DeHaas Catches The A Train In Strayhorn Celebration

All aboard!!! I just always wanted to say that and I finally have the chance, due to the interview that I recently did with Darius DeHaas. DeHaas will be appearing in the 27th annual Gay Pride concert by The New York City Gay Men's Chorus. The concert, TAKE THE A TRAIN, NYCGMC sings Billy Strayhorn, will play Monday, June 18th at 8:00PM at The Nokia Theatre, Times Square (1515 Broadway at 44th St.) and is a marvelous celebration of the music and lyrics of Billy Strayhorn.

The concert is being directed and staged by Tony Award winner Joanna Gleason (Into the Woods, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and written by Gleason and Tony nominated book writer Jeffrey Lane (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels). TAKE THE A TRAIN features all-new arrangements by Alan Broadbent, a Grammy Award winner for his arrangements for Natalie Cole and Shirley Horn.  Joining DeHaas will be Broadway's Judy Blazer (Titanic, Me and My Girl) and pop jazz ensemble Uptown Express.  Musical Director Casey J. Hayes will lead NYCGMC in TAKE THE A TRAIN, which is a co-production with the Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles.

So let's talk with Darius about growing up in Chicago, coming to NYC and his current project,

TJ: So, before we talk about this exciting project, let's talk about a little bit about Darius. You are originally from Chicago. Did you come from a musical family?

DEHAAS: My father is a jazz bassist and my mother is a singer. She used to sing with her brother and sister in a trio called Andy and the Bey Sisters. They were kind of a popular little trio in certain jazz circles for a while in the late 50's, early 60's. My father played with such jazz greats as Chet Baker and Gene Krupa and occasionally Miles Davis. He was the bassist for Peter, Paul and Mary for a while. So, yeah, a lot of musical background in my family.

TJ: So growing up, you were surrounded by the business. Is that the reason you went into the business?

DEHAAS: Certainly, my parents probably at that time would have preferred me to go with other options, knowing that the life of a musician or actor was fraught with difficulty. Being surrounded by it, like my sister and I were, set a great example for us by my folks. My sister is in the business too. It was sort of inevitable.

TJ: Did you do a lot of theatre when you were growing up?

DEHAAS: I was a theatre major in high school. There was a really great theatre program at my school, Whitney Young Magnet High School and I studied theatre all four years there. And I have been working professionally since I was 16. I made my debut with a local professional Equity company, the Chicago Theatre Company. Before that, I had taken classes outside of high school at a place called ETA, which was a really great training ground for acting and dance.

TJ: What was your first professional gig?

DEHAAS: it was a show called IN THE BEGINNING and it was written by Oscar Brown, Jr. He died last year and he was very prevalent in the arts. The show was based on the original book of Genesis and I played a very young teenage Adam.

TJ: So you have been at this for quite a while.

DEHAAS: Yeah. And if I had my druthers, I would have been doing this since I was six years old. My mother had transitioned into doing theater herself in the early seventies and performed in Chicago productions of shows such as HAIR, DON'T BOTHER ME, I CAN'T COPE and SHOWBOAT and all these great shows. That really shaped things for me the being around the theater. I was exposed to a lot of theater when I was young. She worked with this extraordinary theater company called The Free Street Theatre, which would go out to perform in the community for people who would not be able to afford to go to the theatre or were unable to for whatever reason. They were comprised of some fantastic actors who went on to have great careers.

TJ: So you came to NYC and went to the AMDA?

DEHAAS: Yes. I was 21 years old. It was a two year program but I completed the program in one year and three months by not taking a summer break. And then I was out here.

TJ: Was that the program beneficial to your career?

DEHAAS: Oh certainly. I will always be grateful to them. For one thing, they gave me a full scholarship so I was thrilled not to have to pay for it. They were very encouraging to me and it allowed me to hone my skills and be in the place where I really wanted to work. The being in New York, being around the theater scene and seeing if I could handle it… it's what I wanted. They gave me skills which I still take along with me today. I had some wonderful teachers there and I will always be grateful to them.

TJ: After you graduated, how long was it until you got your first job?

DEHAAS:  Well, that was interesting because I graduated and all the people in my class got jobs before me. I was one of maybe two people who had their Equity Card. A lot of AMDA graduates got summer stock jobs and were able to go and earn points towards their Equity Card. I already had my equity card so I had to go up against people who were already here and already established. I moved to from New York to New Jersey and moved in with my cousin and I had auditioned for two things. One that gave me a nice respite from the restaurant, which was a show called HEARTSTRINGS, which was an AIDS benefit show. I didn't stay with it too long because not long after that I auditioned for the national tour of ONCE ON THIS ISLAND. HEARTSTRINGS was very generous in that they said we would like you to do this show up until that time when you have to leave to begin the new show. How lucky could I have been with that, you know? So that was a period of about five to six months after I graduated from the AMDA.

TJ: So that wasn't bad.

DEHAAS: No it wasn't bad it all. At that time, it seemed like an eternity and I was really sweating it there for awhile.

TJ: Well, a lot of people will wait on tables and wait years before that first break.

DEHAAS: That's right. And that was the thing I was getting nervous about because I worked at a restaurant that's no longer there called Ernie's Restaurant on West 76^th and Broadway and it was all actors waiting tables. I wasn't a good enough waiter to be waiting on tables, so I was a host. It was kind of rough being there for awhile as people's attitudes could bring you down and I was trying to be very optimistic. I had very specific plans about what I wanted to do and I couldn't let other people's negativity as it were to deter it from me. I just had to be very positive. I was very fortunate as far as when HEARTSTRINGS and ONCE ON THIS ISLAND came around. I was lucky that a show which I just played on Broadway was so right for me or that I was so right for. The timing was great.

TJ: So, you weren't a great waiter?

DEHAAS: No. During my time at the AMDA, I worked at a private club on the East Side called the Lotus Club, which I had the pleasure of performing at. I did a private party as Darius DeHaas, the performer and I was looking around the room and this gorgeous club. I told the audience, without wanting to date myself, that I had worked there over ten years ago as a waiter and it was so funny to be back there working on the other side.

TJ: Now I see that you've done RENT and also KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.

DEHAAS: Yes, that was my Broadway debut! I did Chita Rivera's last four months of her Broadway run, which was probably one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. And I was there for Vanessa Williams' Broadway debut. That was an extraordinary experience in itself. It forged a friendship and a relationship that I have with her to this very day. A huge f fondness, mutual admiration society which we have and I get to perform with her. We just got back from Japan and Egypt, where I was singing with her. We have managed to keep a lovely friendship for all of these years.

TJ: So that must be nice for you to turn on the TV and see her weekly on UGLY BETTY?

DEHAAS: I know. I'll call her and say to her," You're so dastardly!"

TJ: She does that role so well!

DEHAAS: She's really not like that in real life. She's not like Wilhelmina at all. She's having great fun doing it because it's such a great cast and they have a good time. She's the polar opposite of what that character is… She's mommy. She's such a mom.

TJ:  So let's talk about the upcoming concert with the New York City Gay Men's Chorus. I did my research and found that you actually did an album of the music of Billy Strayhorn. How did that come about?

DEHAAS: The Strayhorn album came about when I was making the transition into doing concerts and recording. I was not giving up theater but this was something I wanted to do. I had done some cast recordings that I wanted a career that was akin at that time to Audra McDonald's. I really admired and still do admire her dexterity being able to maintain a concert career, a theater career, TV, motherhood as it had turned out to be in recent years. People like her and Mandy Patinkin… I really admired them being able to do that. I count myself now among the actors being able to do that. At that time, back in 1999 to 2000, I was doing a show called Marie Christine at Lincoln Center with Audra and told her I really wanted to do these concerts and asked her what she thought I should do in terms of my musical direction. I was curious to hear her opinions. And she said that I should focus on a particular composer. She said at the time she was working on Kurt Weill's SEVEN DEADLY SINS or something like that. So I said OK. I had been reading Lush Life, the biography of Billy Strayhorn and it struck a chord for me of familial one. You know growing up in my parent's household, jazz and music in general was so prominent in my upbringing, particularly jazz in terms of what my parents gave me. My mother transitioned from doing theater to producing; in fact she produced the first tribute to Duke Ellington the year that he died in 1974 in downtown Chicago. That tribute has now sort of become the annual jazz festival of Chicago, which is a very big jazz festival that happens yearly now. At that time, in 1974, it was a very unique thing and if you look at Chicago's history of jazz, it seems just right that it should happen. I was always hearing Duke Ellington's music and of course hearing his music exposed me to the genius of Billy Strayhorn. He was Duke Ellington's orchestrator, arranger and right hand man for almost 30 years.

At the time when I was a kid, I had heard such Strayhorn songs as Something To Live For, Take The A Train, Lush Life and all those wonderful song. In reading the biography, it really sort of regenerated a lot of those memories. And I was totally into listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone's recordings of a lot of those songs. So I said let's do Strayhorn because really no one, not in broad sense, knew who Billy Strayhorn was in theater, which is where my foundation was at that time. Strayhorn had a lot that he contributed to the theater.

When I made that decision, it started a whole domino effect in terms of opening up a whole world of people who were really connected to that music and who really loved him and some people who knew him personally, like Luther Henderson, who was really helpful to me at that time, people in the Ellington Organization, like Mercedes Ellington, that is very generous. The Billy Strayhorn family was very generous to me. My uncle Andy represented the Strayhorn estate and he was very generous to me. It was extraordinary the world that opened up to me. So I did these concerts for Lincoln Center doing Billy Strayhorn's music and eventually that led to a recording. To this day I have a concert career that had its foundation doing concerts featuring Billy Strayhorn's songs.

TJ: So how did you get involved with the concert for the Chorus?

DEHAAS:Well, the musical director of the chorus lives in my building and they have a joint thing going with the Los Angeles Gay Men's Choir, where they were co-commissioning a concert for Strayhorn's music. They needed two solo artists and they had already hired Billy Porter to do it for Los Angeles. They were looking for someone to do it in New York My partner, Kyle, happened to see that they were doing that and told me I should get my CD to them to put in my bid to be guest with them. And of course I was shy about it and was like, what if he doesn't like the CD or they may have somebody else in mind or whatever. I finally got them and said that I heard they were doing a go Strayhorn concert and Strayhorn was really right up my alley. Casey, their musical director, told me that he knew that and they were kind of shy to ask me because they weren't sure if I would be available. I told him I was always game to work with anyone who wants to do the music of Strayhorn, so if they were willing to have me I would love to do it. So we worked it out!

TJ: Darius, you sound like you're anything but shy.

DEHAAS: You'd be surprised. Sometimes I need to work on being a bit more aggressive in terms of my public relations. When I'm on stage, I really have no qualms.

TJ: Have you ever worked with Joanna Gleason or Judy Blazer before?

DEHAAS:  I have never worked with Joanna before but I'm a big fan of hers. I've done concerts with Judy Blazer but never had the pleasure to doing one in a show with her but we're great friends. She's extraordinary and I adore her. When I found out she was tapped to do this, I was very excited because I just think the world of her. She's a great artist and she's loads of fun and I'm really looking forward to working with her.

TJ: Ok, now I am going to the section of the interview where we find out some of your favorite things and I am going start by asking you what is your favorite NYC restaurant?

DEHAAS: I have to think about that for a moment. You know, one of my favorite restaurants is one that they closed, but I think they just reopened it, goal I can count it. Ye Waverly Inn in the West Village. It is great because it's your basic comfort food extraordinarily cooked in a warm and earthy environment with a fireplace. It's a great restaurant!

TJ:  Do you have a favorite author?

DEHAAS: I have a couple. I love Alice Walker and Joan Didion and old Anne Rice, like The Feast of All Saints.

TJ:  How about your favorite color? 

DEHAAS:  Blue.

TJ: Favorite vacation spot?

DEHAAS:  Greece. Santorini. Very romantic.

TJ: Final thing. If you weren't an actor or singer, what would you picture yourself doing as a profession?

DEHAAS:  I would probably be either a diplomat or someone who works with dogs, not necessarily a vet, but someone who cares for dogs or a casting director, because I think I can do it a little bit better or be a lot more open about how I see things.

Special thanks to Darius for his candid interview and for little Jack, who was passing by while I was talking to Darius and wanted to get in on the action. You can catch TAKE THE A TRAIN will be presented at The Nokia Theatre (1515 Broadway at 44th St.) on Monday, June 18th at 8:00PM. Tickets are $30 - $67 and can be purchased by calling (212) 307-4100.  For more information, call 212-344-1777 or visit the website at www.NYCGMC.org. For now, ciao and remember, theatre is my life!