BWW Interview - Harold Perrineau Talks Contemporary Relevancy of THE CHERRY ORCHARD

Harold Perrineau stars as 'Lopakhin' in Roundabout Theatre Company's new production of The Cherry Orchard. The Anton Chekhov masterpiece tells the story of a family on the edge of ruin-and a country on the brink of revolution. Simon Godwin directs the fresh new adaptation by Tony Award winner Stephen Karam.

Today, the talented actor speaks exclusively with BWW about the relevancy of this classic story in today's times.

How familiar were you with this piece prior to your casting?

I had only read it, I had never actually seen a stage production of it. And when they called me up to see if I'd be interested in playing Lopakhin I read it again and it really reads differently on the page. It's denser on the page and it's hard for any of the characters to really, really resonate when you read it through. And so I was a little nervous about it, I thought 'whoa, am I going to be doing some really boring old play?' [laughing]. But then I read it again and I began to really understand the social relevance to today's times and Simon [Godwin] seemed like a really interesting director, and I wanted to work with Diane Lane, and Joel Grey and John Glover, and I was like 'yeah, yeah, let's do it!' And then I was really surprised once we got into the work how exciting it was - there's a reason these plays last forever, and once we started creating this world and this family and these people I thought it was the best choice I had ever made in my life!

One of the things that struck me as I watched the show was how relevant the story was in the wake of recent events.

Yes, in fact it's one of the reasons I was really excited about doing this piece. It's a story about families sort of deciding what they're going to be, who they're going to be, how they're going to move forward, even as I'm speaking about it, I get a little emotional about it. We thought it was going to be relevant when we first started to work on the piece, but we sort of expected a very different outcome for what was going to happen in our country. But then when we got the outcome that we did, it became even more relevant. And that actually made my work feel a little different than it had before, suddenly some of the joy was a little sucked out of it for me, which I didn't expect. So yes, it's really interesting how things around us really have a significant effect on the work that we're doing.

And adding to the relevancy is the upheaval amongst the social classes that is occurring during the play's time period. Your character Lopakhin in particular rises from the lowest social class and becomes quite wealthy, which really creates some conflict within him.

Yes, and he's also trying very hard to be helpful to his friends, or at least who he believes are his friends and there's a bit of a conflict when they sort of dismiss him, they view him as someone who has no idea of what's going on. But he really does have an idea of what's going on. They might not like it but the world is changing and they don't want to get on board, so instead they mock him. So yes, there's a lot of conflict in there, he's trying not to forget his past or where he came from, trying not to hurt his friends, but also trying not to stay stuck in his past. He wants to forge ahead, even though he literally is chopping down the family's cherry trees, blazing a trail through their orchard. So yes, there's a lot of conflict for him and it's a really interesting dynamic.

Many people may be surprised to learn that you made your Broadway debut as a dancer in DREAMGIRLS. What made you decide to take a different career path following that show?

Well it's really interesting. I always wanted to be an actor, I just didn't know how to get there. And I was a good dancer so when I was starting to apply for college, I had also auditioned for the Alvin Ailey School and I did get into their program, but I turned it down and I went to college for a couple of years instead. But then I decided to come back to New York and try it again, and I thought that if I could do really well as a dancer, that would lead me to being an actor, which turned out to be absolutely not true! [laughing] It did get me more dance gigs, but eventually I had to stop dancing and really focus on only acting. So much so in fact that nobody even knew that I was a dancer.

Well we do get to see a little taste of your dancing talent in this show.

Yes a little bit! Well it made sense to me that my character might dance because he is the one who asks for the musicians to play, so it would just make sense that he would dance. So that was an interesting choice.

Speaking of the musicians, I loved that actual musicians were incorporated into the story, rather than having a recorded music track.

That's something that Simon and Nick [Muhly] decided. There's only three of them playing but they sound like an entire orchestra! We mention the musicians a number of times in the piece, and Simon really wanted them to be a part of this community, part of the fabric of what was actually going on and that was one of the things that I think is a part of his genius. He created this community of people who know each other, who understand each other and who have a lot of information about each other. And within this community we see all the different relationships play out, and the musicians are a big part of that. So I thought to have them on stage was a really brilliant choice, and it enabled us to communicate with them and work with them and have them be part of the party on stage, as opposed to having them behind a door as it's normally done.

Do you find there are similarities between you and Lopakhin?

Yes, there are a lot of similarities actually. I'm a guy who comes from no money economically, with a sub-par education who really works hard to get where I want to go. And that's been a train that I've been on for a long time, and it has enabled me to do the kind of work that I've wanted to do. And for someone who comes from my neighborhood, that might not be something that you'd want to do. You wouldn't expect to see someone who comes from Cypress Hills in Brooklyn to be doing a Chekhov play on Broadway! So in that way I feel that Lopakhin and I are very, very similar in our need to keep reinventing ourselves and keep moving forward and not looking back, that need to keep trying and keep pressing on, even when you have people laughing at you. So I feel really connected to him in that way.

Can you speak about working with this spectacular cast and creative team?

Oh man, it has been just a joy. When we were in tech rehearsal I was sitting out in the audience thinking that this was the first time I've felt at home. I was hanging out with all of these amazing people, Diane Lane, Joel Grey, Simon Godwin, Celia Keenan Bolger. I was just so overwhelmed that I got to hangout with these amazingly creative people, and that they were letting me hang out with them! And so for me, I feel really fortunate and blessed and I get to learn something from them everyday and that's been really, really lovely.

What is the message you hope audiences will take away from this play?

Well that's the thing with Chekhov, because there are so many really strong characters, who have strong paths within the play, the thing I just hope that people leave with is that they have connected to one or two human beings on that stage and understand their plight and their journey and what ultimately happens to them. So rather than a message, I just want people to connect. I've had people who have really connected to Lopakhin, they say 'I really understand him, I understand that he's really trying to help,' but then I've had people who don't connect with him at all and say 'how could he do that? How could he take that away from them?' And then there's some people who really connect with Varya, they say 'You know, she's just trying to do the best she can and then she gets stiffed at the end and doesn't get married.' So yes, I just hope people connect with a character and find something that moves them within their plight. And that's really what we're doing it for. We have this unique experience where the actors and the audience are all here together, sharing something special.We give to the audience and we get from the audience. So that's the hope, that we actually share some kind of human experience.

THE CHERRY ORCHARD is currently playing a limited engagement through December 4, 2016 on Broadway at the American Airlines Theatre (227 West 42nd Street).

Harold Perrineau will soon star opposite Billy Bob Thornton in David E. Kelly's Amazon drama, Goliath, as well as in DirecTV's anthology drama, Full Circle: Miami.

Most-often known for starring as Michael Dawson in ABC's Lost (Screen Actors Guild award), Augustus Hill in HBO's Oz, Damon Pope in FX's Sons of Anarchy, and Mercutio in Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet opposite Leonardo DiCaprio, Harold's other notable credits include Broadway's Dreamgirls; Off-Broadway: Godspell, TopDog/UnderDog (NAACP Image Award).

His TV credits include Constantine, Blade, Law & Order: SVU,The Cosby Show, Fame; Film credits include Zero Dark Thirty, Smoke, The Best Man Holiday, Woman on Top, The Matrix trilogy (Revolutions& Reloaded). He is a company member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Headshot: Walter McBride / WM Photos

Production photos: Joan Marcus