Interview: Santino Fontana Previews Monday's CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND Song & Dance; Discusses Why Show is 'Brave'

It's been quite a fall for one of Broadway's crowned princes. At the end of August, Santino Fontana finished filming the first season of SHADES OF BLUE, opposite Jennifer Lopez and Ray Liotta, which premieres on NBC on January 14th. Then, the next day, he married Jessica Hershberg, whom he met backstage at Birdland in 2011, both waiting to perform. The couple, who briefly overlapped as cast members in RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN'S CINDERELLA, then headed to L.A. where Fontana began shooting the new musical comedy CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND. Hershberg, having adopted her married name, just recently headed back to New York to begin rehearsals for the Transport Group's production of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS, where she will star opposite Jackie Hoffman (Lady Larkin and Princess Winnifred respectively).

Fontana, most recently seen on stage as Moss Hart in James Lapine's ACT ONE, said that the first few months of married life have been "really great," despite having so much time take up by work, especially since he wasn't even sure that he wanted to audition for CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND when he originally got the notice last summer.

"At first, I didn't want to audition for it," Fontana admits. "I didn't think it was going to be anything that I would ever be cast (in). I thought they would cast a TV person, who looks more like a model (laughs)."

The Tony-nominee admits that this is not the first time that he has been wrong about his chances for landing a role. "Also, I'm crazy (laughs)," he said. "There's a lot of things I read and think, 'No one's gonna cast me in that,' and then I've been cast in that. That's happened many times."

When a casting director from Telsey + Company called Fontana's agent and insisted that they specifically wanted to see him, the actor finally began to consider the role. Then, as he learned more about the vision for the show and the character, he became more intrigued.

"When they started talking to me about what they were thinking, what they were trying to do, then it sounded fun and different," Fontana said.

The actor, who voiced the villain Hans in Disney's mega-hit FROZEN, plays Greg, a bartender who inexplicably falls for Rebecca (played by series co-creator Rachel Bloom), despite her obvious obsession with his friend Josh (Vincent Rodriguez III). Fontana said that while his character knows that he isn't Rebecca's first choice, he can't help but chase after her anyway.

"In the episode (airing Monday) I talk about that," he said. "It's one of those things where you know it doesn't make sense, that something's not right, but you still have a feeling; you can't explain it. It's irrational, there's something else going on in your biology, and you just can't shake it.

"Obviously, he's attracted to people that aren't attracted to him, which is a problem," Fontana added.

In tomorrow night's episode, Fontana finally gets to show his song and dance skills in an homage to CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD MUSICALS called "Settle for Me." The number, which is probably the most fully realized and effective of the series' first four episodes, occurs after Greg asks Rebecca for a second date, despite knowing that she has feelings for another man.

"It's kind of a classic Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers like number, where he's trying to win her over," Fontana said. "There is a fantasy element to it, obviously; it goes into black and white, I think it's really what she hears when he's trying to get her to go on another date with him."

The cast of CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND is filled with actors who have an abundance of musical theatre experiences; many of the show's stars have multiple Broadway and National Tour credits; and Fontana believes that is something that allows the cast to deliver high quality musical numbers, in spite of how rigorous a TV show's taping schedule can be.

"The speed at which television works, is so opposite of what theatre does," Fontana said. "The 'Settle for Me' dance I learned on a Wednesday, and we filmed it on Friday. That would never happen (in theatre). On CINDERELLA, we workshopped for a year and a half."

Fontana said that while the process from page to performance is much longer on stage, theatre actors do have experience preparing material for an audience in a short amount of time. "In previews, we get that all the time," he said. "Theatre actors are probably more used to that. I think it would be really scary for somebody who doesn't sing or dance or act in (stage) musicals at all. I think it's really hard if you don't have people who are used to getting material and being able to sing it at performance level, or act it at performance level (right away)."

Unlike many recent TV musical series, CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND doesn't rely on contrived opportunities for its characters to burst out in song, instead, because of the main character's obvious mental imbalance, the musical numbers are more integrated into the storytelling, which Fontana appreciates.

"I think what they're doing is incredibly ambitious and brave," Fontana said. "Every other musical that we've seen on television, which there have been a few actually in the last few seasons, they're all around performers; you have an R&B artist, or you have a country artist, or people putting on a Broadway show, or a GLEE club.

"Those settings lend themselves to performance, because that's what those people do, and it doesn't really require that the songs forward the story or tell you anything about the character. Whereas (CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND) feels much more along the lines of what would be on stage in New York, where songs have to function in order to move something forward, whether we learn about the characters, or we learn more about the story; which I think is fun and exciting. FROZEN did that as well, and I kind of love that. I think that's new and fresh and I like it."

In addition to CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND, which airs Mondays at 8:00pm ET on The CW, fans will get to see Fontana on November 13th's LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER on PBS, as the program broadcasts a filmed performance of ACT ONE. Even though he is unsure of what the finished product looks like, Fontana is looking forward to being able to share this show with a wider audience.

"I love Tony (Shalhoub), and Andrea (Martin), and Chuck (Cooper), that whole cast, I love that cast," Fontana said. "So I'm really excited for people to be able to see that cast on television in that show."

The actor admits though that he is a bit nervous to see how the filmed version comes out. "I'm curious, more than anything, to see how it turned out, because I have no idea what it looks like," he said. "That's what's exciting and also terrifying. We know what we were doing, we were there, (but) there were cameras towards the end of the run, and I have no idea what it looks like (laughs)."

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Check out the entire "Settle for Me" number from CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND:

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How excited are you to see Santino sing and dance on TV? Let me know in the comments below, or on Twitter @BWWMatt. If you want to follow along with my "366 in 366" articles, you can check out #BWW366in366 on Twitter. Also, don't forget to follow @BWWTVWorld on Twitter and Like us on Facebook for all of the latest TV news, reviews, and recaps.

Banner Photo Credit: Greg Gayne | CW