Interview: Santino Fontana of SANTINO FONTANA AT 54 BELOW

Santino Fontana's charm is undeniable. The Tony-Winning actor is a performer, a father, a husband, and an all-around nice guy. He's also VERY busy. In addition to his 54 below show (kicking off September 10th and playing through the 14th), he's in rehearsals for a revival of a rarely-performed musical, and he's raising two toddlers while doing all of this. Seemingly thriving with all the activity, Santino took a little time out of that busy schedule to share some insight into his shows, a few stories, his flawless Martin Short impression, and a lot of laughs.

This article has been edited for length and clarity.

This is an encore of a show that you've done at 54 Below before. What should audiences who haven't experienced the show expect?

The entire format is that we don't know what's going to happen until it happens. I had a great teacher who always said, "Whatever is actually happening is always going to be more interesting than whatever you've planned." 

I'm taking a note, kind of, from the pandemic of how you think you can control what's gonna happen and you can't. I basically take like 20 (I think it's like 25 songs) giving each of them a number, I put them in a bowl or a hat or whatever I have at the time, and then the audience picks the evening - which songs get sung, which songs don't. So it's the same as last year, 54 Below made (it) clear they wanted me to come back and do what I did again. But you know, the songs have changed a little bit and you never know what you're gonna get. 

It's like Forrest Gump: "Life is like a box of chocolates...."

You know, that's it. Exactly.

Since you've done this cabaret before, what are you bringing to it that's unique to this version?

Well, there's new songs. I mean that's the great thing is that every night of it (and I've done it around the country, in various locations) it's always different. And what I'm bringing to it is already kind of built into it, fairly. So all I have to do is be on my toes and try to channel my inner Martin Short, occasionally, whenever it's called for. I think we're still climbing out of the pandemic; live performance is still struggling. It isn't back to where it was and I think that's what I'm trying to do with this show. There's something about being in the room live that you just can't replicate.

Who's your musical director?

I'm splitting it this time between two good friends. Cody Owen Stine is doing the first two shows - he plays for Hadestown, he's the music director, I think, at the time, right now. Then, there's Andrew Bourgoin, who plays at Aladdin, is also one of the conductors over there - he's playing the second two shows. I have some special guests that I know about now. On the 10th, Rebecca Naomi Jones is gonna drop by. On the 12th, Sarah Steele is gonna sing. On the 13th, Julia Lester is gonna sing, and on the 14th Greg Hildreth is gonna sing. Those are all my cast mates from I Can Get it for You Wholesale.

Which is what's next for you.

I start rehearsals for I Can Get it for You Wholesale on September 5th. And I'm an idiot because I'll be doing this show during rehearsals. We start performances in mid-October and it runs through sometime in December, I don't remember... but it's John Weidman's rewrite of his father's book of the Harold Rome/Jerome Weidman musical.

Who's doing Miss Marmelstein? (The Streisand role)

Julia Lester.

And you're doing the Elliott Gould role, I take it?  

Yeah. Harry Bogan.  

For those of us who had no idea about this revival, where will it be performed?

We'll be at the Classic Stage Company down on East 13th St. Judy Kuhn is playing my mother, Adam Chanler-Berat is playing one of my coworkers, Adam Grupper -  it's a great cast. 

Just out of just out of curiosity, how did you like working with my buddy Michael McGrath in Tootsie?

Oh, I love Michael McGrath. He's the best. I'm not one who really breaks on stage but he has the special power to make me totally lose it.  He did the show one night where he came in and he was a little different than he normally was, in the second act. He kind of, like grabbed, he kind of clutched his chest a little bit. I was like, ohh, no that's weird. And what he had done was pretend he was having a heart attack to see what I would do. I was like, this is not funny. Then, of course, when he told me what he was doing, I thought it was hilarious.

Martin Short apparently did the same thing to him during The Goodbye Girl. 

He's a monster. Yeah, he should be locked up. He's just terrific. 

I hear you have a lot of showbiz stories you tell in your show. What's one of your favorites?

Oh God, my favorite showbiz story? Speaking of Martin Short, I'm a huge Martin Short fan. I went and saw his one man show Fame Becomes Me. That show used to be called If I Had Saved, I Wouldn't Be Here. I was the reader for the auditions. I went to see the show multiple times. And one of the times, for anyone who knows, he was Jiminy Glick in the show, at one point, and he had celebrity guests in the audience that he would call up, every performance. And the first time I went, it was Goldie Hawn who came up, and you could tell they were friends, so that was charming and fun. But one time Tommy Tune was sitting across the aisle from me, wearing all red, and I wanna say leather. You know, he's a giant man, a great man. He's a giant, he's a great man, in all ways, and he calls up Tommy Tune. I see someone from the backstage crew, through the little red curtains, downstage with a video camera, this was before iPhones, and they're filming it. It's kind of like "This is weird. Why are they gonna film this now?" Tommy Tune gets up on stage, and it's clear they are not friends, they do not know each other. And Tommy Tune, apparently, did not appreciate Brooks Ashmanskas' Tony-nominated performance of him on stilts (he did Tommy Tune.) So it's clear he's not happy, and you see Martin Short as Jiminy Glick trying to figure out a way to talk to him so that it keeps everyone's interest, right? So he's asking all these questions and Tommy Tune is giving one word answers. "Yes." "No." "I don't remember." Like, not fun. And then Martin Short, as Jiminy Glick, asks something like, "And when was that? How long did it go for?" Anyway, he asked him some question involving numbers. And Tommy Tune puts up 7 fingers. OK, so now the audience is NOT laughing. We're uncomfortable. Then Martin Short, as Glick, without missing a beat, in perfect timing says, "And when was the stroke?" It made Tommy Tune laugh, too. It was it was like 3 minutes of laughter because we've just seen the spontaneous genius of Martin Short and I love that.  

How are you enjoying being a dad?

I love being a dad. I really, really, really love it. It's fun. I mean, it's challenging and tricky, especially in what we do. But I love it.  

How old is she now?

She's gonna turn four at the end of September.

That's a fun age.

It's great. It's perfect. I mean, I say that about every age. Every age she's been, I've been like, oh, I love this age.  We also have a one-year-old who just turned one, so that's what's happening. 

Alright, here's an off the wall question: Your favorite Prince - Is it Topher or is it Hans?

Oh, I think Hamlet's my favorite prince, but, the two of them, I think they're both great. You know, I don't want to choose. They're like children. I think Topher is such a much better..... His growth is so much more fun. But Hans' growth is surprising. So I'll take them both.  

People might not know that, in addition to your stage work, you have narrated several audio books. Is that something you enjoy?

I do, I love it. I was doing the Stephen King book, The Institute, during Tootsie (which was a mistake, to say yes during Tootsie). But it was Stephen King and I was like, I can't say no. And he listens to all of them. So he's aware of all of it. I do love it. It feels kind of, in some ways, the purest kind of acting you can do because you play everybody and you're not right for most of the characters,  yet you get to play them all. 

It's definitely a one man show.

Oh, God. Sadly, yeah, almost excruciatingly. You're trapped in a room reading a story alone for eight hours, and someone else is letting you know if you screwed up a word. I can't tell you how many times I'm like, "Wait, did I read this? I read this." They're like, "Yeah, you read it." OK, I don't know. Yes, but it's great fun.

What's your favorite song to perform?

I love "Joey, Joey, Joey" (from The Most Happy Fella).  "Making Love Alone." I do some Anthony Newley stuff. I'll do some Sammy Davis Jr. It's a mix. I do an Alan Menken song that I recorded from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Of course I only do it if it's picked.

One last question: Do you consider yourself more of a tenor or a baritone?

Yes. (Laughs) My voice teacher, when I got to New York and started studying with her (and that's another story), we were doing something from the Fantastiks that had a really low part. I said, "I can't sing that," and she said, "Yes, you can." I said, "Well, what do I say to people when they ask whether I'm a tenor or a baritone?" She said, "Say yes." And I've done that ever since.

Santino, thanks so much for sharing some time with me and thanks for the laughs.

Santino Fontana will appear at 54 Below from September 10-14 nightly at 7pm. For tickets, visit the 54 Below website HERE.

Visit the Santino Fontana website HERE.

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