Interview: Christopher Sieber Is Back at 54 Below with Even More Hilarious Stories

Two-time Tony Award nominee Christopher Sieber is back at 54 Below on August 19 and 20. The star will share stories and songs from his experience in over 14 Broadway shows including Company, The Prom, Matilda, Spamalot, Shrek, La Cage, Chicago, Pippin, and many more! Hear about the disasters and triumphs onstage and off, the many Broadway stars he has had the honor of working with, and everything along the way, during his 33-year Broadway career.

We spoke with Sieber about the upcoming concert, and what he’s been up to lately.

What are you looking forward to about your 54 Below show?
Well, I love working at 54, first and foremost, because everybody there is just so great to the performers. They give you everything you want, they give you everything you need. And they're supportive beyond belief. And they treat you like you should be treated. That's just wonderful. And the audiences are always great.

And I just love the space itself. And the space is so well designed and everything about it. It's just so classy and glamorous and you feel like you should be there when you're there. It's really very nice. And I'm looking forward to people hearing the show. It's a show that I did about six months ago, and it went really well. And now I'm just going to do it again, because a lot of people wanted to see it that didn't get a chance to. It's also streaming now so people can see it on stream if they can't make it in, which is great.

Last time I did it, it was just like, “Let's just see what happens. We'll see what happens.” And I had a blast. I had absolute blast because there wasn't really a structure to it. It was more involved with the audience. And the audience kind of decided where the show should go. So that was great. And so, I'm looking forward to getting back there because it's a very comfortable place to perform, more than anything.

It's like hanging out at someone's basement [or] living room or something and just singing songs around a piano. And that's kind of what it feels like all the time. And I always tell the audiences that too. I always say, “This is our living room. We're just hanging out. We're just going to sing songs. If you want to sing along, please sing along.” Very comfortable, very casual.

Are you going to do anything differently than you did at the last show?
Yeah. Mostly... My friend Lee Roy Reams, who just did a show there a while ago, tons of stories and things... I asked him decades ago because I knew that he put together his own show, because... I was interested in doing this when I was a lot younger [laughs], and I thought, “How do you do it? How do you do it?” And he told me some really great advice. He said, “Nobody really actually wants to hear you sing. They actually want to hear stories.”

And so, I have a ton of stories because I've been doing Broadway and everything for about 35 years now.

And I've worked with everyone, and I have some incredible backstage stories that people just wouldn't believe but are absolutely true. So, since the last time I did it, there are even more stories that I've found or that I've thought to put in the show. So, it's not going to be the same show. And there will be more stories that you cannot believe. And they're all true, and they're all hilarious. And so, I kind of tell more stories than I think I do songs, but there's a lot of Broadway showtunes in there.

Some of the shows that you've been in have kind of achieved cult status, like The Prom. What do you feel like you get recognized for the most?
Well... I’m [about to do] Death Becomes Her, which is coming to the Lunt-Fontanne Theater, first previews October 23rd, so get your tickets [laughs]. I think that's my 16th Broadway show. So I've been around for a long time, and I think there are so many shows that people do recognize me from, which is always great. There are so many, “Oh, I loved you in The Prom,” which was which was one of my favorite shows that I ever helped create. I was collaborating so much with everybody in it while just working with friends. The original Spamalot, which was unbelievable fun. Matilda, playing Agatha Trunchbull, for two and a half years at the Shubert Theater. So many.

And now, coming back to the Lunt-Fontanne where I did Beauty and the Beast as Gaston, and coming back where I get to play Ernest Menville in Death Becomes Her opposite my show wife, Jennifer Simard, as well as Megan Hilty. And so, I'm looking forward to just getting back to Broadway. It hasn't been that long, but it feels like it's been a long time. It's only been about two years since I've been there with Company.

And, so, yeah, I have done a lot and I'm grateful for every job. And I do not take anything for granted by any means. I've been on television as well. I had two series, Two of a Kind, with the Olsen twins and It's All Relative on ABC as well. So, there's a lot that people would recognize me from and that a lot of people know. And now, if you come see the show on the 19th or the 20th, you'll hear a lot of stories from all of those shows, plus some of the TV shows that I did. You'll hear a lot of stories from those.

What have you been kind of listening to, or what's your general taste in music personally?
I kind of listen to everything. This sounds so nerdy, but I do listen to Broadway showtunes most of the time. [Laughs] I have SiriusXM radio and I listen to Julie James and Seth Rudetsky and Christine Pedi and Johnny Tartaglia on the radio all the time, because they're friends of mine as well.

But I also want to listen to my friends, because when you're in a Broadway show, you don't get a chance to see other people in their Broadway show. And so the best I can do is listen to them on the radio and listen to their recordings on Apple Music and listen to the cast recordings, because that's the best I can do sometimes, because by the time I do get to see the show, they're no longer in it and they've moved onto something else.

So that is my taste in music, mostly showtunes. I love classical music. I love the songs from the 70s and 80s as well, but mostly showtunes.

Is there anything else coming up that you want to promote?
No, actually. I've been just keeping myself busy. We did the out-of-town tryout of Death Becomes Her in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theater [from] April until June.

So I had three and a half months to fill before we start rehearsals again in September for Death Becomes Her, so I called up some friends and I said, “Hey, do you do you need anything from me? Because I've got time.” My friend Mike Isaacson is the executive producer at the St. Louis Muny, which is this beautiful outdoor, historic 11,000-seat theater. It's really crazy. And it's one of my favorite places to work because it's like theater camp. And he said, “Do you want to do Chef Louis in Little Mermaid?” And I said, I will do anything for the Muny.

So that's what I did. Right before then, I went to Bermuda on a cruise with Seth Rudetsky from SiriusXM and Playbill, and we did his Broadway cruise with Jennifer Simard and Julie Benko, and I landed back in Bayonne, New Jersey. And then I flew to St. Louis to do the Muny.

Then from there, the next day, after we closed The Little Mermaid, I got on a plane and went to Tulsa, Oklahoma to work at my friend Kristin Chenoweth’s Broadway Bootcamp in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, where she has a theater. There are these kids who really want to be in theater, and they really want to do theater. And you get to teach them how to do it. And the good news is all the students really want to be there. So they're really interested in what they're doing, and they really do want to get better and figure things out. And so, for 11 days we were in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, about 12 hours a day, every day, teaching musical theater.

And then we put up a show at the end, a big show. And it was fantastic. It's just so great to watch kids get it and figure it out. And when it clicks in them, to watch that happen in their face and they understand, and that's fulfilling. So that's another thing that I've been doing. And I just got home about a week ago from there.

And I'm getting ready to rehearse, again, for Pete ‘n’ Keely that Jennifer Smart and I are doing at Carnegie Hall in February, which is exciting. We are starting rehearsals for Death Becomes Her in September, so we're rehearsing before then because we're going to be so crazy busy with Death Becomes Her that we have to rehearse for Keely this week.

So we're rehearsing Pete ‘n’ Keely for Carnegie Hall in February now, so when we have the show up and running we can do it in our sleep. And then  we jump into our Broadway show. So, we're keeping busy, which is thrilling. And I'm glad I'm busy. I'd rather be busy. So. Yeah, that was a long-winded answer. My goodness.

Is there anything else that you'd like to add about the 54 Below show?
Just, please come. It'll be fun. I mean, it's mostly stories of backstage, of the mishaps that happen and believe me, I've had a lot of mishaps. And some of the things are just unbelievable how show business actually happens sometimes. And the way things unfold.

And the one thing about being on Broadway is you want to make it look like it's happening for the for the very first time. Even when things go wrong, the audience would most likely never know. But there are so many things that go wrong during a show, and that's our job to make it look like there's nothing wrong. But believe me, there's stuff that's going on that is wrong. And I'll tell you all about it at my 54 Below show on August 19th and August 20th.

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Tickets to Christopher Sieber’s show are available on 54 Below’s website.

Follow Christopher Sieber on Instagram @Christopher_Sieber.

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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