Christian Hoff began
his stage and screen career at age eight. Performing became an instant passion
and he began training as an actor, singer and dancer. When he was eleven, he
followed his Dad and Brother into music and bought his first guitar. Notable career
highlights over the decades include portraying Walt Disney in One Man's Dream,
providing the voice of Richie Rich in the Hanna-Barbera cartoon series of the
same name, hosting the cable series Eyes and Ears Inside Disney, playing
Shelley Winters bad-boy step-son in her one and only sitcom Shelley, replacing
David Arquette as Frank-n-Furter in the Los Angeles production of The Rocky
Horror Show at the Tiffany Theater, touring as King Herod with Sebastian Bach
in Jesus Christ Superstar, his Broadway debut in The Who's Tommy (original cast
album) with Michael Cerveris and his Broadway return, starring as Tommy DeVito
in Jersey Boys.
So how did you hear
about the nomination this morning?
Well, at 8:45 this morning I was at home, still in bed and
checking the Internet on my phone. At 8:45, my agent called… These days you
need to get as much rest as possible so I was chilling to the last minute and then
I got the call from the agent.
And what was the
first thing that you did?
I called my wife and kids! My wife is out at La Jolla where she's working on Zhivago so I called them
first, and then called my mother and brother. They're my biggest support team
so at 5:45am (on the west coast) they were already online, in the zone and
watching on TV and the web while I was resting.
It sounds like 'rest'
is something that you're in need of these days.
I do feel a bit like Lance Armstrong lately! I try to just focus
on the work… Then just rest, and work and do what you need to do. That's my
comfort zone and my power zone.
So will you be
celebrating today by resting or by working?
Today I'll definitely be celebrating with a lot of work. I'm actually on my way
now to Carnegie Hall to sound check there. Tonight at intermission of the show,
we're going to have a police escort, and we will go over to Carnegie Hall, perform 4
songs and then go back to the theatre for Act 2. While we're gone, our book
writers, and our director will be on stage entertaining the audience.
The *real* celebration though will just be being able to be
on stage tonight with the whole cast.
It seems like you
guys are popping up everywhere lately! How many 'extracurricular' events are
you doing between now and the Tony Awards?
We have 11 events outside the regular show schedule and
that's not including sound checks or rehearsals… We haven't had a day off in 3
weeks.
Wow… It's a good
thing that you love what you do! This has been a great season on Broadway –
have you been able to catch any of the other shows?
It's such a unique season, and so diverse. I couldn't be happier
to be riding the wave. I saw The Drowsy Chaperone and loved it. I haven't seen
The Threepenny Opera yet, but in addition to the Tony race, Jim Dale and I are
both involved in an audio book race.
