BWW Profile: Broadway Actor Jeremy Hays Forays INTO THE WOODS for Theatre Under the Stars

INTO THE WOODS is the first Broadway show actor Jeremy Hays ever saw.

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At the time, he was a recent grad, little more than a year out of Oklahoma City University, a country boy in a big city who'd only recently arrived in New York. He'd bravely or stupidly -- depending on who you ask -- hopped in a car headed north to New York with his friends in the passenger seats and his newly earned music degree in hand.

"It was hard to leave home, and New York is very different from Oklahoma. I felt very much alone," says the actor. "I didn't know how to find my way."

And then he saw INTO THE WOODS, where Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine combine several Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault stories. Like usual, Cinderella is desperate to go to the ball and Jack and his family are desperate for money. But in Sondheim and Lapine's creation, there are new characters -- The Baker and his Wife. And they are desperate for a child. Like the genie of any cautionary tale, INTO THE WOODS grants the fairy tale characters their wishes and doesn't hold back on the negative side effects.

The musical challenged Hays in a way he didn't expect but desperately needed. "The first act of this show is clever, fun, and there's beautiful music. And then act two slaps you across the face with a dose of reality," says Hays. This December, Hays faces the woods again. He takes on the roles of Cinderella's Prince and the Wolf for the Theater Under the Stars presentation of INTO THE WOODS.

Don't let the leading-man-handsome face fool you. Hays may be "pretty as a girl" but he's a young man who knows how to rumble. This isn't his first bout with a Broadway giant. Most recently on Broadway, Hays played Raoul in THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, a role for which Charles Isherwood praised Hays's vocal chops. He made his Broadway debut in the 2006 revival of LES MISERABLES before originating the role of Enjolras for the 25th anniversary production of LES MIS at Paper Mill Playhouse and continuing to perform the role in the national Broadway tour.

"Cinderella's Prince is the blend between Berger in HAIR, Raoul [in PHANTOM], and even Enjolras in LES MIS at some point. There's a noble quality about him but also a mischievous quality. Also, he's a real idiot. He's a wealth of characters rolled into one, which is a whole lot of fun to play." It's also a lot to play. The odds are in Hays's favor, but his role in INTO THE WOODS is far from a no-contest challenge.

Rehearsals for a Broadway production usually last between six and eight weeks, says Hays. The INTO THE WOODS cast has two and a half weeks. "[Almost] all of us are learning the music from scratch, learning the shape of the show from scratch [and] it's a big show with a lot of tech and a lot of intricacies, so it's a lot to do in two and a half weeks of rehearsal." Which is exactly how Hays likes it. "You don't have the luxury of being able to overanalyze things. You get to the heart of the matter quickly and you understand it on a deeper level," says the actor, adding, "The best work is being done because it's your first instinct."

"I like that as an actor. I like kind of not knowing what's going to happen until it does. I feel like that's the most honest. It's the best way to get truth," says Hays. "Yes, there are always moments that need to be explored. And that's where I feel like a longer rehearsal time can almost work against you. Because you start to explore too early. Sometimes with a shorter rehearsal span -- just about the time that you open you're feeling those moments for the first time and they're very fresh."

Hays learned to pull his punches swinging on LES MISERABLES. He auditioned on Friday, started rehearsal on Monday, and two weeks later he'd learned 11 roles. "Learning material quickly, learning blocking, and keeping different characters in your head at the same time, primes your brain for the information that you need to hold on to." And once you discover what's worth holding on to, he says, let everything else go.

Legend also has it he could sing before he could speak. "Legend" being the Okmulgee Times, the official newspaper of Okmulgee, Oklahoma -- Hays's birthplace. Hays gave his first public performance at age eight, singing "Boot Scootin' Boogie" for a school talent show in Henryetta. But, beset by a stutter, he appeared on stage in his first speaking role as a junior in high school in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. So you see, Hays came out of the womb singing and Shakespeare taught him how to use his natural musicality to speak.

And Sondheim and Lapine are showing him the ropes. "If you speak the text and mean what you say, it will be understood. In fact, in a lot of ways, it will be more poignant." To prove his point, Hays quotes the prince:"I was raised to be charming, not to be sincere." In the line, Hays sees a hint from Sondheim, an arrow pointing to the true, tragic nature of the character. "It's a truly heartbreaking moment for him. He wants to be able to relate, but he just doesn't have that in him. Of all the things he has in him, that's just one he doesn't." And he has a lot of "things" in him. If Chaka Khan is every woman, he's every Prince. "He's almost twelve personalities in one and you never know which one you're going to get any given moment. As inhuman as he is, that's a very human quality to have."

So while the actor knows audiences will flock to the Hobby Center for INTO THE WOODS hits like "Giants In The Sky", "Stay With Me," and "The Last Midnight," he begs audiences to see it as more than mindless escapist entertainment. It's intelligent escapist entertainment. "It's the most brilliant piece of work that I've ever worked on," says Hays. "We all have wishes and we all have dreams and we all have things that we want to become. [INTO THE WOODS] asks us, 'What happens if we get what we want?'"

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IN THE WOODS opens December 6 and continues through December 18 at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, 800 Bagby. For more information on the production, please visit tuts.com. Suitable for children eight and up.

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