BWW Interviews: Rob McClure and Brynn O'Malley Talk HONEYMOON IN VEGAS

Rob McClure and Brynn O'Malley are currently starring in Broadway's critically acclaimed musical comedy, Honeymoon in Vegas. Featuring a book by Andrew Bergman and a score by three-time Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown, the show tells the story of Jack Singer (McClure) a regular guy with an extraordinary fear of marriage, who finally gets up the nerve to ask his girlfriend Betsy (O'Malley) to marry him. But, when they head to Las Vegas to get hitched, smooth-talking gambler Tommy Korman (Tony Danza), looking for a second chance at love, falls head-over-heels for Betsy. What happens next is anyone's bet!

Today, McClure and O'Malley speak exclusively with BWW about these well-intentioned characters who are thrust into the most extraordinary circumstances, yet still find a way to make true love prevail.

BWW: Let me start by congratulating both of you on the wonderful reviews the show has been receiving - so well-deserved!

O'Malley: Thank you so much.

McClure: Yes, we have been remarkably lucky with the response and it's really been fun.

One of the things which was mentioned over and over again in the reviews was the fact that this is such a fun, old-fashioned Broadway musical. Why do you think it has taken so long for this wonderful genre to make a comeback?

O'Malley: Who can say?! You know it's such a tricky business and there's so many hundreds and hundreds of people who need to be involved to make something like this come to fruition. And it's all about timing and casting and who's involved and who's got the money and where it's coming from. It really has nothing to do with the quality of the show, as far as how long it takes to make it to Broadway.

McClure: And I also think, in terms of the genre and it being a throwback, I think a lot of times there's a very thin line between something feeling like a throwback in a great way, and something feeling dated. And I think what Jason Robert Brown has done is he's taken a sound that we all recognize and love and then put very contemporary, modern, witty lyrics on top of that sound, so we can welcome it in a new score with affection for the sound that we all recognize.

Yes, and you're right, that is such a delicate balance and he did it so well. And speaking of this great score, how much fun is it to sing these songs?

O'Malley: It's a dream come true. I've said it before, Stephen Sondheim is the reason I went into the business and Jason Robert Brown is the reason I stayed. So to actually be part of a show of his and to actually get to sing his music, especially the songs that I personally get to sing, is just a dream come true. And it's also terrifying and it's a lot of pressure because I know, if I was in the audience listening to this, I know how I would want to hear it sung and to do it full justice. So it's definitely a little terrifying, a little pressurized but it certainly keeps it interesting every night.

McClure: Yeah, and he's notoriously difficult to sing, just because he likes to write things that are thrilling to listen to and so things that are thrilling to listen to are going to be difficult to sing. But you find out shortly that if you can get past your nerves, it's the lyrics and the story that he's actually getting at the heart of and once you really activate the song as an actor it becomes a whole lot easier to get through. And the melody seems to follow the plot in a way that I think only great songwriters can create and I think Jason's a real master at communicating through song, not just entertaining.

O'Malley: Yeah, I agree. There are so many songs and composers that you perform in your life where you have a lot of work to do on your own to make it work and to make it make sense and you have to do a lot of dissecting and putting things back together again. But with Jason, the work's done. He's done it all for you, so really for the most part, 9 times out of 10 you can just really focus on the storytelling and you don't have to worry about anything else. As long as you've got your voice together.

In recent years, there have been so many shows based on movies that just didn't make a successful transfer to the stage. Yet this story just seems like it was always meant to be a musical. What do you attribute that to?

O'Malley: Well I just always feel like if you're going to adapt a movie into a musical, it has to either be better than the movie or completely different from it. And I think history has proven that that is definitely the case. You really have to either improve upon the movie and make it really great or it's just got to be completely different. Like "Once" is an example of something that was just entirely different. And I think this show is a little bit of both but, you know Andrew Bergman wrote and directed the movie and he also wrote the book to the musical, and even he's been saying since day one of rehearsal, 'I should have written it as a musical. This is so much better as a musical." And he's said that he was thinking about it like a musical originally because he knew he was going to put this amazing soundtrack with a bunch of Elvis songs in it. So the movie itself was already structured similarly to a musical with great song breaks and things, but yeah, even he was like, 'yep, it's a musical - a musical all along. I should have seen it.'

McClure: And Jason Robert Brown attributes it to the fact that when he was watching the movie, the most important thing that he remembered recognizing was that the story was so outlandish, and the stakes got so high for the sake of love, that he remembers thinking that these people breaking out into song was actually a very small leap to make because the story itself was so outrageous. You know when you've got a bunch of Elvises about to skydive out of a plane, them breaking into song at that moment is not a big leap to make. So the movie really lent itself to being turned into a musical.

That is all very true. Were you both familiar with the film when you first joined the production?

McClure: I think I'm in the same boat as a lot of people when they hear the title they go, 'That's the one with the flying Elvises, right?' and that's kind of all I really knew until I went back and watched it again. But it's a very quick watch, it feels like it's 10 minutes long and I feel the show is that way too, it's a quick adventure. And I just remember it being silly in the best way, the same way Jason Robert Brown refers to us as muppets, he says, 'this is really like a crazy troupe of muppets who come to someone's aid to try to help them find and keep love.' And I think he very much nails that tone.

O'Malley: Also, the movie came out in 1992 so Rob and I were a little on the young side to be running out to see rom coms at the theater, so I did not see it when it originally came out, but I remember seeing the trailer a lot and I remember thinking that it looked like a lot of fun. And then when I got the audition, normally I wouldn't go watch the original movie that something's based on that I'm auditioning for, because you want to look at it with fresh eyes and approach it with what's in front of you as a musical. But when I noticed that Andrew Bergman was also working on the musical I realized I had to watch the movie because it was being adapted from his original piece so, it was going through the filter of his brain. So I watched it once before my audition just to kind of get the information and see what the tone was and see where he was coming from. And then once we did the Paper Mill run, I went back and watched it once or twice just for fun. And it was nice at that point, knowing what we had and then knowing Andy so well and hearing all the stories that he shared with us about shooting the movie and the experience for him, it was really cool to go back and watch it again.

Speaking of the Paper Mill run, were there many changes made for the Broadway production and do you feel you were able to delve a little deeper into your characters this time around?

O'Malley: Oh absolutely. The greatest gift in the world is doing a show once and then having a year to just kind of sit and think about it. You know, to be able to come back and say, ok, I've been thinking about this and everybody's been thinking about it and to have the time to really absorb what you had just done and remember the information you gathered. But as far as changes go, Rob I don't know if you agree, but I feel like other than the set, which obviously was a big change because we didn't have a huge budget at Paper Mill and we didn't know what theater we were going into, it's been a million little, little changes. Just little tweaks and cuts and nips and switcheroos and switching this punchline, just to drive the story and make it better, faster, funnier. And everybody that I know who has seen the show in both locations said they can't really pinpoint what's different. They just say, 'It's just better. It goes by so much quicker and it's so much funnier. I don't know what's different, but it's great!'

McClure: Yeah, you know that the changes are good ones when you forget what it was like originally. Sometimes we will go, 'wait, what did that used to be?' because you just don't remember.

The onstage chemistry between the two of you is so strong. I assume that was there from the very beginning.

McClure: Well that shows that we're really good actors because I hate her actually.

O'Malley: Yeah, same here! [laughing] Actually, when I got this job and I found out I'd be working with Rob, I remember people saying, 'oh you and Rob McClure are going to be best friends.' And then within what, a minute, it was true.

McClure Yes, truly. And it's so easy. I mean really the coolest thing about working with Brynn is that she's an actress who happens to really be able to sing. It's not the other way around. You know sometimes when you're playing opposite someone you feel you are being sung at as opposed to talked to, and even when Brynn is wailing her face off, it's always for the sake of communication and I always feel like there's a give and take in a way where even when we are singing to each other, it still feels like a scene, it doesn't feel like two people on stage who happen to be singing next to each other. She's a real communicator and it makes my job easy.

O'Malley: I feel the same way about Rob, which is why we get along so well. Which is why we rarely leave the stage shaking our fists in the air. [laughing]

That's a good thing! And what about the physical comedy, which seemed to come so naturally?

O'Malley: Well I feel like Rob and I speak a similar language on stage so I don't even think it's anything we thought about. Rob and I have a very open line of communication with each other and a lot of trust, which is super rare, and we know we can go to each other for anything. And there's been so many times where we very effortlessly and without hesitation go, 'what do you think about his?' and then we start spitballing and we've come up with bits and switches and have come up with different ways to say things together and it's not dramatic, it's just like, we get each other.

McClure: And what's funny is that all of the physical humor in the show is really born out of the fact that the stakes are so high. You know a lot of people are like, 'oh my God, you are so silly in this show,' and I do feel silly in the best way, but what's really funny is where it's coming from. You know Jack and Betsy are really the two with their feet the most strongly on the ground and any physical comedy is coming out of them really, in a very realistic way, trying to deal with extraordinary circumstances. So it really doesn't feel like a comedy to Jack, it's more like a tragedy for both of them until the end.

O'Malley: Yeah, it's really true. I don't think our brains ever go to a place of, 'how do we make it silly?' or 'how do we make it more physical?'. It's really just that it's the highest stakes ever.

McClure: And luckily, in the last 15 minutes, luck goes our way.

You know Rob when I was watching your performance, I was reminded of such comedy legends as Jerry Lewis and Donald O'Connor.

McClure: Yeah, you know what's funny is I do find myself subconsciously looking back to people, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray and Eddie Bracken and these great character actors who were never really conventional leading men but they were great at playing every man who found himself in an unpredictable situation and had to deal with it in a realistic way, and all the comedy coming out of that truth. So yes, I do find myself really looking to them for inspiration for that kind of stuff.

And Brynn what about you? Are there any actors who inspired your performance?

O'Malley: Um.. no! [laughing] If I'm being completely honest, but for this part I don't think it really calls for it. I've certainly had other roles where I have thought about that and have thought how I can take this idea from somebody else and sort of change it and make it my own. But for Betsy, no, but only because I feel like I just had a lot of different priorities with her. There's a lot of pitfalls for Betsy and it's very easy for her to very quickly and easily become a victim and not be in control of the circumstances surrounding her. So my focus for the most part has just been sort of being the ambassador for the character. It sort of became my job, especially with the creative team being all male, they kind of said from the beginning, 'hey, you're here and you need to keep an eye on this for us to make sure that your storyline all lines up and that we're tracking your train of thought and your journey in the story.' So for me, anything comedic or physical is just truly all coming from this place of what's the truth, what's real, what's grounded, what's actually happening here, and then you can sort of have it sprout out from there and have it become more ridiculous and heightened as is appropriate for the show.

McClure: Yeah we truly lucked out with Brynn because it's easy in these farces sometimes for the ingenue to sort of just be shuffled around as the plot requests. But what's great about Brynn is that we would be in rehearsal and she would raise her hand and say, 'a contemporary woman would never fall for that.' And then we'd have to come to the show's rescue to make it a contemporary story where we would believe a contemporary woman in today's world would allow this type of thing to happen. And Jack spends the whole show realizing that he's got to earn that type of woman and that he's screwed up big time and if he wants to keep a smart, contemporary gorgeous woman he's got to wake up.

Well Brynn you really succeeded at your goal.

O'Malley: Oh thank you - really good to hear that from a woman!

McClure: Yay!

Yes, absolutely because as Rob said, it could have gone the other way but Betsy comes across as a strong-minded, modern woman.

O'Malley: Thank you so much.

And being that this show is, in the end, a love story, I was wondering what your all-time favorite Broadway love song is.

McClure: I think I've got to go back to 'Someone to Watch Over Me.' I think it's a perfectly written song. I really do. I think it's one of the great songs in the American Songbook and it speaks to love in it's simplest and purest form.

O'Malley: I'm torn because part of me wants to say "It All Fades Away" to selfishly honor our amazing composer, but I will go back and I will say, "All the Things You Are" because I feel like that's a traditional love song but the core progressions are so unexpected that it makes it so interesting and full and rich. It's not a paint by numbers love song. It's really complicated.

Great choices! Well thank you both so much for speaking with us today. And best of luck with this great show.

O'Malley: No problem at all, it's our pleasure

McClure: We'll talk again soon - thank you so much!

HONEYMOON IN VEGAS, is now playing at Broadway's Nederlander Theatre (208 W 41st St). For tickets and additional information visit: http://www.honeymoonbroadway.com/

About ROB MCCLURE:

Rob McClure received Tony, Drama League, Astaire, and Outer Critics Circle nominations and won Theatre World and Clive Barnes awards for his performance in the title role of Chaplin: The Musical. Rob's other Broadway credits include I'm Not Rappaport, opposite Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, and the roles of Princeton and Rod in Avenue Q. He later received a Helen Hayes nomination for his performance in the Avenue Q national tour. He delighted 92nd Street Y audiences in Kathleen Marshall's salute to MGM musicals Going Hollywood and similarly charmed crowds at New York City Center Encores! in Where's Charley? and Irma La Douce. Rob was thrilled to return "home" to Paper Mill Playhouse last season to originate the role of Jack in the world premiere production of Honeymoon In Vegas. He could not be happier to be bringing Sin City to Broadway alongside Tony Danza! Regionally, he appeared in the world premiere of Ken Ludwig's The Game's Afoot at the Cleveland Playhouse and Robert and Willie Reale's Johnny Baseball at the American Repertory Theatre. A fan favorite at St Louis's Muny, Rob has been seen there in Little Shop of Horrors, Mary Poppins, Shrek, The Addams Family, and Hello, Dolly! Particularly active in the Philadelphia theater scene, Rob has collaborated with the Arden Theatre Co. (A Funny Thing..., Flea and the Professor), The Walnut Street (Mozart in Amadeus, Carmen Ghia in The Producers), and many more, winning him two Barrymore Awards for Best Actor. Other regional work includes; The Old Globe, Delaware Theatre Co., Flat Rock Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, and LaJolla Playhouse. Rob recently made his film debut in the Award winning short film Recursion, directed by Sam Buntrock for which Rob won Best Actor at The Queen's World Film Festival. He also recently made his network television debut, guest starring on the hit CBS crime drama, "Person of Interest."

About BRYNN O'MALLEY:

On Broadway, Brynn O'Malley most recently played Grace Farrell in the revival of Annie. Her other Broadway credits include: Nessarose in Wicked, Celeste #1/Elaine in the revival of Sunday in the Park with George, Amber Von Tussle in Hairspray, and Belle understudy in Beauty and the Beast. Regionally, O'Malley starred as Kate Monster/Lucy T. Slut in the Las Vegas production of Avenue Q, Laurey in Oklahoma! (Paper Mill Playhouse), Esther in Meet Me in St Louis (Paper Mill Playhouse), Gabriella in Boeing-Boeing (Paper Mill Playhouse), Amalia in She Loves Me (Arena Stage; Helen Hayes nomination), Elaine in Arsenic and Old Lace (Baltimore Center Stage), The Baker's Wife in Into the Woods (Kansas City Rep), and Christine Colgate in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (North Shore Music Theatre). O'Malley's television credits include: "Smash," "A Gifted Man," "Royal Pains," and "The Big C." O'Malley is a graduate of The University of Michigan.

Photo credit: Joan Marcus