Norbert Leo Butz on 'Downstage Center' XM on Jan.11

The American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio proudly present an interview with Tony Award winning actor, Norbert Leo Butz, on their weekly theatrical interview show, "Downstage Center," on XM's On Broadway (XM Channel 28).

Butz will appear as the special guest on Friday, January 11 at 6PM. The show will repeat on Saturday January 12 at noon, Sunday January 13 at 7PM, and Wednesday, January 16 at midnight.  The program becomes available as streaming audio and podcast from www.americantheatrewing.org beginning Monday afternoon, January 14.

Tony Award-winner Norbert Leo Butz talks about his first reaction on being approached about appearing in a "new" Mark Twain play, Is He Dead? and about the construction of farce and how David Ives crafted the version of the play currently on Broadway; recalls his classical training at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival; marvels at the good fortune that landed him in the company of Rent only two weeks after moving to New York; considers the experience of appearing in the critically unpopular Harry Connick musical Thou Shalt Not; describes the feeling of playing a character in The Last Five Years based on composer Jason Robert Brown – with Brown often directly behind him as he sang; recounts the loss of a song for Fiyero when Wicked was out of town in San Francisco and how he worked with Stephen Schwartz in choosing a replacement; and delineates the difference between performing in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels with John Lithgow and his successor, Jonathan Pryce.

Each new "Downstage Center" is regularly broadcast at 6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays at noon, Sundays at 7PM and Wednesdays at 12AM (all times EST). Following the initial run on XM, each program is made available for free, on-demand, internationally as both streaming audio and podcast on ATW's Web site, www.americantheatrewing.org.