The Friday 5 (On A Wednesday?): RANDAL COOPER

Taking on a stage role that was indelibly created onscreen by Erich Von Stroheim has got to be a daunting experience, but Nashville actor Randal Cooper takes on the theatrical challenge in The Larry Keeton Theatre's production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Sunset Boulevard, onstage in Donelson through March 5.

Directed by Clay Hillwig, the cast features Nashville icon Ginger Newman as Norma Desmond, with Justin Boyd and Tonya Pewitt in the roles of Joe Gillis and Betty Schaefer. Certainly, Cooper has his work cut out for him, playing the role of Norma's taciturn and protective major domo - and with opening weekend behind him - he found time to give us some insight into his acting career and how an engineering student became a sought-after talent.

And, in a bit of serendipitous timing, Randal Cooper is featured in The Friday 5 (On a Wednesday?), so read on for the scoop...

What was your first taste of "live, onstage" theater? When I was in college I auditioned for a local production of Twelfth Night, and ended up getting cast as Tom in The Glass Menagerie at a 1,900 seat theater in Mobile, Alabama. To this day, I'm not sure how a zero-experience engineering student managed to land that gig, but it definitely unlocked a love of being on stage that's lasted for decades.

What's your favorite pre-show ritual? I quietly run through every line in the show during the last ten minutes before curtain. I used to be because I was inexperienced and wasn't sure I'd remember my lines, but now it's because I'm middle-aged and not sure I'll remember my lines.

What's your favorite, most memorable, example of "the show must go on"? When I was twenty years old, I had the role of a news station manager in a play that was a mix of Pygmalion and Broadcast News. It had rained the entire week prior to opening, and various critters had moved into the theater--notably a three-inch long cockroach who decided to make his stage debut during the show without my knowledge, crawling across the stage and up my leg while I was seated at a desk in full view of the audience.

I was obliviously thinking that I'd never gotten bigger laughs in my entire life when I saw a friend of mine in the audience take off his shoe and charge toward the stage, but before he could get there my co-star (the "Eliza Doolittle" character) brought the bug's stage career to an abrupt end, to thunderous applause. We powered through to the end of the show, but I'm pretty sure the cockroach is the only thing people remember about that performance.

What's your dream role? I've often told my friends that I wanted to play King Lear very badly. "Don't worry," they tell me, "you definitely will."

Who's your theatrical crush? So that I don't embarrass any of my local crushes, I'll just say that right now Phillipa Soo brings me to unbecoming levels of weeping with her performance in Hamilton.

EXTRA-SPECIAL BONUS QUESTION: Why should people come see Sunset Boulevard? There is no better match between an actress and a role than Ginger Newman playing Norma Desmond, especially with Andrew Lloyd Webber's music behind it. And at an intimate space like The Keeton, audiences will get a lot more nuance of her performance (and everyone else's) than they'd be able to see in a Broadway touring production. Who'd want to miss that?

ABOUT THE SHOW 2014 First Night Honoree - and one of Nashville's most acclaimed actresses, cabaret artists and music directors - Ginger Newman is "ready for [her] close-up," as Norma Desmond in The Larry Keeton Theatre puts the finishing touches on their upcoming production of Andrew Lloyd Weber's Sunset Boulevard.

Sunset Boulevard, directed by 2015 BroadwayWorld Nashville best director of a play Clay Hillwig, opens February 18, running through March 5 at the theater, located at 108 Donelson Pike.

Joining Newman in the Nashville premiere of Sunset Boulevard are Justin Boyd (four-time BroadwayWorld Nashville award winner) as Joe Gillis, Tonya Pewitt (2016 First Night Award winner for outstanding lead actress in a musical for her performance as Marian Paroo in The Keeton's The Music Man) as Betty Schaefer, and Randal Cooper as Max Von Mayerling.

Sunset Boulevard is produced by Jamie London and 2015 First Night Honoree Larry Keeton, with Newman pulling double-duty as Desmond and as musical director for the show.

Webber's musical is based upon the 1950 Billy Wilder movie of the same name that starred Gloria Swanson and William Holden. Sunset Boulevard - the musical - opened on Broadway on November 17, 1994, starring Glenn Close as the mesmerizing Norma Desmond, introducing such songs as "With One Look," and "As If We Never Goodbye."

The story is set in Hollywood 1949. Faded star of the silent screen, Norma Desmond, lives in a fantasy world of the past in her decaying mansion on Sunset Boulevard. Down-on-his-luck screenwriter Joe Gillis has a chance encounter with Norma during which she tells him of her next big comeback project. Broke and desperate for any opportunity, he accepts an off to edit her "masterpiece" in exchange for room and board. Joe soon finds himself living a luxurious life-style lavished with expensive gifts from Norma. Aging Norma falls in love with young Joe, and he soon discovers himself caught between her claustrophobic and reclusive fantasy world and the outside world with his love, beautiful Betty Schaefer.

One fateful night Joe attempts to break free of the dangerous situation with Norma to be with Betty. Devastated and in a fit of shock, Norma's rage escalates into psychotic and irreversible consequences ensue. Descending into madness Norma, the once Goddess of the Silent Films, is led away by authorities from her home on Sunset Boulevard.

Dinner seating for the show begins at 5:45 p.m. with a curtain at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturdays, and seating at 12:45 for luncheon with a curtain at 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees. Dinner/show tickets are $19 for children 12 and under, $28 for ages 13 and above. Show-only and group tickets are also available. For reservations and further details, call (615) 883-8375, or go to www.thelarrykeetontheatre.org.

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