Una Conversazione Con Matteo Morrison
By: Joseph F. Panarello May. 31, 2005
Few things in New York City are more idyllic on a balmy Saturday
afternoon in May than a walk across the plaza at Lincoln Center. The
fountain sprays a refreshing mist into the air and the reflecting pool
creates a mood of serenity. What is extremely apparent, though, is
that no one appears to be rushed. The matinee performances have ended
and there's a genuine lack of tension abounding in that large cultural
complex. Even backstage at the Vivian Beaumont Theater, Matthew
Morrison is completely calm as he sits in his dressing room munching
on chocolate chip cookies.
Morrison has just finished an afternoon performance as "Fabrizio
Naccarelli" in Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' much-discussed musical THE
LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. It would be understandable if Morrison were
fatigued and lethargic, but the young actor seems quite relaxed and
eager to talk about his young career; the projects he's been involved
with; and the growing list of celebrities he's worked with.
Running his fingers through his curly hair, Morrison, 26, admits to
being an "Army Brat". His parents were both military nurses and he was
born in Fort Ord, California; which is near Monterey. The family moved around
quite a bit and they settled in Chico, which is in Northern California. At that time soccer was the most important part of his life. When his father left to attend school in Southern California, they moved down to Orange County when Morrison was in the sixth grade.
That summer his parents sent him to Arizona, where his grandmother,
aunts, uncles and cousins were living. He and his cousin found
themselves thrown into a little play called "The Herdmens Go To Camp".
He had fun playing one of the leads and, although he had never sung
before, he found himself really enjoying the experience. When he
returned to Southern California he told his parents that he thought
he'd really like to continue performing.
"I had learned so much in high school that when I got there I felt that
I was so far ahead of everyone and I was re-learning everything".
Despite the regulation that students couldn't audition in their first
two years at NYU, he got himself an agent. It wasn't long before he was
cast in FOOTLOOSE and that was the end of his college education. He
toured in the show and played the Broadway engagement.
Almost immediately, Jerry Mitchell became a fan of Morrison's talents,
casting the young man in a film called MARCI-X--a film that Morrison
describes as "a really bad movie". Mitchell cast him as "Rocky" in the
revival of THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW that was to play at the
Circle-In-The-Square Theater. However Morrison was involved in a boy
band at the time and felt that this would be his path to stardom. He
turned down ROCKY HORROR and toured with the group called LMNT (pronounced "Element") for a year "and it was the worst year of my life," says the actor. In the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, several Broadway shows closed and ROCKY HORROR was one of them. However, the producers decided to re-open it a few months
later and Mitchell contacted Morrison about being in the ensemble. By
then LMNT had become lamentable and Morrison was in need of a job so he joined the cast when it re-opened.
Just about that time there was a reading for a musical called HAIRSPRAY
and Jerry Mitchell was choreographing it. He asked the actor if he'd
like to take part. Morrison played the part of "Fender" in the reading
and wound up "having a ball!" When the show actually went into
production he didn't have to audition because many of the people who
participated in the reading were put into the show. James Carpinello
was originally cast in the role of "Link Larkin" but after two weeks of
rehearsal he was offered a movie role and left the show. At that point
the production team wanted to cast the role with the likes of Justin
Timberlake or someone from 98 Degrees. Morrison, Carpinello's
understudy, was asked to try-out for the role. His audition went well
and Morrison was cast in the part. "It really brought the cast
together because the producers had stuck with someone in the show.
However," the actor continues, "they didn't give me the Broadway
contract right away. I had to 'try out in Seattle'. The whole Seattle
run was pretty much my audition for the part The rest is history."
For his efforts in HAIRSPRAY, Morrison received the Outer Critics Circle
Nomination for "Best Supporting Actor in a Musical".
Matt Morrison did the Los Angeles production of HAIRSPRAY and did a TV
pilot out there when his agent called him about a musical version of the
novella THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. There had been two out-of-town
productions of it and the reviews had been quite good. "I had my agent
send me the music and the script. I took one look at the score and
said, 'No way!' Not because it wasn't good but because I felt I
couldn't do that." One of the reasons for his reluctance to get involved in the project was that the character of Frabizio is called upon to sing in a legitimate tenor voice. Until that time, Morrison had only sung "pop" or "rock" and sincerely felt he didn't have the pipes for such singing.
"They were having a real rough time casting this part. They went
through everyone in New York and out-of-town. They tried getting
people from California and different places They asked me to
come in again and once again I turned them down. And then I happened
to be in New York for a week and they asked me to come in. At that point I felt that it just might be fun. What would I have to lose? I worked really hard on the music and I worked really hard with my friend Emilio on the accent and it was one of those auditions where there was a sense of magic in the room. I felt great
and I could tell that the people behind the table were into it. Bart
Sher, the director, had me running around doing really crazy stuff...They called me back, which was cool and there were some guys there. I found out later that day that I'd been cast." Even more surprising to him was learning that he has a legitimate tenor voice that was very capable of serving Guettel's music well.
It turns out that THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA is the perfect match for Matt
Morrison's talents. He acts the part with great sensitivity and sings
with such elan that he might easily be at home in an opera company.
His voice soars and possesses a marvelously appealing tone. Vocally,
he could easily be at home on an opera stage. Speaking of the role of
Frabizio, he says, "It has fulfilled everything that I've wanted. It
fulfills me artistically every night." He adds that "it's a pleasure
to work with this cast and there are so many people that I look up to
here." In addition to a batch of fine reviews for his performance in
this show, Morrison has been honored with a Tony Award nomination as
"Best Supporting Actor In A Musical".
There is a special effect used in the show where a breeze blows off the
straw hat that Kelli O'Hara wears in one of the scenes. Has it ever
malfunctioned? Actually it never has. However, he does have to pull a
wire out of the hat and it's on a button underneath, "I have to undo
the button and pull a wire out. One night it didn't separate and I had
to rip the wire out. My finger was bleeding all over the place. That only
happened once." Elevators are also used in this production to raise
and lower furniture and actors. One night during Frabizio's first
song, "Il Mondo Era Vuoto" he turned, as directed, to the spot where
his father was supposed to be standing. Instead, there was just a big
hole in the stage floor. Eventually the elevator (and actor Mark
Harelik) came up. "But it's only happened once." Morrison, whose
heritage is Irish and Scottish, admits that he normally likes it when
things go wrong in front of an audience. The quick-thinking and
improvisation always result in "the truest moments". In this
particular show, though, he'd rather these calamities not occur. "I'm
a good ad-libber," he explains, "but not in Italian."
Other shows he's been in underwent drastic changes during previews.
This was not the case with THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA. "HAIRSPRAY changed
a lot, but this show had been done so many times before coming to New
York that the creators really had the basis of what they wanted. We
did have a beautiful overture, but the problem was that we don't have a
curtain in this theater and it was kind of like the audience was
sitting there waiting for something to happen, so it was substantially
trimmed. The full length version is going to be on the CD, though."
One moment in THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA that gets an audible reaction
from the crowd is when Morrison takes off his shirt to play the rest of
a scene barechested. It's not unusual to hear gasps from the people
watching the show. Does this daunt the actor? He laughs when he
responds, "There's no better motivator than vanity to keep your body in
shape; knowing that 1,200 people are going to be looking at your bare
chest!" He added that he heads to the gym on a daily basis to keep his
torso looking buff.
The topic of Morrison's fans came up and he admits to having a very good relationship with them. He willingly signs autographs and poses for pictures with his admirers. He does recall the time, though, when two teenagers met him at the stage door after ROCKY HORROR and followed him on the subway to Brooklyn. That was certainly an isolated incident. He chuckles when he notes that during ROCKY HORROR and HAIRSPRAY there was always a bevy of teenaged girls waiting outside to meet him. With THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, the material appeals to more mature audiences and there seems to be groups of gay older men waiting outside the stage door--not that there's anything wrong with that!
Speaking of crowds, there has been a steady stream of celebrities
coming backstage to visit with Morrison at the Vivian Beaumont
Theater. Marissa Jaret Winokur made it a point to see the show and visit her
"Link Larkin" when she was in New York for a mere 48 hours recently.
She loved the show and got so excited when Morrison took off his shirt
that she later told him, "It's a good thing that blackout came when it
did because I was gonna come up on stage and beat that bitch up!" Carol
Burnett also stopped by and gushed over Morrison's performance. She
appears with the actor in another TV version of ONCE UPON A MATTRESS
that was filmed in Vancouver a few months ago. This all indicates that
Matthew Morrison is highly esteemed by his peers.
When Morrison is asked what it was like for him to learn he'd been
nominated for a Tony Award for this performance, the actor takes a deep
breath and an almost beatific smile comes across his face. There's a
pause and he slowly responds, "It took me a while to process it. It's a
dream come true. It makes me remember how I got here and the people
who helped me along the way, but it hasn't changed my life. I still
have to pay $2.00 to get on the subway, but I feel like I'm 'in the
club' now."
Of course the actor is excited to be participating in this year's Tony
Awards and mentions that the cast of THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA would be
performing the opening number, "Statues and Stories" during the
telecast. Additionally, he will perform a brief excerpt of
"Passeggiata" in a montage of all the musicals that were produced on
Broadway this season. This is something that audiences across America
should find enjoyable.
What does the future hold for Matthew Morrison? "I see myself doing
movies. One of the reasons that I didn't want to do this part was
because I didn't want to do theater right away. I wanted to take a
little break. Obviously now I'm grateful I did come back. I think I
want to do film and my ideal career would be like Hugh Jackman, who
balances his work in movies with appearances in the theater. I'd love
to have his career, but I can honestly say that the theater is where I want to
be. I just think if I keep doing it over and over I won't appreciate it as
much as I want to."
ONCE UPON A MATTRESS is scheduled to be aired around Thanksgiving and
features Tracey Ullman, Denis O'Hare, Zoey Deschanel, as well as
Burnett and Morrison. "I haven't seen the full thing because they're
keeping it really under locks. Kathleen Marshall, Mark Platt and Carol
Burnett are the only people who have copies of it and each of their
copies have their initials on the whole show, so if it gets out they'll
know who it came from." He notes that there is a real connection here,
because Mary Rodgers wrote the music for MATTRESS and her son is Adam
Guettel, who wrote the score for PIAZZA. "I guess I'm keeping it all
in the family." he chortles.
Just before the visit ended, Morrison asked his visitor if he would
like to use the bathroom. It seemed to be an odd request, but it was
the actor's way of showing how he's been moving up in the world. It
seems that when he was in HAIRSPRAY, he was chasing rats backstage.
Here at the Beaumont his dressing room is very comfortable and his
toilet facilities include a bidet which not only works at the press of
a button, but which also sends a warm and drying zephyr of air when
another button is pressed. It's an odd way to measure a fellow's first flush of success, but it is definitely a success that Matthew Morrison deserves. When the Tony Awards are announced, there will be exceptionally large groups of
people in the theater community who are hoping that this talented and
ingratiating young man receives the award he so richly deserves.
Bravo, Matteo! Bravo!
* TRANSLATION: "The Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln
Center is currently the home of a new musical entitled THE LIGHT IN THE
PIAZZA. Large segments of the lyrics and dialogue are performed in
Italian. Therefore,it is only fitting that this article should be
written in Italian. However, it is understood that most of the
BroadwayWorld.Com members are English speaking, so the rest of this
piece will be in the language of Shakespeare, Milton and Neil Simon..."
(The author expresses his appreciation for the contributions Christina
Trivigno made to this article)
To order tickets for THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA: click here.
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