Undercover Showtunes #1: Manoel Felciano

New York Musical Theatre Festival concludes its first-ever Spring Concert Series with "Undercover Showtunes" on Monday, June 18 at 7PM at The Zipper Factory (336 W 37th St.) in Manhattan.

"Undercover Showtunes" is a unique concert comprised of pop and rock songs that weren't written for musicals, but sound as if they might have been – songs that tell a story, create a character, paint a full, vivid portrait as a great song in a musical is meant to do.

For more information on "Undercover Showtunes" and purchase tickets visit the show website at NYMF.org.  Tickets are $50 and $90 with post-concert cast party included by calling 212-352-3101 or visiting online.  Discounts are available here.

Manoel Felciano (Sweeney Todd) is one of the many talented Broadway and screen stars set to appear at "Undercover Showtunes."  BroadwayWorld.com's Eugene Lovendusky, based in San Francisco, got the opportunity to chat with Felciano about his up-coming performance and his past and future stage experiences…

Eugene Lovendusky: I love the premise of the "Undercover Showtunes" concert!  What song will you be performing?

Manoel Felciano: We're still negotiating, but probably a Bowie tune and a Rufus Wainwright tune.

Eugene: Some musical theatre fans feel they simply cannot find anything better than the music, lyrics and orchestrations showtunes provide… especially not on the radio.  How do you feel about this opinion and what kinds of music do you know of outside of musical theatre (like those presented at "Undercover Showtunes") that might tickle their fancy?

Manoel: Coming from a pop background, I'm naturally biased, but I would have to disagree. I think there is a much greater variety of musical styles and vocabularies in pop/rock are than in musical theatre; and as for lyrics, don't get me started! Obviously there are exceptions, Spring Awakening being the most obvious recent one, but mostly I feel that pop/rock gets watered down when it tries to make the leap to the Broadway Stage.

Eugene: What kind of music were you raised on?

Manoel: Classical (from my family) and pop/jazz (on my own). I didn't really hear my first musical theatre stuff until college, and hated most of it as being cheesy, dated, lame, musically boring, with too much "oom-chuck." But then I heard West Side Story and Sweeney Todd, which blew me away, as did the rest of Sondheim's work. And I've learned to appreciate a lot of that stuff that I was dismissive of early on. Especially the lyric-writing of old classical musicals, when poetics still meant something. But I still think that for the most part, musical theatre, like punk, is more fun to perform than to listen to.

Eugene: And what kind of music do you find yourself most often listening to today?

Manoel: Still classical and pop. Tough habits to break. I love a huge range of pop music from the head-banger metal that my brother used to listen to from Soul, to country, top 40, indie... I'm fascinated by what makes a good pop tune, what makes a hit. I think my biggest problem (exceptions of course as always) with listening to musical theatre is that I don't feel the same energy as I do in classical or pop. I don't feel it physically, in my bones (or my loins for that matter). And that makes sense, its function is (or should be) to tell a story, to advance a narrative, and so has an inherently rational requirement. Pop and classical are meant only to be listened to, danced to, get lost in, have sex to, and so can be experienced more irrationally.

Eugene: How important is it for you to be involved with the New York Musical Theatre Festival?

Manoel: As a fledgling producer, I know how important it is to have a forum for new work to be heard in New York that might otherwise not get a chance. There is a real lack of performing/producing opportunities after Broadway and the established off-Broadway not-for-profit Institutional Theaters. NYMF has done a remarkable job of trying to fill that void, and their incredibly rapid growth is a testament to the amount of talent that is out there looking for a stage!

Eugene: I remember you commenting in a recent BroadwayWorld.com video of Broadway by the Year: 1959 that you were taking on weight for a role? Elaborate!

Manoel: It's for a great new film written and directed by Todd Solondz. I have an incredible part, and it was supposed to start shooting May 21, but has been put on hold because of a scheduling conflict involving Emma Thompson. Hopefully it will go in the fall. I gained 32 lbs, but am now losing it. The things we put our bodies through... I'm ready to fit into my old clothes again!

Eugene: Your most recent full-scale stage appearance was opposite Kelli O'Hara as the title character in a dazzling production of Sondheim and Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George at LA Reprise.  If you can, sum up what that experience was like.

Manoel: It was probably the happiest I have been on-stage. I always try to lend myself to the character I'm playing, to feel some empathy for them, no matter who they are. But sometimes you can just fall in love with a character, and they lend themselves to you, teach you! And so it ends up as this great circular perpetual easy-flowing exchange between actor and character. I felt very strongly that way about both Georges and their struggles, which I've experienced in my own ways. Of course singing that score and looking at Kelli O'Hara doesn't hurt! But really I owe Jason Alexander an enormous amount. He was an incredibly generous, insightful and intelligent director, without whom I don't think I could ever have pulled it off. I'm so glad that he is now the Artistic Director at Reprise and trying to build it.

Eugene: After a spine-tingling turn as Tobias in Doyle's revival of Sweeney Todd and your bit as George Saurat, that's quite a resume of professional Sondheim appearances! What other heralded roles do you aspire?

Manoel: Before I die I'd like to do the whole Shakespeare canon, and the whole Sondheim canon. I've got two of each, so I have a long ways to go! But eventually (and most of this is pipe-dream material) Bobby in Company, Henrik then Fredrik in A Little Night Music, Giorgio in Passion, Booth in Assassins (I played Hinckley a long time ago), anything in Pacific Overtures (however much genetics may have conspired against me).  Floyd or Homer in Floyd Collins. Mede in Peter Foley and Kate Chisholm's The Hidden Sky.

Eugene: In reference to Tobias, are you still keeping up with your violin skills? Haven't gotten rusty?

Manoel: [blows dust off violin case] ...ahem... not nearly as much as I should. A bit here and there playing on other people's recordings, gigs and benefits. But nothing serious. I miss the chamber music aspect of our Sweeney Todd production!

Eugene: You were born and raised in San Francisco, correct? Ever plan on treating the City by the Bay to a guest appearance or concert? We'd love to see you!

Manoel: Hey invite me I'm there! I love my hometown and miss it and my family a lot. I've been tempted to move to LA just to be closer to SF and my folks. And it's a been a dream of mine to work at ACT or Berkeley Rep. (You hear me Carey Perloff?)

Eugene: The first national tour of Sweeney Todd kick starts at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre this fall (with many of your former Broadway co-stars). Any plans to stop by opening night?

Manoel: I'm not sure, it depends on a couple of other projects, but I am certainly going to try! Any excuse to get to my hometown, I'll take.

Eugene: What can fans hope to see you in next?

Manoel: I'm going to join the crazy gang who created The Donkey Show for their new show Turandot, in which I play an Emcee/Wrestling Referee. It was just weird enough to pique my interest. And the timing and location, July at The Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor doesn't suck.  I'm working on finishing my EP of original songs, and have got some other projects brewing, so stay tuned! Oh and I'll be on "One Life To Live" on July 17.

Eugene: Thank you very much for your time and have a fantastic time at "Undercover Showtunes"!

Photos: Manoel Felciano (headshot courtesy mano.felciano.com); Manoel Felciano at ASTEP Benefit, 2007 (by Linda Lenzi); Manoel Felciano at Broadway Under the Stars, 2006 (by Ben Strothman); Manoel Felciano at Purim Cabaret, 2006 (by Craig Brockman); Manoel Felciano with Sweeney Todd costars Diana DiMarzio, Michael Cerveris and Patti LuPone at "The Lady with the Torch" Concert, 2006 (by Ben Strothman)