Broadway Bullet Interview: Kevin Cahoon

This week we also have an interview with Kevin Cahoon where he discusses his new CD, "The Wedding Singer", and "Hedwig and the Angry Inch".

Broadway fans know Kevin most recently from his role as George in "The Wedding Singer". Other musical credits include "Hedwig and the Angry Inch", "The Lion King" (original cast), and "The Wild Party" (Andrew Lippa composer). Also, in 2004 he co-stared with Matthew Broderick in the Roundabout's production of "The Foreigner" which earned him a Lucille Lortel Award nomination.

Kevin, however, also has a career outside of Broadway with his band Ghetto Cowboy. Their shows have drawn huge crowds at CBGB, Irving Plaza, and Ars Nova. The band's sound is "explosive rock infused with glitter." Think The Strokes meet Rufus Wainwright with a little Madonna thrown in. Their debut album Doll is currently available from Amazon or can be downloaded on iTunes.

We play the songs "George's Prayer" from "The Wedding Singer" and, in honor on Fashion Week, we play "Fashionista" from Doll.

You can listen to this interview and many other great features for free on Broadway Bullet vol. 102. Subscribe for free so you don't miss an episode.

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Broadway Bullet: I'm sitting here in the studio with theatre performer and musician/songwriter/singer Kevin Cahoon. How are you doing?

Kevin Cahoon: I'm good. Thanks for having me. Really it's been fun talking to you. It seems you have a lot of the kinda parallel path of a career that I've kinda taken.

KC: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I think we probably have a lot more in common then we realize. Born in '71. Class of '89.  We've already figured that out.

BB: I've had a duel position doing producing and writing pop music as well as musical theatre and acting, and producing myself, and it seems--

KC: So you have two personalities as well. You're from Montana. I'm from Texas. So wide-open spaces in our upbringing.

BB: Well for our listeners on Broadway Bullet who may not be familiar with your "auvwa" of work some of the shows you've done have been Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and you just closed out The Wedding Singer.

KC: That's right. New Year's Eve. We had a nice year of employment with that show between the out of town and Broadway. That was a nice fun run.

BB: How long ago did you come to New York to pursue theatre?

KC: I went to NYU to study acting. I didn't study musical theatre. I went to Circle in the Square right after high school. I was 17 when I moved to New York. I was out of school for about a year and a half and Tommy was running on Broadway. I was obsessed with that show! I saw it 100,000 times. And I went to the open call probably 7 or 8 times and kept getting cut, over and over and over again. Finally they said, "You don't have to come to the open call anymore. Trust us. When a role opens that you're right for, we'll call you." And that's exactly what they did. So that was my first Broadway show, Tommy. I was 22 or 23. I finished the run with Tommy. I did it almost a year. You know, from then I've been very very lucky and very blessed that I've been able to make my living as an actor and musician in New York City. Which was always my dream and my goal. So far so good. I don't have a job now, so maybe it's all over.

BB: I saw your very creepy performance in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

KC: Oh thank you! I had a blast doing that. I just saw Mary Poppins and she flies through the roof at the end and that's exactly what I did in Chitty Citty Bang Bang as well. So I felt a little something in my heart for Ashley Brown. Because when you hit the mezzanine and you hit the balcony it's at that point when you just pray. Because you're like, "Well, if something happens it's all over." The crew was so great and so responsible but flying through the roof is something I hope I don't ever have to do again. But it's a great effect. But that show just sorta fell in my lap too because they've been actively pursuing a star for that role and I kept reading that Meatloaf was gonna do it. And they were negotiating with Meatloaf. And they kept going through, you name it, there was a cavalcade of celebrities that were approached and were negotiating for the part. They had started rehearsals. And they were 2 days into it. And I guess they realized that their wish list wasn't going to come through so they gave me a ring and said, "Hey could you come?" So you know, one day you don't have a job and the next day you do. Same thing sorta happened with Lion King. I was in the original cast of Lion King. They were doing the workshop. They said, "Oh there's one role they haven't cast. Can you come on the lunch break?" So I went and auditioned for Julie Taymor. And that afternoon I got the job. So you wake up in the morning and don't know what the day is going to give you.

BB: And you had quite a bit of heavy makeup and prosthetics for Chitty.

KC: For Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Absolutely.  Angelina Avallone who is the most brilliant makeup designer designed this crazy creation, which was sort of Nosferatu. It was an hour and half prep every day, 8 shows a week. I would take it off in between shows just so I could go outside. That theatre is underground so there's no windows. If I got to the theatre let's say at 12:30 on a matinee day and didn't leave until 11 that would be all those hours with prosthetics on. I read every newspaper in New York every day. I could tell you what's going on in The Post, in The News in The Times. Because when you're sitting in the makeup chair, you gotta fill the time. And Angelina and I had tapped every available resource of conversation that we had. You know, 3 hours a day together. I love her so much. She's a really really talented person.

BB: Raul Esparza was in the cast with you there.

KC: Oh my God, the cast was incredible! Raul who I did Rocky Horror with as well. And Erin Dilly who I'd done Babes In Arms at Encores! and at the Guthrie with so I'd worked with her before. Of course the incredible Jan Maxwell and Phil Bosco, Robbie Sella, Chip Zien, Marc Kudisch. It was and incredible incredible group. Frank Raiter, wonderful wonder character actor. A great great group. And I was a bad guy. How often to you get that chance? To be booed the minute you show up onstage?

BB: Now how was the run of The Wedding Singer?

KC: That was great! That was really really fun. I've never been in a show, Rocky Horror and Hedwig were like this, but I've never been in a show where there were 100-200 screaming kids at the stage door every night after the show.

BB: It seems to be a show that, and most people I hear this from didn't see it, but it seemed to be a show that was wildly loathed by people who didn't see it.

KC: That's what I hear. I don't really know. I think that it was an old fashioned musical. Boy meets girl, boy looses girl. But it had a very very common today's vocabulary. It was very Daily Show/Saturday Night Live in it's language and it's feel. In it's rhythm. In the motor of the show. And I feel like that was something new. And I feel people will look back on that show and say, "Oh, that was the first of the kind of show that had an old fashioned story but was told in a very very contemporary sensibility." And I think it's also the backlash of all the movies that they're making into musicals. I think people are sort of wanting new material. I've been in 5 Broadway shows and they've all been inspired and based on movies.

BB: They have been since the beginning of movies and musicals really.

KC: Everything is based on something else.

BB: Oklahoma was based on Green Grow the Lilacs.

KC: Absolutely. And Spring Awakening.

BB: Well it wasn't a movie. It was a play.

KC: Spring Awakening is based on source material. There's always source material. I don't know. I guess people can be-- I do know this for sure: The people that came to Wedding Singer, it meant a lot to a lot of people. They loved it. They loved the characters. They came dressed as the characters. I've not seen that a lot in my theatrical career. What can I say? People are going to like it or they're not going to like it.

BB: Hopefully the show, I'm sure the show will have some life in regional theatres and community theatres.

KC: I'm telling you, every high school is going to do The Wedding Singer. Because it's a sweet show, it's got a huge heart, it's got a great score. They're doing a national tour. They're doing a production in, I think it's Japan, already. The Wedding Singer it's gonna have a long life. And I'm extremely proud to have been a part, and play George, the crazy little unicorn in Ridgefield, NJ. There was only one of him. I'm really proud to have been a part of it. And that's an incredible cast too.

BB: Now on the cast album do you have a song that is dominantly yours or?

KC: There's "George's Prayer". Which is my song that was at the Bar Mitzvah. It was sort of a Spandau ballet inspired. And then I have--

BB: You want us to play that right now?

KC: Sure! Why not?

BB: Do you need to set it up a little bit?

Kc: It's short. It's short. "George's Prayer." We're at the Bar Mitzvah. I used to play the chuffer in this song, out of town in Seattle. But then we changed that to a trumpet. Imagine me in full Boy George regalia, singing at Jared Shapiro's Bar Mitzvah.

BB: A little sampling there.

KC: Absolutely.

Listen to "George's Prayer" in vol. 102 of Broadway Bullet

BB: Now backing up a little bit which is also used to move kinda forward, you played as an actor in Headwig and the Angry Inch, which also kinda evidentially lead to you getting the confidence to starting your own rock project as a performer.

KC: Absolutely. You know I've always loved rock music and pop music and grew up with that. It was always a dream of mine but I never really thought that, "Can I really get a band together and play gigs in New York City?" But then I had the great great great  opportunity to stand by for John Mitchell. Do one show a week at Hedwig when it was Jane Street. It was not the phenomenon that it is now. And that gave me the confidence that, "Yeah I can front a band!" So I formed my band after that point and started playing gigs at CBGB's and Don Hill's and all of those clubs downtown. And it just sorta took off. You know, the first album, "Doll" is sorta the product of all that.  It took about 3 or 4 years to make this record because I'd have an extra $2,000 and I'd be like "Ok, so we could go record this song, or have this song mixed.  Or we could do the album artwork." So it really was a labor of love. And it took a bit of time to do. But it came out. And we wont the Out Music award for debut recording,(http://www.outmusic.com/oma2006/recipients/index.html) and a Billboard songwriting mention. I've gotten so much out of it personally and professionally. And I got to play at CBGB's a number of times. And how many people can say that now with it not being open anymore? All those little dreams come true. You just have to do it. That's the key. You just have to do it.

BB: Now the CD is very glam inspired kinda David Bowie era stuff mixed with a lot of fun. David Bowie almost mixes like poison in some ways. Not that extreme. Is the performance that you do as flamboyant as the music?

KC: It is very theatrical. A lot of the reviews for the record said, "This is a performance art record. It is a rock record. It is a pop record. But there is a character. There's definitely a beginning middle and end. There's definitely a journey." I wanted to create an album that really was an album of liberation for those people who always felt like the outsider. Which I feel all of us can feel that way. But the people that really were the nerds and the dorks who end up running the world, so to speak, I wanted to create an album for those people. An album of liberation. Our live shows are very much that way as well. I wanted it to be sorta like a happening from the 70's. Things that were happening at LaMama and those sort of experiences. So we have a lot of sorta dancers and people being out in the house, if you will. We have DJ John John Battles. He's a big DJ downtown he comes with us. He spins before the show.  There's always surprises. There's always a special guest that shows up unannounced. Last time, last show was at Joe's Pub in November. Justin Bond showed up, of Kiki and her fame and did "Little Red Corvette". Lea Delaria's stopped by. Daphnie Rubin-Vega. There's always some sort of surprise guest. I'm always wearing something I would never wear daytime on the street. It's always something very creative and out there.  All of my band and the people I work with have their left foot in the theatre as well. Angela Lockett, Montego Glover sing with me. Jan Tilly I met during Hedwig. Brien Branigan plays at Avenue Q. Damien plays at The Color Purple. David Nehls the keyboard player, wrote The Great American Trailer Park Musical. He's a co-writer with me for a lot of the tracks. We all have a theatrical sensibility.

BB: Now you mentioned earlier you won the Outmusic award. So I take it you're upfront about your sexuality.

KC: Absolutely. Well you know. Absolutely.

BB: In theatre it's kinda common to be out. But in music still there's a lot of people wanting to stuff that part away.

KC: Yeah, I think so. And I don't know. I think that the world is changing. And I think the whole world is shifting. You can already tell the world is changing their sensibility there. What they think is acceptable. And what it is that's comfortable. And people are becoming more and more comfortable with the issue of people being different. You know, rock and roll has always been dangerous. And I think when rock and roll is good it is dangerous. And I think that it's a bit scary for people. Because I think that that entices people as well. I thought that's one of the great things about this record is that it was gonna be honest and upfront. And rock, especially glam rock has always been very gray. I just couldn't live with myself any other way. If I put out something, a piece of art that came from me, that was dishonest in any way. 

BB: I understand you also worked with a very talented musical and producer that was in here is the studio last season playing for Tastiskank .

Spurn! The one and only Spurn! I met Spurn through a great singer/songwriter friend of mine who lives in New York now and Nashville, Vanessa Handrick. And we met originally there. But then by chance we ended up doing Hedwig together as well Spurn and I. And Spurn and I got together and wrote the song called "Fashionista". We wrote this song, he's so talented. He's with Tastiskank They were here together right? Spurn and Tastiskank? Kate Reinders and Sarah Litzinger. And "Fashionista" is a song about the one that's in the post, the one that's n the press. Who really does not have any talent at all but yet people are obsessed with her.  You seem to be glued to this person for some unknown reason. So that's the song "Fashionista". We actually, we have a video for "Fashionista".

BB: The song's been in heavy rotation on my ipod since we played it on NextBigHit last year. We're going to play it again in a minute.

KC: The video is gonna debut on Logo and all of the online outlets for that. Rolling Stone, Ifilm, you name it. But the video, especially for people who know theatre, is gonna be a kick to watch because Deidre Goodwin who is one of the stars of Chorus Line and many other Broadway musicals is the Fashionista. Tastiskank makes a cameo. Michael Musto from The Voice makes a cameo. Constantine from American Idol makes a cameo. And there's all kinds of great theatre actors playing characters in that video. EJ Carroll who is a great character actor, a lot of people from Wedding Singer, J Elaine Marcos, Eric Summers, Adinah Alexander who's been in tons of Broadway shows, who's so talented. If you see this video you're going to have a blast picking out, "Oh my gosh! There's so-and-so, there's so-and-so." We shot it on the street. We rented an ice cream truck and shot the first half on the street during the day. And then we shot the second half at Ars Nova and we had an open bar and we just sorta created this party. And the rest is history.

BB: Well let's check out "Fashionista".

KC: Yeah!

Listen to "Fashionista" in vol. 102 of Broadway Bullet

BB: I guess to wrap up, the audience at your live shows much be really, with such a theatre following I imagine it's easy for them to get into the access and the fun of it.

KC: Absolutely, and along with the access I hope that there's heart. I hope that there's heart. And I hope that people listen to the message and hear the message of the music.It really I a fun fun happening. Our audience's range. There are teenagers that are in high school. That means so much to be when kids come to the stage door. Wedding Singer this happened a lot because the release of the album was at the same time. And they said, "Oh my gosh! I'm the kid who played with dolls. I do play with dolls. I Love Your album so much!" So that means a lot to me. I'm like, "Good good. It worked." Teenagers come to the shows. Then you have middle-aged people. And even older people really respect it, and get it, and enjoy it. The live shows are the most fun of the whole thing.

BB: Is there an easy place people can go to hear about your live shows, where to get your CD's, what you're coming up in next.

KC: Well the album is Shh-Kaboom and Razor and Tie. You can go to either of those locations to find the record. The record is also in stores all across the country. You can go to Virgin, Tower. My boyfriend's sister was in Alaska. It was in a Tower in Alaska. I went to Virgin in Times Square and took pictures next to it. Corny! It's all over the country in record stores. You can go to KevinCahoon.com (http://www.kevincahoon.com). Yeah, so it's out there.

BB: Well I thank you for coming down and talking with us here.

KC: Thank you so so much. My pleasure.

BB: NextBigHit, Broadway Bullet. Good luck with everything!

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You can listen to this interview and many other great features for free on Broadway Bullet vol. 102. Subscribe for free so you don't miss an episode.

or