BWW INTERVIEWS: David Burnham Explains His Extra-'Ordinary' Journey

COSTA MESA, CA—It's really easy to be jealous of a guy like David Burnham. Besides being blessed with the killer good looks of a dashing matinee idol, the talented Broadway star has one of the most powerful, enviable male voices in musical theater. And to top it off, he is one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet.

Currently starring in South Coast Repertory's West Coast production of Adam Gwon's musical ORDINARY DAYS (ending January 24), Burnham is now back in his home state after spending some time playing Fiyero in the Broadway company of Wicked (he also originated the role in the early pre-Broadway workshops). Besides getting it on with the Green Girl, he was best known for starring in the Broadway and National Tour companies of The Light in the Piazza, which, as Italian hottie Fabrizio, garnered the actor both the Helen Hayes Award and the Back Stage West Garland Award for Best Actor in 2007.

The former farm boy—who will later get his big break replacing Donny Osmond in the national tour of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat—recently sat down with BroadwayWorld correspondent Michael Lawrence Quintos to talk about his humble beginnings, his admiration for John Raitt, being a Broadway performer, and living his dream job.

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BWW: Hey, David! I just saw your awesome performance in ORDINARY DAYS at South Coast Rep!

DB: Woo-hoo! Oh, cool! I'm having a great time doing it and the audiences seem to be really responding to it... So what more can you ask for, right?

Right! Now, how did you get involved with this production?

Well, my agent sent me out for the audition and I hadn't heard anything about it before then. So, I went to the audition... and got cast! I happened to be in New York so I got to see [a production of] it while I was there.

Tell me a little bit about your character, Jason. What's he about? What's his deal?

[Laughs] Yeah! What's Jason's deal? Jason's a cool guy! I think Jason is just ruled by love. His trajectory in every song that he has and everything he does in the play really revolves around his love for Claire [played by Nancy Anderson]. The reason he's even staying in New York City is because of this girl. Everything he does is based around her. He's just so hopelessly in love and trying to make it work and deal with the city with Claire. So, you know, he's kind of a little bit more simple than some of the other characters, in that he doesn't really have a lot of baggage or layers underneath him. He's just a simple country boy who came from—or at least in our backstory—Michigan or somewhere like that, to intern as an architect in New York. He really hates this city...he actually really wants to go back home, but he fell for this girl. I think that's how he's surviving living in this city: it's because she makes it at all possible and makes it palatable for him.

What, as an actor, did you bring to this particular role?

Well, I think each actor... well, you got to bring yourself to it. Jason's not too far off from David Burnham, actually, in that I was raised on a farm. I mean, I've lived in New York City, but I'm a country boy at heart, I think. I've definitely been in love in New York City, and know that when you're in New York City and you're in love, it's a lot easier than when you're in New York City and you're by yourself. You know, it can be a strange place. It's one of the most populated cities in the world yet, at the same time, it can be the most lonely place in the world.

Now this musical is pretty much all the way sung-through. What kind of mindset do you need to take on with this kind of musical versus a traditional book musical (where you pause for dialogue)?

Well, our director Ethan McSweeny is a really brilliant guy. He comes from the world of plays, and so he approached this piece like it was a play. Basically, before we learned any of the music, we sat around a table and just read the lyrics as if they were monologues in a play. We took a day just approaching it that way, and getting to know the words and learning about each character's backstory and why we were saying those words. And then we learned the music. I thought that was really smart of Ethan because it comes from a much deeper place.

I assume, then, that a show like this is a lot harder to learn and prepare for, right?

This was one of the hardest shows I've ever had to do... that I had to learn because it's sophisticated music, and it's not easy to learn in that the music doesn't repeat choruses. Each song tells a story. The memorization of it...well, you just have to memorize it like it's a monologue because it's not easy music... it's not easy words... You really have to immerse yourself in it. So for the past three weeks, every day when I'm not rehearsing, I was listening to the score to just try and learn it. So I had to listen to it over and over and over again. But time has gone by so fast! Two more weeks and we're done with the show. I'm so happy I got to be a part of it because it's really been fun to do.

Well, before returning to the West Coast, you spent some time playing Fiyero in Wicked on Broadway. Can you talk a little bit about that experience?

Well, that was an amazing experience! I actually created the role of Fiyero in all of the original workshops, but then I didn't get to do it in New York until five years later which is kind of interesting [Laughs]. I went and did other things like The Light in the Piazza. So after creating the role but not getting to do it in New York, I was really happy when they invited me to come and do it. So it was like I was able to complete the circle! It was so much fun and I just love that show! And, I mean, the audiences are just so amazing for that show. All the fans are just so supportive. It was a thrill to be a part of that cast.

Since you're pretty familiar with the origins of Wicked from doing the workshops, and then you played the same role in the production that exists today, you can definitely speak very knowledgeably about both incarnations. Were the changes pretty drastic?

Oh, yeah. It's very interesting because the very first time we did Wicked, we just finished the first act...the first act ran over three hours! Now, you can imagine there was a lot of music that was cut, but a lot of music was added later, too. But whole characters and whole scenes were cut.

I think what they did was write a lot more than what they would actually need, and then, as they worked on it, honed it in and got tighter and tighter until they had the story that they wanted to tell. Because, you know, it's a thick book that it's based on... a really dark book. There was a lot of political stuff and everything, and so, they were exploring all of that in the beginning. And then, as they went along, they found out what worked! Now it's really more focused on the two girls and their relationship.

I remember my song "Dancing Through Life"... that didn't come until New York. I actually never did that song [in the workshops]. There were many songs that were in that slot before that one actually arrived. One song was called "Easy As Winkie Wine" [Laughs]. But, anyway, it was really interesting to be a part of the birth of a mega-musical.

And, of course, before Wicked on Broadway, you made a real splash in The Light in the Piazza, both on Broadway and the subsequent national tour.

Oh, yeah... that was an amazing, amazing experience! That was such a special piece to be a part of... being in the original Broadway cast. It was just so gratifying to see a work like that be embraced by the theater community and its audiences, because it's very sophisticated and it's so layered. The character of Fabrizio was so much fun to play. I did the show for two and a half years—a year and a half on Broadway, then a year on the National Tour—and I never, ever got sick of it.

Yeah, I actually saw you in that very role when the tour came here to Orange County! Gosh, I was balling like a baby by the end of it!

[Laughs] Awww...Yeah, I know...it's such a beautiful musical. It's so touching and that score is just so glorious! That is the one show where I never got sick of it because it's so well-written and there were so many layers to it that you can always mine it for something new. It's such a rich piece.

Did you already know how to speak Italian before taking on the role?

[Laughs] No! I had to learn all of it! I had a great dialect coach in New York and worked on it for many weeks! I'll never forget the first time I went on [as Fabrizio]... I was covering for Matthew Morrison in the original New York production. We had just opened and we hadn't even had understudy rehearsals yet. And it was literally a few days after we had opened, and Matt got sick. So I had to go on with, like, twenty minutes notice! Oh, man! Talk about having a heart attack! [Laughs] But, luckily, I've been watching in the wings because, you know, I wanted to make sure, just in case he went down, that I was prepared. So, as much as I could, I watched everything I could. I knew all the lyrics and all of the dialogue and the songs. The only thing I didn't know was the blocking...because it kept changing during previews. So there were a few parts where Kelli O'Hara and Victoria Clark sort of ushered me around the stage a little bit. But, boy, was it fun! It was so thrilling to get to do that show.

That's so great, David! Well, since we're strolling down memory lane... let's talk a little bit about your background. You mentioned growing up as a farm boy. Where exactly?

I grew up in Fontana, which is actually right here in the Southland, about an hour away from L.A.! It's a pretty small city. I actually grew up with hogs and cows and pigs and chickens and... I milked goats every day! Yeah, I was truly a farm kid. I didn't even know L.A. existed until I was eighteen! I was, like, "wow, really? There's this city an hour away? Who knew?" [Laughs]

Well, then, this is probably going to be a weird question...Growing up, did you know you wanted to become a theater actor?

Well, the funny thing was... I was a Junior in high school, and I was registering for my classes. I was trying to get into Wood Shop, but it was full! The only class they had available was Choir! And so, reluctantly, I went into choir, opened my mouth, and discovered that I could sing! And so the choir director took me under his wing and encouraged me to audition for the school musicals. I got in them and developed a love for them! Eventually, I ended up getting a scholarship to college to pursue theater and voice. The rest, as they say, is history! Soon after, I got my first professional job... and also started doing shows while I was in college.

Right after school, my big break was when I went to audition at an open call for Ragtime. They told me that I wasn't right for that at all, but that I was perfect for another show they were casting. And so they asked me, "can you come to a call-back tonight?" And so I said, "Sure!" They asked me "do you know any of the material from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat?" Well, I told them, "Actually, I do, because I had just done a community theater production of it." At the time, I had really long hair and I was super tan!

So I went into the audition... there they had the head of Livent at the time, Garth Drabinsky... so for him [and the others], I sang "Close Every Door"... They said, "Kid! We want to make you a star in Canada! We're going to have you replace Donny Osmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!" So I went on it and did that for a year. It was amazing! They flew me to Canada the next day, met with the director, and was already taking publicity shots in the Technicolor Dreamcoat before I even knew it! [Laughs] It was amazing!

That's awesome! What a neat way to start a career! Now let's talk about your musical influences.

Well, I told you that story about how I discovered that I could sing... Well, I remember all the guys in the choir at my school...they all had really tiny, thin voices, and I just didn't like that at all. I was like, "well, I don't want to sound like that!" So I went to a CD store and I bought a recording of Carousel with John Raitt. And all summer long, I listened to that CD every day, over and over and over! I tried to imitate John Raitt, and, basically, I taught myself how to sing! Then after that, I got Gordon MacRae singing the movie version, then I got him in Oklahoma! too... all those old Rodgers and Hammerstein records with those beautiful baritone/tenor voices which I tried to emulate. I think that was a good start because they sang correctly... and that's how I learned to sing!

And, you know what? I do hear that influence in your voice. I've seen you in a lot performances over the years, actually, and you have this killer belt that, frankly, I'm very envious of...

Well, it's all thanks to John Raitt and Gordon MacRae! [Laughs]

So, speaking of CD's... you yourself released an album not too long ago. Any plans to record another one?

Yeah! I'm actually working on another album right now, as we speak! I'm doing a follow-up album... we're in the beginning stages of it, so I can't really talk about it too much just yet. Nothing's exactly set for it. But I'm really excited and, hopefully, I'll be shooting to get that out in the next six months or so.

Yay! I know you can't talk much about it, but do you know if it's going to be somewhat similar to your first CD, where you had standards mixed in with some Broadway tunes?

I think it probably will be kind of similar to that... and hopefully it will be even better! I'm kind of an eclectic person, so I like a lot of different styles, which I think was evident on my first CD. But with this new CD, I'll be exploring even more styles. I'll be delving into some covers of some pop songs... like, maybe Celine, the Beatles, Billy Joel and stuff like that, and giving them my own spin. Of course, I love to do those songs where I really get to belt big time, so I'm sure those will be included as well.

Will the new CD feature any special guests like your last CD?

Yeah, I'm planning to do a couple of duets. I don't know who they're going to be with yet...we're in negotiations with a couple of different people right now. I loooove doing duets, so hopefully those will be included.

Cool! I look forward to that!

Yeah! Me too! [Laughs]

One of my favorite tracks from your first album is your version of "Moon River," which I had on a constant loop at one point on my iPod.

Awww, thanks... yeah, isn't that a beautiful arrangement? Chris Denny did that arrangement for me, and I've always loved that song. I told him that I just wanted to make it sound so romantic and kind of have a lonely feeling. To me, the song had a lonely quality to it and I thought Chris just nailed it. It had such a beautiful, kind of yearning to it.

Absolutely. So, you've played some iconic roles over your career. Are there other specific roles in other shows you'd like to take on someday?

Well, you know, I never got to do Tony in West Side Story. That's the one role I'd love to sink my musical theater chops into... but every time I've auditioned, they just look at me and usually say "you look a little too much like you'd be Maria's brother!" [Laughs] I guess I'm a little bit darker, so I usually play parts that are, you know, like Joseph or Fabrizio—someone who has a little bit of ethnicity. I do have a little bit of American Indian in me, so that's why I'm a little bit darker. But, yeah, Tony has eluded me, but maybe someday—perhaps in a concert version—I'll get to play him.

Didn't they just recast Tony in the Broadway revival?

Yep! But not with me! Ha ha! [Laughs]

Well, you never know! So, before ORDINARY DAYS, the last time I saw you perform live was last summer at the Stephen Schwartz tribute concert at the Ford Amphitheater for Upright Cabaret. Any plans for other solo concerts or cabaret dates?

Actually, I just did three in town last month...two of them were for Upright Cabaret. I'm hoping to bring back that solo show, maybe in March. I've been blessed that I've been able to do my solo show all around the country, which is so much fun to do because I get to do all sorts of fun material that I normally wouldn't get to do. But I love both musicals and my solo shows equally. I love being able to do regular shows with book scenes... but there's a freedom in doing concerts because, in effect, I'm my own boss. I get to pick the material and I'm basically "me" up there. I just love having that close proximity to the audience, and there's this exchange of energy that is really incredible. And, of course, I like being able to show different sides of me: I get to do comedy material, some dramatic...all sorts of different things. When I release my next CD it'll be accompanied by a whole new tour too which should be fun! I'll be sure to send you a copy when it comes out!

[Editorial note: Burnham is scheduled to appear at Upright Cabaret's NEW YORK STATE OF MIND Cabaret in La Mirada]

Thanks! So what other projects do you have coming up?

Well, I'll be doing a lot of concerts coming up next. I'll be performing with the Palm Beach Symphony in March. I'll be doing a concert with Christiane Noll and Leslie Krizter up in Las Vegas right after ORDINARY DAYS closes. It's a Rodgers and Hammerstein show which should be fun! I get to bust out my John Raitt!

Well, there you go! Live the dream, man! Well, thank you so much for the chat!

It was my pleasure!

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Tickets to ORDINARY DAYS can be purchased online at www.scr.org, by phone at (714) 708-5555 or by visiting the box office at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa. Performances continue through January 24. Ticket prices range from $20 to $65.

Regular performances are Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings at 7:45 p.m., with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Discounts are available for full-time students, patrons 25 years of age and under, educators, seniors and groups of 15 or more. There will be a "Pay-What-You-Will" performance on Saturday, Jan. 9, at 2 p.m. ($10 minimum) and an ASL-interpreted performance on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 2 p.m.

Friday and Sunday nights following opening night are "Pay Your Age" nights, with $10 tickets for teens, $20 tickets for 20-somethings and $30 for 30-somethings. The bar will remain open an hour after the performance ends on those nights for post-show mingling.

Inside the Season takes place Saturday, Jan. 16, 10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. $12. This event is a series of interactive classes that provide a comprehensive inside look at the theatrical production process. Each two-hour class features creative personnel from South Coast Repertory's current production. Inside the Season is offered on select Saturday mornings from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 each and can be purchased by calling the Box Office at (714) 708-5555. (Tickets to ORDINARY DAYS are sold separately.)

South Coast Repertory is located at 655 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, at the Bristol Street/Avenue of the Arts exit off the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Folino Theater Center, part of the Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Parking is available off Anton Blvd. on Park Center Drive.

For more information, visit www.scr.org.

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