Interview: Skylar Astin Celebrating SONDHEIM in EVERYBODY RISE! At the Hollywood Bowl

A stellar cast of Broadway babies and leading men will gather for one-night only this Sunday evening July 30, 2023, to honor the late, great Stephen Sondheim in Everybody Rise! A Sondheim Celebration. Curated by Robert Longbottom and Kevin Stites, Kevin conducts the most talented cast of Patti LuPone, Sierra Boggess, Sutton Foster, Skylar Astin, Norm Lewis and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

I had the chance to chat with Skylar before he began rehearsals for Everybody Rise!

Thank you for taking the time for this interview, Skylar!

How are rehearsals going?

I'll tell you when we start, but right now, we're all just doing our individual work and learning everything individually. Then we get going on Wednesday and then we just go straight through to Sunday all the way through the performance.

That is a short rehearsal period.

I know. Thankfully, we're all neurotic enough to make sure that we're doing the work on our own. So we've come fully, fully prepared, off-book and ready to just work it.

This is not your first time performing at The Hollywood Bowl. You were The Baker in Into The Woods in 2019 and Mark Cohen in the 2010 version of Rent. Are you used to the shortened rehearsals periods?

I wouldn't say I'm used to it, but I know what I'm getting myself into. Except this is less rehearsal than we've had for any of those. But it's also not a full play with dialogue and staging and everything. So since it's more like a concert, they thought, hey, let's make it even shorter.

What is more of a challenge to you - a shortened Bowl rehearsal or learning multiple musical numbers à la Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist?

I'd say it's a lot harder to learn Sondheim in general. It's just more difficult and just more dense. Nothing against you know, Shawn Mendes, or any of the people that I've covered on Zoey’s, but I think that it's a little bit easier. There's a little bit of a frame of reference and, you know, cover songs are however, challenging in their own right, because you want to make it your own. Everybody knows that one way. You want to do your due diligence to the artists but when it comes to Sondheim, it's, it's epic. It's like Shakespeare versus pop music.

Do you have a favorite Sondheim song?

O, my gosh! The chords from the finale of Act One of Sunday in the Park with George. Those chords make give me an emotional response every time. I really like Losing My Mind from Follies and Finishing the Hat is, of course, an amazing song.

Have you ever crossed paths with Stephen Sondheim?

I have only a couple of times. He came to see us in Spring Awakening, and I know he liked it, which meant a lot to all of us at the time. And I happen to sit next to him at a small stage reading of a new work. Even before that, it was about 2006. And we sat next to each other. He was doing a New York Times crossword puzzle. And we actually got to talking about the piece itself that we were watching. And he had a typical Sondheim response where he was talking about how the melodies were a bit redundant. And I was just nerding out having read his books and seen his shows and know what his taste is. And even the way he comments on, you know, certain ways that musical theater is done, to actually hear from his mouth was very surreal at the time. Especially as a budding young theatre performer.

Do you know which songs you will be singing?

I do. Yeah, I better at least know at this time what I'm singing.

Can you tell us or is that a secret?

They want it to be a big surprise. What I will tell you is I am getting to dip my toe a little bit into one of my dream roles.

Is there anything in particular that you like about performing at the Hollywood Bowl?

I love being outside and performing in a big amphitheater. Sometimes it could feel a little less intimate, of course, but there are times when the song strikes the right chord, and the light is just right or, or finally goes away when the sun goes down, and it becomes pretty enchanted and magical. I felt that way a lot during Into The Woods specifically, because I think you have this feeling of being in the woods and there are a couple of songs actually, in this concert that are very specific to the bowl as a venue I think are going to be pretty thrilling to do in that space.

So how would you compare the sound performing in an open amphitheater as opposed to an enclosed stage?

It’s tricky. It's trickier for sure than doing it in an actual theater space because the acoustics are not really as forgiving. And so there's just a lot of trust that goes with singing at the Bowl. You kind of have to just hope and trust that your singing is right and then it's on and that you're locked in with the conductor and often with the other performers. If you start to second guess it, like you would in tech week or soundcheck, you might be in trouble and fall behind. I'm used to the delayed response from the audience. I remember the first time Aaron Tveit and I hit the final chord in Rent in the opening number and we were expecting this roaring applause. It felt like crickets. And we looked at each other kind of peripherally. But then all of a sudden, rolling down the hill was the actual first applause. So you get used to this delayed response. It's weird. It's so many people. It's rare that you get to do a piece of theater for so many people at once.

You’re reunited with director Robert Longbottom and musical conductor Kevin Stites from the Bowl’s Into The Woods production. Is it easier or harder to work with a creative you’ve worked with before?

I think it depends on who the creative is. I've been lucky enough in my career to work multiple times with directors like Michael Mayer and it feels like returning home or you know someone who was almost related to me. I feel the same way with Bobby Longbottom and Kevin Stites. I've known Kevin, since I was 15 years old. We did Les Miz together. And I think we really get a kick out of having grown up together in a way. Bobby Longbottom, I am so incredibly fond of. I love working with him. Every time we work together, it leaves us wanting more. And we've done a lot of fun workshops together in New York and now one at the Bowl for Into the Woods and now this. We just feel like we really want to do a long run together because I think he's one of the best directors I've definitely ever worked with. And I just love his taste. I love the way he directs and the way he talks to actors

Whom in this stellar cast have you worked with before?

I did Into The Woods with Sierra Boggess and Sutton Foster. So it's a little bit of fun reuniting there. I sang backup to Brian Stokes Mitchell when I was a freshman at NYU. He sang The Impossible Dream which is something I sang at my high school graduation. And you know, a couple selected tenors from Cap21 from the School of Performing Arts were selected to sing backup for him. So in a way we shared a stage before, but now I think we get to go more toe-to-toe and I'm very excited about that.

What’s it like to watch another actor perform a role you’ve tackled (e.g. Sebastian Arcelus as The Baker in the current production of Into the Woods at the Ahmanson)? Do you compare acting choices or just enjoy a fellow actor’s performance?

I hardly have ownership over The Baker, so it would be ridiculous for me to compare myself to anyone playing that. I just feel lucky to be one of many who got the opportunity to play that role. So I always appreciate seeing different choices but I don't really watch it like that. I like to actually just sit back at the audience and see the whole play and just you know pick out moments specifically but never, never really put myself in there and compare. I got such a thrill seeing Brian d'Arcy James and Sara Bareilles do it live at the Tonys. He is just another theater hero of mine. So less than being competitive, I feel honored to be amongst these people that get to play these roles.

Do you remember all your feelings when you found out you were booked to host this year’s Tony Awards?

Well, the writers’ strike was already underway. I just wanted to make sure with the union that it was all right. That we were going about it the right way. And then once we got clearance from the WGA and actually received their support, I just wanted to make sure that as a host I really made it all about the work, the performers, and the season. Julianne and I, the only thing that was slightly prepared for us to say was a little disclaimer saying we're going to do things a little differently this year. And then we just got right onto it. It would be crazy if we said we're gonna make it all about the work and it's all about that. And then also we're doing banter and dances, musical numbers, and that would that would feel really false. So we really just tried to be as respectful as possible and be as communicative with the union as possible. And I know that they felt good about it. We felt good about it. And you know, this is an absolutely important fight that you know the writers and now the Screen Actors are fighting so we just wanted to make sure that we were able to celebrate here amidst that.

Your theatrical roles cover a wide range of characters. In an alternate universe, in what venue and situation would you find your characters (Spring Awakening’s Georg Zirschnitz, Rent’s Mark Cohen, West Side Story’s Tony, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’s J. Pierrepont Finch. Into the Woods’ The Baker and Little Shop of Horrors’ Seymour Krelborn) interacting?

How would they be? It seems like they would be in some sort of support group. It must be the only common thread, the points in each play where each character feels like they're at a loss. You know, The Baker when he feels like he no longer has his wife, no longer has his wish. Pierrepont when he's found out and has to figure out what to do. It goes across the board for Mark. So I think that there's actually a thrilling kind of song just about all of them finding common ground in it's completely separate worlds and characters and universes. That is the only world in which I can realistically see them. Like a Protagonist Anonymous.

Do you prefer doing musicals or do you like straight-up comedy?

Honestly, any opportunity I have to sing when it's in the right arena, and it's what I've signed up for, I'm always down to do it. And then when it comes to just performing without music, that is also important to me to dig into characters and acting without needing the device of singing. But I couldn't part with that with either

When the strikes finally get resolved, what will future Skylar Astin projects be?

Yes, I still have my show. And that seems to be coming back. But I'm not talking about that today only because being in solidarity with a strike.

Thank you again, Skylar!  Have a great rehearsal and hope Sunday night is a cool, calm evening.

That’s right. Yeah, exactly. Mosquitos stay quiet! We’re excited about it.

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