of fun. I run into people sometimes on the street and I hear "Hockadoo!" It's a word that [author and co-lyricist] Joe DiPietro made up, and it's just stuck. Now we have T-shirts that say "Hockadoo!" Yeah, a nice little catchphrase. Maybe it will make it into the dictionary. That will be the day.
Q: A little Kimball history, please. Who in your life encouraged you the most to start acting?
Kimball: My cousin Marty, actually. He lived in New York. He passed away in '95 of AIDS. He was about 15 years older than I. He was a dancer who went out on tours with West Side Story and Evita. I just remember being so enamored of what he did and the magic of the theatre. So he really inspired me to get involved. It has been bittersweet because he wasn't able to fulfill his dream fully here. I feel that in a way I have been kind of able to take his torch and run with it. I also went to a great high school, Roosevelt High in Seattle, which had a great drama department, and it didn't hurt that my parents always let me live my dream and supported me. That was very important.
Q: You also attended Boston Conservatory here on the East Coast.
Kimball: I did. It's funny, the other day I was thinking about things I learned there. Sometimes when you are in school, you wonder why are they teaching this or that. Cut to ten years later, I'm pulling out all those old manuals and notes from classes, and a lot of it that I didn't get then is very useful now.
Q: What are the tricks to pacing yourself in a role as active as yours when a lot of us would be collapsing at intermission?
Kimball: The biggest thing for me is sleep. And, I didn't realize how important relaxation during a performance is, even if the scene you are performing is a tense scene, there are always ways to relax, and I am still finding them. Relaxation and breathing are two huge things for me. Six years ago when we first did this show at North Shore, I was younger [laughs]. In this process, I've been achy, and wondering what's wrong with my body and then I realized… Oh! I'm older! [Laughs].
Q: David Bryan wrote the songs for Memphis. Did you ever think you'd be collaborating with the keyboardist from Bon Jovi on a Broadway show?
Kimball: I think about that after I'm hanging out with him, but when we're hanging out, he's so down to earth, so laid back, and such a gentleman. That's something to say for his spirit. But, yeah, man. He has entertained many millions of people.
Q:Did he work closely with the cast?
Kimball: Work closely doesn't do it justice. David and Joe are so easy to work with and so open to allow us actors to give our two cents. They ask for our thoughts and our understanding of character. Just a true collaboration. Two people who love the show and want it to work and set aside their egos — if I've ever even seen them have egos — to get it to work and make it successful.
Q: Lastly, can you give me a "Hockadoo!" for the road?
Kimball: "Hockadooooo!"
[Memphis is now playing the Shubert Theatre, 225 W. 44th Street. For more information, go to www.memphisthemusical.com.] Continued...
Contact Us | Advertise | Privacy Policy
Send questions and comments to the Webmaster
Copyright © 2009 Playbill, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
|
|
|
|
|