Paulo Szot had performed only in opera, never a musical, before making his theatrical debut this spring in the Broadway revival of South Pacific. William Michals, who will play Emile de Becque at every performance this week while Szot's out, has been jumping between the opera and theater worlds for much of his career (and life), with plenty of concerts also in the mix. He's played many of musical theater's silken-voiced leading men--Lancelot, Javert, the Man of La Mancha, e.g.--in regional and touring productions and has starred on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast.
As the standby for Emile, Michals is at the theater every night. He's gone on in the role at four previous performances, most recently about a month ago. This summer he also expanded his fanbase from his performances in two shows at NYC's Town Hall: In mid-July he partook in A Night at the Operetta, then came back two weeks later to sing "They Call the Wind Mariah," "Where Is the Life That Late I Led?" and "Some Enchanted Evening"--the latter unamplified--in All Singin' All Dancin'. In past years the baritone has captivated Town Hall audiences in the annual Broadway Unplugged concert, which returns for its fifth year--without mikes but with Michals--on Nov. 17.
Michals sat for an interview with BWW last Wednesday at the Vivian Beaumont Theater while the South Pacific matinee was taking place on the other side of the lobby doors.
How does your Emile differ from Paulo's?
I can't do a Brazilian-French accent [smiles]. Of course Paulo has to work his English through his Brazilian accent and then add the French accent, and he does a wonderful job. I can't duplicate that. We come from different backgrounds, and he has his personality imbued in it and I guess I work it from my personality. This is a departure for me because it's a role that's nearly contemporary--50 or 60 years ago, but we're just real people here in pretty much modern clothing--so it's very much peeling off the veneers and being...real.
I hope I don't disappoint. I know I'm going in for a Tony-winning performance, and it's a performance that's only gotten better over time, and Paulo's a sweetheart. If you have to do this [standby] job, it's a privilege to be part of the company. It's an open-ended run, it's very successful, it's beautifully directed, and working with Bart Sher is a really great education for me, learning about my art. And part of the blessing of being in this production is just the music. People backstage are constantly humming and singing along with the show. The music is a gift from God.
Had you ever played the part before?
Yes, when I was 16. I did a production of it in high school, and then the following summer in community theater. My high school was in New Jersey, and the community theater was down in Spring Lake, on the oceanfront. I grew up in Union County, but I really call the Jersey Shore my home.
You were performing on Broadway this week in 2001.
I was Gaston in Beauty and the Beast around the time of 9/11. It was a real privilege to be a part of the theatrical community at that time. It was very emotional and meaningful. By Thursday night all Broadway was back on, and audiences needed that escape. Even as I remember it now, I get choked up because I realized how theater could take people away from the unimaginable reality, even if for an hour. It didn't take away the reality, but it allowed people to transport themselves to a different place. That's kind of like this show does: It doesn't erase the realities of our folks in the armed forces overseas, but it transports us. If one can escape and be present at the same time, that somehow happens in musical theater. The moment when Loretta [Ables Sayre] is singing "Bali Ha'i," for instance. It's just magical--that melody, her performance, the idea of the song that there's a magical island...
On the three-month memorial, at Ground Zero I sang "Let There Be Peace on Earth." Pataki, Giuliani, all of the workers, I believe the cardinal from St. Patrick's were there, and people around the world were watching it on television.
Some of today's musical theater performers focus on the new generation of theater composers in their cabarets and concerts, but you seem to favor the "classic" showtune repertoire. Is this true?
Well, I know what side my bread is buttered on. I should say, I know what I'm best at, and you wouldn't want to hear me sing hip-hop or R&B. I happen to love the more classic musical theater, and opera, and that extends through Wildhorn and Lloyd Webber, a lot of Alan Menken. I sing William Finn. A couple of years ago, I did See What I Wanna See at the Public Theater, by Michael John LaChiusa.
When I do my own concerts, I have room to throw in a specialty cabaret-type number or an obscure piece of music. But in symphony concerts, you generally have to sing the more familiar music, and for better or for worse, everybody just loves "The Impossible Dream" and "Some Enchanted Evening" and "Music of the Night" and "Ol' Man River." You can't argue with the highest-quality songs; you can't argue with Richard Rodgers or Jerome Kern or Cole Porter... Also, when you're up there on stage with a 60-piece orchestra, not a lot of the more modern musical theater is orchestrated for a big orchestra.
