BWW EXCLUSIVE: Harry Connick, Jr. On New CD/DVD & Much More!

Today we are talking to Emmy and multi-Grammy-winning actor, musician and performer Harry Connick, Jr. about his new concert CD/DVD/Blu-Ray Harry Connick, Jr.: ON BROADWAY, in stores this week and premiering on PBS GREAT PERFORMANCES nationwide on Sunday. In this revealing two-part discussion encapsulating many of Harry's stage, film and concert memories - as well as anecdotes about working with friends and co-stars like Sandra Bullock, Hilary Swank and Renee Zellweger - we analyze the sights and sounds of his new concert album and DVD (which was filmed at the Neil Simon Theatre on Broadway last year) with central focus of the conversation being his passion for musical theatre music - as a musician, composer, performer and actor - and what the future holds for him on stages and screens large and small around the world. Of course, all of this is coming on the heels of the first news of Harry himself starring in the highly-awaited revival of ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER on Broadway next year! All that and much, much more awaits in this extensive weekend triptych feature, so don't miss the special Harry-centric edition of FLASH FRIDAY for the full experience!

In Part II we have Harry's thoughts on mentoring AMERICAN IDOL contestants, GLEE, details about his new movies DOLPHIN TALE and WHEN ANGELS SING, working on BUG, HOPE FLOATS and more, in addition to his earliest musical theatre memories and what his stage work has meant to him, both as an actor and performer. But, first, enjoy this largely music-focused discussion - just as it should be when dealing with the reigning king of New Orleans jazz and America's best-loved classic song crooner - with a thorough rundown of writing his first Broadway musical, THOU SHALT NOT, and revisiting the finely-crafted tunes on three albums and, now, on the ON BROADWAY CD/DVD - plus thoughts on Sondheim, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Frank Loesser and more! It's a whole lotta Harry!

Part I: New York, New Orleans & New Music

PC: I remember meeting you at the Lincoln Center Platform Series when you did a talkback for THOU SHALT NOT years ago. I learned so much about music. What do you think of the American musical tradition and doing talkbacks like that?

HCJ: Listen, I'll just talk to anybody who's willing and wants to listen, really. [Laughs.]

PC: It's out of pure love for your craft that you do events like that, then - plus a little promotion?

HCJ: Yeah, I mean, whether they are people who really know about music, like you, or if they are just people who are kind of just fans - and most of the time it's the latter - makes it so I don't really get the chance to go into too much specific detail like I would otherwise.

PC: What are your lasting impressions looking back at the work you did on THOU SHALT NOT, your first Broadway musical?

HCJ: That whole experience was great. You know, I had never written for Broadway. I had never written songs for the express purpose of advancing the plot and telling a story in a show, so, although I felt very comfortable doing it, the experience was new. It was the first time.

PC: Everything was fresh.

HCJ: Everything. Everything revolving around the show - the interviews, the workshops, the performances themselves - the entire experience was really, really thrilling for me and I have nothing but great memories for that.

PC: A star was born in that show, too: Norbert Leo Butz.

HCJ: That man can sing! He does everything.

PC: Tell me about revisiting the score on OTHER HOURS, SONGS FROM THOU SHALT NOT and, now, on the new ON BROADWAY CD/DVD.

HCJ: One of the things - and I did this erroneously - that I was trying to do when I wrote that score was to write songs that could sort of live on past the show. I didn't want to write something that I really liked that I couldn't perform eventually or couldn't hear myself - or someone else - performing it - you know, because the references were so specific that they wouldn't apply on a standalone type deal. So, I wrote all these tunes, but I was always thinking, "Well, maybe this is something I can sing." But, the problem with that is that you sacrifice a lot of the storytelling.

PC: Did that throw you for a loop in the writing process?

HCJ: Yeah, that was a real setback. The songs that I sing that I've revisited, I think those are standalone tunes. But, I think one of the reasons the show didn't work very well was because there weren't enough songs that told the story.

PC: But, there were some strong character numbers, too - "Take Advantage" and "I've Got My Eye On You" in particular.

HCJ: Yeah, I think there were some - some - situations were the songs did that. That is actually my favorite tune from the show - that "Take Advantage" tune.

PC: No way! It's an anomaly in the score. A dirge-y ballad.

HCJ: Yeah, I just like that song a lot - I don't know why. But, actually, you can sing it in any context and it will work. There are no specific references made in it or anything like that. I can't remember all the ones I do on the latest DVD from the show...

PC: "The Other Hours" is one of the highlights of the discs.

HCJ: Yeah, I love doing "Other Hours". I just like singing songs from that show, really.

PC: Singing those songs alongside the great standards like you do in the concert shows the strength of your material. It stands up.

HCJ: Thanks a lot for saying so, man. I really appreciate a compliment like that.

PC: It's true. I think this new DVD really gives you a sense of what it's like to really be there, live, at a Harry Connick, Jr. concert. What was it like filming it in a Broadway theater?

HCJ: It was filmed at the Neil Simon. It was so great. (Pause.) Listen, I don't really have a lot of great plans in my life -things either sort of just happen organically or they don't - and, this is one of those deals that just sort of happened. As a relative newcomer to Broadway, I wasn't familiar with the entire history of the theatre, but as I got there I was made aware of it and I learned about it on my own, too.

PC: What does it mean to you now as an artist with that newfound knowledge?

HCJ: It was just such an honor - an honor - to be on that stage, you know what I mean? You can call it just another concert, because essentially that's what it was - I mean, I didn't really change too much besides song choices, I basically did the same show I do all the time - but it was such a different experience because it was in that theater on Broadway. It's just a different feel.

PC: Could you elaborate on that?

HCJ: I think it's because the people are experienced theatergoers. They are used to sitting in a certain type of room and being taken somewhere, whereas if you go to some theater in the middle of nowhere they could have a concert one night, monster trucks the next and who knows what else after that. It's just a different deal.

PC: How would you describe the Broadway audience?

HCJ: If you go to Broadway, people are - I think - used to seeing a certain level of quality and you've just got to bring it with all you've got.

PC: Could you tell me about orchestrating your own scores, like you did for THOU SHALT NOT? Few composers do it, usually citing how painstaking and thankless it is.

HCJ: Yeah, it is. It's not always easy. But, that's fine. I don't do it for anything other than knowing what I am going to get at the end. I just know what I want to hear, for me. I've worked with a lot of great orchestrators for different projects and I've loved every minute of it, but for me and what I want to do - I like to do it myself.

PC: What's the process like?

HCJ: As you said, it's just painstaking. I mean, by the time you start adding articulations and dynamics, it's like, "Oh my God! Endless, endless amounts of work!" But, that's what I do - and I love it.

PC: Give me an example.

HCJ: Well, you know, sometimes I'll finish the chart on a tune - like if I'm doing a CD - and then I realize I've got ten or twelve more to do! I'm like, "Holy crap! I got a lotta work left!" (Laughs.) But, then, you just take it a note at a time and before you know it, you're done. But, it is a huge amount of work - there is not doubt about that.

PC: And you also did your own dance arrangements on THOU SHALT NOT, correct?

HCJ: Yeah, I did. You know, it's all just categorizing - they have people that do dance arrangements only and separate people who do orchestrations and so on - but, honestly, it's all the same stuff. People could orchestrate their own stuff, they just don't do it.

PC: Because it's too difficult and/or time-consuming.

HCJ: There are composers out there, like the Hollywood composers, who have these teams of orchestrators - they could do it themselves. They get lazy. They give themselves too much work and they just don't have time to finish. I get it. I have a lot of friends who do that - and I bust them about it all the time!

PC: That's hilarious.

HCJ: I'm like, "It's like Michelangelo hiring people to paint for him! You did it, but, c'mon, man - you can do that, too."

PC: THOU SHALT NOT also had the most dance music of any new musical in recent memory, with three full ballet set-pieces.

HCJ: That was a lot of notes to be written! (Laughs.)

PC: The "Thou Shalt Not Ballet" was a wondrous marriage of book, music, lyrics and storytelling in dance, I thought.

HCJ: Thanks. I'll never forget that one.

PC: I saw the third preview and the night before they had cut a number called "Dumb Luck" which involved dancing gurneys and Rachelle Rak. You've since done it on an album. Could you tell me about that song and why it was cut? Was it too soon after 9/11?

HCJ: That's exactly why we cut it. (Pause.) There were a lot of things that we probably didn't do right on that show - most which were probably my fault because I had a lot of quote-unquote "bright ideas" that, in hindsight, weren't that bright at all. But, one of the good ideas I had was to cut that song.

PC: What was it like onstage?

HCJ: It just wasn't working. It was, literally, gurneys being pushed back and forth across the stage with bodies on them. There was an almost manic attraction that Craig Bierko's character had with these corpses. It was a kind of sexual, frenetic, disturbed kind of song. I liked the song, but it was inappropriate to put it up onstage then.

PC: Rachelle Rak was the nude main the gurney girl, no?

HCJ: She was the one who was sort of the object of his desire. It was - we all thought - in poor taste to mount that number so soon after 9/11.

PC: That show took so many risks, whatever the result. Is it more important to you to have a score you are proud of or a big hit show based on spectacle or something along those lines?

HCJ: Well, you have to look at those things individually. You know, if someone came up to me and said, "We want to do BATMAN: The Musical," of course I would think about it because it would be an opportunity. I just love to write. You know, people don't line up at my door asking me to write stuff!

PC: Susan Stroman instigated THOU SHALT NOT, right?

HCJ: Stro was the first person to ever ask me to write a musical and you can count on one hand the amount of people who've asked me to do it since. (Laughs.) I guess I'm not the go-to guy for that. I mean, I'd also love to write movie scores but I've never been asked to do it - and, it's not the kind of thing you go around asking. You don't say, "Can I write your score?" You have to sort of be in that community. I mean, if Steven Spielberg said, "I want you to write the score for my next movie," I would do it in a second. I don't care what it is - I just want to do it.

PC: So you would consider writing something like SPIDER-MAN?

HCJ: It's not about the type of show at all, for me - I mean, some of the most popular acts and shows in the world have had some of the most brilliant scores. I don't have a problem with acrobats flying all over the stage and I don't think anything is impossible - but, I haven't seen those shows [like SPIDER-MAN] myself so I don't know what they are. (Pause.) But, again, I don't think anything is impossible. I don't think it has to be this small, dark production thing, either. I think all those kind of shows can co-exist; you just have to write what's best for you.

PC: It's really a crapshoot insofar as what artists have crossed over from pop successfully - Boy George and Elton John have written amazing scores, whereas U2 and others have failed miserably to write decent theatre music.

HCJ: I think it boils down to the simple fact you have to live and breathe and eat that stuff to make it work. I don't know what other people do - maybe they kill themselves, too. I mean, I was in that room at Lincoln Center probably sixteen hours a day, for months, working on the stuff for THOU SHALT NOT. I didn't stop. I ignored my family - that's all I did was write that music. That's all you can do when you are writing the music and the lyrics and the orchestrations - and you're going back and forth from your little cubbyhole to rehearsal when Stro says, "I need you to watch this dance" - it's a lot of work, man. I had one assistant who would take my stuff and put it into Finale [computer music notation program]. It's a lot of work and I don't really know how many people want to do that.

PC: Would you ever play Laurent in the show? Maybe you should play him in the film version someday!

HCJ: (Laughs.) Actually, I'd like to do that! I wanted to do it originally, but Stro didn't think it was a good idea. She didn't think it would work. That's one of my regrets - I wish I had played it. It's not that I didn't like Craig's performance, but I really knew that guy he was playing. I knew how to play him. I knew the music - especially the New Orleans stuff. I just knew it. It's somewhere in me; in herE. Craig's a terrific guy and a good friend, but I wish I had played that part on Broadway.

PC: So, you're willing to do stage nudity, then?

HCJ: (Big Laugh.) Well, maybe not! As long as I don't have to stand next to Craig Bierko, I'll do stage nudity.

PC: I just have to mention that I adore your vocal performance on the GODFATHER III soundtrack.

HCJ: Gosh, you really know your stuff! I liked doing that. That's really nice to hear - no one's ever mentioned it to me. Thanks.

PC: SOUTH PACIFIC is probably your best performance on film. You are also the best Cable on film or video, I believe.

HCJ: Wow, that's quite a compliment! I gotta say, it was a lot of fun. It was so great just to be around those people and to be able to sing those songs. I loved it so much. I was so happy to be there. I just can't wait to get old enough to sing "This Nearly Was Mine", you know? Maybe I could play that part someday.

PC: Great casting - if you do say so yourself!

HCJ: I'd do the whole show just to sing that song!

PC: What roles do you see yourself taking on in the future?

HCJ: Man... (Sighs.) I guess I wouldn't mind doing CAROUSEL.

PC: What else?

HCJ: Things just pop up. Hopefully I will be back on Broadway very soon.

PC: You'd be a brilliant Ben Stone in FOLLIES in about five or ten years. What do you think of Sondheim in general?

HCJ: There are people who are just obsessed with him and know every show and every note he ever wrote and everything he's ever done - I'm not one of those people, but only because I didn't really grow up with it. But, from what I've heard - and I'm familiar with a considerable amount of stuff - he's definitely influenced so many people. I love his lyrics, I can tell you that. I think he writes really great lyrics. I don't know his stuff inside-out, though.

PC: Tell me about your affection for Frank Loesser and GUYS & DOLLS that you point out in the DVD. You say it's the quintessential score.

HCJ: Oh, yeah. It's pretty great. I mean, there's just nothing wrong with that show. It's a great, great show. I could have sung any number of tunes - I just happened to pick that medley and that show. There's billions of the great Broadway songs I've sang over the years that I just love to do.

PC: Would you consider bringing the ON BROADWAY show to Broadway for an extended stay?

HCJ: It would be crazy.

PC: Impossible?

HCJ: No. I could do a show eight times a week, but I couldn't do a concert eight times a week. My shows are really, really intense and I have to constantly be thinking about everything because I am changing songs and I'm conducting and I'm improvising, too - it's just a lot of brainwork. Doing six of them a week on the road is a lot, but eight? I couldn't... shoot, it's intense. I could play a character, though, because my responsibilities only lie there. So, it's a totally different experience. But, being a performer on a largely improvised show on that level? I think I'd go crazy.