THE LEADING MEN: Szot & Burgess
August in New York: South Pacific's Paulo Szot plus time well spent with Tituss Burgess.
SOME ENCHANTED LIFE
Paulo Szot's life story so far would make a nice movie. Check that. There's enough here for a miniseries. Brazilian-born son of Polish parents yearns for a life in the arts, gets a scholarship to study ballet in Poland, only has enough money to sail for 23 days on a cargo ship, arrives, hurts his knee, is told by a doctor that if he wants to walk he must not dance again, goes with his fallback of singing, becomes an opera star, gets a chance to act on Broadway despite a fear of speaking onstage, wins a Tony, and remains a humble and beloved leader of the cast of South Pacific as the conflicted Emile de Becque. Some enchanted life, indeed!
Q: A year-and-a-half along, are you still discovering new things about Emile?
Paulo Szot: All the time. I went for a vacation in the Bahamas, and I found a house there that looked like Emile's house, and that has become my inspiration for what his house would really look like.
Q: Now that you are more comfortable acting onstage, are you careful not to become overly comfortable?
Szot: Absolutely. In the beginning, I was very insecure. It was my first role as an actor, and it was a question of finding confidence. Then there is a moment where you begin to trust yourself, to believe that you are doing things that are good. But I've never felt too comfortable. I've always felt it is a challenge to start and finish a show. Maybe there are people who it is easy for them to do eight shows a week. It is not easy for me. I have to condition myself, to think as an athlete, to discipline myself. Only that can give me the comfort that you are talking about.
Q: Is it difficult falling in and out of love onstage every night?
Szot: I think that's the easy part! To be onstage with such beautiful actresses and to fall in love with such characters and play Emile. The challenge of the character will always be there because he always changes. I thought at the beginning it would be a question of two or three months [of things changing], but Emile still changes, the whole show changes. That's what makes things interesting and not boring. My colleagues ask me, "Do you not get bored [doing the show]?" I say, "No!" I was bored many, many times when I did Don Giovanni. By the fifth show I would be like, "I can't do it anymore," but not [with South Pacific]. It's the magic of the theatre. It gives you the liberty to change.
Q: Did winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical boost your confidence?
Szot: Of course. I'd lie if I said not. I was very honored with this recognition last year. It is something I'll never forget. When you come to a new profession as an actor, it is always a good thing when people like you. It is good for your soul as an artist.
Q: Did you think, "Hey, maybe acting is the new way to go"?
Szot: I always tried as an opera singer to act. As an opera singer, we are closed in the frame of what we do. We do not have the liberties of stage acting. I always was afraid of being an actor, of acting without the support of the music, acting with my own words. It was a challenge for me, a challenge that became my life. When I finish this, I'm very open now to do another musical. If I don't, I know I am going to miss it.
Q: Lovely Laura Osnes has joined the cast as Nellie Forbush. Is she a contrast from Kelli O'Hara, your original leading lady?
Szot: Kelli, we did the show together from the beginning. We created this relationship for several weeks. With Laura, the difference is we are creating the relationship onstage. We didn't have the time before [she joined the cast], so we are adjusting live. We meet onstage and we create our relationship onstage. That is the biggest difference between Kelli and Laura. They are both wonderful actresses, they are both beautiful and lovely persons.
Q: You shall return to opera next year in The Nose. Are you excited?
Szot: Very much. It's my Metropolitan Opera debut. The direction is going to be great. It is a challenge of a super, hyper, extra-difficult music. Shostakovich is crazy and beautiful at the same time! For the performers and for a singer who has to memorize all the notes, it is a big, big challenge.
Q: People here think opera is such a serious thing. Do you try to convince them otherwise?
Szot: It's not only here but where I was born too. I always encourage people to come see opera and to break this kind of myth, because once they go and they see, it's a little different than musical theatre, yes. The most important thing in opera is the music - that's the untouchable thing, but everyone loves music. It's just a question of opening yourself to a new experience.
Q: What was it like taking that cargo ship from Brazil to Poland?
Szot: I was 18. Back then, I thought everything was interesting. It was my first big trip to a continent where I didn't speak the language at all. My parents are Polish, but I was the fifth child so they kind of lost the language with me. If it was today, I don't know if I would do it again. I was going to a communist country where I didn't speak much. I just knew that I wanted to develop as an artist and I had this scholarship to dance.
Q: I imagine a scene of you surrounded on a ship by boxes and rats.
Szot: [Laughs.] No, no, the ship was quite good! There were some beautiful days when I could see all the fishes and dolphins and flying fishes and all that. There were storms, too, where I was afraid the ship was going to capsize. But it was an adventure.
TITUSS TAKES FIVE
Tituss Burgess put on his crowd-pleasing one-man show at Birdland, entitled How I Hear It, July 27. He stayed around for Jim Caruso's Cast Party and did a marvelous version of "Guess Who I Saw Today" that blew folks away. Burgess recently saw one show he was in close - Guys and Dolls in which he played Nicely-Nicely - and one show with which he is closely associated announce its closing - The Little Mermaid, where he created the role of Sebastian. I grabbed him for a chat after his Birdland gig, and he was most forthcoming, admitting he was glad his show was over (for now), and after the Broadway closings, he's ready for something new.
Q: Is this relief the usual wave of emotion that comes over you post-show?
Tituss Burgess: It's weird. I booked this show four months ago, and every month I came up with a new show, a new thought process. It's hard for me to lie to an audience and regurgitate information that is not relevant to where I am in life because I think it will ring false. So I changed songs and charts up the last minute, and I wanted to do material that I could communicate clearly to the audience and tell my story.
Q: Is that search for truth something you wish you didn't always have?
Burgess: I wish I could turn it off, I really do! Some days I appreciate it, some days I wish I could just go out, do the hits and not care. That's just not the way I was designed. I'm learning to not ignore it. My blessing and curse is that I can't shut up! I give myself creative license to talk about things that the rest of the world may or may not be talking about. I don't know any other way.
Q: To what do you attribute that? A show you saw? A person who influenced you?
Burgess: When you asked that question, the first image that came to mind is Lena Horne in "The Wiz" doing "Believe in Yourself." I watched that movie over and over again as a kid, and I would swear that lady was talking to me. I'd watch it in my living room, and I'd go to the library, rent the movie, fast forward, and that's all I would listen to. It's interesting because at times in New York, I've felt like I'm in Oz, and all I wanted to do was go home to what is normal, what makes sense, what is familiar. We are not always able to do that as adults, as well-adjusted human beings. I'm 30 now. I know all too well the pain, suffering and isolation that comes along from being a young, black, gay, slightly overweight youth who doesn't have anyone to go to and all he sees is "well-adjusted white people." So I said to myself, "Tituss, if you don't go head-to-head with these issues right now, you'll be doing a disservice to a long line of young, gay, black men who have nothing to look up to." Now, I'm not a role model, I don't claim to be that-
Q: But you can illustrate what is possible-
Burgess: Possibilities! That's right. I watched Obama accept the Democratic nomination, and I wept because I hadn't even realized it was a possibility that we could have a black President. I thought someday there would be a man of color in the oval office, but then it was like, "It's now. It's happening right now!"
Q: What do you miss the most about The Little Mermaid?
Burgess: That time in my life was so charmed. The family, the cast was so warm and so grossly talented. My first entrance was always out of the orchestra pit... I would see these kids in the front rows, and on the nights when I was down or wanted to do the show the least, the look of awe and wonder on their faces - it had nothing to do with my performance - but the look of absolute wonder that I saw, the possibility of mesmerization on all these children's faces brought me right into the moment. I thought, this is the first show some of these kids see, period, and I thought, I won't destroy that. The magic and intensity of seeing a show for the first time, the romanticism, you can't re-create it. With the kids, I secretly wished I was them sometimes, seeing a Broadway show that first time.
Q: What's up next for you?
Burgess: Not a damn thing! To be honest with you, I've been blessed to work steadily for a while now. I have no desire whatsoever to do a show, to be a part of endless tech. It scares me a lot, but I am tired and I love this city and love what I do too much. To properly deliver information and to appreciate the gift that I've been giving, I need to take a break, a pause. So, shows like How I Hear It are what I've got right now. I've got lots of concerts planned around the country, and I'm going to do those and sing till it is out of my system and till I start to miss theatre, and then I'll start to audition and hope the right project comes my way… What the hell? This got so in-depth! [Laughs.]
Source
SOME ENCHANTED LIFE
Paulo Szot's life story so far would make a nice movie. Check that. There's enough here for a miniseries. Brazilian-born son of Polish parents yearns for a life in the arts, gets a scholarship to study ballet in Poland, only has enough money to sail for 23 days on a cargo ship, arrives, hurts his knee, is told by a doctor that if he wants to walk he must not dance again, goes with his fallback of singing, becomes an opera star, gets a chance to act on Broadway despite a fear of speaking onstage, wins a Tony, and remains a humble and beloved leader of the cast of South Pacific as the conflicted Emile de Becque. Some enchanted life, indeed!
Q: A year-and-a-half along, are you still discovering new things about Emile?
Paulo Szot: All the time. I went for a vacation in the Bahamas, and I found a house there that looked like Emile's house, and that has become my inspiration for what his house would really look like.
Q: Now that you are more comfortable acting onstage, are you careful not to become overly comfortable?
Szot: Absolutely. In the beginning, I was very insecure. It was my first role as an actor, and it was a question of finding confidence. Then there is a moment where you begin to trust yourself, to believe that you are doing things that are good. But I've never felt too comfortable. I've always felt it is a challenge to start and finish a show. Maybe there are people who it is easy for them to do eight shows a week. It is not easy for me. I have to condition myself, to think as an athlete, to discipline myself. Only that can give me the comfort that you are talking about.
Q: Is it difficult falling in and out of love onstage every night?
Szot: I think that's the easy part! To be onstage with such beautiful actresses and to fall in love with such characters and play Emile. The challenge of the character will always be there because he always changes. I thought at the beginning it would be a question of two or three months [of things changing], but Emile still changes, the whole show changes. That's what makes things interesting and not boring. My colleagues ask me, "Do you not get bored [doing the show]?" I say, "No!" I was bored many, many times when I did Don Giovanni. By the fifth show I would be like, "I can't do it anymore," but not [with South Pacific]. It's the magic of the theatre. It gives you the liberty to change.
Q: Did winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical boost your confidence?
Szot: Of course. I'd lie if I said not. I was very honored with this recognition last year. It is something I'll never forget. When you come to a new profession as an actor, it is always a good thing when people like you. It is good for your soul as an artist.
Q: Did you think, "Hey, maybe acting is the new way to go"?
Szot: I always tried as an opera singer to act. As an opera singer, we are closed in the frame of what we do. We do not have the liberties of stage acting. I always was afraid of being an actor, of acting without the support of the music, acting with my own words. It was a challenge for me, a challenge that became my life. When I finish this, I'm very open now to do another musical. If I don't, I know I am going to miss it.
Q: Lovely Laura Osnes has joined the cast as Nellie Forbush. Is she a contrast from Kelli O'Hara, your original leading lady?
Szot: Kelli, we did the show together from the beginning. We created this relationship for several weeks. With Laura, the difference is we are creating the relationship onstage. We didn't have the time before [she joined the cast], so we are adjusting live. We meet onstage and we create our relationship onstage. That is the biggest difference between Kelli and Laura. They are both wonderful actresses, they are both beautiful and lovely persons.
Q: You shall return to opera next year in The Nose. Are you excited?
Szot: Very much. It's my Metropolitan Opera debut. The direction is going to be great. It is a challenge of a super, hyper, extra-difficult music. Shostakovich is crazy and beautiful at the same time! For the performers and for a singer who has to memorize all the notes, it is a big, big challenge.
Q: People here think opera is such a serious thing. Do you try to convince them otherwise?
Szot: It's not only here but where I was born too. I always encourage people to come see opera and to break this kind of myth, because once they go and they see, it's a little different than musical theatre, yes. The most important thing in opera is the music - that's the untouchable thing, but everyone loves music. It's just a question of opening yourself to a new experience.
Q: What was it like taking that cargo ship from Brazil to Poland?
Szot: I was 18. Back then, I thought everything was interesting. It was my first big trip to a continent where I didn't speak the language at all. My parents are Polish, but I was the fifth child so they kind of lost the language with me. If it was today, I don't know if I would do it again. I was going to a communist country where I didn't speak much. I just knew that I wanted to develop as an artist and I had this scholarship to dance.
Q: I imagine a scene of you surrounded on a ship by boxes and rats.
Szot: [Laughs.] No, no, the ship was quite good! There were some beautiful days when I could see all the fishes and dolphins and flying fishes and all that. There were storms, too, where I was afraid the ship was going to capsize. But it was an adventure.
TITUSS TAKES FIVE
Tituss Burgess put on his crowd-pleasing one-man show at Birdland, entitled How I Hear It, July 27. He stayed around for Jim Caruso's Cast Party and did a marvelous version of "Guess Who I Saw Today" that blew folks away. Burgess recently saw one show he was in close - Guys and Dolls in which he played Nicely-Nicely - and one show with which he is closely associated announce its closing - The Little Mermaid, where he created the role of Sebastian. I grabbed him for a chat after his Birdland gig, and he was most forthcoming, admitting he was glad his show was over (for now), and after the Broadway closings, he's ready for something new.
Q: Is this relief the usual wave of emotion that comes over you post-show?
Tituss Burgess: It's weird. I booked this show four months ago, and every month I came up with a new show, a new thought process. It's hard for me to lie to an audience and regurgitate information that is not relevant to where I am in life because I think it will ring false. So I changed songs and charts up the last minute, and I wanted to do material that I could communicate clearly to the audience and tell my story.
Q: Is that search for truth something you wish you didn't always have?
Burgess: I wish I could turn it off, I really do! Some days I appreciate it, some days I wish I could just go out, do the hits and not care. That's just not the way I was designed. I'm learning to not ignore it. My blessing and curse is that I can't shut up! I give myself creative license to talk about things that the rest of the world may or may not be talking about. I don't know any other way.
Q: To what do you attribute that? A show you saw? A person who influenced you?
Burgess: When you asked that question, the first image that came to mind is Lena Horne in "The Wiz" doing "Believe in Yourself." I watched that movie over and over again as a kid, and I would swear that lady was talking to me. I'd watch it in my living room, and I'd go to the library, rent the movie, fast forward, and that's all I would listen to. It's interesting because at times in New York, I've felt like I'm in Oz, and all I wanted to do was go home to what is normal, what makes sense, what is familiar. We are not always able to do that as adults, as well-adjusted human beings. I'm 30 now. I know all too well the pain, suffering and isolation that comes along from being a young, black, gay, slightly overweight youth who doesn't have anyone to go to and all he sees is "well-adjusted white people." So I said to myself, "Tituss, if you don't go head-to-head with these issues right now, you'll be doing a disservice to a long line of young, gay, black men who have nothing to look up to." Now, I'm not a role model, I don't claim to be that-
Q: But you can illustrate what is possible-
Burgess: Possibilities! That's right. I watched Obama accept the Democratic nomination, and I wept because I hadn't even realized it was a possibility that we could have a black President. I thought someday there would be a man of color in the oval office, but then it was like, "It's now. It's happening right now!"
Q: What do you miss the most about The Little Mermaid?
Burgess: That time in my life was so charmed. The family, the cast was so warm and so grossly talented. My first entrance was always out of the orchestra pit... I would see these kids in the front rows, and on the nights when I was down or wanted to do the show the least, the look of awe and wonder on their faces - it had nothing to do with my performance - but the look of absolute wonder that I saw, the possibility of mesmerization on all these children's faces brought me right into the moment. I thought, this is the first show some of these kids see, period, and I thought, I won't destroy that. The magic and intensity of seeing a show for the first time, the romanticism, you can't re-create it. With the kids, I secretly wished I was them sometimes, seeing a Broadway show that first time.
Q: What's up next for you?
Burgess: Not a damn thing! To be honest with you, I've been blessed to work steadily for a while now. I have no desire whatsoever to do a show, to be a part of endless tech. It scares me a lot, but I am tired and I love this city and love what I do too much. To properly deliver information and to appreciate the gift that I've been giving, I need to take a break, a pause. So, shows like How I Hear It are what I've got right now. I've got lots of concerts planned around the country, and I'm going to do those and sing till it is out of my system and till I start to miss theatre, and then I'll start to audition and hope the right project comes my way… What the hell? This got so in-depth! [Laughs.]
Source