BWW Interviews: The Midtown Men's Daniel Reichard On Pursuing 'A Rock and Roll Dream'

Daniel Reichard, Christian Hoff, J. Robert Spencer and Michael Longoria - the quartet of remarkable performers known collectively as The Midtown Men - are perhaps best known for their musical evocations of the best guy groups of the 1950s and 1960s, thanks to their previous starmaking turns in Broadway's Jersey Boys and their current concert tour, bringing their special brand of repartee, music and friendship to audiences all over North America. So, it might come as a surprise to their legions of fans that next up on the set list will be their "interpretation," if you will, of the very best of the girl groups.

Girl groups? Seriously? You bet, says Daniel Reichard, the charming, talented and multi-faceted actor/singer who originated the role of Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys and this week found time in his fast-paced schedule to talk about The Midtown Men's amazing success and their upcoming performances at several mid-South venues, including Huntingdon's Dixie Carter Performing Arts Center (on Saturday, August 27) and at the Bologna Performing Arts Center in Cleveland, Mississippi (on Sunday, August 28), both of which follow a three-show stand in Fayetteville, Arkansas, this weekend.

"Right now, we're piecing together a girl medley...we were listening to music and got to thinking 'wouldn't it be fun if the Midtown Men did a medley of great girl songs?'" Reichard explains. "What if we do a girl group medley and do it in the style we do everything else? So, piece-by-piece we're putting together a medley."

If it's anything at all like the response The Midtown Men get to other songs in their act, you can rest assured audiences will be on their feet at the conclusion of said medley. The Midtown Men's popularity with audiences across the United States and Canada has made them sought-after headliners at casinos, concert halls and state fairs.

Reichard, who made his New York City debut in Forbidden Broadway after completing his studies at the University of Michigan, is perhaps best known for his portrayal of chief songwriter, original Four Seasons  and Nashville resident Bob Gaudio in Jersey Boys, a role he originated both on Broadway and in the La Jolla Playhouse premiere. He followed Jersey Boys with a critically acclaimed performance as Candide in Leonard Bernstein's Candide at the New York City Opera.

Reichard's signature style and notable talent (the guy's got the goods and knows how to deliver a song, there's no doubt about that) paved the way to starring roles in New York, including artist and social activist Keith Haring in Radiant Baby; Man in The Thing About Men, whose cast album he also appears on; and Emmet in the world premiere of the musical version of Jim Henson's Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas at the Goodspeed Opera House.

As a concert singer, Reichard has headlined sold-out engagements at New York City's Joe's Pub, Metropolitan Room and Ars Nova, with other concert appearances that include Symphony Space, The Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, BB Kings, Town Hall, Firebird and the Cutting Room, as well as appearances with the Arkansas and Grand Rapids Symphonies. He also starred as Frankie in the 2009 film version of the Forever Plaid.

So, how did these four superbly talented, yet highly individualistic (Reichard's idol growing up was - and probably still remains - Steve Martin), men develop The Midtown Men into a touring concert act and, perhaps more intriguingly, how do they work together to create a show? These are the questions enquiring minds want to know - well, to start with, at least...

"It's kind of a funny story really," Reichard confides. "While the four of us were playing the Four Seasons in Jersey Boys, we were often asked to perform at these private concert events and benefits - for the Red Cross, for Katie Couric's birthday, and since we were in Jersey Boys, we couldn't sing Four Season songs - so we said, 'Well we have to get up onstage together, so why don't we work on this idea of doing all the other guy groups, who were the Four Seasons' competition?'

"So we started singing songs by the Beatles, the Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys - with just piano accompaniment - and as time went by, we thought, 'why don't we add a rhythm section and kind of build it up a little bit?' And as the show continued and after we each, one-by-one, left Jersey Boys, we kept getting opportunities to do this."

Despite that initial success as Reichard, Hoff, Longoria and Spencer - rather than as the stars of Jersey Boys - it may have taken some Jersey-style arm-twisting (even if the Cleveland, Ohio-born Reichard was doing the persuading) for the quartet to pursue the opportunities that were suddenly presented to them.

"Honestly, we didn't pursue the Midtown Men, it pursued us. Ken Wirth, our business manager, has been with us since our very first concert together and he and I would go to dinner and he'd say, "Daniel, you need to talk to the other guys and make this into a touring show: Create your own concert attraction, your own rock and roll show..." So I talked to Christian and Michael  first - and then I talked to Bobby, who was in Next to Normal at the time - and they were all busy," Reichard remembers.

"I told them 'this could be a really incredible adventure for us to go on...and finally we were able to get together and we started booking shows. We came out of the gate, playing incredible casinos - we did  one five-day stretch in New Jersey last summer, performing five outdoor concerts, free to the public and by the end, more than 45,000 people had been to watch us perform."

From there, The Midtown Men found themselves touring all over the United States, "playing all over the place," like Atlanta's historic Fox Theatre and booking gigs virtually everywhere from California to New York.

"As time went on, we decided to brand this, to create a name for our show that indicates how we're connected and we went through several names until we decided on 'The Midtown Men,'" he says.

The four men, all of whom come from different parts of the U.S., found themselves working together, coming to maturity in midtown Manhattan - hence the group's alliterative name.  "It's kind of a funny play on words to go from boys to men," Reichard suggests.

Reichard believes that the four Midtown Men's relationships with one another, and their shared onstage trust, helps the group's music resonate more strongly with audiences. "It helps that we are four guys from four different places, who didn't know each other, whose lives were completely different and yet whose lives were completely changed by a Broadway musical," he says, "and then, in a more unlikely scenario, are able to live their rock and roll dreamall across the country - it's just remarkable."

As the Midtown Men make their cross-country journey into the hearts of their fans and take their act straight into the heart of the country via performances like the upcoming ones in Huntingdon and Cleveland, the hits are sure to keep coming for the four friends who have become - in every sense of the word - "brothers."

"We have an album coming out, and it's amazing to think about where we are at this time. We have 39 dates scheduled before New Year's Eve [compared to 50-plus dates in 2010] and everything about this keeps growing and growing, building and building," Reichard says. "We're absolutely thrilled that this project came out of a few charity events we were fortunate enough to do several years ago."

The key to the burgeoning success of the Midtown Men, Reichard maintains, is the shared passion the four men have for the music they perform and fom their respect for their audiences. "These songs are kind of like a religion for us," he offers. "We give these songs such respect, and endow them with such passion that it makes the music more special to us. The songs of the '50s and '60s means so much to us."

Reichard predicts that the songs found among the Midtown Men's charts will ultimately be considered classics in the vogue of the great American songbook (Reichard's own, critically acclaimed cabaret act often includes songs by Porter, Gershwin and other classic American composers). "Some of these songs are newer for us, while others we've sung together thousands of times. I can't tell you how many times I've sung 'Sherry,' for example, but we sing every song like it's the first time. We never phone it in."

That shared passion - among the Midtown Men themselves and among their fans - about the music has led Reichard to a realization:  "Our show is not about reliving old memories, it's about making new ones," he says. "We're very much about being in the moment, being with friends, having a good time and just enjoying yourself. It's an honor to have people trust you with the memories our music evokes - and to have your audiences take you back to those deeply personal times in their lives is really wonderful."

"It's fascinating to see  the impact of this music on people as they remember events in their lives, when they tell you 'that took me back to 1963 in front seat of a car and my first kiss' or 'that was the song I listened to the summer I moved to New York City.' It's very special."

For more information about The Midtown Men, including details about upcoming concert dates, visit their website at www.TheMidtownMen.com.

 

 

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